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There’s a thin line between pay-to-win (P2W) systems and aggressive monetization. It just so happens that the latter exists in The First Descendant, fueling its pay-to-win allegations. But what you need to know is that certain The First Descendant players have discovered that the game is inadvertently giving an advantage to patrons with better gaming hardware.
The data comes from a YouTuber named Ryechews Games. At the moment, he specializes in The First Descendant number crunching and technical tips. Ryechews Games performed some tests in The First Descendant‘s in-game Laboratory or firing range and concluded that more framerate equates to higher DPS (damage-per-second).
That’s because, apparently, the gun fire rate in The First Descendant is tied to the game’s framerate to a certain extent. Sadly, the framerate in any video game is based on the power of your gaming hardware. Hence, players with more expensive PCs or consoles will have higher damage.
A 25 Percent Damage Increase is Big
We’re not just talking about single-digit or negligible percentages here for The First Descendant. In Ryechews Games tests, going from 40 to 144 FPS (frames per second) yielded a whopping 25 percent increase in damage output. Granted, 40 FPS is where responsiveness starts to chug down and most players likely aim for 60 FPS.
However, the results going from 60 to 100+ FPS still yielded a 10 percent DPS increase, which is still significant considering it applies over all the other damage modifiers you have since it’s a fire rate boost.
Additionally, no amount of free-to-play grinding can help you equalize this advantage that wealthier players have (with better gaming hardware). That’s quite a hard P2W argument. That said, it can be excusable since the “pay” doesn’t go to The First Descendant‘s developers but to gaming hardware manufacturers.
It Goes Both Ways Though
It’s not as unfair as you think. Since framerate affects all animations and all fire rates, that means enemies are also affected. So while you deal more damage in The First Descendant by having higher hardware, you might also take more damage.
Consequently, players with lower framerate due to weaker hardware might make for better tanks. The game still counterbalances this damage advantage to a certain degree.
But Then Are Other Games Also P2W or Is Gaming P2W in General?
Here’s the thing: other games also have this framerate-damage interaction. Black Desert Online, for example, has its character attack speeds linked to framerate.
Destiny 2 has a similar interaction, and its players suspected that damage is mathematically affected by framerate.
And let’s not ignore e-sports games. We have titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive where having 200+ FPS and a bleeding-edge monitor lets you see and shoot enemies more reliably compared to players with only 60 FPS and potato monitors.
If The First Descendant is pay-to-win because it allows better hardware to give you more damage and thus, a higher chance at winning that other players can’t achieve unless they also pay, then by that logic, shouldn’t CS:GO also be labeled as P2W?
We could limit the P2W labeling to in-game microtransactions, but then, wouldn’t that be irrationally selective? Does it really matter whether the developers intentionally or accidentally made the game P2W, when players will still spend money for more damage or higher chances of winning regardless? The only difference is who gets the money.
Or we could all just agree that pay-to-win has become a spectrum at this point.
