Have you played Battlefield 4? Do you know what these boxes are? Do you see what kind of door this practice opens?Rozalia1 said:
Battlefield 4 Gets New Microtransactions
- Thread starter Steven Bogos
- Start date
Disclaimer: I've never played BF4. I also dislike EA and it's business practice. Generally speaking, I also dislike micro transactions in practice, but I'm OK with the concept.
So, can someone explain to me, objectively, what's wrong with the employment of micro transactions in this manner? It seems to me that the game works fine without the micro transactions, and that these micro-transactions give players things they would get anyway if they would only play the game. It does not appear that the game was designed to pressure gamers into buying micro transactions by making grinding excessively long, as the game did without micro transactions for years.
A benefit I can see to the employment of micro transactions in this manner is enabling new comers to break into the rigidly enforced status quo without getting raped by players who have had years to mine experience and packs. It levels the playing field at the end of a game's life.
I don't believe it makes the game "pay to win" because most of the players have been with the game for a while, and already have all the things these micro transactions offer. Newcomers who are not buying the packs will have already been disadvantaged by the existing, fortified, player base.
So, can someone explain to me, objectively, what's wrong with the employment of micro transactions in this manner? It seems to me that the game works fine without the micro transactions, and that these micro-transactions give players things they would get anyway if they would only play the game. It does not appear that the game was designed to pressure gamers into buying micro transactions by making grinding excessively long, as the game did without micro transactions for years.
A benefit I can see to the employment of micro transactions in this manner is enabling new comers to break into the rigidly enforced status quo without getting raped by players who have had years to mine experience and packs. It levels the playing field at the end of a game's life.
I don't believe it makes the game "pay to win" because most of the players have been with the game for a while, and already have all the things these micro transactions offer. Newcomers who are not buying the packs will have already been disadvantaged by the existing, fortified, player base.
Nope I haven't played but from what people are saying this batch of microtransactions are looked at as a pretty weak bunch (due to it not being pay to win). What doors does it open than pray tell? Is the slippery slope behind those doors?Zac Jovanovic said:
Attachments for the guns. Like scopes, stocks, flashes/suppresors etc. Most guns are at a severe disadvantage without them and a good number of them are attainable only through these boxes. And to unlock them all even for a single gun takes a fuckton of time. The slippery slope behind this doors is what happens when they start designing the game around this microtransaction to boost it's sales, this is EA so that is pretty much a given isn't it.Rozalia1 said:
*shrugs*
Gaming is a major market where people are only too happy to pay real money for "solutions" to artificial problems in the end product.
Really. It's just goddamn ridiculous that we're paying MORE MONEY to spend LESS TIME with something we already purchased and that such an occurrence is NORMAL AND COMMONPLACE NOW.
If the stupid masses want to continue supporting such a backwards system of exchange, then let them. But let it not be said that they weren't warned.
Gaming is a major market where people are only too happy to pay real money for "solutions" to artificial problems in the end product.
Really. It's just goddamn ridiculous that we're paying MORE MONEY to spend LESS TIME with something we already purchased and that such an occurrence is NORMAL AND COMMONPLACE NOW.
If the stupid masses want to continue supporting such a backwards system of exchange, then let them. But let it not be said that they weren't warned.
I thought as much that was what you were going to go with. Such a thing is not assured, and secondly it still keeps everyone at the same level. To stay competitive in most games you need to invest serious amounts of hours into it, all that'll mean is a bit more, or a slightly lighter wallet.Zac Jovanovic said:
At the end of the day why shouldn't if person B has the dosh, not be as competitive as person A who has a lot more spare time in regards to unlocks?
Hey DICE! Hows that official bug tracker going?
Words cannot describe my disgust. So here's a gif.
Then a few years ago, with the success of the Modern Warfare franchise proving how profitable and desirable good FPS multiplayer was, EA started pushing multiplayer in all their games, including traditionally singleplayer only franchises like Mass Effect. This culminated in Mass Effect 3 where random drop items were added as the only way to access most content, including guns, upgrades, and characters (also most prominence was given to limited use items such as rockets and other ammo) The option to pay to unlock these random drops was there, but the main way of 'buying' them was to successfully complete games for in-game credits.
Now we see the next stage of this march of financial gluttony, random packs like Mass Effect, with the only means of purchasing being actual money.
We have progressed gradually from purchasing a full priced game and having access to all it's content, to having content that we bought artificially denied to us through grindy leveling up mechanics, and now these "randomised" packs are being sold for real money!
This is not the end of EA's designs for microtransactions in their games, and it's a scheme that has been 5+ years in the making.
I am offended and opposed to it because it will make its way into more games, and eventually a game that I really am looking forward to will be acquired by EA, have these crap practices injected throughout the content, and I will end up either missing out on the experience entirely, or paying for a game designed primarily to frustrate me into paying EA more money - not a game designed for fun and enjoyment.
It's already happened with the Bioware acquisition and the Old Republic's "frustrate to pay" model, and it may very well happen again with the imminent release of Battlefront 3, which I will have to miss if they do add any of this crap into. I just pray that Bethesda never get bought out by EA.
Captcha: slippery slope - That's it exactly.
So you said that you wouldn't release any DLC before you fixed the bugs, yet 7 months on, there are still many many bugs, DLC has been released, and now microtransactions are being added?
Words cannot describe my disgust. So here's a gif.
The history of how these random drop microtransactions have crept into EA games is damning and frightening. Originally they began as a (much hated) method of buying items on EA's free2play version of Battlefield (yes, there is a free2play version of Battlefield, and that's a whole other heap of dung for another discussion) Suffice to say, the random drop that you must pay money for is one of the most reviled item gaining method in their F2P game.Rozalia1 said:
Then a few years ago, with the success of the Modern Warfare franchise proving how profitable and desirable good FPS multiplayer was, EA started pushing multiplayer in all their games, including traditionally singleplayer only franchises like Mass Effect. This culminated in Mass Effect 3 where random drop items were added as the only way to access most content, including guns, upgrades, and characters (also most prominence was given to limited use items such as rockets and other ammo) The option to pay to unlock these random drops was there, but the main way of 'buying' them was to successfully complete games for in-game credits.
Now we see the next stage of this march of financial gluttony, random packs like Mass Effect, with the only means of purchasing being actual money.
We have progressed gradually from purchasing a full priced game and having access to all it's content, to having content that we bought artificially denied to us through grindy leveling up mechanics, and now these "randomised" packs are being sold for real money!
This is not the end of EA's designs for microtransactions in their games, and it's a scheme that has been 5+ years in the making.
I am offended and opposed to it because it will make its way into more games, and eventually a game that I really am looking forward to will be acquired by EA, have these crap practices injected throughout the content, and I will end up either missing out on the experience entirely, or paying for a game designed primarily to frustrate me into paying EA more money - not a game designed for fun and enjoyment.
It's already happened with the Bioware acquisition and the Old Republic's "frustrate to pay" model, and it may very well happen again with the imminent release of Battlefront 3, which I will have to miss if they do add any of this crap into. I just pray that Bethesda never get bought out by EA.
Captcha: slippery slope - That's it exactly.