And EA does it... yet again!

[TPiddy]

Me again here, with more gripes about EA. I'll get into a little detail here and leave a TL;DR at the end.

Basically, I've been playing their new online dynasty, the EAUHL. You basically get packs of cards, and those cards become your players. They have contracts, training abilities, etc. You can pay for packs with MS points or by earning pucks through playing games. However, the price of the packs is way too high to be able to sustain your club.

Essentially, each player has a contract which is the number of games they can play. In order to earn enough pucks to buy the base level pack, you have to play about 8 games. 8 games * 20 players is 160 contract games. In the pack you will not likely get 160 contract games so eventually you run into a situation where you have no players with contracts left and as such cannot compete any further without spending any more money.

I'm so unbelievably frustrated / pissed off that EA would do this. Yet again, requiring additional funds in order to have any kind of success / enjoyment out of a key feature they promoted.

TL;DR There is a feature in NHL 11 designed to extort money from you in order to play it. They did it with Madden and now they're bringing it over to the rest of their series. God I hate EA .

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

This is old news... they're doing it with most of their games.

And so what? You don't want to pay for it? Don't pay for it!

Leave the people who do want to pay for it to their own vices. That way people who want a shortcut can have it and EA get more money to invest in their IPs.

Yes it's arguably immoral... but who freaking cares?

 

[Kermi]

I am not really understanding but are you saying that EA is making DLC next to impossible to avoid?

Basically you have to pay real money to sustain the in-game contracts of your digital team members, in order to maintain an effective team. Not only does the game give the advantage to the player with the mostm oney to pour into DLC, it basically cripples you for not continuing to pay.

Like running a real sports team, except all the money from in-game advertising/sponsorships goes dorectly to EA as well. The only winning move is to not pay.

 

[cerebus23]

so you buy something you get 100 card games out of it, then you need to buy another pass or whatever to play more hands?

dunno if i get the jist of it, but sounds totally lame, but then again alot of card games are based on buying packs period but you can play as often as you want even if your deck is crap nothing stops you form playing. then you got people that build decks off ebay etc, which can save you money in the long run i suppose instead of buying card packs by the case for them rares.

either way wth dont they just run it like a normal card collectable game? get 20 cards or whatever comes in a pack for 2 bucks says play as often as you want, maybe hand out a free crappy starter kit, or few bucks for an advanced starter kit etc let people play as often as they want. people being people many of them would nickle and dime new packs to build better decks so they could pwn face.

 

[TPiddy]

I am not really understanding but are you saying that EA is making DLC next to impossible to avoid?

Basically you have to pay real money to sustain the in-game contracts of your digital team members, in order to maintain an effective team. Not only does the game give the advantage to the player with the mostm oney to pour into DLC, it basically cripples you for not continuing to pay.

Like running a real sports team, except all the money from in-game advertising/sponsorships goes dorectly to EA as well. The only winning move is to not pay.

Yes, essentially this. It's handicapping me and forcing to decide to either pay them more or lose that feature of a game I paid full price for.

 

[manythings]

Yeah, I'm not sure why you are surprised that they are creating a system that requires you to give them money.

 

[TPiddy]

So, if you knew what they were doing, why did you bother buying the game?
You don't see me complaining about running out of farmville cash.[footnote]Mostly because I don't play the damn thing anymore.[/footnote] Or complaining about the WoW subscription.[footnote]Don't play that either.[/footnote]

Actually, while I was aware that you could buy packs in this mode, I was not aware that it would be gradually forced upon you.

 

[TPiddy]

so you buy something you get 100 card games out of it, then you need to buy another pass or whatever to play more hands?

dunno if i get the jist of it, but sounds totally lame, but then again alot of card games are based on buying packs period but you can play as often as you want even if your deck is crap nothing stops you form playing. then you got people that build decks off ebay etc, which can save you money in the long run i suppose instead of buying card packs by the case for them rares.

either way wth dont they just run it like a normal card collectable game? get 20 cards or whatever comes in a pack for 2 bucks says play as often as you want, maybe hand out a free crappy starter kit, or few bucks for an advanced starter kit etc let people play as often as they want. people being people many of them would nickle and dime new packs to build better decks so they could pwn face.

Well, the way it works is that the first pack you get is free. It contains everything you need to start. You can play to earn points with which you can buy more packs, but eventually your cards become worthless as your contracts expire and no matter how good you are you WILL eventually run out of packs / players before you can earn enough points to get more. It basically hooks you in, then forces you to spend more money to continue.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Sounds like you get a pretty accurate feel for what being an NHL manager is like. Do you have to give press statements whenever your players go out and get drunk and get in bar fights and other stupid things too?

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm more angry at people who give EA money than at shenanigans like these.

I'm with you. Consumers are getting ridiculous.

 

[TPiddy]

Sounds like you get a pretty accurate feel for what being an NHL manager is like. Do you have to give press statements whenever your players go out and get drunk and get in bar fights and other stupid things too?

Hahha, no but that would be interesting.... the game does have other modes, but this was the big seller so I was quite disappointed to find out it was nothing more than a cash grab. Ah well, I've learned my lesson EA, and outside of Bioware titles, EA will get no more of my money

 

[TPiddy]

The gradual forcing of spending money is real and stupid. If you would like to play a certain game mode in their games and be successful you shouldn't have to spend 5 bucks here and there to progress but the way the game is, it kind of forces you to! It's pretty much bullshit and really fucking stupid.

Yeah, I'm perfectly fine if you want to break the balance of your online play so that people who pay more have better teams, but don't FORCE it on people in order to continue playing. Then you're just an arcade game that takes your quarters.

 

[cerebus23]

so you buy something you get 100 card games out of it, then you need to buy another pass or whatever to play more hands?

dunno if i get the jist of it, but sounds totally lame, but then again alot of card games are based on buying packs period but you can play as often as you want even if your deck is crap nothing stops you form playing. then you got people that build decks off ebay etc, which can save you money in the long run i suppose instead of buying card packs by the case for them rares.

either way wth dont they just run it like a normal card collectable game? get 20 cards or whatever comes in a pack for 2 bucks says play as often as you want, maybe hand out a free crappy starter kit, or few bucks for an advanced starter kit etc let people play as often as they want. people being people many of them would nickle and dime new packs to build better decks so they could pwn face.

Well, the way it works is that the first pack you get is free. It contains everything you need to start. You can play to earn points with which you can buy more packs, but eventually your cards become worthless as your contracts expire and no matter how good you are you WILL eventually run out of packs / players before you can earn enough points to get more. It basically hooks you in, then forces you to spend more money to continue.

yea that is total bullshit, i mean run it like a card collectable game period, they would make money they could even setup a virtual card exchange where people can "sell" their cards they do not want to other players for points or $ to buy more packs, with the company taking a % of the "sale" value. this system would make more sense and be more fair, as far as collectable card games go, but people that wanted to invest would get better decks people that did not invest would have crappier decks but could still play as often as they wanted to.

pretty much like real life, your causal yugioh or mtg player can play their friends, but wont be going to tournaments because they have a crappy deck that would get stomped when you ran into someone that not only very good but has spent a few 100 bucks on their decks.

think that free yugioh game works like this you can play but you need to buy decks and booster packs period there is no free start, and kinda suprised they can get away with it since i dont think it is an officially licensed thing.

 

[Defective_Detective]

Absolutely despicable. This system is an insidious way to go about taking your cash. They could have put it all upfront, and asked for a small subscription fee instead. Instead, they cloak it all with the veneer of buying new contracts for free using the in-game points system, but as the OP says, that's just ultimately unsustainable. You HAVE to start paying regularly eventually.

I never bought EA sports games before, and I certainly won't buy now. Very sorry to hear the OP has had to fork out money for a game with such a sleazily controlled main feature.

 

[TPiddy]

Yeah cause BioWare doesn't play the DLC game and didn't have a DLC advertisement built into the game? BioWare is no better.

$40 for Dragon Age DLC. $55 if you paid for Shale. No, that doesn't count the expansion. http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_Content

So if you bought it new and bought all the DLC, you have paid $90 on PC and $100 on the console, not including the expansion.

Yes, they did have in-game advertising for the additional content, which, while annoying, was not FORCED upon you. Additionally, once you download their DLC, it's yours to keep forever. If you download an EA card pack, and then start over, that pack is lost. While I sincerely hope Bioware never FORCES DLC upon us, I can at least admit that they haven't so far, and the DLC they have done is worth it.

 

[TPiddy]

yea that is total bullshit, i mean run it like a card collectable game period, they would make money they could even setup a virtual card exchange where people can "sell" their cards they do not want to other players for points or $ to buy more packs, with the company taking a % of the "sale" value. this system would make more sense and be more fair, as far as collectable card games go, but people that wanted to invest would get better decks people that did not invest would have crappier decks but could still play as often as they wanted to.

Well, they do have a trading block system in place, but the prices for most rare cards are higher than the price of the packs themselves, and typically to get anything worth selling requires you to have bought the best type of pack.

 

[TPiddy]

Absolutely despicable. This system is an insidious way to go about taking your cash. They could have put it all upfront, and asked for a small subscription fee instead. Instead, they cloak it all with the veneer of buying new contracts for free using the in-game points system, but as the OP says, that's just ultimately unsustainable. You HAVE to start paying regularly eventually.

I never bought EA sports games before, and I certainly won't buy now. Very sorry to hear the OP has had to fork out money for a game with such a sleazily controlled main feature.

Yeah, I am still getting some decent value out of the other play modes, but I was greatly let down by something that I thought was going to be an excellent game feature. It has so much potential, but then they have to fuck it up by getting greedy.

 

[TPiddy]

We are just now seeing semi-forced DLC, BioWare will be doing it too.

Yes, I fear this as well, especially with EA as their publisher... fortunately Mass Effect is going to reach its finale soon

 

[Keava]

You do understand however the game is supposed to be played like that ? I mean, it's a business model like any other subscription based game. Look at Magic The Gathering Online, Battle Forge, or any other online 'collectible card game'.
Don't like it - don't play it. Noone forces you to play in this Dynasty mode. It's made for people who like to trade cards/players and bid their luck buying 'boosters'.

 

[JeanLuc761]

We are just now seeing semi-forced DLC, BioWare will be doing it too.

Methinks you're taking an overly cynical attitude about this. To the best of my knowledge, EA and Bioware are mostly separate entities; Bioware does what they do best and EA picks up the tab (see: The Old Republic).

Contrary to the ridiculous perpetuation, I see no evidence that EA has tampered with Bioware in any way, shape or form (possible exception when it comes to DLC being mentioned on the ingame menu, but I'm pretty sure I've seen stuff like that for a while).

Customers would revolt en masse if Bioware started making DLC a requirement, and I doubt EA is thick enough to piss off their massive fanbase. As it stands now, Bioware simply makes DLC that make the game better, but are not required for completion. I see no reason or evidence that this will change.