NOTE: This is MY OPINION on the matter, I am not here to tell 343 what to do or how it has to be, just how I personally think it would be at an acceptable point for ME personally. You may like it but most likely, you won’t. We can have a healthy discussion about it, don’t yell, don’t be rude, quote the part you respond to and give your own opinion on it in a healthy and constructive matter.
Some of these statements will contradict each other, those statements are presented as alternatives for one another.
Now, with that out of the way, onto the problem and my take on the situation and how I think it should have been and could still be.
Halo Infinite finally got released into our hands in the form of an early Multiplayer ‘‘beta’’, everyone was beyond excited and hopped on the game. A lot of people bought the Battle Pass out of the goodness of their heart and faith in 343 Industries to deliver based on the promises they have made.
It didn’t take long until people realized that a lot of stuff was locked behind the Premium track of the Battle Pass and the store.
This understandably made a lot of people angry, I myself found this rather disappointing.
What really bothered me though, was looking through the customization menu and finding a couple of options including coating, armour pieces, emblems, weapon stickers etc., and that all of these were locked, some that could be unlocked through the Battle Pass both on the Free and the Premium track, but the worst part, were the ‘‘stay tuned for more details’’ items, you quickly realized that these were store items.
The game launched with some customization options and these were locked!?
I can’t even begin to understand what went through their head when they decided to include these items when you can’t even access them. Hype maybe? Getting people excited for store bundles? Probably.
That to me is the big issue right now, you have these items that were included at the launch of the multiplayer, but locked them behind a paywall for a later date.
Now, how would this have been fixed (and still can be)?
Simple,
- unlock what is showed in these menus right now, save for anything currently in the Battle Pass, naturally.
- Emblems and Nameplates should not be unlocked through store bundles, make them free and either let player earn them through Challenges or simply add them to the customization right away. Sure, some Emblems could be sold in emblem packs such as Chibi character packs for 200-500 credits ($2-$5). Do NOT put an Emblem in a $7-$20 as some people might want the Emblem but not the other items and it’s absurd that they should have to shill out up to $20 for a single Emblem.
- Alternatively, add Emblems and Nameplates to the Free track of the Battle Pass, either replacing or being bundled together with either a Double XP boost or a Challenge Swap.
- Make Double XP a consistent earnable resource, every 5-10 levels of the Battle Pass should give you a Double XP, this slot will be bundled with either a Premium item or a Free item, example of this would be an Emblem or Nameplate.
- Double XP should also be earnable by completing Challenges, by giving a bundle of them of at least two for completing the Final Weekly Challenge.
- Challenge Swaps should preferably be removed in its entirety and made free and replaced by a set amount of swaps that refreshes either daily or weekly alongside the Store and Challenges.
- Armour, armour should not be a Premium track item. People play through this Battle Pass for the armour sets. You know it, I know it, that’s why they are Premium tiers. When you have a themed Battle Pass such as this one being called ‘‘Heroes of Reach’’ and themed around Halo: Reach, these armour pieces related to that theme have to be free. Naturally, you still want people to be incentivized to buy the Premium track, and while some including me would still buy it just for all the rewards and to support a healthy development of this game, I realize that we’re probably a minority, at least right now. So my proposal is to add some armour pieces to the Premium tiers, these being new armour pieces designed for Halo Infinite and not from previous games or related to the current Theme.
- A full Themed Battle Pass will give you at the very least one full armour set, the minimum that I would be willing to support. Preferably, two sets. One related to the Theme of the Battle Pass, and another that is a new Halo Infinite set.
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To me, you are welcome to keep the store, not that I even for a second think that will ever go away. However, the Store needs a serious overhaul of its content and prices. Currently, what you buy is not even remotely fair for what you get. An armour coating and a stance for $7? Yeah right.
Add categories. Armour, coatings, Spartan ID (Emblems, Nameplates and Stances all go in here), Grants(Grants is a category that would be used for XP Boost, XP Grants (the same you’d get through event BPs) and if you want, you can even keep selling Challenge Swaps in the same category as Grants.
I believe in player choice, that is why I think that even with earnable Boosts, Grants and Swaps players should have the choice to buy them to speed up their progress if they so choose. That way the Players get what they want, and You still get your money. - Bundle Armour pieces together, Emblems together, Coatings together and then sell Stances separately. Price these fairly and accordingly. Grants and Swaps should never cost more than 200 per item, Spartan ID items should never cost more than 500 credits per pack or Stance, Coatings should never cost more than 200 per item, it would be preferred if coatings were bundled into one big pack that worked for all your weapons, these could then be priced higher but never cost more than 1500 credits, preferably at most 1000 credits, Armour sets should never cost more than 1500 credits, if you bundle armour sets, put a discount on the price. Two sets for 2000, three sets for 3750 etc. However, I would prefer it if at most two sets were sold in a pack as the price would hike up pretty fast.
So that’s it, that is my take on this situation and a suggestion on how I think this can be improved in a way that would make me satisfied.
Again, I reiterate, this is my opinion on the matter and not something I am telling 343 how to make it, I want an open discussion on how to make this situation better in a way that works for all three parties, these parties being the Free players, Players who pay for stuff when they want to, and of course 343 Industries themselves.