SinCityAssassin
Member
I've seen CoD do worse.
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Overwatch marks a new low in Unlocking and Microtransaction systems that I'm aware of
- Thread starter Saty
- Start date
Ray Wonder
Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
Hahahaha. The "New Low"
I think it's fucking great. I absolutely adore it. There's nothing I have to complain about the micro transactions. Unlock it, or buy it. Whichever you want.
I think it's fucking great. I absolutely adore it. There's nothing I have to complain about the micro transactions. Unlock it, or buy it. Whichever you want.
I don't really care one way or the other tbh. But there is a LOT of trash player icons and voices that are probably a bit much.
The real pain in the ass is duplicate items giving you 1/5 of their value in the currency. Even for a duplicate skin. So if you happen to get a skin you already have, which would cost you 250 in gold, it would give you a "duplicate credit" of 50g. I got a duplicate legendary skin and got 200 gold for it (a new one costs 1000g).
I wish they'd just remove dupes from the pool, especially since there are like a bamillion shoddy player icons polluting the pool. But I guess that's the nature of the slot machine, and like it has been said a hundred times, it's purely optional.
The real pain in the ass is duplicate items giving you 1/5 of their value in the currency. Even for a duplicate skin. So if you happen to get a skin you already have, which would cost you 250 in gold, it would give you a "duplicate credit" of 50g. I got a duplicate legendary skin and got 200 gold for it (a new one costs 1000g).
I wish they'd just remove dupes from the pool, especially since there are like a bamillion shoddy player icons polluting the pool. But I guess that's the nature of the slot machine, and like it has been said a hundred times, it's purely optional.
Ditto.
Ghostbound
Member
What a ridiculous thing to complain about, especially since the voice lines are the cheapest thing to unlock.
I get that people don't like microtransactions in full priced games, but it's all cosmetic and can be obtained without paying a single cent. There's also the fact that the money made from this is going to be funding all the new maps and characters they release down the line.
I wonder if people would still be bitching if there were no microtransactions but instead Blizzard just charged for whatever additional content they release in the future.
I get that people don't like microtransactions in full priced games, but it's all cosmetic and can be obtained without paying a single cent. There's also the fact that the money made from this is going to be funding all the new maps and characters they release down the line.
I wonder if people would still be bitching if there were no microtransactions but instead Blizzard just charged for whatever additional content they release in the future.
The usual stuff. People complaining about optional MT.
CS:GO, the most successful FPS multiplayer game of all time has a similar system yet it's worse since you don't get a guarantueed case after you rank up, and even if you get a case you have to buy a key for 2-3€ to unlock it, additional most stuff in the cases is absolute horse shit but you know why you don't get a case everytime? because that's not the point of the game, GAMEPLAY should always be first, nobody cares if you run around with an AWP Dragonlore, well maybe some care because it's one of the most expensive weapons in the game but no matter how your AWP looks you will always do the same damage and that is what's important.
If you're the guy who just wants to show off his cool legendary skins then again this game is just not for you.
Why do you need progression at all? The base game is enjoyable enough. No need for an extrinsic reward. Everything else is extra and completely optional.
burn.money
Neo Member
Sounds like someone just lost to SaltBot too many times.
who cares. the unlocks are free and they dont change the way the game plays and thats what matters. everything is visual. blizz has to make some kind of money if they plan to sustain the game and keep all maps/characters free... also like, once you get the majority of the items, youre just going to rake in gold form crates in the form of dupes.
who cares. the unlocks are free and they dont change the way the game plays and thats what matters. everything is visual. blizz has to make some kind of money if they plan to sustain the game and keep all maps/characters free... also like, once you get the majority of the items, youre just going to rake in gold form crates in the form of dupes.
Braag
Member
It's a smart way of doing things without much backlash. Eventually leveling up slows down to a crawl which means you will get those loot boxes slower and slower. Most players like to customize their heroes so sooner or later you get tempted to buy a few crates.
Blizzard could have made it possible to buy the skins you want outright but then it would be categorized as DLC and we saw how people reacted to that with Evolve which had extra skins for weapons and monsters as DLC.
This way the argument that "all the cosmetic stuff can be unlocked through loot boxes" is valis and if you never get the stuff you actually want, people can say "that's how RNG works" because that's how it is.
Blizzard could have given players small amount of coin each level to eventually buy stuff that they want, but that would make loot boxes less vital for unlocking stuff.
I'm sure once most players are at a level when they aren't unlocking loot boxes at the same rate as now, more people will complain about the microtransactions so Blizzard will most likely introduce faster ways to level up and unlock loot boxes (daily or weekly challenges) but by then they have made good money with the microtransactions all ready.
It was the same thing with Diablo 3 and the real money auction house which after a while they scrapped and they made the loot drops actually useful for the class you're playing.
Blizzard could have made it possible to buy the skins you want outright but then it would be categorized as DLC and we saw how people reacted to that with Evolve which had extra skins for weapons and monsters as DLC.
This way the argument that "all the cosmetic stuff can be unlocked through loot boxes" is valis and if you never get the stuff you actually want, people can say "that's how RNG works" because that's how it is.
Blizzard could have given players small amount of coin each level to eventually buy stuff that they want, but that would make loot boxes less vital for unlocking stuff.
I'm sure once most players are at a level when they aren't unlocking loot boxes at the same rate as now, more people will complain about the microtransactions so Blizzard will most likely introduce faster ways to level up and unlock loot boxes (daily or weekly challenges) but by then they have made good money with the microtransactions all ready.
It was the same thing with Diablo 3 and the real money auction house which after a while they scrapped and they made the loot drops actually useful for the class you're playing.
Rocket League, a game that has a random cosmetic items drop and dlcs for new cars?
giancarlo123x
Banned
Some people will literally complain about anything, there's no winning.
Chronospherics
Member
It isn't as if the game has an astronomical body of content to begin with to justify the $60 tag, maps should be free if they want their game and its MT to last and grow, don't pretend that they're doing us a favour by keeping this game alive with new content - it's in their interest to keep people invested because otherwise the user base declines and the audience for MT drops.
People already paid £40 for a a multiplayer only game, I think they deserve the developers support, without having to suffer a manipulative MT system.
King Gilga
Member
gaf is so overly defensive about OW, it's getting toxic.
And I adored the beta.
And I adored the beta.
Atraveller
Banned
Except Overwatch's quick chat menu wasn't locked, what the hell were you going on about?
I'm generally not much of a fan of unlocking stuff through a random loot grate. Whatever I'll get doesn't feel earned, I just got lucky. I prefer an actual progression
Afaik does the XP requirement for the next level stop to increase after a certain point. (I think it's level 25?) So you definitely get less loot than early on in the game, but it shouldn't grind to a halt.
Afaik does the XP requirement for the next level stop to increase after a certain point. (I think it's level 25?) So you definitely get less loot than early on in the game, but it shouldn't grind to a halt.
I can only speak for myself, but I'd rather have voice lines locked away as opposed to almost anything else because of how inconsequential they are. And claiming that they are locking away "writing" is disingenuous. I mean the voice lines for one of the characters are literally just a few seconds of robotic tweet sounds, all of them.
Just because it's a new thing in micro-transactions doesn't mean its a new low, but I can't convince you otherwise if you really value the voice lines that much.
Funny, you and OP don't even have a single post in the OT so you guys clearly don't care about this game.
Bjoern the Smexy
Member
Those speech lines do nothing for the game's background story.
You are getting angry over nothing.
Also you unlock this stuff with in-game currency, which you cannot buy. You can only buy loot boxes which you can also earn by actually playing the game. These loot boxes also contain the stuff you can unlock with the in-game currency, which you can also get through loot boxes. Also if you get a duplicate of any skin, spray or whatever it gets converted into in-game currency.
I really don't see any problems or "the worst micro transactions situation yet". OP sounds very hyperbolic
You are getting angry over nothing.
Also you unlock this stuff with in-game currency, which you cannot buy. You can only buy loot boxes which you can also earn by actually playing the game. These loot boxes also contain the stuff you can unlock with the in-game currency, which you can also get through loot boxes. Also if you get a duplicate of any skin, spray or whatever it gets converted into in-game currency.
I really don't see any problems or "the worst micro transactions situation yet". OP sounds very hyperbolic
You don't have to post in a game's OT to care about it, you know.
I'm perfectly okay with no progression, i was just saying that challenges are a shitload more interesting way of doing unlocks than random chance.
It certainly does not. It caps at lvl 22-23 and never takes longer after that. And it doesn't take that long to level at that point.
Sure, if you are the kind of person that only does a game or two every session it will take some time but it's not the games fault that you don't play much.
I'm not sure if you're being serious here? I personally never post in any of the OTs if I can help it myself, so it shouldn't be used as a barometer for how much people may care about a game. Places other than NeoGAF exist you know.
It only slows down until level 20, after that the rate is always the same. It also resets to pre-20 levels when you reach level 100, until you reach 120 and so on and so on.
At most, getting a crate will take you around 1/1h30min at worst.
what do you mean? its 40 dollars. not fully priced.
Rocket League is locking it away behind DLCs, see the skins and flags and other stuff. It's not like Overwatch sell you important chat commands like "I need healing", or other stuff. It's just the same fancy stuff no one really needs - like flags, decals and cars in RL, which again are sold seperately as DLC too. And as a BTTF fan I'm more annoyed that RL is locking the BTTF stuff behind a paid DLC than that I have a drop chance for some random speech line in Overwatch.
Hahaha, way to prove his point.
Console players have to pay $60
King Gilga
Member
lmao, either this is sarcasm or it's the dumbest post I've read on this board.
Braag
Member
Didn't know that, that's a good thing considering there's no lv cap (apparently?).
John Kowalski
Banned
Lower than you momma's ever seen it in her lifetime!
Do you really need me to explain to you the negatives of the 'treadmill unlock' design most shooters have been employing since last generation? This subject has been covered dozens times before.
Haha yup. This thread is baffling, but I can't stop reading it.
Do people really think that they are somehow being cheated out of something by not being able to hear Symmetra say "Such Chaos" mid match during the first few hours of playing this game?
Salty Rice
Member
Just realized OP misses a L in the name.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
I think you do, because a lot of people seem to like unlocking things as they play. This isn't something that is exclusive to shooters or started last generation.
I think the crate system is shit too and I've never posted in the OT. Obviously I don't care about the game either. :^)
dealer-
Member
It's dumb, especially when games like The Last of Us MP has micro transactions for weapons and perks that can have a major impact on how the game actually plays.
Yeah, the "negatives" of treadmill unlock was having game impacting options locked behind a progression bar, along with direct feedback as to the nature of your experience grind within the game to encourage people to "grind it out". COD4 is the modern incarnation of this, and for awhile most shooters were doing this (and I believe still continue to?).
Overwatch has absolutely zero gameplay impacting features locked behind the treadmill, and gives you zero feedback as to your level and experience gain during a match until it's over, avoiding the major two problems with treadmill unlock systems.
So please, explain to us why Overwatch is the more heinous example of this.
Pinko Marx
Banned
Hard to tell the sarcasm behind this when people will legitimately post like that.
MMaRsu
Member
They have zero impact on the gameplay. The fact that you can unlock everything by playing is good enough.
The fact that free content will be brought to the end users and without splitting the community is a positive thing.
People who want to spemd their money to buy worthless loot boxes have their own reasons for that. Isnt the saying "a fool and his momey are easily parted" ?
Do you really need to explain? No. Have you played Overwatch? No. Is your opinion an informed one? No.
So to me your opinions hold no grounds, and its really hyperbolic.
NaDannMaGoGo
Member
I mean it's not affecting gameplay and for that reason simply couldn't possibly mark a new low.
What a bullshit claim with all the actually gameplay and design impacting DLC games out there.
What a bullshit claim with all the actually gameplay and design impacting DLC games out there.
That is not the same thing at-all. the chat commands in rocket league are to aid team communication. the overwatch voice taunts, are voice taunts they add nothing to the gameplay.
if blizz put "i need healing" or "attack the point" or "my ult is ready" behind microtransactions then you would be rightly annoyed. but that isnt wat is happening here.
me spamming "A-MEI-ZING" doesnt effect team communication at-all (apart from probably annoying some people and making one of my mates belly laugh every time i do it)
So you have no idea what "treamill unlock" means? There's zero gameplay impacting features behind the MTs. 0. Zero.
Moff
Member
I don't know why everyone keeps reducing my enjoyment to the unlockables. obviously I would not play a game that has only a good unlock/reward system.
I like to play a game that is fun and I like to stay motivated to play for a long time by unlocking legendary skins to show them off. and who doesn't? why do you think are they even there in the first place? why can you buy them with real money? you really think this game does not cater to exactly these kind of players? of course it does. blizzard wants them whales.
but you know what, I'll bite. I'll explain why overwatchs unlock system is rubbish, and I'll explain it with another example from blizzard, heroes of the storm.
in heroes of the storm, apart from buying character you can also unlock tons of skins.
most of them simply cost gold, gold you get for completing matches as well as extra gold for random daily quests. like playing with a spezific character, or a certain class of character (tanks support etc.).
this is an amazing system because 1) after every match and every daily quest you know how much closer you are to the carrot, it's super motivating
2) it also encourages you to not always play the same characters, and to play it daily, which is a nice bonus
overwatch doesn't do either. instead you get a random box with mostly crap. to make things worse you can also buy them, which makes you wonder if blizzard doesn't make them extra bad so more people would buy them with money.
now of course I liked HOTS as a game, I enjoyed playing it, but I confess that I played it far longer than I would have if it did not have such a motivating reward system. I just wish overwatch would have done something similar.
and still, I am surprised that I need to explain such simple concept of customer retentions like a carrot on a stick, and how important it is for most players, in online games on a hardcore nexus like Neogaf.
Chronospherics
Member
This thread is toxic. A number of you have added nothing to the discussion, yet chosen to berate the OP. The level of posting in this thread represents a new low for neogaf (of the threads that I have seen) and as members of this community, many of you should be embarrassed.
I sit here on these boards, to discuss video games and the video game industry at a relatively high level in comparison to other boards, and the whether the OP does or doesn't have a strong argument does not justify the outright disrespectful posts that have featured here. I've quoted some samples below.
I sit here on these boards, to discuss video games and the video game industry at a relatively high level in comparison to other boards, and the whether the OP does or doesn't have a strong argument does not justify the outright disrespectful posts that have featured here. I've quoted some samples below.
『Inaba Resident』;204805941 said:
MMaRsu
Member
If you think they arent gonna add dailys then I dont know what to say ^_^
Chrono not sure what you are trying to do with that wall of shame there. If the replies are "toxic" ( which they are not ), a mod will intervene if he feels that posters are shitposting etc.. No need for that wall of shame duder!
Chrono not sure what you are trying to do with that wall of shame there. If the replies are "toxic" ( which they are not ), a mod will intervene if he feels that posters are shitposting etc.. No need for that wall of shame duder!
There's very little to discuss when the OP begins with factually incorrect assumptions and crazy ass statements.
Because carrot on a stick encouragement has been one of the largest plagues of gaming mentalities the industry has ever seen.
We literally played games for decades without any direct feedback loop of "Do thing, get reward. HEY LOOK ANOTHER REWARD YOU CAN GET".
The reward itself was winning. Hell for some people the reward itself was playing the game. It's not that no one understands carrot on a stick. It's that we all reconize that it's a really shitty and ultimately self defeating method of retaining players and the fact that you happily admit to it as if it's a positive is kind of disheartening.
I played Starcraft for 8+ years without a single "reward", and at no point (until the end) did my motivation ever drop because I didn't have some sort of "carrot on a stick". The idea that games need one now is just sad.