Skyforge Monetization Explained

Many of you have been asking for details and information on Skyforge's monetization plans and premium services. We initially planned to open a discussion on the topic once we’d rolled the system out for players to experience themselves, but with the start of Russian Open Beta the topic of monetization has become a hotbed for community speculation and debate. With this in mind, we’d like to take a moment to address some of the most pressing questions regarding monetization the community has brought up.

Overview – Monetization in Skyforge:

1. All players in Skyforge should have fun and rewarding experiences, regardless of their monetary investment in the game.
2. Monetization must not effect a player’s ability to access all activities (including high-end PvE and PvP).
3. Players must never be locked behind a pay-wall to progress.
4. Players can invest money in Skyforge if they want to speed up their character’s progress and get through content faster, but never at the cost of another player’s experience.
5. Players should not feel like they have to invest a nearly unlimited amount of time in the game to stay competitive.

Here are some of the key concerns we heard:

Can players purchase argents and credits to gain more prestige?

Players can speed up their character development with real money and progress through the game more quickly, but they don’t gain advantage in PvP or PvE activities, since matchmaking only matches players in the same prestige brackets. Accelerated progression will simply mean you are matched against players of a similar prestige power range. These may simply be players who have been playing Skyforge for longer, or players who have more free time in which to play.

Some mechanics require argents, are they pay-only?

No. Players may trade credits for argents via the Market at any time.

Will the player who invested the most money have the most prestige?

While paying players will be able to reach a higher prestige faster, the amount of credits a player may invest in character development is limited overall.

Each of the four core progression mechanics will have its own hard cap, essentially preventing players from completely “buying up” a character. (Please note: Not all of these limits are implemented in the current CBT version.)

• Weapon Enhancements are limited by mastery currency which has a weekly cap.
• Ascension Atlas Progression is limited by sparks, which cannot be purchased and are only obtained by actively playing the game. Sparks are also limited by a weekly cap.
• An Order’s power contribution is limited by the player’s Leadership stat, which is grown by unlocking nodes in the Ascension Atlas.
• Pantheon benefits will also be limited by the Leadership stat.

These caps ensure that even paying players have a baseline for character development and ensure no one has access to an unlimited source of power by paying.

Will I be able to join a Pantheon War and have a chance at winning without investing money?

Credits can allow players to get to high-end content faster, but their effect on real character power is limited and becomes even less so as the character continues to progress. Skyforge’s high-end content is designed in a way where individual player skill, group communication/coordination, tactics and ability management outweigh the influence of raw power. Dedicated players who know how to take advantage of their classes and special abilities are inherently more valuable to any Pantheon and will always be in demand for things like Pantheon Wars and Raids.

Our Guild wants to participate in Pantheon Wars, but we don’t feel we can make it to the top. Does that mean we will always be dominated by the most skilled and developed Pantheons?

Pantheon Wars are built around the idea of “tiers”, where everyone can find an equal opponent to fight against and get their share of fun and awesome rewards.

We realize and respect that each individual has their own perspective and opinions on how monetization and premium game services impact their play experience, and how these should be implemented in Skyforge. As with all other Skyforge game systems we look forward to hearing your feedback and input as we constantly tweak and improve these systems to ensure they meet our goals and player expectations.

With Skyforge, we’ve made all in-game activities available to all players for free. While we allow players to increase their rate of progression by investing money in the game if they like to, our goal is to make it so players who opt to invest money never hurt the experience of players who do not.