Is The First Descendant a pay-to-win game? Pay-to-progress systems explored

As concerns about microtransactions dominate the discourse around The First Descendant's launch, many players are eager to know if it's a pay-to-win game. After trying the game for over 50 hours, our answer is no. But this no comes attached with a big asterisk. The First Descendant is not directly pay-to-win, but it sure has some pay-to-skip-grind and pay-for-convenience aspects.

In this article, we will discuss why The First Descendant is not technically pay-to-win on release, but also how that comes with some conditions attached.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author's opinions.

The First Descendant may not be pay-to-win, but it has pay-to-progress elements

The First Descendant is not pay-to-win but flies dangerously close to the MTX sun (Image via Nexon)

As our initial answer stands, The First Descendant is not pay-to-win. However, if this is the deciding factor for someone who wants to try the game, there are some nuances worth considering.

The good stuff

Before we delve into the potential red flags for people who do not like pay-for-convenience features, we should address the one place where The First Descendant is not pay-to-win at all.

Certain Void Intercept battles mechanic-check the player quite hard. The biggest example is the Dead Bride. Up till this point, you can coast along with very little deterrence by buying your way through pay-to-progress systems faster than other players.

However, once you hit this difficult road bump, just having superior DPS will not get you across. You do have to patiently learn the boss mechanics if you ever want to get past her and continue the main campaign past this point.

We are happy to say that Dead Bride is not the exception here: all Hard Void Intercept bosses need a good level of mechanical mastery to clear. These grueling showdowns still need DPS, but it's one place where The First Descendant is anything but pay-to-win.

Why The First Descendant is 'pay-to-progress'

As a looter-shooter MMO-lite that only just launched, The First Descendant does not have too many options for horizontal progression. Instead, the game has vertical progression with level scaling and modding. You gain levels on your Descendant, get higher-level weapons, and rank up your Mastery to unlock some equipment-enhancing abilities.

To increase your KPM or just do higher-level content in general, you need to:

Rank up Modules on your weapons and/or Descendant, and put more of them into your build.
Get Ultimate weapons and get them to a higher level by sacrificing a high-level weapon, since Ultimate weapons are always level 1 when you craft them.
Get higher-level External Components and Reactors.

Descendant levels and better gear acquisition happen organically throughout the game. However, you will eventually run into DPS-check barriers where you need to dig into the many gear-enhancement systems.

These are more often than not locked behind Enhancement materials, which are single-use consumable items. For example:

Crystallization Catalysts let you 'Assing Module socket' which halves the capacity cost of certain modules.
Energy Activators grant a one-time increment of 20 module capacity.
Precision Phase Exchangers are needed to get Ultimate weapons higher than level 1.

This still does not make The First Descendant pay-to-win at the outset because all of these Enhancement materials can be farmed in the game. However, you can just buy all of these with the game's premium currency (Caliber) and progress at a much faster rate.

Barring Unique weapon enhancement, all vertical progression can be much faster when you shell out the Caliber. In this sense, the game has pay-to-progress conveniences.

Also Read: The First Descendant tier list

The better rucksack maketh the premium player

Since loot grind is the entire game, it makes sense for there to be pay-to-skip mechanics for progression. One thing that's not talked about as much, though, is the Inventory bag limit, as well as slot limitations.

If you don't get into the habit of Dismantling junk weapons, you will soon run into inventory problems. Fortunately, Caliber can bail you out here. You can increase your bag size with premium currency. F2P players have no way to do this.

While that is an inconvenience in the weapon and equipment inventory, it is much more questionable with the Descendant inventory. There are 14 Descendants in the game right now (and one more coming soon), but you start with only 10 slots.

There are no ways to get more slots other than spending real money. In other words, until you pay up, the game does not let you have all your hard-earned characters at once. For a game supposedly meant to encourage variety in your deck, this is a rather concerning pay-for-convenience feature.

Read More: Can you sell a Descendant?

The Nexon gambit

A trademark of the live-service looter shooter blueprint is randomized chances on drops. A majority of the parts you need to craft Descendants and Ultimate weapons can be gained from opening Amorphous Materials, but the better stuff has a low chance of dropping.

Weighted drop chances are nothing new in these games. Everything from World of Warcraft to Warframe has it. The problem lies with Nexon's less-than-stellar reputation of being honest about their drop rates. We're not saying there is probability manipulation to veer the player towards buying off the prime gear, but most MapleStory players would not want to roll the odds again.

Especially for Ultimate Descendants, these drop rates are astronomically high. Of course, you could always pay Nexon approximately the price of a AAA game (or quadruple-A, to keep up with the times) to get Ultimate Bunny (which is the biggest pay-to-win marker for some players). While the game clears the pay-to-win check based on technicality, its exorbitant microtransaction pricing has already raised some eyebrows.

In conclusion, The First Descendant is not pay-to-win at launch. Those who do pay to progress, though, end up paying a lot for little progress.

Check out our other guides on The First Descendant:

Edited by Abhipsito Das