Yes i know, another “one” of these Topics, i get the frustration which some folks might face due they have to deal with the same Type of Topic over and over again, and i feel ya. Esp. if said Topic get repeated in a pretty non-saying way like Title and Text are pretty basic like “this is sh***” and having nothing Constructive to say about it. Still i felt like the neccessity to express my opinion and take on this whole Situation, due the mass of Topics centered around it a mere post might go under.
As a Sidenote i’ve also to point out, that i see myself rather “more” Open-Minded if it comes down to stuff like that. Majority of Time controversal Stuff like this i find it isn’t a issue of it’s concept / core per se, but rather the execution and iteration of it. Example: I actually might be one of the Folks who geniunly liked “overall” the Halo 5 “Lootbox” system and for me it’s still one of the best iteration of it. Why? Because the IG Currency to buy this was IMO pretty fair… not to grindy, not to thrown at you, arather on a nice spot, and due the fact for permanents there didn’t duplicates exist it felt like you have a real progression. Same goes for the Battlepass “concept” because esp. 343i is in my opinion one of the great examples, how it’s done rather correctly, looking at what they delievered with TMCC. It was actually the reason why it convinced me that Battlepass have Potential and i was looking forward it…esp. when they announced it won’t be FOMO.
And that’s something which i can’t highlight enough… but even if there might flawed aspects about your Progression in Infinite, scrapping FOMO is the best Decision you ever made, and i really hope (if any dev read it at all) you stick to that. I mean it, if you don’t introduce FOMO in Battlepass at all, you will see me buy every battlepass each Season, simply because how much value it gives.
Of course that goes with the idea, that you deliever also a proper post-launch support with Infinite, like Maps, Modes, etc. Battlepass if you look at why it existed, wasn’t meant to replace post-launch-content support, but rather find a way on top of the post-launch content support to properly monetarize it / “fund” the extra stuff. If everything you will do is only throwing out BP with Cosmetics, than it’s problematic too, but thats a different talk. Another Note which we’ve to point out beforehand is that we also have to wait and see, what you deliever at the Full Release. People seems to forget that we still have gotten only a “beta” beforehand, were we not even have access to the full Game yet… so at releae alot of stuff might change or enhance.
That being said, i’ve geniunly some Concerns and Critique about:
First off all, one Major issue right now is, that the only unlockables and progression is build around the battlepass and the premium-currency shop. Battlepass is great and all to give us new cosmetics afterward, but i kinda share the opinion that there should be also some meat for purely playing, esp. if you consider that for campaign people have to pay fullprice for the Game. Granted that we yet have still wait and see (because we know already that some stuff will be unlocked via capaign) how much meat we got on that. If there is more than enough to unlock it’s less of an concern, but it’s also somewhat problematic if even for Multiplayer alone you don’t have much to unlock. It would’ve been great if a set of basic stuff would be purely unlockable.
Secondly: I disagree with people who say the BP itself should have premium-currency so you can buy the next BP, because i find after the decision of making BP not FOMO, it’s only deserved that you have to pay for it. Because due no Timelimit you can take all the time what you want to unlock said Currency, which basically make every other Battlepass for free without any concern, risk or even geniunly working for it. However i agree with people about the Special-Currency if it’s purely about Shop-Items because again - if you not really have anything to unlock by playing, maybe except the few events here and there, and a few of the free stuff on bp, there isn’t much to unlock to begin with. But People even without paying need some sort of carrot as an extra motivational push, esp. if a game allows quite some custumization but it comes off wrong if “everything” is gated behind a paywall.
Third: The Big elephant in the Room, Progression. Of course again, we need to keep in mind that the Game isn’t fully released, so maybe at release we see some changes or you even planned to do something about it but won’t make it at release. Still the concern goes that right now the Progress is rather Unfun and Slow. Challenges are good thing as additional ways to grind for Exp or get some extra stuff, i go as far and argue, esp. for a Battlepass Concept it’s pretty horrible idea, because it unneccessary slow down the process and even try to force people to certain playstylse and modes. The Reason why it worked for TMCC that fine is due how varied the concept was, from different types (like PvP and PvE which obviously can change) to what kind of rewards, not only EXP but also direct unlock points, and also this was built on top of a classic exp-leveling-progress. In case of Infinite it feels flatout limited, and the exp-rewards itself to low to begin with.
Of course i see the possible, atleast in case of how few exp you get and such, that it might be intentional due we are in beta Stage and you might not want people progress to fast with the 2-3 Weeks headstart, so we are midst season 1 have absolutely nothing to grind for anymore, still i find stuff like this need to pointed out early (though imo in a less dramatic way then some others).
Thanks for Reading.