LegendOfKage
Member
Destiny 2:
When I decided to stop playing Destiny 2, I made this statement:
New pinnacle weapons have been announced for the upcoming season, and I think they're having the averse effect of pushing me away from the game. Seasons in general are making me rethink my time with Destiny.
After playing loads of PVP (close to more than I wanted to, really) I still have a lot more progress to accomplish before I'd unlock the current pinnacle crucible weapon. I didn't realize it when I started the quest, but I essentially only had three months to "prestige" five times in Destiny 2 PVP. That is, reset my rank and start from the beginning, and do that five times. Now all that progress is about to be taken from me, and I think I'm just done.
Destiny is a fine hobby, but it's a bit more demanding than I want from a product that I paid for. I completed so many other quest steps, and now it's all just going to be gone because I wanted to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and Black Ops 4. Meanwhile, there are other games I'd like to play as well, and it downright angers me that I can't just play Destiny 2 when I want to play it, and reach every goal at my own pace.
That the rewards associated with seasonal quests are some of the most effective weapons in the game sours me on the experience even more. I'm done, and I'll remember this when Destiny 3 launches, if they continue this nonsense of resetting your progress for certain goals because you dare want to play other games.
Black Ops 4:
When Black Ops 4 reworked their tiered loot stream system, I made this statement:
The new specialist (character class) "Zero" is available for completing tier 1. The new "Secret Santa" melee weapon is available at tier 25. The new "Daemon 3XB" SMG is available at tier 50. And the new "SWAT RFT" assault rifle is available at tier 100. The other tiers all include cosmetic DLC, a lot of which looks just as good as the handful of exclusive paid cosmetic DLC that is also now available. Some of these include new gun models, animated "reactive cammos" for certain guns, and even some animated skins, all for free. The new guns are also free. You just have to reach the tier associated with each unlock, and then that item is instantly yours.
The event lasts about 70 days, and each tier takes a little under one hour to complete, so play the game for 100 hours in the next two months and some change, and all the new contraband supply stream items will be yours. There are also several ways to speed up the process. Once a day, your first mutliplayer win, OR your first Blackout merit, OR you first Zombies game to reach level 15 will award you with a daily tier skip. There should also be at least one or two "double tier XP" events, if the previous season is anything to go by.
It's 100 points or 1 dollar to skip a tier. Or you could just play the game that you bought. I prefer option B. 100 hours in 70 days, plus a daily tier skip, plus double tier XP events is completely doable.
But "doable" and "enjoyable" are two very different things, as I learned. The reality for me was very different. At first, I played every day. I got my daily skip, and leveled a bit more. But life continues. Some days I don't want to play video games, some days I don't want to devote the time, and some days I'd rather play another video game.
I used to play COD because it's fun, and you're always moving towards a goal, even if it's ultimately a meaningless one for a banner, or an XP challenge. But after getting invested in a couple other games, even the idea of going back to COD felt like I'd would OWE time to the game that would now be harder to pay back. It felt like instead of working towards continual progress, I would instead be working to get out of some sort of gameplay debt.
It's a horrible feeling, and if COD doesn't eliminate these timed events to earn game-altering content, I'm likely going to be done with the series.
But then we have free-to-play games, where all of this is at least a bit more understandable.
Fortnite:
I've not really played much Fortnite Battle Royale, and when I did the game was still pretty new, so I'm not entirely sure how their battle pass system works. I think you pay money and then can level up to earn unlockable cosmetic items, and I think there are seasons for each battle pass, but I'm not sure what happens if you don't finish your pass. You just forfeit all those items that you already paid to earn?
If that's the case, then the specific goal here is getting you to not play any other games, or forcing you to buy tier skips at the end of a season to access the content you already paid to earn. I almost can't even think of a more anti-consumer practice than that.
[edit] As I admitted above, I wasn't really sure about Fortnite, and it now sounds like the Battle Pass might be considerably less time-monopolizing than I had originally feared. Here are two forum members with more experience with the game:
I'll leave the rest of the post as it was when I wrote it, but it's thankfully sounding like much less of an issue when it comes to a Battle Pass. Destiny and Black Ops 4 I do have experience with, and my opinion on those games still stands.
And concerns for Apex Legends:
I didn't play much Fortnite, but I am playing Apex Legends, and I'm just saying now that I really hope they don't do this sort of thing. If a developer tries to compel me to play a lot of their game in a limited amount of time, it just has the opposite effect on me. While I can appreciate that everything is cosmetic, there's a good chance I won't buy a strictly cosmetic season pass that tries to incentivize me not to play other games.
Respawn absolutely deserves to make money on their free-to-play game, and I WANT to give them some money for the ability to earn cool-looking cosmetics. But they probably won't be getting my money if they also want to limit how I spend my time, because I now have an understanding of what that feels like, and I don't like it.
So GAF, what are your thoughts on the issue? If you have a limited time to earn something in a video game, does that help or harm your enjoyment and your desire to play? Would you be more or less likely to buy a battle pass if there was no deadline associated with it?
When I decided to stop playing Destiny 2, I made this statement:
New pinnacle weapons have been announced for the upcoming season, and I think they're having the averse effect of pushing me away from the game. Seasons in general are making me rethink my time with Destiny.
After playing loads of PVP (close to more than I wanted to, really) I still have a lot more progress to accomplish before I'd unlock the current pinnacle crucible weapon. I didn't realize it when I started the quest, but I essentially only had three months to "prestige" five times in Destiny 2 PVP. That is, reset my rank and start from the beginning, and do that five times. Now all that progress is about to be taken from me, and I think I'm just done.
Destiny is a fine hobby, but it's a bit more demanding than I want from a product that I paid for. I completed so many other quest steps, and now it's all just going to be gone because I wanted to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and Black Ops 4. Meanwhile, there are other games I'd like to play as well, and it downright angers me that I can't just play Destiny 2 when I want to play it, and reach every goal at my own pace.
That the rewards associated with seasonal quests are some of the most effective weapons in the game sours me on the experience even more. I'm done, and I'll remember this when Destiny 3 launches, if they continue this nonsense of resetting your progress for certain goals because you dare want to play other games.
Black Ops 4:
When Black Ops 4 reworked their tiered loot stream system, I made this statement:
The new specialist (character class) "Zero" is available for completing tier 1. The new "Secret Santa" melee weapon is available at tier 25. The new "Daemon 3XB" SMG is available at tier 50. And the new "SWAT RFT" assault rifle is available at tier 100. The other tiers all include cosmetic DLC, a lot of which looks just as good as the handful of exclusive paid cosmetic DLC that is also now available. Some of these include new gun models, animated "reactive cammos" for certain guns, and even some animated skins, all for free. The new guns are also free. You just have to reach the tier associated with each unlock, and then that item is instantly yours.
The event lasts about 70 days, and each tier takes a little under one hour to complete, so play the game for 100 hours in the next two months and some change, and all the new contraband supply stream items will be yours. There are also several ways to speed up the process. Once a day, your first mutliplayer win, OR your first Blackout merit, OR you first Zombies game to reach level 15 will award you with a daily tier skip. There should also be at least one or two "double tier XP" events, if the previous season is anything to go by.
It's 100 points or 1 dollar to skip a tier. Or you could just play the game that you bought. I prefer option B. 100 hours in 70 days, plus a daily tier skip, plus double tier XP events is completely doable.
But "doable" and "enjoyable" are two very different things, as I learned. The reality for me was very different. At first, I played every day. I got my daily skip, and leveled a bit more. But life continues. Some days I don't want to play video games, some days I don't want to devote the time, and some days I'd rather play another video game.
I used to play COD because it's fun, and you're always moving towards a goal, even if it's ultimately a meaningless one for a banner, or an XP challenge. But after getting invested in a couple other games, even the idea of going back to COD felt like I'd would OWE time to the game that would now be harder to pay back. It felt like instead of working towards continual progress, I would instead be working to get out of some sort of gameplay debt.
It's a horrible feeling, and if COD doesn't eliminate these timed events to earn game-altering content, I'm likely going to be done with the series.
But then we have free-to-play games, where all of this is at least a bit more understandable.
Fortnite:
I've not really played much Fortnite Battle Royale, and when I did the game was still pretty new, so I'm not entirely sure how their battle pass system works. I think you pay money and then can level up to earn unlockable cosmetic items, and I think there are seasons for each battle pass, but I'm not sure what happens if you don't finish your pass. You just forfeit all those items that you already paid to earn?
If that's the case, then the specific goal here is getting you to not play any other games, or forcing you to buy tier skips at the end of a season to access the content you already paid to earn. I almost can't even think of a more anti-consumer practice than that.
[edit] As I admitted above, I wasn't really sure about Fortnite, and it now sounds like the Battle Pass might be considerably less time-monopolizing than I had originally feared. Here are two forum members with more experience with the game:
I'll leave the rest of the post as it was when I wrote it, but it's thankfully sounding like much less of an issue when it comes to a Battle Pass. Destiny and Black Ops 4 I do have experience with, and my opinion on those games still stands.
And concerns for Apex Legends:
I didn't play much Fortnite, but I am playing Apex Legends, and I'm just saying now that I really hope they don't do this sort of thing. If a developer tries to compel me to play a lot of their game in a limited amount of time, it just has the opposite effect on me. While I can appreciate that everything is cosmetic, there's a good chance I won't buy a strictly cosmetic season pass that tries to incentivize me not to play other games.
Respawn absolutely deserves to make money on their free-to-play game, and I WANT to give them some money for the ability to earn cool-looking cosmetics. But they probably won't be getting my money if they also want to limit how I spend my time, because I now have an understanding of what that feels like, and I don't like it.
So GAF, what are your thoughts on the issue? If you have a limited time to earn something in a video game, does that help or harm your enjoyment and your desire to play? Would you be more or less likely to buy a battle pass if there was no deadline associated with it?
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