MGame seems to have thought about this as well. Their answer is that player’s won’t be able to buy their way into "leetness." Instead what cash shop items will offer is convenience and distinctiveness. Convenience comes in the form of items that combine or make easier certain game functions.
One item available is a healing potion that will heal a set amount of damage (say one million hit points) before it disappears forever. In effect, it’s no more hero gold powerful than having 1,000 heal potions in the player’s bank, but what the player pays for is the convenience of having it around and the extra storage space freed up by not having 1,000 healing potions. Another hero online gold item may reduce the chance that an item will break during the crafting process. The player still has to craft the item, though.
Distinctiveness comes from purchasing alternate appearances that don’t otherwise alter an item’s abilities. During my demonstration, I saw a cash item that turned samurai-style armor into a beautifully flowing kimono. The item’s powers remained the same, but the player got to enjoy the envious looks from other players who would never get to wear one. Others may alter the sheen of a weapon’s blade or allow the player to wear special masks that change his or her face from the generic one everyone gets.
There is, of course, always the possibility that any cash-based item shop in an MMO can imbalance the game in ways the developer didn’t expect. According to hero gold MGame, however, Hero Online has been running in Korea for over a year without any major problems.
