Like it or not, microtransactions are part of today’s video games, and it’s just a question of how invasive are these in-game monetization content. In Ubisoft’s action-fighting game For Honor, players can either buy the new heroes that come with each expansion, or grind for them via the game’s daily orders and challenges.

One YouTuber did the math when it comes to how much “steel” (For Honor’s in-game currency) is used to buy the entire roster of heroes available in the Marching Fire expansion. This figure is achieved by using Ubisoft’s own steel to game time computation:

“Heroes can be fully unlocked with in-game currency known as steel. Steel can be acquired through playtime. 8,000 Steel is equal to 8-15 hours of gameplay (depending on how you play) or, if you players would like to unlock heroes instantaneously, they have the option to purchase steel through the in-game store.”

If players can grind 533-1000 steel per hour, and each hero is around 15,000 steel, that means it’ll take a regular player 15-28 hours of grinding to unlock a hero. Note that Ubisoft did not factor in if the number they provided includes doing the daily orders and whatnot, but for computation’s sake, it’s part of the equation.

To grind for all four Marching Fire heroes, it’ll take roughly 60-112.5 hours to unlock everything, which might or might not be reasonable depending on your point of view. It’s either you spend $30 (the cost of Marching Fire) or grind your way to get the other heroes.

Now, if you factor in the game time required to unlock ALL the available heroes in the game, that number rises significantly. Ubisoft has priced the year-one heroes at only 10,000 steel each, which means players can grind and obtain them in 10-18.76 hours (from the previously given 533-1000 steel per hour earn rate). This means that it’ll take an average player 60-112.57 hours to unlock all six year-one heroes.

Combining both Marching Order and year-one heroes, will equate to a grind of:

All Marching Fire heroes: 60,000 steel, 60 to 112.57 hours of game time.

All Year-One heroes: 60,000 steel, 60 to 112.57 hours of game time.

Together: 60×2 = 120 hours, or 112.57×2 = 225.14 hours.

This isn’t even the end of it yet. There’s also the different editions of the game to factor in, too, with the Starter and Standard editions having separate steel prices in order to unlock or customize the heroes. The Starter edition doesn’t have any of the six additional heroes included in the Standard edition, so that means if you bought the Starter version of For Honor, prepare to spend hundreds of hours if you want to unlock everything.

Note that in most fighting games, certain characters are locked behind a paywall completely and that no amount of grinding will enable you to use them. That’s another way of looking at it, right?

Do you think the grind time is justified in For Honor or is it too much? Should gamers be thankful that they have a chance to earn the DLC heroes for free in the first place? Let us know what you think in the comments below.