Got a Problem With H1Z1's Microtransactions? Get a No-Questions-Asked Refund

[Steven Bogos]

Got a Problem With H1Z1's Microtransactions? Get a No-Questions-Asked Refund

Players concerned with the "pay-to-win" microtransactions that were recently added to H1Z1 can get a full refund, no questions asked.

H1Z1, Sony Online Entertainment's early access alpha [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e32014/11677-H1Z1-Hands-On-Zombies-Aren-t-The-Problem] are upset, as there was no indication that such a feature would be added at the time.

To remedy this, SOE has offered disgruntled fans who purchased the game as of 10:30am, 1/16/2015, until Monday (PST) a no-questions-asked full refund. Developer John Smedley posted the policy reddit thread [https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/556155776629096449] where he is answering questions.

Reportedly, upset fans can alternatively give themselves a "self-refund" for the title by going to their Account Details > Store Transactions page, and clicking the "refund game" icon next to the H1Z1 transaction icon.

As stated early, you only have until Monday to claim your refund. We at The Escapist apologize for reporting on this policy so late, but, SOE had been very quiet on the matter, and made no official announcement aside from Smedley's Twitter post.

Elsewhere in the reddit thread, Smedley himself admitted that airdrops will be receiving some tweaks in the near future, but "without these changes i think it's fair to call [airdrops] P2W." It's unfortunate that the refund policy only lasts until Monday, as fans who are interested to see what these changes are won't get a second chance if it turns out they are still disappointed.

So what do you think of all this? Are you upset enough with the game's microtransactions that you will get a refund, or do you think people are over-reacting?

Sources: Reddit [https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/556182737405476865]

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[Kenjitsuka]

"or do you think people are over-reacting?".
Well... that'd be really hard to do when the DEVS themselves flatout admit they just "added Pay to Win", and will "change" it "later" (after they made enough cash).

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

"or do you think people are over-reacting?".
Well... that'd be really hard to do when the DEVS themselves flatout admit they just "added Pay to Win", and will "change" it "later" (after they made enough cash).

Yeah, I'm really torn. On one hand, yay devs are real people who realise things are fucked up!

On the other, they said that people could call in airdrops that would contain basic survival gear and not guns etc., meaning it wasn't a quick path to power and that other could contest your airdrop. What happened was that all kinds of awesome things including guns could be gotten from them, meaning that they were pay to win but also that anyone with guns would rush to secure them. Whoever has guns, will keep getting guns, and so on.

So it's kind of a weird problem where people who like the microtransactions are bitching because they wasted their money for nothing, and the people who don't ***** because they are pay to win. I'm pretty sure this is just an everyone loses situation, except for the dev's wallets.

 

[Blitsie]

"or do you think people are over-reacting?".
Well... that'd be really hard to do when the DEVS themselves flatout admit they just "added Pay to Win", and will "change" it "later" (after they made enough cash).

And straight up lied about it in the first place to top it all off. And ironically enough are even screwing over those who don't mind paying to get stuff dropped in, since someone else can just grab the stuff or you can just get plain nothing from it.

Yup, Sony definitely earned all the negative reactions so far, even bad adventure game logic makes more sense than what's going on with the current microtransaction model.

 

[flarty]

How about making air drops a free server event? Then charging for a locker service to store any loot you have acquired but can't carry? Hell it could be a monthly sub.

 

[Strazdas]

How about making air drops a free server event? Then charging for a locker service to store any loot you have acquired but can't carry? Hell it could be a monthly sub.

im arealdy imagining snipers camping at lockers waiting for people to take items out to shoot and loot.

 

[Abomination]

Pretty dickish move to introduce a P2W mechanic when the developers stated they never would do so.

I saw the game and was actually interested until the Steam Reviews informed me of the P2W system.

I mean you'd have to be really stupid to even fathom such a thing in today's enviro-- wait, did you say SoE?

Oh, well, that explains everything.

 

[saito82]

Yeah I don't see how people were surprised by this....it is SOE after all. They tend to ruin things.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Micro transactions should have no place in an mmo type game. Its like cheat codes that can give you the advantage over others. Its also game breaking as if the whole point of the game is scavenging for supplies, then calling in supplies breaks that core game thing.

 

[natenate95]

I put roughly 18 or so hours into the game over the weekend to get my moneys worth and then refunded H1Z1. Personally, the issues I had with the game were fixed relatively quick and for that I commend SOE for at least acknowledging their poor decision making earlier. I figured right before refunding that I could easily wait out the EA period for an experience offered by H1. Imo, I'm waiting for a proper entry into that type of survival genre which mechanically is more fleshed out and achieves more of this sort of "zombie apocalypse" grand vision players want.

The game, much like every other zombie game currently out, downplays the zombies to barely functional inconveniences. Don't misunderstand, I only play the pvp servers, but I feel my goal when spawning shouldn't be 1. make bow 2. pick berries 3. kill other person, which is such a low entry bar into being relatively set. To nitpick, the starter bow 2 shots, or headshots, the .308 rifle you can spend and hour or two finding 3 shots to the chest. So in a year or so, i'll look back at the game and until then, I used that 20 bucks to help buy out Fall of the Samurai.

 

[WarpedLord]

Micro transactions should have no place in an mmo type game. Its like cheat codes that can give you the advantage over others. Its also game breaking as if the whole point of the game is scavenging for supplies, then calling in supplies breaks that core game thing.

The only well-done version I've seen is Path of Exile, where the micro transactions are entirely (other than extra inventory pages, which are hardly needed) vanity pets or cosmetic effects for spells and abilities, and have no effect at all game-wise.

 

[flarty]

How about making air drops a free server event? Then charging for a locker service to store any loot you have acquired but can't carry? Hell it could be a monthly sub.

im arealdy imagining snipers camping at lockers waiting for people to take items out to shoot and loot.

Make the locker only accessible in a lobby before spawning and after logging off?

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

My Issue with H1Z1 wasn't the Air Drops.
It was how low quality the game seemed.
Zombies were annoying, as they didn't really do anything.
The Textures in certain places were, ok. Nothing stellar, and the Frame Rate Chugged when you did anything intensive.
I'm running an 8 Core processor with 8 gigs of ram with a 4gig GPU. This PC can handle Crysis 3 on Max with 50 FPS. H1Z1 should not be lagging. It's just poorly optimized. I get that it's early release, and that's to be expected. However the amount of just poor design I saw made me refund.
It wasn't the "pay 2 win" crap.
Although I do commend them for their PVE and PVP server selection, and it looks like once the optimization is better, the game will run better. For now though, i'll wait to see what happens when it goes F2P.

 

[newwiseman]

When I saw a trailer of this last night I though it looked like at least 10 better games, and the "Airdrops" just sound like a way to capitalize on 7DaysToDie's now insanely difficult to find airdrops.

 

[DerangedHobo]

On the bright side, H1Z1 has a bunch of people talking about how they're 'pro-consumer' because they offered a refund under coercion to save face.

I do have a question though: Why in the name of fuck is a game funded by fucking *Sony* on an Early Access system? Cunts.

 

[Mangod]

I have one overarching question: if this game is meant to be in early access, why are you charging money for stuff in the game? Shouldn't microtransactions in early access be free, so people can tell you wheter a thing you can is broken, or too expensive once released?

But yeah, dick move all around.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I really have to question why anyone would even buy these airdrops. Do people care so much about being #1 on some leader board that they no longer care about actually playing the game? Can't think of any other reason someone would pay to ruin the game's balance.

I do have a question though: Why in the name of fuck is a game funded by fucking *Sony* on an Early Access system? Cunts.

My thoughts exactly. The first I ever heard about this game was today when I checked Steam (I don't tend to do so very often, judging by the fact that everyone's already familiar with this game). I took one look at it and realised it was another early access survival game with zombies, and so I assumed it was yet another indie dev jumping on the bandwagon. But this is made by fucking Sony?

 

[Strazdas]

How about making air drops a free server event? Then charging for a locker service to store any loot you have acquired but can't carry? Hell it could be a monthly sub.

im arealdy imagining snipers camping at lockers waiting for people to take items out to shoot and loot.

Make the locker only accessible in a lobby before spawning and after logging off?

I have misread your post. by "cant carry" i imagined that you would have to return somewhere to pick it up like a bank or something instead of simply "Cant hold on person". yeah, that could work i guess.

This PC can handle Crysis 3 on Max with 50 FPS. H1Z1 should not be lagging.

It most certainly should not be lagging considering it uses the same engine as Crysis 3.

 

[Scorpid]

lol. So they introduce a mechanic in a MMO survival game that takes out the survival bit and gives the players that are rich (or mommy and daddy are rich) a method to run roughshod over the game for the other players that don't have the money. Say what you want about the uber leet WoW players that go into pvp with their super purples at least they earned it the sameway you could in game. This is just stupid. But devs, Nail those whales while all the smaller fish that make the game worth playing swim away in frustration and disgust.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Frankly this kind of sounds like "You don't like the new system? Fine, leave then. We don't want your kind anyway. This game is for whales only." They probably figure however much they lose refunding people, they can more than make back from the people who don't give a fuck.