Bribing Your Way to Victory: The Cash Shop used to only sell items (for real money) that were purely aesthetic. With the introduction of the Gachapon "coin op" machines, real money can buy items that can change gameplay.
- A few examples are items that: Double EXP gained (granted, it's for everyone), ignore EXP penalties upon death, and allow the user to teleport anywhere. Sayonara, ships.
- Even that can be beaten. Two words: EXP Gachapon. You can buy your way all the way up to level 50.
- With the introduction of Evan (in the Global version), buying special skillbooks from the Cash Shop is currently required to increase the level of essential skills such as Magic Guard. Cue many justified cries of Nexon (at least the branch running the Global version, as the original Korean version didn't do any of this) crossing the line and making the game no longer be truly Free-to-Play.
- Also in Global with the release of the Dual Blade, like Evan there's mastery books in the Cash Shop for several skills. The people angry about the Evan mastery books are in a state of blistering fury about these ones as well.
- Miracle Cubes in the Cash Shop allow you to reset an item's Potential trait. Using enough of them with the in-game purchasable Magnifying Glass can give you Infinity Plus One Equipment.
- Shielding Wards that allows you to use Equipment Enhancement Scrolls without penalty on an item up to 8 (12 in Korean Maple) stars.
- Red Leaf High is the ultimate example. Each successful run through the 11 rooms (provided the player does not die) can net at least 12%-15% experience, regardless of level (the EXP reward scales to your level, higher levels getting slightly less), and there are also various daily repeatable quests for more EXP (typically 1.5%-2% EXP per quest). You get one free entry a day, but extra keys can be bought in the cash shop... for 400 NX each (or 40 cents worth of NX). - - Several keys can be bought a day for very little cash(or bought in batches of 11 for 4000 NX, netting a free key by the bundle), making it possible for even top level players to level up quite fast. That's not counting the fact you get to complete a quest just by going to the school each day!
Though this ends on September 24, 2012, making it useless beyond that.
They brought it back between November 14 and November 28, 2012. Cue up more key sales and more level 200 players!
It's back for February 5, 2013. It seems we'll see the school return whenever Nexon wants to make more money off keys.
- The examples that have been there for the longest time are the Pets and the Meso Magnet Pet Accessory. Higher leveled gameplay tends to focus on AOE-ing down massive numbers of mobs at once, leaving a carpet of gold or greens that a pet-less character needs several minutes to pick up. A pet user with a Meso Magnet can just walk over the money and have it vacuumed into his or her inventory. The Item Magnet is in the same category but it's slightly less beneficial due to the massive inventory clutter it tends to cause. Pets, like most Cash Shop purchases, are temporary as well; you'll have to keep reviving the pet every 90 days with an NX item, unless you are fortunate/patient enough to obtain a perma-version occasionally sold for twice the price. The same applies for all those pet equips, too!