I recently hopped onto the Infinite flight feedback forum and started writing a post summarizing what was working, not working, might be a good addition, etc. but ended up with something much longer than I had originally intended because it goes into detail on the concerning nature of several items currently found in the shop. This is an issue that is perhaps more critical than nearly any other, as it effectively decides what incentives 343 and Microsoft will put in-place for themselves when it comes to monetizing Infinite throughout its lifespan. It’s fair to say we’ve all been well aware that the pivot to F2P means we’ll be taking a hit on base customization options and most likely be charged for them and others down-the-line, but these “Boosters” and “Challenge Swaps” are indicative of an entirely different, highly anti-consumer practice that relies not on creating value for profit with “cool” or exciting models and skins, but instead artificially creating inconvenience for players to make a profit. Rather than writing it all anew (because it ended up way longer than I’d envisioned upon sitting down to write it!), I’ll place it below. Normally I’d just leave it isolated to the feedback forum, but this is definitely something that needs to be put on blast to ensure 343 and Microsoft don’t tarnish what I’ve so far found to be a great product with the kind of exploitative, anti-consumer decision.
–Original Post–
Definitely a positive impression from the weapon drills; the various behaviors targets/bots use across the three trials make for a pretty fun experience whether you’re trying one of the new weapons or just want to stay sharp with some of the classics. It would definitely be nice to see some more information on each weapon, from how they function, to some of the more in-depth tricks; this would be a great tool for newer players to learn what methods to practice from the get-go, rather than floundering around online wondering what they’re doing wrong. Another nice toggleable option to have would be turning on shield and health bars for the bots/targets along with damage-counter pop-ups. Experienced players will always appreciate more information to better optimize their aim, performance, etc. while practicing and newer players would greatly benefit from having the idea of damage to shield versus damage to body (an idea somewhat unique to Halo) really hammered into their brains with damage number pop-ups being color-coded according to whether they are indicating shield or health-loss.
In-terms of actual match gameplay, the the bots put on a great performance, with no noticeable awkward behavior whatsoever. From my limited match-time thus far, they’ve definitely done a great job of simulating a normal player-behavior to ensure that bot-matches feel like normal, online matches rather than just target-practice on a multiplayer-map. I’ve seen mention of this already, but wanted to give a firm second to the complaints of screen-shake on sprint. I actually stopped earlier than I’d planned to because my eyes were very uncomfortable dealing with the constant jarring motion; this occurring even with screen-shake set to zero in the options menu. In general, everything gameplay-related is very smooth and while the screen-shake is in crucial need of a fix, its removal would leave the product in a great state.
UI-wise, the experience was mixed. Menu layouts are reasonable for the most part, but customization is a somewhat confusing experience with the significant number of smaller categories the experience has been broken-up into. While the various armor pieces being broken down into smaller categories is understandable in order to increase what can be sold, I was somewhat shocked by just how badly color customization has been neutered to piece-out under the F2P banner. Not only is the process of editing colors less intuitive, but the options/tools given seem significantly less powerful, with much more of an emphasis being on needing to purchase specific color combos rather than simply being able to edit them ourselves, as I would expect from a Halo title.
The biggest issue I noticed is that the store is selling “boosters” and “challenge swaps”. After my experience running through all of the weapon-drills, I was surprised by just how positive a feeling I had toward Infinite, despite the extremely scummy “have it both ways” scheme MS is trying with a full-priced half-a-game that is only “completed” with an MTX-ridden F2P system; I was actually getting somewhat excited about giving it a shot, but there was no faster way to shoot-down that feeling than emphasizing the most abhorrent aspects of the F2P environment. Monetizing through cosmetics is one thing, but implementing a scheme that’s sole purpose is to make a profit through charging to circumvent the game’s system(s) is absolutely abhorrent. The decision to remove expiration dates from the battle pass seemed to be a sign that Infinite wouldn’t be hinging its monetization on anti-consumer practices, but the decision to sell these boosters and challenge swaps communicates exactly the opposite. This kind of product makes a profit only if there is enough time-consuming and/or generally unpleasant grinding to incentivize players to purchase it and this fact in-turn incentivizes the developer/publisher to ensure there is something in their system onerous enough to warrant paying real money to skip. This isn’t a matter of ensuring through a statement that it won’t be abused, because its very existence already ensures the abuse. There are often examples given by companies to attempt to excuse this anti-consumer practice in which there is specified an “individual A” who “has less time” or “is busy at work” etc. and thus wants to purchase such a “time-saver,” but the fact is that everyone is individual A; we all want to progress in the most efficient way possible and none of us want to suffer through a system in which a “time-saver” holds any sort of value. This practice is anti-consumer and just wrong on so many levels; Infinite is clearly being monetized in so many ways as-is, from colors, to armor, to vehicle-skins, etc. and while this has clearly come at the cost of the base, free customization options, they at very least profit by adding cool/exciting cosmetic content to the game; these “convenience” items on the other hand, do the exact opposite by adding nothing of value, instead relying on there being an artificially created inconvenience in the game that it can so kindly remove, for a price.
Please make the right decision and don’t do this to your community; there’s a great product here that’s currently at risk of going down a very bad path. The Halo community will always genuinely want to support you and your products, so why exploit us with these tactics?
Apologies for the somewhat negative-sounding tone of this feedback; this is just a very serious issue that urgently needs to be addressed.
–End Original Post–
Anyway, that’s all; I’m definitely way more excited than I thought I’d be after experiencing some of the flight, but that only adds to my sense of urgency when it comes to ensuring that myself and anyone else concerned about this (which should be everyone!) make our voices heard to let MS/343 know that this is absolutely not an OK way to add another layer of monetization to a game that is by no means hurting for more layers as-is.
Hope everyone’s doing well; see ya’ll around!