I have always been a bit of an ‘unlock’ addict. For instance, with Halo 4 I bought all the preorder codes off eBay to ensure I unlocked everything.
With Halo Infinite being free to play I knew the shop microtransaction system would be too expensive to keep up with so I decided to ignore it all together.
I’ve just gone through the different shop bundles to see what I don’t have in the game.
To have everything unlocked (935 items including repeated emblems) I would have needed to buy 167 bundles for 129,500 credits.
That is just over £900+ GBP if I was buying the best value credit bundle (10,000 + 1,500 free).
So I’m glad I decided from the outset not to try and unlock everything. However…
As it’s a FTP live service game I realise they need people to be buying from the shop so I think I am adapting and coming around to the idea of today’s FTP/microtransaction models (I am an old-school gamer).
I think I may buy a few items occasionally, especially as the battle pass now pays for itself each season with the 1000 free credits it gives. There are a few nice looking items I would like to have.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts.
Also, has anyone been trying to keep up with all the shop items?
I bought 1 item when infinite launched, but as soon as I looked at what 343 was offering vs what they will make with the shop my wallet instantly closed.
I get businesses need to make money and there is nothing wrong with that using the shop, but there was no need to build the game based off of it. 343 could have easily made it a benefit for them as well as ourselves, but they chose not to
Halo Infinite made record profit from the sale of the stand alone Campaign, which still cost full price, but hey, PVP is free. Many people have game pass, also extremely profitable, considering most games on game pass are just the free to play component of games, see a pattern anyone?
I actually really look forward to checking the shop each week. I’m fine with spending more money on the game to get cool customization options outside the BP. I’ve bought the halo effect, the Superintendent bundle, and a few other items, but altogether I may have spent $20 since launch. Ultimately, the value of the cosmetics to their relative price points just isn’t there. Today, for instance: $5 for a single armor effect just isn’t worth it; $2-3 would be. $3 for a specific core’s armor coating and some emblems isn’t terrible, I almost bought it, but the event pass chest piece covers up the emblem (yet again), so nope not worth it to me.
Personally, I think the shop needs a serious rework. I think a better implementation would be to have static price points across the board, with bundles providing discounted individual prices at a higher initial cost. For example:
Emblems - $1
Coatings - $2
Armor Effects and Stances - $3
Bundles are relative to how many items they contain, with maybe a 25-50% decrease in individual prices.
Just my two cents. I really hope 343i finds a better way to provide value in the shop, as each week I’m mostly disappointed by what’s on offer, as well as how much it all costs.
i hope the shop is scrapped for a better concept all together
like
and im spit ballin here
halo mcc,… unlock all armors
make them play to earn with a sense of progression to give the armor value… so like the best looking stuff is harder to earn…
not with challenges… tho halo reachs system did allow for that and i wasnt against it… gave me something to do
with skill based progression… u played horribly u will level slower than if u play well…
of course to allow for cash flow,… offer a way to bypass the leveling and buy the armor… this is very standard stuff and people wont feel ripped off if they know the value of what they r buying… not just being showed an armor and being told its 10 bucks and everyone is like… why… its not all that great looking and i can earn better looking stuff
I still stand by that the shop has no right to exist. People are already paying $60 for the campaign and $10 per battlepass. The inclusion of the shop is nothing more than greed.
Scrap the shop and either add those items to the battlepass or give them in game methods of being unlocked via achievement.
I came into infinite expecting to spend maybe $30-$60 a year in the store, not because I love cosmetics, but to support the game and further improvements. Even before launch it was clear to me that the game wouldn’t deliver a complete experience worth any of my money.
With season 2, I ended up buying the session pass because improvements had come, and I felt like I had gotten more than $10 worth of entertainment out of the game. Maybe I’ll throw another $10 at them if forge is as good as everyone is hyping it to be.
I still haven’t paid a dime for campaign. If the length/quality was on par with other recent AAA single player/cooperative experiences I would have gladly thrown $60 at them. However, what we have now (even 9 months after launch) is less than even previous halo games. So I would value it at a $15-$20 experience. Once we get functioning co-op then it’s on par with previous games, so I’ll be fine paying $30 for it.
The only item I’ve bought was Season 1’s Battle Pass. I honestly wish I wouldn’t bought a HCS team’s skin. Other than that, I’m happy with playing the game for what it is.
campaign is worth it in my opinion, not a lot of variety but man it delivers that good ole halo vibe for sure. the story isn’t perfect, and the environments are all the same looking, but the gameplay is… chef’s kiss
Save your money on the campaign. I got a free month of gamepass with my Discord nitro and played through it and can tell you it’s not worth anything. The story is sloppy and feels kinda just slapped together last second and as far as gameplay goes it gets extremely repetitive with very little variety despite being in an open world environment.
The scenarios 343 put in pale to comparison the effort put into the Bungie era campaigns. There isn’t any large scale battles. At most you can have a the amount of marines you can fit in a warthog brought into battle but other than that, nothing. Not to mention nothing comparable to a scarab battle either, just moving from place to place shooting guys. Absolute waste of money that I’m glad I didn’t have to spend.