The "MMO rule" is still valid. Things take much longer time and has less visible effect than you'd imagine, but in the end it's more real anyway. Like comparing level ups and new weapons in Final Fantasy 7 with a Chinese pay-to-win browser MMO. In FF7 one level up makes you significantly stronger and it feels like you are given lots of stuff all the time (because you already paid for the game in its entirety), while in the MMO you level up and the only thing happening is that your max upgrade level for cash upgrades went up - you still have to buy them.

That's cultivation irl. Very Chinese after all.