Even when you can earn them by just playing the game?
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Overwatch marks a new low in Unlocking and Microtransaction systems that I'm aware of
- Thread starter Saty
- Start date
Even when you can earn them by just playing the game?
Oh no guys! Now that Overwatch has opened the floodgates it's all downhill from here!
How do you justify anyone taking payment for anything? How do you justify the existence of claw machines, or Gashapon, or trading cards?
How do you justify anyone taking payment for anything? How do you justify the existence of claw machines, or Gashapon, or trading cards?
partyphone
Banned
when if funds continued development of the game while keeping all of the new characters and maps free what is there to hate?
KillerDark
Member
To enjoy the game less you would have to actually play it to begin with. You are being incredibly disingenuous to keep this ridiculous topic going (it is hilarious though). There is nothing meaningful about these 1 liners, there is no character development. Not sure why I'm bothering to engage again but please explain how having the taunts/quips unlocked would affect the quality of the gameplay experience for you. They are literally almost never used outside of the first 60 seconds of the game while waiting for the spawn door to open.
Mass Appeal
Member
Yah now's hes to the point where he has to defend this thread because of how stupid it is. Some of his comments are too funny not to read because hes just trying to save face and not look like he doesn't know wtf he is talking about.
you know what people hate worse than cosmetic microtransactions? paid DLC for game features, and/or monthly subscription fees, and/or annual releases.
The typical result of microtransactions is that ~20% of the player base pays (happily) for the costs so that the remaining ~80% of the player base doesn't have to pay much of anything.
So when are we getting these new characters and maps? The only thing announced is a delayed competitive mode. Zero additional content is announced at this time. So at best we get maybe a couple of maps in 6 months?
Any of that announced for this game as is would outrage everyone since the amount of content at launch is tiny. The only reason blizz said free content in the future is to wave off all that criticism. This monitization of random rewards is only because they can. It in no way funds extra development. It's pure profit.
The money you paid up front is what's funding future development. I also like the tales from your ass statistics at the end of the post. Yes I'm sure some people pay happily. Then there are those who have gambling problems and can't help themselves and spend their last dime on it. The way blizzard designed it's micro transactions is predatory.
Perfect Cha0s
Member
I laugh at this reading earlier posts in the thread.
Blizzard went somewhere no one thought existed
"Winky face!"
Deepest Lore
Delayed? It's always been a June thing.gatti-man said:
That's ignoring the fact that the unlocking is tremendously slow, likely entirely to push purchases. The shitty duplicate system is there purely to lower the chance of desirable unlocks as players progress. I can't think of another reason they would include duplicate unlocks aside from trying to slow progression and promote purchases. It's fine to have micro transactions in a game, and I bought a 10 dollar pack to support Blizzard for making such an incredible product. My issue is when a game seems designed around micro-transactions.
Xaero Gravity
NEXT LEVEL lame™
It's now scheduled for late July.
Xaero Gravity
NEXT LEVEL lame™
Ooooh snap I missed that. Great news
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
You misunderstand my meaning. Microtransactions used to have this stigma attached and it's nice now that this isn't the case.
Same with f2p, long ago it had a stigma attached, now, whilst a lot of f2p games are pure shit, there are popular exceptions
a) the mode wasn't delayed. that was incorrect and has since been corrected by blizz at this month. either you didn't know or are trying to spread FUD.
b) The fear mongering in your second part is FUD as well. New Heroes came out for HotS within a month of release. Naxx was released for Hearthstone within 4 months after launch. "a couple of maps in 6 months" is entirely unfounded given blizz's level of support for their games.
so clearly you have no understanding of how software development and development budgets work. The $40-60 paid is for the development of the software that SHIPS. The only post-launch development included in software first sales are maintenance (bug fixes) and limited duration keep the lights on initiatives. Why do you not see free major DLC from ANY publisher. Oh wait.. because DLC costs money to develop and release.
the MTAs fund future development. That you believe they are pure profit and first retail sales are funding future development show that you either don't know how software development works, are an idiot, or both.
actual real world examples from 750 boxes opened vs your hyperbole and fear mongering. Tales from whose ass exactly?
Grow up.
KillerDark
Member
If you know anything about Blizzard games it should be that they support their games post launch very well, perhaps more than any other studio.
no, he's trolling at this point. No founded or based points. Hyperbole, fear mongering and FUD. Repeating the same misinformation and gross scare tactics again and again.
According to him:
MTAs are pure profit and greed. None of that is going back into development.
The best we have to hope from blizzard is a couple of maps in 6 months.
750 boxes opened and the statistics from those are fiction, but the above two points are solid and worth merit.
right.. the problem for those is the same problem with all of gaming.. when you have companies more concerned with profits than quality (which are most), you end up with incredibly gross examples of fleecing the customers. microtransactions and f2p are perfectly fine business models when employed by companies who value quality and customer engagement equal to or more than profits. In that light those mechanics are no more "gross" than a retail first sale.
as you can see in this thread though, there is still a ridiculous sense of entitlement among many gamers, who will always cry about MTAs, subscriptions, content, or whatever else. Not that there aren't games worthy of such criticism. You can usually tell by if that sense of entitlement is the majority or (as in this case) a very vocal (and very annoying) minority.
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Idk if the strategy is low, but the response from gamers has been entertaining. All the flack games like Titanfall and Evolve got for lack of launch content or "shady DLC" yet Overwatch gets a pass because its Blizzard, apparently.
My only issue with the game is day one content. Its way way more bare bones than a game like Titanfall was day one. I bought it for my son though, I'd of never bought it at that price personally.
My only issue with the game is day one content. Its way way more bare bones than a game like Titanfall was day one. I bought it for my son though, I'd of never bought it at that price personally.
KillerDark
Member
Par for the course in this topic right? Yea it is unfortunate people want to attack one of the few actual decent MT setups. Most games with MT's don't even allow you to buy the items in any other way (or at abhorrently expensive conversion rates). Or even worse, the P2W scheme where it actually impacts gameplay. MT's where you actually can unlock everything you could buy and having all future content being free because of it is totally fine with me.
´No, it's getting "a pass" because it does neither lock away gameplay content nor does it sell you a 30$ season pass.
But reading or thinking is apparently too much of a task for some people ITT.
He has no problem with it, other than the complete lack of a reliable income stream, which is indeed odd. Even 5 credits per match would have been a nice touch.
backflip10019
Member
Yeah seriously. I've put 25 hours into the game and have only accrued 705 credits, not even enough to buy a single legendary skin.
Snkfanatic
Banned
I swear 2016 is the year of "get's a pass"
I have never seen that term used so much on this forum than this year. It's crazy.
I have never seen that term used so much on this forum than this year. It's crazy.
I like the idea. Other than that I don't have any problems with the micro transactions. I'm more than willing to put up some cash for a game I like.
Is this serious? You know, read the rest of the freaking sentence..... It's alarming that what you got out from reading this:
It's not an issue they sell blind loot boxes for real money. The issue is that's the ONLY thing you can buy with real-money. (because if they were to allow real-money direct purchase of any item, Blizzard would make less money because people wouldn't resort to buying heaps of boxes to hopefully finally get what they want).
I like how i sidelined the voice line element of my argument to highlight the inherent problems with Overwatch unlocking/MTAs system that still remain anyhow but still i can't get a worthwhile argument in favor of how it works. Why can't i directly purchase with real money any item? Why can't i purchase with real money the game's currency? Why do duplicates grant a fraction of the item's value in Gold?
I guess i'm lucky then that i can spot elements of a game that would make me enjoy it less 'just' by watching it. I can tell you also i would have enjoyed the game less if i would have seen it having a RTS element or something.
I won't answer your taunts question now. There's an issue on a higher level that precedes voice lines that needs to be discussed.
titanfall got a pass from its fans, evolve got a pass from its fans, overwatch gets a pass from its fans
all comments like yours show is salt over a game hitting a large audience you feel it doesn't deserve for whatever stupid reason
I've been playing blizzard games since the 90s. The one thing any blizzard fan knows is they support their games forever but very slowly. That's my whole point.
By the time this free content ever even comes out most people will have moved on entirely. The micro transactions aren't supporting free content it's just profit wrangled from gamers for something that in past blizzard games would have been included. It's just excuse making to say it funds content. Yeah what content? When's the release date? Oh you mean content sometime in 2017?
Let's make a ban bet then. Since your so sure new heroes and content are on the cusp. I'll bet you that in three months we won't see one new hero or more than 2 maps. Is that good? You're so sure despite blizzard saying absolutely zero im sure this will be a slam dunk for you.
Also it goes without saying you're just trying to validate your purchase how much in digital boxes? $80 worth? Id be pretty invested too if I were you paying 120-140 for a mp shooter with 12 maps and 2 real modes.
I'm also not fear mongering. I like overwatch. I just call it how I see it and how it really is for this game and these micro transactions. They are scummy and prey on gamers. If they weren't scummy they would just let us buy what we want. It's pretty obvious and in my face so to speak.
This is an absolutely terrible post. The hand waving and excuse making is just overwhelming.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Ban bets aren't allowed on GAF. Also, it is fearmongering considering that fearmongering usually relies on a bunch of statements that aren't actually facts reinforced by more statements that aren't facts. Which is what this thread was founded on considering statements like this are in the OP:
Doesn't help with that the OP doubled down on the nonsense with disengenous comparisons:
Btw this may shock you, but games development takes time, maps and characters go through a ton of iteration before they're finalized and even then require more polishing to go in line with the current state of the game. And to apply that the funds made from MTs don't go to the development of those things along with keeping the studio running is absolutely ridiculous.
Not sure what the speed with which support comes has to do with whether it costs them money to do it or not, which kind of makes literally everything else you said fall completely apart.
So given that development is continuing on this game post-launch, and development costs money, what would you rather see? Paid character DLC? Paid map packs? Those each have their own downsides; paid map packs split the userbase into haves and have-nots who cannot play together in the same map rotation.
"Heaps of boxes" - legendaries have like a 9% drop rate per box, and you'll get enough gold to buy specific ones in less than 20 bucks worth of boxes, easily, and more money over time as you have more boxes.
It is statistically virtually impossible (read: I will say it has not hapepned to a single person on the planet) to not have the gold to buy a skin you specifically want after buying a 50 box pack. It is virtually impossible not to have enough after buying a 24 box pack. HEAPS OF BOXES is not a thing anyone needs to buy to get what they want, unless they want every fucking item in the game, which might cost a bit.
I don't agree with him, but he does make some valid points, especially in regards to the random nature of the drops encouraging you to play different characters. The first legendary I got was young Genji, and while I didn't really like Genji, I tried it to see how it looks and found him pretty fun, and use him occasionally. If that's the reason behind it, it's actually a precent decent idea.
he acknowledges that they have the temptation to slow down progress in order to encourage people to buy, but says there's no evidence of it, pointing to the fact earn rate and drop rates are the same as in beta. Those are not the only way to slow progress though. Maybe not having reliable income stream is the way blizz is slowing it, making us reliant on random drops to get money. You really want something? You could keep playing for a week and maybe you'll get enough money, or you could buy a ton of boxes and while not guaranteed, will almost certainly still give you a decent bit of cash. There's no way to prove it without being the the room when blizzard plan it, but a regular income stream does seem kind of obvious, and the random drops would still be enough to get people to play other characters via drops.
Towards the end, he mentions how MT's are somewhat self inflicted, since people just seem to want them, and view them as an end themselves. But isn't the reason people want them because they've basically been conditioned to want them, since they're everywhere. The little reward treadmills that have become so ubiquitous? ITs just the way it seems to be. Thats why people like Jim sterling don't like them on principle. ITs not that this game is doing it particularly harmfully, but that the very existence of fee 2 pay will encourage other games to do it, in more exploitative ways, and get people used to accepting it. I think JIms argument is sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sand, even if it's kind of an arbitrary one.
BumblebeeCody
Member
Fuck me in the bum that's silly.
Eh I've just watched it and while I agree, I still disagree with microtransactions in full priced games. It's pretty stupid and I don't care for the "it's just cosmetic" argument. It's still content. At least you can unlock them but Overwatch does have Origin Skins that you'll never see unless you bought the special edition.
But how much of a % of voice lines are still locked away?
I had just a little over 500 currency when I reached level 20 (so 20 boxes) which isn't enough to buy a Legendary skin.
Wuuut
Thats some terrible loot. I had like 5 legendaries with over 2k currency to spend. Some really bad rng on your end :/
He only o[pened half. That's a pretty good and normal haul.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Nothing wrong with giving pre-orderers something special for doing so. What is the purpose of pre-ordering any videogame if there is no incentive for doing so? How do you drive the sale? Seems to me it's either (a) something special and unique in-game or (b) a discount. I think most companies will choose A if they can make enough compelling unique content to help drive sales.
The bottom line is you can unlock everything you want in the game by playing it. ATM I'm sitting on almost 3000 credits and don't even feel compelled by any of the skins I don't have to buy them. I'm good. More than enough money.
you're on. on your side, starting from today (September 4th) we will at most see two new maps. I'll even throw you a bone and NOT count competitive mode as they already said June. On my side, anything more than or besides two maps, not including competitive mode.
p.s. btw, you're right.. I am confident
You just bet against blizzard on post-launch support. I feel so good right now. In other "no-duh" business bets, I am also willing to bet that Apple will release a new iPhone this fall, and that MS will release security updates for Windows 10 within the next 30 days.KojiKnight
Member
Can you call it special edition when it's the only version available for consoles and physically for pc?
Nearly all sales were origin edition.
ãInaba Residentã
Banned
You can get the origin edition digitally on PC
SkullHydra
Member
The game is in no way designed for microtransactions. Nothing that impacts gameplay is behind a microtransaction, and all of it can be earned in game. The game itself didn't even have any kind of progression system at all until it kept getting requested by people in the beta.
Warnen
Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
The MTs fund the updates on the game, doesn't matter if they do nothing game is set up to sell them so it can go on.
He's referring to a game made for mts as a p2w game most likely
you're on. on your side, starting from today (September 4th) we will at most see two new maps. I'll even throw you a bone and NOT count competitive mode as they already said June. On my side, anything more than or besides two maps, not including competitive mode.
p.s. btw, you're right.. I am confident
Ban bet is on!
borghe vs gatti-man
gaf
