Goodbye Lootcrates, Hello 'time savers'

[|Dexter|]

Paying to skip content is noting new, they doing this for years in ton of mmo games. But seening this done in a single player is even more crazy!

[minteK917]

Paying to skip content is noting new, they doing this for years in ton of mmo games. But seening this done in a single player is even more crazy!

Lets make single player game that sucks so much, you need to pay to skip some of it lol. How about a better idea, if a game suck ass so much that you need money to skip the game itself, just dont buy the game lol.

Would you pay extra ticket money to skip half a movie because half a movie sucked? No you just think its a garbage movie and never watch it again.

[Dhrizzle]

The only people to blame for ANY paid DLC are the people paying for it. Period. End of discussion.

The developers only add that shit because morons keep paying for it.

I don't think "blame" menthe right term. Personally I'm more than happy if people purchase optional content and boost developers profits, I imagine it helps keep the prices of base games down.

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Lets make single player game that sucks so much, you need to pay to skip some of it lol. How about a better idea, if a game suck ass so much that you need money to skip the game itself, just dont buy the game lol.

Would you pay extra ticket money to skip half a movie because half a movie sucked? No you just think its a garbage movie and never watch it again.

Horses for courses. Some people like games that require a lot of work or grind (what you would consider "suck") whilst others prefer an easier ride. If people are willing to pay to make the game easier then fair play to them. Personally if I find a game too grindy or whatever I just write it off as a bad game.

[Blamblam41]

The gaming industry has changed forever and there is no turning back. People are willing to pay which is why gaming companies insist putting them in in order to stay competitive in the market. This is due to gaming development becomming more and more expensive. Frankly, i try to stay away from loot crates games unless they are purely cosmetic which i don’t mind at all like overwatch and dota 2.

Just because some toothless hick throws his money at day 1 DLC or content pack outfits doesn't mean anything. I can literally go buy shit if I wanted to with my money, I could use that money to have that shit legally mailed to a friend or a rival.

The fundamental problem with modern video games is the disconnect between tricking low awareness consumers into purchasing ridiculous amounts of needless pixels and keeping high awareness consumers with incentives that are more likely to stay as customers longer. Problem being is they've tossed the latter idea to the wind, convinced every consumer is low awareness enough to fall for their cut rate, college level gamer psychology courses.

And to be perfectly frank and add some conjecture: This is because of the rise of artists/animators thinking everything they drop out of Blender is hot shit. No other part of the game is as intensive to make or as expensive to make as the art and the graphical animation, so it's no surprise most gaming corporations are being run by artistic bean counters.

[Doctor Funkenstein]

I don't think "blame" menthe right term. Personally I'm more than happy if people purchase optional content and boost developers profits, I imagine it helps keep the prices of base games down.

No, blame is completely the right word. And no, that's not the end result. The end result is... what we have right now. That's what happens when morons pay for DLC bullshit. You just get more DLC bullshit, with practically everything worthwhile buried behind it.

[Dhrizzle]

No, blame is completely the right word. And no, that's not the end result. The end result is... what we have right now. That's what happens when morons pay for DLC bullshit. You just get more DLC bullshit, with practically everything worthwhile buried behind it.

I have very few complaints about the current state of video games. In terms of choice and convenience it's light years ahead of where it was when unstaffed gaming. I very rarely buy DLC and pretty much never feel like I'm missing out.

[Baconeggcheese]

No, blame is completely the right word. And no, that's not the end result. The end result is... what we have right now. That's what happens when morons pay for DLC bullshit. You just get more DLC bullshit, with practically everything worthwhile buried behind it.

I mean, what we really have to blame is that the price of a base game has remained 60$ and people would lose their shit if it went up.

They need to make up the difference somewhere, so they have to come up with all this BS to get the rest of the money that should have been built into the initial cost. If people want them to stop playing these games with DLC and microtransactions they need to be willing to pay the proper cost up front.

[Afrospinach]

I mean, what we really have to blame is that the price of a base game has remained 60$ and people would lose their shit if it went up.

This is BS. If they needed to put the price up they would and just like the microtransactions people would complain and pay.

The real reason is there is a pretty deep psychology behind nickel and diming people such as hiding the actual cost of a game and feeding on completionists etc, even more so when you abstract that with a replacement currency that people have to buy to then buy your shit.

[therealbowser]

Yeah as long as the loot crates are just pure cosmetic stuff I have no problem with it at all.

This. I've played games where they are purely cosmetic, and I've played games where they are not. Overwatch, for instance, handles it okay. I don't prefer the loot box system, but as far as my opinion is concerned... it's the lesser evil when compared to the alternatives.

IE: Forced DLC purchases, game is virtually unplayable unless you buy, pay to win... the list goes on and on. I hate free to play on principle, but the sad thing is that a lot of these games aren't even free to play... lol.

[Powerogue]

I can't find anything in the article implying they're selling any direct in-game advantages. Unless a "prestige weapon" or vehicle is one? I thought we were talking about them integrating phone game mechanics where you can pay or wait 6 days for your virtual farm to grow and whatnot.

[Baconeggcheese]

This is BS. If they needed to put the price up they would and just like the microtransactions people would complain and pay.

The real reason is there is a pretty deep psychology behind nickel and diming people such as hiding the actual cost of a game and feeding on completionists etc, even more so when you abstract that with a replacement currency that people have to buy to then buy your shit.

There's a massive difference between forcing money up front and having optional purchases after the fact. Plenty of people buy base games and then never spend anything past that. Imagine the entire market for children / young adults who's parents are buying the games with no idea about any of this stuff and whether or not they'd be willing to drop 90$ vs 60$. Upping the initial price would have a huge affect on those sales.

Its been kept at 60$ for a reason, its naive to think they wouldn't have upped the price by now otherwise. Its not like they kept the price the same out of the goodness of their hearts.

[Aliven]

This. I've played games where they are purely cosmetic, and I've played games where they are not. Overwatch, for instance, handles it okay. I don't prefer the loot box system, but as far as my opinion is concerned... it's the lesser evil when compared to the alternatives.

IE: Forced DLC purchases, game is virtually unplayable unless you buy, pay to win... the list goes on and on. I hate free to play on principle, but the sad thing is that a lot of these games aren't even free to play... lol.

Game with cosmetics in shop or loot boxes have them mostly as the only cosmetics in game. IE overwatch.

Cosmetics are influencing gameplay.

[Lahis]

Isnt farcry a singleplayer?
And singleplayers usualy have cheats dont they?
Why the heck would anyone play for cheats.

Single player games stopped having free cheats years ago.

These days those are called microtransactions.

[therealbowser]

Game with cosmetics in shop or loot boxes have them mostly as the only cosmetics in game. IE overwatch.

Cosmetics are influencing gameplay.

Wat? This doesn't even make sense. Would you care to elaborate?

[Aliven]

Wat? This doesn't even make sense. Would you care to elaborate?

Of course it makes sense.

For starters - if you sell any kind of lootboxes or items from cash shop you need to make them appealing for spenders. Because you just poured time, manpower and money into creating those assets instead of paid dlc. How do you make it? Simple - cash shop / loot box items are simply better in quality (higher resolution textures, more detailed models), in game items look like trash (low resolution textures, weird color scheme, etc) or just outright refuse to do any cosmetics outside of item shop / loot box (overwatch).
Simply you create cash shop / loot box shit to sell it for real money. And you better be sure it will sell or you just failed in game dev.

Secondly everyone want to look good. People like to dress up they little dolls (characters) in game using transmog like features to use wow as a example. Player who want to make his character light wielding paladin could be unhappy if he needed to wear spandex like armor with gimp mask. Because it out of his perceived character fantasy.

Ever wondered why transmog like shit are one of the best feature ever implemented in mmos? Ever wondered why cash shop items are full of cosmetics?
HINT: Cosmetics in item shop are not because dev team if your friend. It is there because they sell waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than any p2w item could ever hope to archieve.
We are vain species. Simple as that. Game devs know this and exploit it like no tomorrow.

[Dhrizzle]

Single player games stopped having free cheats years ago.

These days those are called microtransactions.

I'm not usually one to get into the PC vs. Console discussion, but PCs are great if you really want to cheat in games.

[therealbowser]

Of course it makes sense.

For starters - if you sell any kind of lootboxes or items from cash shop you need to make them appealing for spenders. Because you just poured time, manpower and money into creating those assets instead of paid dlc. How do you make it? Simple - cash shop / loot box items are simply better in quality (higher resolution textures, more detailed models), in game items look like trash (low resolution textures, weird color scheme, etc) or just outright refuse to do any cosmetics outside of item shop / loot box (overwatch).
Simply you create cash shop / loot box shit to sell it for real money. And you better be sure it will sell or you just failed in game dev.

Secondly everyone want to look good. People like to dress up they little dolls (characters) in game using transmog like features to use wow as a example. Player who want to make his character light wielding paladin could be unhappy if he needed to wear spandex like armor with gimp mask. Because it out of his perceived character fantasy.

Ever wondered why transmog like shit are one of the best feature ever implemented in mmos? Ever wondered why cash shop items are full of cosmetics?
HINT: Cosmetics in item shop are not because dev team if your friend. It is there because they sell waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than any p2w item could ever hope to archieve.
We are vain species. Simple as that. Game devs know this and exploit it like no tomorrow.

Nothing in your post elaborated on how cosmetics impact gameplay, aside from an assumption that they are replacing 'paid dlc'... which really is not true at all. Certainly not in the cases I am thinking of (Overwatch, for instance, has regularly implemented new content. I doubt cutting cosmetic content would have suddenly caused a ton of gameplay out of nowhere).

Aesthetic loot, by definition, does not impact gameplay. Which is the entire point. If it doesn't impact gameplay, then I really don't feel like loot boxes are a big deal.

[Socialhealer]

AC: Origins also had time savers like crafting materials, skill points, maps to all the treasure and so on buyable for cash in the ingame shop. That's nothing new.

also 100% pointless, I've got all of those things and paying for them would actually make the game worse, whats the point of an open world to explore that you essentially pay to remove exploration? that's pay to remove content rofl.

on topic that's fine, if the devs make the game so grindy and boring people feel they actually need to purchase these time savers like mobile games, they'll soon find their game dying. these time savers only work if the game is really fun and addictive and you're literally staring at the clock waiting for the next thing then you might get a lot of people buying them but good luck pulling off that miracle.

[Silver Forte]

People complaining about money are often the ones without it.

Or the ones with dignity who refuse to waste the cash they have on things that are overpriced. Having money doesn't mean you should spend it wildly.

[Hubbl3]

also 100% pointless, I've got all of those things and paying for them would actually make the game worse, whats the point of an open world to explore that you essentially pay to remove exploration? that's pay to remove content rofl.

It's basically paying for cheatcodes.