This has passed under the radar so far, first I've heard of it. I have been enjoying the game so far, its the Dragon Age sequel that DA2 could/should have been. Its got some niggles and issues but every Bioware has them, usually the good far outweighs the bad but this is pretty disgusting though.
I haven't and have no real intention to play the multiplayer, I would rather just play an MMO if I felt like multiplayer bot bashing but even then I think this is dreadful. No it won't matter to me but the fact they did this is what matters, its definitely one of the worst cases of multiplayer microtransactions cash grabbing.
I don't think even many of the worst Asian grind MMOs have tried this yet, its more like a mobile game F2P shenanigans... Except you have to buy the game for a full retail price...
Sure no-one is being forced into buying potions or playing the multiplayer but EA are selling the game with multiplayer as a significant piece of content, whether everyone plays MP or not or choose to buy potions is irrelevant as its included in the item you're buying and trying to "guilt trip" and use social pressure to get people to buy microtransactions is disgusting.
It also makes me wonder if this idea had anything to do with the removal of healing magic and the changes to the mechanics of health and healing in the game, I actually liked that but I wonder if they did so they could try and encourage health potion microtransactions in the multiplayer. Having healing mages in the single player but not the multiplayer and having the "option" to buy potions would have raised even more questions, by not having them at all it gives the impression of being a purely game design choice but after hearing about this "feature" in the multiplayer makes me wonder.
At least they didn't try to tie single player progression to multiplayer progression this time, although there is still a chance for that in some DLC or the next Dragon Age game. Some bullshit like having to have your Inquisition forces clear a bunch of ruins out to progress or get certain plot lines or equipment.
Up for some Thedas readiness statistics anyone?
cynicalsaint1 said:
At this point I'm actually surprised they aren't offering Dead Space 3 style resource packages for the single player crafting system.
Some of the crafting is a little annoying at times, maybe its because in the near future we will see DLC of "crafting packages" or Elite Inquisition resource gathering squads. It might even be to encourage simpl item pack DLCs like DA2s "mages pack" as getting good gear is annoyingly tedious at times, thing is anyone wanting to play Nightmare difficulty is going to need the good stuff (which the eight ability slots is going to hurt anyway).