How do you view "Honor of Kings" for 'backstabbing' players by launching a 38-yuan Krypton New Year Limited Edition Hero Ao Yin?

It can only be said that Yuan Meng’s 1.4 billion was indeed a substantial loss.

Pay-to-Win Heroes: A Controversial Topic in MOBA Games

A phrase comes to mind: “Draining the pond to get all the fish.”

It’s not about whether pay-to-win heroes can impact strength, but I have to ask:

Should a marksman have a 4-second untargetable status combined with crowd control?

After the ultimate ends, there’s a self-contained Sunyuan Plus (can attack three targets).

Combined with the Wind Dragon Soul from skills, even basic attacks can cause group knockbacks.

Basic attacks with AoE, health and mana regeneration, knockback, true damage,

And the longer than life untargetable status,

Do you like such pay-to-win heroes?

Is 38 expensive?

No, it’s the price of a monthly pass in other games, or a battle pass in MOBA.

Is 38 not expensive?

It’s expensive, expensive enough to hurt the hearts of King’s players.

Some might ask:

Ying Zheng and Wu Zetian are also pay-to-win heroes, so why aren’t they as controversial?

The most important reason is that lacking these two heroes has a minor impact on the game experience for average players.

Ying Zheng, with a higher appearance rate in KPL, also has free acquisition methods (like limited-time vouchers).

Ying Zheng is satisfying to pull out in less counter-focused matches, but Wu Zetian feels constipated and is pure torture in casual matches.

Secondly, Ying Zheng and Wu Zetian were priced during the chaotic early days, and the developers later claimed they wouldn’t add pay-to-win heroes.

PS: I just checked the developer’s Weibo, and this promise seems to have been deleted, or it might be a display issue on my end. Corrections are welcome.

Alright, just look at this 4.5-second untargetable status,

This 1-second wide-area hard control,

Can you analyze whether Ao Yin will change the ecosystem?

Fun Fact:

Gao Jianli and Wang Zhaojun’s ultimates both last only 5 seconds.

Moreover, although spending 38 for a strong hero doesn’t seem like an economic burden,

What if it costs 388 during a re-release?

Can you guarantee there won’t be more “Unrivaled Heroes”?

Today they take five cities, tomorrow ten, then a night of peace. When you look again, Qin’s forces have arrived. Thus, the domains of the lords are limited, Qin’s desires insatiable. The more they are appeased, the more aggressively they invade.

Previously, Yao’s unrivaled skin still had the neighbor declaring:

To rectify the chaos in MOBA.

Now, they are stuck in the mire of reworking heroes:

Looking back, the reason I quit NetEase’s MOBA was due to balance-impacting pay-to-win heroes:

A few months later, King of Glory repeats the same mistakes.

It’s remarkable:

Sometimes being an industry leader isn’t about being outstanding or high-quality,

But rather thanks to the backdrop provided by competitors/other mobile games.

That’s all,

I was wondering why the rumored White Dragon Horse didn’t have a white horse form.

Turns out, it’s hard for the developers to imagine something they’ve never had.

It is recommended to fast forward to the game and directly compare the nobility points of the red and blue sides. The side with lower points will have their crystal automatically explode.

The King said that it will be available in limited-time events in the future, so everyone don’t need to be anxious, just take it easy and enjoy the game, you’ll eventually get it.

Just like Ying Zheng, I’ve been playing for eight years, and I’ve had the chance to get limited-time vouchers for free, haven’t I?

Good luck to everyone who’s spending money, as for me, I just deleted the game.

I promise, first, I won’t buy it, I will definitely ban it in ranked matches, and if the opponent picks it, they will target it like crazy, and if my teammate picks it, they will just perform poorly.

Controversy Surrounding King of Glory’s Monetization Tactics

I was just talking to my friends today, and we discussed how King of Glory is resorting to questionable methods to increase its daily active users.

If they added Aoyin to the Linglong Treasure Chest for exchange, it would surely generate a lot of praise for King of Glory.

The combination of a battle pass and microtransactions, effectively locking users into King of Glory, is a behavior that I can’t positively evaluate.

After all, King of Glory is a widely popular competitive mobile game that has dominated the market for years. Without spending money, there is no fairness, and heroes like Wu Zetian and Ying Zheng haven’t caused much resentment among players.

They even introduced a limited-time Lunar New Year event; the planning team at Qingbei is truly unique.

If, as I suggest, Aoyin were available for free and a half-skin with epic quality were included in the New Year’s battle pass, obtainable through events, I doubt King of Glory would receive much criticism.

Originally, I used to complain about the skin of farm players and add ten points of attack. The runes need to be saved, and I can still say that the runes can be tested. Skins can be obtained for free by exchanging fragments for companion skins. Wu Zetian and Ying Zheng are previous unresolved issues.

Now, haha, I’ve been a hardcore player for a long time.

Fortunately, I’ve uninstalled and abandoned this pit.

If you want to play Primitive vs. Trisolarans, it’s better to go to Netease and play Trisolarans vs. Trisolarans. On average, it’s more fair to have all models as supermodels rather than just some of them.

If anything he says is of any use, it wouldn’t just be mere planning.

Just remember, when it comes to Tencent’s affairs, apart from a personal statement by Ma Huateng himself, any unofficial social media comments are nothing but hot air.

Take another look at what Mr. Ma said the day before yesterday, and then consider the sudden official announcement of Aoyin’s appointment in the past two days. Everything is so smooth and seamless.

The current planners' actions are different from what was promised in the past.

Recovery + control + inability to be selected.

Feel the power of the singer’s civilization.

The main point isn’t really about criticizing pay-to-win, is it?

What’s the point of trying to justify excessive power creep with such weak arguments?

The question doesn’t even mention the issue of power balance throughout.

Whale-exclusive heroes, and they’re time-limited too.

Isn’t this just infuriating? It’s 38 now, who knows how much it will cost in future draws.

Moreover, 38 is the pricing for battle pass skins, and there are now heroes at the same price range.

If players accept this now, does it mean there will be epic heroes at 88, legendary heroes at 168, and unmatched heroes at 500 in the future? If it gets even more absurd, consider the example of “英魂之刃,” where they didn’t release any gold heroes for years, and all the new heroes ended up in the collectors' store.

Actually, the group of people before the Kings had already been moved to a new project. Can this be spoken of?

It reminds me of what the CrossFire planner said back then, “Weapons shouldn’t be sold for more than 299.”

One can only say that at every critical juncture, the struggle remains the same.

The Money-Driven Tactics of WangZhe (王者)

Has all the money flowed into the pockets of Honor of Kings, only to be squeezed back from WangZhe (王者)?

Over the past few years, WangZhe (王者) has truly gone to extremes in accumulating wealth:

Successive releases of high-priced Glory Collections,

Unique features like personalized buttons are ever-present,

Releasing top-quality skins that must be obtained through gambling,

…

It can be said that a top-tier project with a steady income stream has been ruthlessly exploited by them.

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No matter how fancy your skin is, how dazzling the special effects are, or how explosive the quality is,

It doesn’t matter if you don’t buy it.

Which long-time WangZhe (王者) player doesn’t have at least one hero skin? It’s just +10 attack power, not worth bothering about.

But it’s different for heroes.

Without heroes, there’s really no gameplay.

Moreover, for the majority of collectors who can’t afford to collect skins, collecting all the heroes is their only option.

Now they have to force them to spend money, otherwise, this pay-to-win hero will remain exclusive, and there will be nowhere to buy it later.

WangZhe (王者) is really desperate for money!

At this rate,

Your gaming addiction is just around the corner.

Originally just in the aging phase, now it has become an endangered phase,

Tencent, what will you have left if WangZhe (王者) falls?

Honor of Kings?

What a joke!

The Madness of WangZhe (王者): Chasing Money at All Costs

Players have realized that WangZhe (王者) has gone completely crazy.

For the vast majority of players, skins are no longer significant; having a companion skin is enough.

The number of players who recharge to buy skins is decreasing, and skins account for 99.99% of WangZhe (王者)’s revenue, inevitably causing a decline in its income. This is the result of years of no innovation by WangZhe (王者).

More and more veteran players simply don’t want to recharge.

New players? Where are the new players coming from?

So, where does the money come from?

First, further squeezing the spendthrifts who must buy every new release, draining the last drop of profit from Supreme Skins and Peerless Nobles.

Enticing casual players with a constant stream of six-yuan skins, canceling 288 companion skins, and encouraging casual players to maintain their interest through time investment.

Tampering with game fairness, introducing pay-to-win heroes, gradually reaching a point where you can’t play the game without spending money.

You might say, “There are still ban slots, you can ban in every game.”

But you’re too naive.

Matchmaking is basically fine, you can’t ban heroes, and every game has overpowered heroes. In these conditions, whoever gets the overpowered hero wins.

Ban slots are used to balance hero strength, values can be weakened or strengthened at will, but pay-to-win is different. WangZhe (王者) will not give you a penny and then refund it. Now there are six ban slots, with one Diao Chan, one Jing, one Shield Mountain, one Hino, one Sun Ce, and one Dong Huang. That’s already six ban slots, and Doria and Zhuang Zhou are still in line.

If some players have spent money, this is irreversible. Once it becomes free, the paying players will be deceived, and they will be stuck.

In the past, WangZhe (王者) had diamond heroes, heroes that cost 18,888 gold, heroes that cost 13,888 gold, and Han Xin from the diamond treasure chest. Most of the newly released heroes were given for free or cost 13,888 gold, and the 18,888 gold heroes disappeared. This was all about reducing the difficulty of obtaining heroes.

Back then, game balance was the core mechanism of MOBA and the one thing that could not be tampered with in terms of recharging.

Now it has come to a point where they have to earn this money based on the most basic balance, and there will be no fairness between those who recharge and those who don’t in the foreseeable future. Zero-spending players have no rights in front of pay-to-win players.

In the future, new heroes may be banned, rank protection cards may be purchased with vouchers, star cards may also be purchased, and later on, stars may be bought with vouchers, and peak points may also be bought.

WangZhe (王者) will eventually disappear, just like the original Everyday Cool Runnings and Everyday Racing; if you don’t recharge, you won’t be able to play.

These new heroes are testing the players. There are already many water army comments in the official comment section, saying, “Buy it, it’s less than 40 yuan.”

It’s just like the current six-yuan companion skins. They initially claimed it was to improve quality, but now it’s just a change of color, with no difference whatsoever.

In any case, if you think about it for a moment, this hero is not worth buying for anyone. Now, investing in WangZhe (王者) is useless; decline is just a matter of time. If you truly enjoy playing WangZhe (王者) and can’t live without it, if you can’t collect the new heroes, you’ll itch all over, so you’ll buy them. These heroes look so cool, their skills are amazing, and buying them for matchmaking is still enjoyable.

The Ongoing Confusion of WangZhe (王者): The Era of Pay-to-Win Heroes

I’ve mentioned this issue before.

Back then, there was a girl who kept arguing with me. I was planning to dig up the old chat records to show, but I don’t know when the comments got deleted.

To reiterate, by opening this Pandora’s box, there will be an endless stream of pay-to-win heroes in the future. Valentine’s Day limited edition, Mid-Autumn Festival exclusives, Dragon Boat Festival specials—these are not impossible scenarios. Xiao Wang (小王) focuses on creating skins for festivals and releasing paid heroes; isn’t that going with the flow?

Here’s a quote from my previous response:

“How do you evaluate WangZhe (王者) Honor of Kings S34 season?”

These actions he takes are predictable.

For example, the return of skins. Originally, you needed to purchase them at full price when they returned, without enjoying the first-week discount. Later, it became a lottery. Initially, only a few skins required drawing lots, but later, every skin did. They claimed it was the last time they’d return at full price, but do you think it’s fair to make people spend 500-600 to draw an epic skin?

Let’s talk about Star Gems skins. There used to be many things you could exchange for Purple Star Coins, and you could exchange Blue Star Coins for many weapons. But then, they introduced Supreme Skins and Peerless Nobles. How long has it been since you could exchange 300 Purple Star Coins for a skin?

Just at the end of the last season and the beginning of this season, when you click on the red dots on the game interface and go through them one by one, you’ll find various lotteries.

Of course, what bothers me the most is the rules for Peerless and Supreme Nobles introduced this season. I said it violates the rights of old nobles, like those who’ve spent 100,000 or 80,000. In the face of this rule, they’re not as good as the new nobles who’ve only spent 25,000. However, it’s clear that the voices of these few old nobles have no say in front of the massive new nobles. Despite their complaints and strong opposition, the planners won’t even take a glance. Compared to those who have already paid, those who are about to pay are worth nothing. This new rule encourages some people to draw crystals and rank up. They draw a bunch of useless crystals that can’t be exchanged for skins in their backpacks, just to increase their ranking because they have nothing else to buy in the store.

Maybe they’re really on the verge of bankruptcy, so all of Xiao Wang’s recent actions are confusing. As long as they can make money, they don’t care about anything else.

I was somewhat expecting the introduction of pay-to-win heroes this time, but at the same time, I wasn’t. I knew they would come up with various strange payment methods, but I didn’t expect them to release paid heroes because it’s been a long time since the last one.

Perhaps the planners had this idea all along but were too scared to implement it immediately. However, after realizing that many players were still paying despite their mysterious operations, they probably felt that releasing paid heroes wasn’t such a big deal. Players may complain a bit, but as long as they can earn their money, what’s the big deal? By setting this precedent, they can gauge the player’s reaction. If the heroes sell well, it could become a long-term revenue stream in the future.

The funniest thing about some farmers is that they always think “王者” (King of Glory) is the best, while “LOL” (League of Legends) is a game with a conscience that only sells skins with extra attack power.

But what they don’t know is that the ancestor of MOBA, “Dota,” offers all heroes for free.

Unbelievable Heroes in MOBA Games

Tencent shouldn’t be this desperate for money, right?