Identity V Players Outraged: ¥2,500 Gacha-Only Gold Skin vs ¥30 Shop Skin — 83x Price Gap for What Looks Like a Photoshop Filter?

A ¥2,500 hard-pity limited gold skin versus a ¥30 shop blue skin that looks virtually identical — Identity V just gave its biggest spenders the ultimate buyer's remorse.

Here's the deal: Identity V releases a limited gold skin and a permanent blue skin with every new character. The gold skin lives in a gacha box — 9.6 yuan per pull, 250-pull hard pity, totaling around ¥2,500 to guarantee. There's a points system that lets you exchange for 20 pulls, bringing the cost down slightly, but for most players it's still a massive investment. The blue skin? ¥30 from the shop, or 1,188 fragments (a free currency that's easy to farm). The anniversary event even handed out a free blue skin voucher — essentially a freebie.

The problem? When players put the two skins side by side, the resemblance is shockingly close. One commenter straight-up called the blue skin 'a discarded draft of the gold skin.' Another roasted it: 'The gold skin's only selling point is a glowing tail — honestly, the blue skin looks better designed.' An 83x price difference, and the main distinction is particle effects? Whales who hit hard pity are feeling absolutely scammed.

The comment section turned into a full-on roast session. One user dropped the devastating question: 'The ¥2,500 one is slightly better, sure — but is that slight improvement worth ¥2,470?' A self-proclaimed passerby said they actually preferred the ¥30 version's aesthetics. Another nailed the core issue: 'If it were ¥60 vs ¥30, they wouldn't look similar. But at ¥2,500 vs ¥30, suddenly the similarity becomes glaring.' The bigger the price gap, the bigger the expectations — it's basic psychology.

To be fair, one detailed reply broke down the actual gacha math for bystanders: 96 in-game currency per pull, roughly ¥9 each after top-up bonuses. The esports bug compensation gave 10 free pulls, each season lets you grind about 40, and the points system nets another 20. So hard pity effectively requires around 180 pulls. Even so, you're still looking at well over a thousand yuan — and the commenter was upfront: 'Not saying Identity V's gacha is cheap or generous — it's absurdly expensive, and even direct-purchase gold skins cost ¥288.'

That same commenter did offer one silver lining: some skins are so highly valued on the resale market that you can actually sell your account for more than what you spent on pity. Small consolation for the wallet damage, but at least it's something.

At the end of the day, this drama isn't about whether the blue skin looks good — it's about whether NetEase's pricing justifies what players actually get. When the visible difference between ¥2,500 and ¥30 amounts to 'a glowing tail and some extra particle effects,' the backlash isn't just a vocal minority crying foul. As one player put it perfectly: 'Identity V's skin quality is mostly in the limited-edition label' — you're not buying a skin, you're buying the flex. Except this time, even the flex can barely hold itself together.