"Who tf bought the damn 40k $ boat": Where Winds Meet fans can only stand agape as one MMO whale drops enough money for a real car on an in-game mount within a week of launch

Microtransactions are practically an inescapable part of many free-to-play games – looming in the background for anyone tempted by shiny cosmetics. But at some point, you have to question when microtransactions become macrotransactions, as Where Winds Meet players can do nothing but stand agape at a player who's apparently already purchased an in-game boat that's estimated to cost upwards of $40,000.

The Where Winds Meet devs have made it very clear that "there is no P2W here," noting that "your legend is written by skill and choice, never by wallet size." Even if it doesn't demand that players in the open-world Wuxia MMORPG have to spend money to get stronger, however, that doesn't mean that you can't spend a small fortune on a cool mount. "Someone actually got the $42,000 Where Winds Meet boat," streamer BranOnline writes on Twitter, sharing a screenshot of the boat in question, which belongs to a player called Scy.

Now, initially I thought that this might have been an exaggeration, but no. In fact, depending on who you ask, the real cost might actually reach $60,000, but more on that later. The Mirage Boat is a unique mount that allows its owner to set sail across a predetermined route, inviting friends and other players on the server to join them. Basically, it's a massive flex – one that'll make everyone logged in want to hang out with you – but for a price.

If you want to get your hands on the Mirage Boat, you'll first need to obtain 170 Mirage Torn Pages, each of which can be purchased with a Harmonic Core. These are, unfortunately, extremely rare, with a less than 1% chance to get them on the game's premium currency gacha system. However, you're guaranteed to get a rare item like this if you hit the gacha's 'pity' reward after 150 pulls, providing one of these Harmonic Cores or an outfit that can be dismantled to receive two Cores (huge shoutout to Reddit user Silent-Musician-7918 for this breakdown).

All in all, while the real-world price will vary depending on how lucky you are – and assuming you don't plan on grinding the game for years to slowly earn enough currency the hard way – players estimate that you could potentially spend $40,000 on the Mirage Boat. That's based on a number calculated by Chinese players (thanks, Gamersky and Dexerto), who report that the total expected spend for the boat is around 300,000 Chinese Yuan, which at the current exchange rate comes in at over $42,000. However, from my journey down this deceivingly complex gacha rabbit hole, it appears the cost varies depending on where you live.

Content creator Tamriver reports that you have to spend around $330 to hit the gacha pity rate for a Harmonic Core. Assuming you get horribly unlucky and have to spend that much each time, that works out at over $56,000 to get enough for the 170 Mirage Torn pages. Yikes. Hey, at least you also get a cool outfit with it, I guess?

Either way, it's certainly not cheap, and you can understand why people are so shocked to see someone's already bought this boat within a week of the open world game's global launch. "Who tf bought the damn 40k $ boat," one player questions, sharing images from the ship's recent cruise.

Meanwhile, others are pleased that some players are contributing so much to the game's income: "The Whales! Keeping things afloat for us free to play players! All hail the whales!" one Reddit user chants.

What's more, Scy might not be the only player to have bought the Mirage Boat in the last week. "This is the third person I've seen create the boat/outfit since global launch," one Reddit user claims. Hey, at least it's even giving free-to-play users the chance to ride on the boat themselves, I suppose.

Battered and bruised Where Winds Meet players rally together to rid the Wuxia open-world MMO of its demonic geese: "Yeet into the water. Every single one of them."