Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: MP-Ryan on November 13, 2017, 09:30:36 am
-
EA's cynicism and exploitation knows no bounds (look at the epic number of downvotes): https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7cff0b/seriously_i_paid_80_to_have_vader_locked/dppum98/?st=j9xzevs1&sh=4986ce34
And here's the issue more succinctly summed up: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlefront/comments/7cnb3i/psa_the_christmas_war_with_ea_is_just_beginning/
EA has made it clear that they are going to continue to exploit gambling psychology and totally **** their playerbase. It seems they may have finally motivated players to fight back.
-
It's a shame, SWBF2 did look kinda interesting in its trailers.
Oh well, that's 60€ I can spend on better games then....
-
Every single gaming related youtube channel has covered this in one way or another. It's just blatantly pay to win in a 60$/€ title.
And the worse part, they are going to get away with this too. This is the future of the 'triple A' games industry. People will keep buying these titles and the microtransactions within.
gg no re
-
Eeeem...
(http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/45/453b598020b97c57aaf95ceef79b9de947770f6c6474bb49d6e03ea6bcde8754.jpg)
This thread should be named "Don't buy EA games". Almost every game with EA label is actually a crap with tons of microtransactions. Recent titles like NFS: Payback or this are even worse, as paid stuff is affecting actual balance of the game. Activision is no better.
-
Goddammit. I play BF1 quite a bit, and it has overwatch style Lootboxes: All things in there are entirely cosmetic skins for your guns, planes, and tanks. It's quite alright...
... And then this happens and damn that escalated quickly.
-
Even worse than all the loot box business, they are still legitimizing the prequels by including scenery and enemies from those disgusting movies.
Say No to anything that legitimizes the star wars prequels!
-
Before you get out your choice "words" for EA, I would like to prupose to you that you are shooting the metaphorical messenger.
But we have had that discussion before and again and again. It is kinda tiring to have it once more.
-
Jim Sterlinggg...
-
Before you get out your choice "words" for EA, I would like to prupose to you that you are shooting the metaphorical messenger.
"Shooting the messenger" would be trying to kill the EA PR flak that posted the reddit comment; EA making the decision to engage in predatory microtransactions and consumers responding poorly is the exact opposite of shooting the messenger. It's called "suffering the consequences of your actions".
-
Downvotes are still flooding in; that EA guy's post has absolutely crushed the previous downvote record by over an order of magnitude.
A lot of people are saying that people will keep buying the games, and they probably will, but here's the issue of games as a service: you need people playing them for it to work. If the servers wind up populated with a small number of whales, only playing against other whales, they're going to get bored and move on, because the entire point is to crush the plebs that don't have thousands to chuck into the fire.
-
Well EA got scared. They just cut the character credit costs by 75% across the board.
Still not enough, still heavy on randomized microtransactions. The players shouldn't cave. EA knows they're in deep ****.
-
Yeah, they did, but at the same time, they reduced the rewards:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2017/11/13/wheres-our-star-wars-battlefront-ii-review.aspx?utm_content=buffer3929d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
-
Downvotes are still flooding in; that EA guy's post has absolutely crushed the previous downvote record by over an order of magnitude.
A lot of people are saying that people will keep buying the games, and they probably will, but here's the issue of games as a service: you need people playing them for it to work. If the servers wind up populated with a small number of whales, only playing against other whales, they're going to get bored and move on, because the entire point is to crush the plebs that don't have thousands to chuck into the fire.
That's something that worries me too - that the game will sell well regardless. I think it will be a case of mum buying wee jim SWBF2 for christmas and wee jim and his mates all have the game as well. Now wee jim and his mates might play the game every now and then, they might even play it a lot, but the gamers out there (people who would identify themselves as gamers) won't be playing it and won't be putting money into loot crates.
I doubt mum is going to let wee jim waste all his pocket money on lootcrates if mum has her head screwed on properly. In the long run there will probably be enough sales and enough players to justify the game's existence, but the loot crate economy won't work because it requires dedicated gamers that will spend money on it. This is an unproven assumption of course, but I think it's fair to say that casual players probably don't engage in microtransactions at the same volume as dedicated gamers.
So the game will probably be a success, but the loot crate system might still fail and hopefully that will send the right message to EA.
I'll admit that this is somewhat wishful thinking on my part, because if the worst happens and EA discovers that this evil ****ing system of theirs actually makes them more money then future games will absolutely adopt the same model and we will plunge into an age of darkness fuelled by the cancer of mobile gaming and microtransactions.
-
To bad we couldn't all just agree to be sensible humans and refrain from buying any extra paid content. So, buy the game, but, even if you think it's worth it, refuse to buy any micro out of principle, which would send EA the same message as boycotting.
Problem is, whales and also those who haven't thought it through, or don't care. So we're back to not buying the game.
-
Belgium is actually investigating the game for the gambling shenanigan.
According to Kotaku:
https://kotaku.com/battlefront-overwatchs-loot-boxes-under-investigation-1820486239
Belgian website VTM is reporting that the country’s Gaming Commission is currently taking a look at loot boxes in video games, with particular focus on EA’s inclusion of them in Star Wars: Battlefront II and Blizzard’s use in Overwatch.
Outstream Video
Peter Naessens, General Director of the commission, says that the practice of buying the add-on boxes—where you don’t know what you’re paying for until you open it—may constitute gambling.
It’s a particular concern for the Commission when the game is available for and marketed towards children, like Overwatch and Battlefront II are (in Europe both titles have a PEGI rating of 12).
If the EU could bring themselves to be on the same page, it would be awesome.
e: Although, tbf, I don't necessarily see this as something fundamentally different than, say, Kinder Surprise. I am just disgusted that this practice is getting widespread and preying on those who are psychologically weak, be them children or adults with mental issues.
-
Game lootboxes, particularly of the EA variety where they are non-cosmetic and affect gameplay, actually exploit gambling tendencies far more effectively than collector cards and Kinder surprise, etc. In those, you know you are receiving a product of a particular set value, while the contents themselves are randomized. In gaming lootboxes, they explicitly set up the system to exploit the ease with which the purchases are made and usually obscure it through a "points" digital currency, which hides the real dollar figure and disconnects the actual financial charge from the gambling. It's predatory, especially as it targets kids. To my thoughts, gambling regulators have been exceptionally slow to take this on.
On the other subject, of buying the game but not paying for content, this Twitter thread is a good read:
https://twitter.com/ZenOfDesign/status/930809632859344896
Short version? 2-5% of players will pay for content in F2P games. Those games rely on a massive player base to keep the game fun and populated for the whales. The only way to cut off the money from the whales is for regular users not to play the game at all, which makes whales far less inclined to continue to spend any sort of money on it. As long as some playerbase exists, there will always be a low percentage of users who are willing to fork over major money. The take-away from the above is that they only way companies take a financial hit for ****ty practices is to cut the number of players.
Hence.... don't buy SWBF2.
-
Someone needs to integrate the EA logo into this song (cut in the EA logo at "this centipede is a predator", then go on montage of all the heinous crimes against their customers they have committed over the years):
-
I have zero problem with pay-to-unlock non-cosmetic content in F2P games. That's how they make their money. I've probably spent a couple hundred dollars on War Thunder premium vehicles over the last 4 years. But to have that **** in a full-priced game is ****ing garbage and I refuse to buy a game that has it.
-
I have zero problem with pay-to-unlock non-cosmetic content in F2P games. That's how they make their money. I've probably spent a couple hundred dollars on War Thunder premium vehicles over the last 4 years. But to have that **** in a full-priced game is ****ing garbage and I refuse to buy a game that has it.
That would depend on the curve of paid content. If the game is structured so that whales rule the roost, while the rest have to fight tooth and nail, even if they splurged a reasonable amount to pay for the game, then that's bogus. (You shouldn't have to spend more than the game's worth to compete effectively in-game). I dunno how War Thunder premium stacks up with that, though. Or WoWs or WoTs, for that matter, although they seemed fair enough when I was playing a year or two ago... those games are fun.. Hmm. *resists urge to fire WoWs up*
-
It would appear that papa Disney has stepped in and given a needed smack to its EA step child. The pay model has been suspended for the near future.
While this isn't an all clear to the game. Hopefully, something good will come out of it long term.
-
It would appear that papa Disney has stepped in and given a needed smack to its EA step child.
Don't kid yourself; the likelyhood that Disney didn't already knew, or if they didn't that Disney actually cared, is infinitesimal.
-
We're talking about the company that is basically holding US copyright law hostage (with the help of the bought and paid for lawmakers). All the Disney stuff should have passed into public domain long ago (you know, where Disney originally plucked their ideas from).
-
OOOOoooohyeeeaaaah baby.
-
(https://i.imgur.com/jIQwd8E.jpg)
-
roflmao
-
OOOOoooohyeeeaaaah baby.
Glad regulators are finally waking up. Randomized lootboxes based on real-world financial transactions are predatory gambling exploitation, and they need to be regulated as such.
EA finally did something right - they stepped so far into exploitation that they've forced lawmakers to act.
-
"the market will regulate itself out" roflmao where are the ancaps right now.
That would be the dreamworld ancap-ism would bring us: full on exploitative casinos all around us, disguised as free utopias, gathering information and playing with all of our psychological loopholes to skin us pennyless to death. AnCaperism at its finest, Joe Camel-ism at full throttle.
I'm also psyched that they used the sentence "We shouldn't allow Star Wars to encourage kids to gamble".
Disney must be loving all this overwhelming attention they are getting just before Last Jedi hits the screens. They must be loving EA for it. I can't imagine all the love letters they are throwing at each other right now!
-
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the meetings between Disney and EA on this would be glorious. I mean, Star Wars is a literal cash cow; you feed the fanbase with anything remotely SW-related, and money flows in your hands. It's truly impressive how badly EA managed to **** this up.
-
This is the 2nd EA title this year that I've paid for only to end up severely disappointed in, why do I keep letting them dupe me into shoveling money out for crap games? They've completely ruined both Star Wars and Mass Effect for me and at this point I just can't trust them to ever clean their act up. I will definitely not preorder another EA title ever again and they will be lucky if I ever buy another one of their games. This is going to be bigger than the Mass Effect 3 ending backlash and EA truly deserves the negative hit to their reputation this is going to bring.
-
EA has needed to just go away for a long time now. But, you know, so has Disney (customizing US copyright law to maximize their profits for the foreseeable future). *shrug* Sucks, man.
-
Pretty sure Bioware ruined Mass Effect all on their own.
-
I stopped buying EA games after the first Dragon Age. ****ty EULAs tend to strongly telegraph a willingness--if not intention--to engage in anti-consumer practices.
-
Pretty sure Bioware ruined Mass Effect all on their own.
Remember when we all lauded the ME3 Multiplayer which, incidently, had lootboxes?
Let the implication sink in...
-
Remember when we didn't like the lootbox crap back then?
Because, if I recall correctly, our consensus back then was that the gameplay itself was sweet, but that having to rely on a random unlock system sucked.
-
How well is BF2 selling anyway? My Uncle bought it right in front of me, and I was going to object... but whatever. He's already stopped playing it though, he's only had it for like 3 days.
-
Remember when this thread was about Battlefront? :D
-
Remember when this thread was about Battlefront? :D
I did. Split.
-
I really really want to try this solely for the Starfighter Assault mode developed by Criterion. But my days of paying $60 for any game are long past (also thanks to EA, when I realized I had spent about $110 total on BF3 and all the expansions, some of which i never touched). The pay-to-win aspects EA has added only further ensure they won't get any of my money. Unfortunately I think there are enough whales out there with disposable income to offset the likes of us, and the trend will only get worse.
-
I really really want to try this solely for the Starfighter Assault mode developed by Criterion. But my days of paying $60 for any game are long past (also thanks to EA, when I realized I had spent about $110 total on BF3 and all the expansions, some of which i never touched). The pay-to-win aspects EA has added only further ensure they won't get any of my money. Unfortunately I think there are enough whales out there with disposable income to offset the likes of us, and the trend will only get worse.
That's one part of the gameplay that actually disappointed me. If you plan on using mouse + kb then you'll have to wrestle with the virtual joystick. I don't know if you can turn it off, you couldn't in the beta.
The flying is actually great on joystick though. Having played it last night at a friend's, the impression I get is that other than the gameplay tweaks, BF2 is really just more of the same only with a very short campaign and thankfully no season pass. The game is fun, but also a bit lacking in depth and stuff to do.