“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” – Moby Dick, or The Whale, Herman Melville.
What is a “Whale”? Well, to most people, it’s a massive mammal of the sea. To the F2P community, Whale is a generally derogatory term given to people who spend thousands of dollars on free-to-play games. They’re the top 1-2% of a game, they simply cannot be beaten, but the catch is, they’re the people that are funding the game. They’re the reason, most likely, that the game is still going. You might hate them, but they’re the reason you can play the game. That’s just the way it is. However, when a Free to Play game comes out with an expansion, they are free as well. ArcheAge Ascension is on the way out from Trion Worlds, which will feature some pretty cool stuff. The Dwarves and Warborn are two new races that are featured, but there’s something else lurking on their website. There’s a preorder for the expansion, that will give you credits, potions, a storage chest, a permanent post parrot, a warehouse, some other miscellaneous stuff, and a mount. The catch? This preorder is 149 bucks. $149.99 to be precise. Now, I know you might be more than a little salty. “Why the fuck would I spend 150 fucking bucks on an expansion for a free game!?”
But it’s the Hellwing Pegasus. It’s only available to people on legacy servers, not fresh start servers. But it’s the Hellwing Pegasus! Come on! It’s a Pegasus with a horn, the dark hue of a Nightmare, and the fire of a nightmare, but the wings of a mystical, holy pegasus! Did I mention it flies, and has fire? Because it totally does. This absolutely blows my goddamn mind, though. 150 bucks for a damn free-to-play expansion? I don’t care if people spend money to go faster in an MMO, or in any F2P, because it’s not my money, and more often than not, it won’t affect me. But Christ on a Carousel, it’s 150 bucks for a mount! Sure, it has other stuff, but the big feature is the fiery flying horse! Maybe it’s because I’m not a Whale, but I cannot by any measure justify spending 150 bucks in one sitting on a free game. Have I spent money on f2ps? Duh. A lot of it, if I’m being honest. But never that much in one go. Want to see for yourself? Click here! But what do you guys think? Is that reasonable? Fair? Or is it just a ludicrous price-gouging technique?
