Is a 3000 dollar gaming PC pay2win?

Just an honest question. In all the pay to win conversations going on around here I seldom see much mention of the PC's that some gamers have while most people have a Dell or a Wal Mart or Best Buy PC with a new video card maybe.

Is buying the best possible bandwith speed pay2win?

I know there are sever tiers here where I live with the roadrunner service.

If these things ARE NOT pay2win, then what is ?

Where is the line drawn?

Sorry if this aspect has been covered before. I must have missed it. I am however, genuinely curious where people think the line is drawn. It is not like you can go buy a thousand dollar better Xbox.

TYIA

No, because higher graphical settings don't give you a real gameplay advantage, with only the exception of a higher monitor resolution in a relative handful of games.

More bandwidth might reduce the time it takes to download the game, but that's all it will do for you.  Online games don't take much bandwidth while you're playing them.

Besides, beyond about $1500 spent wisely and excluding peripherals, spending more doesn't really get you much.

Luckly with PC we still have freedom of choice buying a expensive rig or cheap crappy PC or laptop.

If it help a little who cares you pay alot for it but its not like console market where every gaming machine is same thank god we PC gamers still have this freedom fo choice.

You can have rig that cost 5000 euro and still suck in gaming hehe.

Good internet connection and PC will help mainly in fast pace games like FPS shooters or RTS games.

I remember a very old discussion about WoW when people who were using three screens were accused of cheating. Don't know if it's still valid but hell I was laughing so hard reading that discussion.

You make a decent point, but when people complain about pay to win in a game they are generally referring to things that the developer has direct control over. The developer cannot control what type of PC you use or what connection you have, but they can control what is sold in the cash shop or allowing players to get away with buying gold online.

It's not been covered because it's plain silly as far as buying a more expensive PC goes. Broadband availability and pipelines between where you live and a games servers also have nothing to do with consumer cost.

One could argue that having better hardware/internet connections etc might give you a P2W edge, but it really just points out the folly of endlessly trying to make these games "fair" (outright hacking not withstanding)

Play your game, do the best you can, and accept the fact that sometimes you are going to lose through no real fault (or control) of your own.

In the end, they are just games.

I would say a great connection would be Pay-2-Win, having a very low ping compared to others with higher ping gives you a large advantage in PVP.

Originally posted by Quizzical

No, because higher graphical settings don't give you a real gameplay advantage, with only the exception of a higher monitor resolution in a relative handful of games.

More bandwidth might reduce the time it takes to download the game, but that's all it will do for you.  Online games don't take much bandwidth while you're playing them.

Besides, beyond about $1500 spent wisely and excluding peripherals, spending more doesn't really get you much.

Not going to argue with you Quzzical because I know i lose. I know you are very cool and know your hardware much better than a layman like me. I actually followed advice you gave some one else on an upgrade.

But,

A gaming PC , an expensive one 1500.00 that quizzical built, would that be  an advantage over an average 700 dollar tower someone gets at a best buy type store?

Thank You all for your Opinions. I am genuinely curious what everyone who responded thinks even if I can't respond to each.

(Had to rephrase my question it was originally ambigious.)

Originally posted by paulytheb

Originally posted by Quizzical

No, because higher graphical settings don't give you a real gameplay advantage, with only the exception of a higher monitor resolution in a relative handful of games.

More bandwidth might reduce the time it takes to download the game, but that's all it will do for you.  Online games don't take much bandwidth while you're playing them.

Besides, beyond about $1500 spent wisely and excluding peripherals, spending more doesn't really get you much.

 

Not going to argue with you Quzzical because I know i lose. I know you are very cool and know your hardware much better than a layman like me. I actually followed advice you gave some one else on an upgrade.

 

But,

A gaming PC , an expensive one 1500.00 in your words, would be an advantage over a store bought?

 

Thank You all for your Opinions. I am genuinely curious what everyone who responded thinks even if I can't respond to each.

The "advantage" is that you would get better components over the store prebuilt.......more for your money.  Your paying for labor and their know how putting it together.  You buy individual components, your paying for just the components  =  more for your money no?  That is the advantage!

After a certain price point...what your really paying for is bells and whistles.  Higher resolution graphics, cooling capabilities, ability to overclock....etc.   Most games will run on a budget comp easily when in game setting are set accordingly.  The problem is, everyone wants to try to max the game out and then expect no lag or problems when the comp cant handle it.....things need to be set accordingly.

Yes it is, and you don't need it, just rely on skill and send it to me...

Hi.

I have purchased a 3.380 dollar pc about a week ago (not including the screens, keyboard/mouse, sound system etc)

I didnt know that i was cheating :D BUT if i was, well at least i know i enjoy cheating this way.

After all, we all know that owning expensive pieces of machinery is not really about improving our personal gaming experiences,

but

it is rather about putting our system specs on our profiles and signatures on the forums etc so that we can make others jealeus :XD

BUT to be SERIOUS; UNLESS we are talking about a purely reflex-based PVP game that CANNOT be run EVEN on the LOWEST settings - UNLESS YOU HAVE A  10.000+ dollar machine - it ain't cheating, IMHO :P

So,, yes, any1 who has a better system than mine should be shot on sight!

The "advantage" is that you would get better components over the store prebuilt.......more for your money.  Your paying for labor and their know how putting it together.  You buy individual components, your paying for just the components  =  more for your money no?  That is the advantage!

After a certain price point...what your really paying for is bells and whistles.  Higher resolution graphics, cooling capabilities, ability to overclock....etc.   Most games will run on a budget comp easily when in game setting are set accordingly.  The problem is, everyone wants to try to max the game out and then expect no lag or problems when the comp cant handle it.....things need to be set accordingly.

Sorry, I should have worded that better. Editing original post to better explain.

I didn't ask my question correctly the second time. Thank you for your opinion and for pointing out my mistake.

Pay to win is a pricing scheme set by the owners of the game and has nothing to do with the hardware you choose to play with.

Apples and oranges.

It depends on the game AND computer.

I'm sorry but if you can play on the highest settings of any new game your set to go and have a huge advantage over some. I've seen my buddies comp actually have graphical delay and had a major impact on me playing.

A few things to keep in mind.

Games typically have hardware requirements as well as a recommended hardware level. If you purchase a game knowing that your rig is below system reqs, then you are agreeing that the game might not very well for you.  So in this case, you would do worse than others most likely if your visuals are too choppy.

Another thing is normalization, and while it appears you're playing the game in real time (because on your client, you are) there is a delay between your client and the server so that people across a large region can see the same thing at the same time on their client.  So, in general, bandwidth and lag won't be too much of an issue with a few exceptions like playing on a NA server from Australia or New Zealand.  Sorry guys, you're just too far away from the rest of the world.

And like others have said, a 3k computer doesn't blow a 1.5k computer out of the water. There is quite a bit of diminishing returns on cost vs performance, and to pile on top of that, game developers rarely design games that can only be handled by the most cutting edge technology.

Frames Per Sec is really the only thing it comes down to. As long as you don't dip below 30 fps, you're at almost no disadvantage (aside from IP problems). If you're getting 30 fps and are bad at PvP, the only problem is you (or possibly the game if it is truely p2w).