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Early Access Review
The game has P2W (P2W in my eyes is gaining ANY power/unfair advantage over people that does not throw IRL cash into the game) market that allows you to by a currency of "shards" that can be used for cosmetics (harmless) but can also be used to buy capsules (these can then be traded for gold) for fueling watch towers that allows you to control areas in the game.
Now this doesnt allow you to straight up convert it into the normal currency but you can more than likely find someone with a lot of watch towers and trade the PAYED currency for the in game one, making it P2W PvE or not.

Its just a lame way of skipping steps to gain "power" from a payed currency when the game is P2P and im honestly happy i got to know this early before investing more time into the game and i will never accept this form of currency exchange since these game will eventually eat themselves with whale P2W guild controlling a wast majority. So if this will not be changed there is borderline no point of playing the game since the market itself will be inflated by people having gold farmers to -> buy stuff that the shard currency can buy.

Sorry for the rant but i truely have a massive distaste towards this marketing and specially when the game is P2P(later found out it will go F2P), i HOPE but highly highly doubt this will be changed and i believe the game is too far gone to have in game shop &
cash shop currency changed where it wont impact actual gameplay.
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Developer response:
CL-Lutra  [developer] Posted: Sep 30, 2025 @ 4:48am
We intend for the Empire system to be purely cosmetic. We have shared our views on in game monetization in our blog, which we encourage you to read if you are interested in learning more about the Empire system.

Monetization in BitCraft
https://bitcraftonline.com/news/monetization-in-bitcraft-online
Empires Guide
https://bitcraftonline.com/news/bitcraft-empires-a-detailed-guide
10 Comments
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Holo The Wise Wolf Oct 29, 2025 @ 9:02am 
They know it's going to happen & are looking at it as a feature rather than an exploit, which is how they'll make money, no MMO is ever free. EVER.

MMOs need funding, they need constant updates, patches, content etc, the team can't just make a game & relax while people buy it once for years to come, they have to keep working on it, they need to be paid to do it, fairly so, i'd be more than happy paying for a sub over having this method in game, cosmetics to get funding sounds great on paper but it's not.

They'll have to focus a team to cosmetics to keep making money not the game. Whales WILL buy up capsules which along with less invested players will inject funds too. For MMOs free is not free, there is always a catch.
MMO devs aren't Jesus working out of the goodness of their hearts for us no matter how dedicated they are, they are men & women with families & bills.

TLDR
Make it a sub game.
Paid official cosmetics PLUS community made ones for free.
No purchasing capsules with RW $
InertFurry Oct 3, 2025 @ 1:32pm 
EVE manages this with only minor damage to their gameplay experience by making sure their premium currency doesn't touch gameplay in any way beyond trading for grinding time. It only obliquely affects gameplay and touches none of the mechanics.
If empire conflict -mechanics- have some in-road for premium currency then the game is DOA and their CM needs to be someone who has some reading analysis skills. (Making the assumption that CL-Lutra is their CM). Anything monetized becomes a load-bearing mechanic, so it's unlikely to see that change.
Fredericus_Rex Oct 1, 2025 @ 1:57am 
thanks for saving my money

:steamthumbsup: :cure:
Korben Sep 30, 2025 @ 11:21am 
I suppose this will lead to spam sellers in the chat as well. I wouldn't put up with any of this. Thanks for the heads up though, much appreciated Sir Ravenoth.
Sir Ravenoth Sep 30, 2025 @ 11:14am 
To reply to what CL-Lutra said: “We intend for the Empire system to be purely cosmetic.” Yet, in the first link you shared, point 3 states: “Purchasing Hexite Capsules required for empire territory defense and capture.”

The listed rewards (emotes, titles, fanfare) are cosmetic, but in the second link, under Authorities and Crown: “Any citizen can donate… If a citizen donates enough (threshold set by emperor), they ascend from citizen to noble.” This creates a system where empires can gain resources via donations, then sell raw or refined for profit.

The last section, Sieges, is also concerning: Hexite Capsules purchasable with real money are required to place siege cannons. It explains their function vs defenders, but not if capsules speed charging.

Ultimately, this system is fueled by premium currency, which will remain a problem long-term, especially once the game goes F2P. A real shame, since the gameplay and art style are otherwise enjoyable.
Kielko Sep 30, 2025 @ 11:08am 
was looking into purchasing this game but saw this review and yikes man... looks super promising but seems like an economy breaking system
Mittens Sep 30, 2025 @ 10:59am 
Me and a group of 9 friends were about to jump into this game but after reading this and a little research. It is scary to see that you can convert premium currency into in game gold.

For a game based on player driven economy. To then add an RMT loophole will pollute the economy very very fast and make the gameplay of gathering, crafting, and grinding feel worthless when you see another person's empire built on RMT.

I am 100% in support of in game transactions to keep servers alive, Developers NEED to have an income to keep a game running and supported. But why design a microtransaction system in such a way that it causes the fundamental gameplay loop feel worthless or devalued.

This is a brilliant game and you should 100% have microtransactions especially if it is designed for free to play but maybe a rethink on those microtransactions is needed.

Me and my buddies shall move to a different MMO for now.
Korben Sep 30, 2025 @ 10:48am 
Did the dev even read this? What a stupid and obvious auto-response. This alone turns me off of this trash.
Wala Sep 30, 2025 @ 9:25am 
I never thought that the selling of capsules to other players for gold. It is a valid point. Being able to purchase something with real world currency and trade it for in-game currency is very problematic.

For those that disagree, paying to skip content is a form of P2W. "Winning" in a game like BitCraft can be considered as having an advantage over another player. I.E. buying shards, selling the capsules, then buying a high quality/rarity tool.
Guideau Sep 29, 2025 @ 11:20pm 
Thanks for the review. It changed my mind on giving this game a shot.
I hate P2W. Cosmetics are pretty much the only acceptable micro-transactions in my eyes.