Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition
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@pie_flavor said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
It's also not Overwatch that started it; that's been a thing since TF2 (it was not always free to play but it always had those stupid crates).
TF2 introduced crates 3 years after it launched and then went F2P 9 months later. But maybe you wouldn't remember since you were, what, 8 when TF2 launched?
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@powerlord
It was still before.
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@onyx said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Ok, now, we want more money... If we do paid DLC we might split the playerbase, so we won't do that (this I agree with btw). So, what to do, what to... oh, right, microtransactions! And because we are Blizzard and we know people will lap anything we make up (I mean fuck, we got away with Diablo 3!), make it lootboxes as well!
But we'll still fuck them for those $30 upfront. Not because we need to, but because WE CAN!$40 USD, not $30. And for an extra $20 USD, they throw in cosmetics for all of Blizzard's other currently supported games!!!!!1111
Anyway, I have yet to see mention of one of their other predatory practices:
Some of Overwatch's best cosmetics are only available during the 6 events they run per year, which run for about 3 weeks each. The next one of those ("Archives") starts less than 24 hours from now.
The time limit on those heavily encourages buying lootboxes since there's practically no other way to get all the new skins, emotes, and highlight intros due to Blizzard making them all either the rarest or second rarest drops. Oh, and their in-game currency cost is 3 times the normal price the year they're introduced.
In got bad enough with last year's Anniversary event in May 2017 that Blizzard was forced to add "duplicate protection" to loot boxes due to the sheer number of complaints they got over it. Meaning that it's rare to get duplicates until you've gotten all items of that rarity. This also means you get less currency since a lot of that came from duplicates. See the above part about events to know why that's bad.
Oh right, I forgot to mention that Blizzard added a lot of new items to the item pool a few months back, which means that pools you had previously depleted and could reliably get in-game currency for now give you trash-tier loot again instead.
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@pie_flavor said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Your need to keep gambling implies a need to get the content in the first place - it is cosmetic only so that need is not in place.
I think one interesting thought is that in a game where everyone uses the exact same characters, customization becomes the only way to express yourself or tweak the game to your choosing. So if a multiplayer game offers only cosmetic options, then those cosmetic tweaks are in fact important to players.
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@powerlord said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
@onyx said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Ok, now, we want more money... If we do paid DLC we might split the playerbase, so we won't do that (this I agree with btw). So, what to do, what to... oh, right, microtransactions! And because we are Blizzard and we know people will lap anything we make up (I mean fuck, we got away with Diablo 3!), make it lootboxes as well!
But we'll still fuck them for those $30 upfront. Not because we need to, but because WE CAN!$40 USD, not $30. And for an extra $20 USD, they throw in cosmetics for all of Blizzard's other currently supported games!!!!!1111
As if a 'collector's edition' type thing isn't pretty standard.
Anyway, I have yet to see mention of one of their other predatory practices:
Some of Overwatch's best cosmetics are only available during the 6 events they run per year, which run for about 3 weeks each. The next one of those ("Archives") starts less than 24 hours from now.
Forgot about that date, thanks!
The time limit on those heavily encourages buying lootboxes since there's practically no other way to get all the new skins, emotes, and highlight intros due to Blizzard making them all either the rarest or second rarest drops. Oh, and their in-game currency cost is 3 times the normal price the year they're introduced.
Yeah, and every crate is guaranteed to have something from the event, and the arcade mode free crates were created to deal with this exact event problem. Also only the new skins are triple, the ones they had last year are normal price.
In got bad enough with last year's Anniversary event in May 2017 that Blizzard was forced to add "duplicate protection" to loot boxes due to the sheer number of complaints they got over it. Meaning that it's rare to get duplicates until you've gotten all items of that rarity. This also means you get less currency since a lot of that came from duplicates. See the above part about events to know why that's bad.
And they increased the amount of currency you got when you did get a duplicate, and statistics show you end up with the same net amount of currency but with more items.
Oh right, I forgot to mention that Blizzard added a lot of new items to the item pool a few months back, which means that pools you had previously depleted and could reliably get in-game currency for now give you trash-tier loot again instead.
They also increased the tier chances and the crate drop rate until you'd gotten bonus earnings proportional to it, like I said above. Also, you game the system and complain when you can no longer game the system.
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@bb36e said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
@pie_flavor said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Your need to keep gambling implies a need to get the content in the first place - it is cosmetic only so that need is not in place.
I think one interesting thought is that in a game where everyone uses the exact same characters, customization becomes the only way to express yourself or tweak the game to your choosing. So if a multiplayer game offers only cosmetic options, then those cosmetic tweaks are in fact important to players.
Fair point, but it means a lot less when it's very limited options.
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@magus said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Because you get the worst possible mix: Competitive know-it-all elitists tell everyone that different maps means you have to learn entire new maps, and no one wants that anyway. And then it becomes true, and no one ever plays those modes, so you can never find a game there even if you want to.
One possible solution for the
developer would be to have procedurally-generated maps for each match. It would amuse me to see the pros flip out when they realize that map-specific tactics are now useless.
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@pie_flavor said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
@magus HOTS opinions?
It's probably the best MOBA on the market, and this is coming from someone who hates MOBAs.
The single map problem they solved long ago, and having no items removes the needless complexity of having to memorize hundreds of items (and which items are needed to build other items). Do MOBA players like keeping all this information in their heads at once?
Additionally, the game makes it very clear what you're supposed to be doing at any given point in time. In LoL/DoTA2, it's never clear when you're supposed to be laning, ganking, or whatever. It's also difficult to keep an eye on the bigger picture while trying not to die, and trying to decipher what "ss mid" means. Go to the middle of the map and screenshot? Okay, no problem!
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@groaner said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
once I'm done settling into the new house and have a bit more time.
Hey, congratulations!
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@boomzilla said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
@groaner said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
once I'm done settling into the new house and have a bit more time.
Hey, congratulations!
Thanks, man! About 95% moved in at this point, but still have some loose ends to tie up at the old place. Needless to say, it's going to be a busy couple months. Also, I'm noticing that I get excited and get full of ideas when going to places like Home Depot and Lowe's now. Is that a bad sign?
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@groaner Do you have a lawn?
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@boomzilla said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
@groaner Do you have a lawn?
Not presently. I have a barren, withered shrub in front along with some flowers and a lot of mulch. The backyard is also mulch, and the upper level deck covers most of it. I'd need to check the plans and the HOA regs to see if a couple square feet here or there would be feasible.
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@pie_flavor said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
They pay me in quality content and gameplay.
slurp slurp slurp
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@groaner said in Wherein Onyx is an old crumudgeon, microtransaction edition:
Is that a bad sign?
Probably, but you're doomed anyway…
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I must say, I am surprised that nobody has made a snide comment about the Overwatch forums running Discourse. You all are off your game.
