Dead Space 3 Resource Exploit "Not a Glitch", Says EA

[NightHawk21]

snip

I guess being able to buy champs in LoL with IP is a glitch. Why would they allow you a way to get champs with free currency but also include a method to pay for them with real money?

Dat logic.

I don't think that's what he meant. Of course you have to have a way get the resources for free or else people would complain the game is incomplete. However, I think he's trying to point out how unlikely it is that a company would input a system that just allows you to gather unlimited quantities of an item in comparatively less time.

So its not exactly the same as buying champs in LoL (which is already dumb btw), by normal means since you're still farming the currency up slowly. It be more like in LoL a glitch existed where you could enter a game and leave 2 minutes after and still gain the full IP.

 

[FoolKiller]

I like it how people are instantly lunging towards the 'This is clearly a lie' route of thinking. We all know EA want as much money as they can drain from our wallets, so here is what I'm thinking...

...What if it -was- intentional?

If EA weren't idiots, they could very well be doing this to see what lengths people are willing to go to get around having to make further purchases. I bet it cost them maybe half a day's work to implement the micro-transactions and this little 'exploit' they just so happened to put in.

TLDR - If this was intentional, your now EA's lab rat. Have fun with that.

I wouldn't necessarily agree that it is intentional, but I think you may be right about them seeing what people are willing to do to avoid paying. They're going to see the exploit usage for farming vs regular farming and find the ratio that makes people want to buy resources but doesn't squeeze them for it like Tiger Woods 13 did. Either way, I will enjoy the exploit, thanks EA.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Meanwhile at the Reach mothership...

OT: Yeah, it's pretty obvious that this was a knee-jerk reaction to get some good press. Though I do have to admit that, as scuzzy as it is, this is the first legitimately intelligent thing EA has done in ages.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Collecting RESOURCES is a GRIND. Lot's of games have a GRIND. Final Fantasy VII had a GRIND for example. Many games give you something to do and a reward to work toward. Chasing a carrot on a stick can be fun.

EA has MONETIZED the GRIND in Dead Space 3. You can GRIND for RESOURCES if you want to, or you can pay $2.99 to get your resources RIGHT NOW. What does this mean? EA has created a FINANCIAL INCENTIVE for itself to make their games MORE FRUSTRATING. They have an INCENTIVE to make this game as FRUSTRATING as they can without ruining the game outright.

Not really. I actually managed up fully upgrade my weapons and RIG faster in 3 than in 1 and 2, despite not buying any of the resource packs or even doing half of the available optional missions.

 

[Dustin Matheny]

You do know that you can purchase the resource packs with in-game currency right(ration seals)?

You can unlock everything from just playing the game. Of course you can, that's the whole point of the thing. I've read a few discussions about the microtransactions in Dead Space 3. I've heard the argument more than once "If you don't want to buy the resource packs, then don't buy them. Nobody is twisting your arm!"

I would argue that your arm IS being twisted.

What is the difference between these resource packs, and cheat codes in any other game? You could put in a code during Dead Space 1 to unlock a first Aid kit, or to instantly have 10,000 credits, etc. When the cheat codes are free, EA has no INCENTIVE to make the game more frustrating. They have an incentive to make the game perfect the first time. EA has created a situation where it is in their best interest to perhaps be a bit more stingy with credits, and make you itch for that cheat code that they used to give away for free.

I would argue that things are not moving in a positive direction.

Edit: Also i would argue that EA has almost no intention to REALLY screw over players with Dead Space 3. This is just an experiment for NEXT TIME. If the resource packs are a wild success, expect them to be in every game going forward. So I'd like to get all of my complaining out there right now. I'd like to encourage EA to screw over their customers less.

I like Dead Space

 

[darkszero]

*snip*

So, GRINDING is evil? Hah.
It's all a question of balancing. They offer you the option to spend MONEY instead of TIME. You do the math and see how long you have to GRIND in order to get what you want.
If the game's balanced, it should be something that is doable. In other words: not spending at least 10 hours in order to get anything at all, like many Free-To-Pay games.
Also, grinding could be something fun in itself: go smash thousands of enemies, something you'd do even without any kind of compensation.

 

[Dustin Matheny]

Grinding isn't evil. Grinding can be fun. Borderlands 2 is nothing but a grind and it's brilliant! Creating a problem and selling me a solution is evil. If someone threw me down a well and offered to sell me a ladder to climb out of it faster, should I thank them for it? They'd probably give me a really great deal on the ladder too!

Cheat codes used to be free. And now cheat codes aren't cheat codes anymore. They are something else...

 

[Karathos]

It's just hilarious. In a really, -really- sad way. If EA had removed this, people would be crying bloody murder about how they're removing the respawning nodes just to maximize their microtransaction profits. Now that they're actually doing something nice and aren't removing it, people are still crying bloody murder because they're lying.

Who cares if they're lying? They did something right for the players, and people are still complaining. Just unbelieveably petty, guys.

 

[Xanadu84]

Could this be a lie? Sure. They could have left a glitch to save face, calling it a feature. However, I am uneasy about saying that EA would worry so much about customer perception of quality that they would sacrifice a revenue stream in the process. EA has a lot of problems, but not utilizing a way to make money is not one of them. And on top of it, mistake or not, this is good, and reflects a more responsible use of micro transactions. I'm not sold on the idea of Microtransactions for Dead Space as a whole, but a major hallmark of good micro transactions is that the stuff available for sale is either cosmetic only, or available through normal play with some amount of investment of time or energy. Its why Team Fortress 2 is such a successful microtransaction scheme. It seems petty to immediately assume that EA had an accident when they did something right.

 

[Skeleon]

I guess people who actually paid additional money feel pretty silly now. Well, except if they didn't want to bother farming that room. Or is it really late in the game?

 

[Dustin Matheny]

Team Fortress 2 does have a decent microtransaction scheme. And the fact that other players can make things and sell them too, it's hard to call it a scam isn't it? The fact that Team Fortress 2 is free makes a huge difference. You've got to buy a LOT of stuff to add up to $60.00. But I already paid up front for Dead Space 3, yet I still have to put up with an in-game store too! I would just say, DON'T make me PAY to FIX a broken game. SELL me STUFF to make a good game BETTER.

 

[Fidelias]

I don't for a second believe that they aren't butthurt by this. It took them a while to respond for a reason. But I'm glad this is the response they decided to go with. Mostly because I predicted that they would, and I like being right. But also because it means that they aren't completely detached from reality. Which is good.

We'll see how honest they were with this response in their next shooter with micro transactions.

It's OPTIONAL.

For now. Seriously, were you living under a rock for the past several years? Companies add those "optional" things in order to gain more money. When that fails they make optional into something you have to buy if you want to have it. It happened with cheats in some games. It happened with alternate outfits, skins and weapons that were once unlockables for completing challenges. It even happened with characters in fighting games.

This, so much this.

You know, we used to not have to pay money for more map packs. They used to be patches or software that would come with the game. Now, a measly two maps can cost up to 1/4th of the amount of the ENTIRE GAME!

I don't think we should boycott EA because of one game's mistakes, but we should be careful before we encourage more use of micro-transactions.

 

[DugMachine]

Oh god that's a lie if I've ever seen one. But good on em for not patching it out and owning up to it.. even if it was supposed to be there all along.

 

[Sylveria]

Wonder how long till they change their tune and decides it exploit then ban every Origin user who used it and patch it out of all three versions. Or better yet, patch in a lock on that door that can only be opened via a DLC key.

 

[Absolutionis]

By the explanation quoted from EA, it seems like whoever gave the response doesn't even understand the exploit in question.
The question is "Is this exploit/glitch for resources legit?"
EA sees it as "Is grinding singleplayer for resources legit?"

They answered a question that was never asked.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I guess people who actually paid additional money feel pretty silly now. Well, except if they didn't want to bother farming that room. Or is it really late in the game?

It's chapter 8, so less than halfway through. But Chapter 1 drowns you in ammo and health, and chapter 7 drowns you in resources. The game has a chapter select feature. People who paid for the resources should feel silly anyway, because at no point do you ever need the additional resources.

 

[Callate]

Okay. If that continues to be the case, and they don't "patch it out"- good for them, I'd see that as a hopeful sign.

 

[Erttheking]

....ok now I'm just confused. They wanted our money, but they put in a grindable place so we wouldn't have to give them our money...my head hurts. Oh well, back to the grind.

 

[squid5580]

W-we never actually wanted your money, anyway! W-we totally put this in the game on purpose so you could circumvent our microtransactions. Really guys, believe us! We're the good guys!

Yeah, what a load of bullshit. An exploit was found by players and used by them because they were mad about your shitty DLC policies. And you won't ban the people that bought your game because you need them to say to other people that they thought the game was good so others can buy it so you can recoup your 5 million copy investment. Lying to us about it isn't going to save you any face.

Even if this is true, what kind of shitty design philosophy is it to build a game with resource management and then give the player infinite resources? That's fucking stupid and you know it.

Scavenger bots say hello.

If a player wanted to they could deploy scavenger bots regardless of whether or not you're at a resource cache, and still pull in some resources. It's usually something very minimal, like 5-15ish of each, but it's there.

It's incredibly inefficient compared to the shack, or just playing the game normally, but it's there. And it's presence as a game mechanic backs up EA's stance on the whole situation.

Sorry to burst your EVIL MANDATORY DLC PRACTICES bubble, but I'm kind of surprised that any developer that gives it's players options is suddenly treated as some super bad thing. If the player wants to pay for shortcuts to progress that can be acquired for free through other means, EA would be stupid for not wanting to take their money.

The funny part is how this is becoming a trend with other companies. Namco gave players the ability to purchase new game+ perks for the game Tales of Graces F, things like increased XP or increased ability points and such.

So does being able to replay any chapter or side mission. During the first optional mission I found a cache of 20 whole tungsten. So I replayed it (quite easily from the menu) and found 23 tungsten (which added to the original 20). I guess they plan on fixing this "exploit" as well judging from the responses

 

[Frostbite3789]

It's just hilarious. In a really, -really- sad way. If EA had removed this, people would be crying bloody murder about how they're removing the respawning nodes just to maximize their microtransaction profits. Now that they're actually doing something nice and aren't removing it, people are still crying bloody murder because they're lying.

Who cares if they're lying? They did something right for the players, and people are still complaining. Just unbelieveably petty, guys.

Like I said earlier EA could solve world hunger and bring about world peace, and people would still come on these forums and ***** about them in the news post about that.

It's absurd. It's at a point where they haven't made anyone this cynical, people just latch onto this because they know others will agree. It's a mob mentality. And this place is RAMPANT with that.