Purchasable combat pets! "Pay us to win!" or acceptable?

I posted it in the feedback thread but it was drowned in everybody's collective "meh" about everything else in the today's market update.

Warwolf Whistle. 80 points/5 uses. No reward token gate (which at least does limit the issue to a minority of the overall game population). Here to stay. What's next? Shivans? HVAS?

As everyone knows, temp pets can do wonders for squishie survivability solo, and thus are quite useful. So, I'm not quite convinced this isn't too good an offering for a rm-purchasable power. Unless Backup Radio (unlimited and rm-free) does summon a better pets on average (I really didn't check BU radio seriously yet, so I don't know.)

So, what everyone thinks?

It's not the same Warwolf Whistle you're awarded the 1srt time, IIRC. It's an "echo" version. Never checked if it's actually weaker, as PW implies, but if it's not (or if it is and purchasable version also weakens) then yes, you're right. Puts it on par with stuff like Experienced, - something that may be useful if you have little time and enough money, non-issue overall.

If not, then well, you can see why I'm wary.

As far as I know the repeatable Warwolf Whistle has 3 charges vs the 5 for the first time completion. I could be wrong on the amount but the only difference between the two is the charges available.

The game does have pay to win elements yes.

Is this good? Nah probably not, but it is profitable in the short run nobody can argue that point. Long term effects? IDK we shall see.

What do we win? I've been looking everywhere, and I still can't find any info on what we win for finishing the game.

I would rather goto Bloody Bay and get my Shivans...then off to Warburg to get some nukes. Shivans for gameplay and nukes to drop on GG....you know you want to... in triplicate no less...

I'm not paying money for a stupid werewolf I can only use five times. Make it a permanent power and maybe.

But probably not, I still don't want a big man-dog following me around.


Make it something pretty.

What do I think? I think I have better things to spend points on. I think if some new player to the game thinks that's a good deal, what I consider their unfortunate ignorance is helping finance the game by buying things I never would.

Getting a war wolf is hardly paying to win. That pet dies so easily its not a huge impact on game play. Pay to win would be like say paying to get to 50

Please stop saying "pay to win." This allows certain people to go on and on for pages about "winning" in CoH. Instead, just say "pay for performance", or "pay for power."

Oh, and on that note, that ship sailed long long ago with Enhancement Boosters.

Pay to win? Let me know how long that War Wolf lasts in an ITF, or an AV battle in general. I can assure you that a War Wolf will hardly make a difference in the very difficult fights characters may come across.

A Shivan, OTOH...

Doesn't bother me a bit if people buy it, or things like it. Someone else having it doesn't affect me at all. I have fun doing my thing, I am happy for everyone else to do the same.

'Pay to win' also kind of implies that we're somehow competing against each other. Even using pay for performance or pay for power, it's a very singular basis. It allows *that* person to do better at the game. But then, so what?

it only becomes an issue when it impacts *other players'* ability to play in various content or when it is required for a player to be able to play. If buying a war wolf or enhancers allows folks to play with a little more stability/mitigate risk, then ok, I don't really see a problem. It's not a serious advantage over anyone else in the game.

If we reach a point where people are getting kicked from raids or trial teams or task/strike forces or just missions because of 'have warwolf or GTFO', then it's a problem. Or if there's a new mission arc that can't be completed without shelling out 5 bucks to unlock the new 'omgsuperzap' power to drop the boss' shielding to let you knock him out, then it's a problem.

As it stand, all of these things they've introduced so far do not cause any of those.

I have so many old characters with inventories full of temporary powers... I don't know why I should care if anyone buys the things I got for free but never used.