Monetization Overview
Given that Pax Dei is still a long way from launch, Mainframe Industries isn’t ready to discuss their monetization strategy at this time. They have said they are defiantly not building Pax Dei to be pay to win, they won’t be selling “time skips” but they have hinted they may sell an item similar to Plex from Eve Online.
Plex
For those unfamiliar with Plex, it is essential a World of Warcraft Token or a Runescape Bond. A player spends $15 (or whatever price) to purchase an item from the developer, that they can sell/trade in game. While I can respect and appreciate Mainframe Industries saying “that is a simple and extremely easily understandable system that is good for the player market, fire and foremost the people who spend a lot of time in the game” the truth is that’s not entire accurate. It isn’t good for the player market as it creates effectively the Plex standard, that is the value of an item in comparison to a Plex. Additionally, at its very core this is nothing but legal and sanctioned pay-to-win as a player with an extra $15 or $30 or even $150 can easily purchase however many of these items they want, sell them in game for gold, and be able to skip all the tedious farming that comes with the accumulation of wealth.
With the said, however, there is a really good thing that comes with a Plex/Bond/Token system that that is the ability of players to pay their monthly sub without spending money. Players with a lot of free time but not a lot of disposable income are able to remain subscribers because they are able to dedicate a portion of the time to grinding the gold, they need to keep their subscription, and then they can continue to play without having to spend real world money.
This is hopefully something that Mainframe Industries listens to very closely as they move forward with development, because although there are good reasons and good effects of having this type of system, I would be willing to bet a majority of the MMO player base would be against this type of token.
I have a long running poll on this that you can answer if you are so inclined here.
NFTs
NFTs Mainframe has stated they are building the game with Steam as their primary platform. NFTs and Blockchain are not part of their plans for Pax Dei. Valve does not allow NFT or blockchain technology games on its Steam platform.