Pretty much the whole reason Red Vs Blue was binned was because 343 wanted players to be able to express themselves better with the new armours and coatings, yet most of the armours and a few coatings are going to be behind a paywall, which in Halo have always been free, minus 5’s limited edition armour sets. So apart from paying players, all the free users are going to pretty much look the same. I had a bad feeling about this when it was a rumour years ago. God I hope we at least get all the standard colours we’re used to, I was pissed that I couldn’t have my pink.
And yes I realise they need a way to make money since the multiplayer is free, but if this is the compromise, I’d rather it go back to pay for the game, or at least give paying players the armours etc.
What’s everyone else’s thoughts on this? Is it good? Bad? How would you change it?
Its either this or Warzone 2.0 with even more P2W type mechanics… It’ll probably be good long term as it means they have reason to provide tons of cool cosmetics.
I think when the game comes out Dec. 8, it will have the basic colors or at least more than we’ve seen.
It’s not even the money that gets me, it’s the fact that the system is restrictive compared to what it COULD allow. It already meets Reach levels of armor configuration, but they tied colors, textures, and patterns together with “coatings”. These things should have been separate. Now there’s are real possibility that we’ll never get to make “blue camo spartan with mud stains” because some artist somewhere never created a coating for it. Players’ “expression” is completely dependent on what 343 puts in the game. And before anyone says “but customization has always be dependent on what the devs put in the game”, let me say this:
Customization is like a pizza. Before, we were given the ingredients to make whatever pizza we wanted with those ingredient, even if it was something totally disgusting. Now we’re only given the crust (armor config), while 343 hands us fixed combinations of cheese, sauce and toppings (textures, colors and patterns). So if you’re someone who likes mushrooms and pineapples on your pizza, too bad.
lets wait and see what else is there. I do agree that I think more needs to be added to the free track from an armor perspective, but I also want to know ALL sources that will be available for free players. So far we know campaign will have some, the BP will have some (free track), fractures will (free), maybe the store (could be limited to coatings but we will see) and accolades (in what form we dont know).
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> lets wait and see what else is there. I do agree that I think more needs to be added to the free track from an armor perspective, but I also want to know ALL sources that will be available for free players. So far we know campaign will have some, the BP will have some (free track), fractures will (free), maybe the store (could be limited to coatings but we will see) and accolades (in what form we dont know).
They are probably still deciding specifics like that though, so although them being transparent and saying what’s what months in advance sounds cool and would be nice o see, the reality is that its probably only determined maybe a couple weeks before the season begins.
They’ll make cosmetics either related to in game accomplishments or in game purchases… There won’t many (if any) “freebies”, you’ll earn them or buy them pretty much.
I’m not too fussed tbh, it’s not like there is nothing if you don’t get battlepass, will get better idea when it’s out.
I mean it’s not like i’m gonna stand around in game admiring other peoples coatings or armor, it makes no difference to me, i’m just there to play the game and have fun.
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> Pretty much the whole reason Red Vs Blue was binned was because 343 wanted players to be able to express themselves better with the new armours and coatings, yet most of the armours and a few coatings are going to be behind a paywall, which in Halo have always been free, minus 5’s limited edition armour sets. So apart from paying players, all the free users are going to pretty much look the same. I had a bad feeling about this when it was a rumour years ago. God I hope we at least get all the standard colours we’re used to, I was pissed that I couldn’t have my pink.
> And yes I realise they need a way to make money since the multiplayer is free, but if this is the compromise, I’d rather it go back to pay for the game, or at least give paying players the armours etc.
> What’s everyone else’s thoughts on this? Is it good? Bad? How would you change it?
Welcome to modern gaming where you get occasionally cool free updates but at the cost of most customization being locked behind increasingly expensive paywalls that are unlikely to change due to the amount of people with credit cards indiscriminately purchasing huge portions of the shop at prices that would purchase several other entire video games.
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> > 2533274840624875;5:
> > lets wait and see what else is there. I do agree that I think more needs to be added to the free track from an armor perspective, but I also want to know ALL sources that will be available for free players. So far we know campaign will have some, the BP will have some (free track), fractures will (free), maybe the store (could be limited to coatings but we will see) and accolades (in what form we dont know).
>
> They are probably still deciding specifics like that though, so although them being transparent and saying what’s what months in advance sounds cool and would be nice o see, the reality is that its probably only determined maybe a couple weeks before the season begins.
>
> They’ll make cosmetics either related to in game accomplishments or in game purchases… There won’t many (if any) “freebies”, you’ll earn them or buy them pretty much.
free in this context means monitarily.
It’s not even out yet and it IS a revenue stream.
Campaign/etc is $60
Multiplayer is “free”
$60 has stayed the same roughly for a shocking amount of time despite inflation and industry complexity.
So the data center bills, network engineering, basic operations, and all sorts of other ops costs have to be paid for while also creating an ROI.
So I would say to the execs “why not split some options up to give more granularity to armor, which could still drive sales” but we have no idea how this is setup, how they handle data storage, and other weird stuff related to customization between accounts.
We also don’t know exactly how the final customization works.
Coatings might be special combinations or they created it so it’s less handmade/more procedural. 🤷
We’ll see at launch and if we don’t like it they’ll probably make tweaks.
I’m very much against how they’ve gone about monetizing the multiplayer suite, replacing player choice for curation when it comes to colour scheme is not expressive it’s restrictive, you’ll have to hope that 343i creates a coating that utilizes the same colours you’ve been free to choose over a decade prior, this could’ve been avoided if you were able to choose static colours and have coatings be the premium option to choose.
It’s disappointing that these questionable changes are being defended by default because it’s free to play, there are plenty of avenues to take to monetize a game without restricting choice you’ve had for years before.
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> I’m very much against how they’ve gone about monetizing the multiplayer suite, replacing player choice for curation when it comes to colour scheme is not expressive it’s restrictive, you’ll have to hope that 343i creates a coating that utilizes the same colours you’ve been free to choose over a decade prior, this could’ve been avoided if you were able to choose static colours and have coatings be the premium option to **choose.**It’s disappointing that these questionable changes are being defended by default because it’s free to play, there are plenty of avenues to take to monetize a game without restricting choice you’ve had for years before.
Maybe I’d feel better if you just paid for camos and textures and could colour them however you wish, but we’re probably going to be able to buy the same skin 20 different times with different colours. We’re going to be flicking through these coatings like when we had to flick through all the same armour in Halo 5.
At least 343i should give us the option to choose from a certain color part for the coatings, i take the"scorpion punch armor" example (it’s a black/steel color coating with a red arm):
Black/steel and the arm red. That we can shoose different black and grey tones-of-color for the black part and different red tones-of-color (like orange, wine red etc.) for the red arm part. But yeah, i can’t imagine they will implement some variaton like that, but i hope for that.
The free MP is very welcome given the caliber of the game
Cosmetics don’t impact gameplay, and I’m sure they’ll give some basic customization,
so if you just care about playing it’s not that important in the end.
Half the coatings already looks.significantly better and more expressive than the basic colour pallette swaps we used to have. Would hardly call the old system expressive.
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> I think when the game comes out Dec. 8, it will have the basic colors or at least more than we’ve seen.
I believe so.
To people who complain about the new colour system:
Not gonna lie. A lot of people are making this a pretty big deal. I’ve played Every main Halo game, I understand why you don’t LIKE the pay-for colours. But The Basic colours were there in the Flight, the only difference is they didn’t have secondary colour choice. Which literally was a couple of patches on the Armour in previous games, which… YOU NEVER SAW. Free for all only.
So the massive fuss over the colours kind of baffles me. Almost none of the game modes ever allowed you to see your colour choice. So if you don’t CARE to see your colour choice, then the Unlocks for the Shaders mean nothing to you. If you DO care to see your colour choices, then It doesn’t have a lot to do with Previous entrees in the series.
Now, If you want to critique the pricing or the unlock plan for colour choices. Be my guest. I personally want a credits system or something akin to MCC so that I can unlock stuff I want or earn stuff If I don’t want to pay.
> 2533274947044147;11:
> I’m very much against how they’ve gone about monetizing the multiplayer suite, replacing player choice for curation when it comes to colour scheme is not expressive it’s restrictive, you’ll have to hope that 343i creates a coating that utilizes the same colours you’ve been free to choose over a decade prior, this could’ve been avoided if you were able to choose static colours and have coatings be the premium option to **choose.**It’s disappointing that these questionable changes are being defended by default because it’s free to play, there are plenty of avenues to take to monetize a game without restricting choice you’ve had for years before.
Such as? If it were so easy every company would’ve been doing something else a long long time ago.
Here is a different thought/perspective: wait for your favorite color or armor to be released in a battle pass, then drop $5 to get it. You just saved like $35 or whatever.
I can’t think of a better way to keep Infinite ftp and be profitable, and neither can anyone that complains about it (which seems to be a very small portion of players). People spend hundreds of dollars a year, maybe even per month, on entertainment. If you only spend $5 a year, you’ll be getting way more value (in $/hr) than almost any other form of entertainment you’ll likely ever indulge in. If you love Halo Infinite this is how you keep it alive. You don’t have to buy everything, you literally don’t have to buy anything!
I still strongly dislike the limitations of the Coatings system, and nothing we’ve learned about it since its contraversial introduction has softened the blow much for me.
I’m hoping there is at least a wide gamut of “basic” coatings included in the base experience, or maybe just for players on Game Pass and/or who purchase the campaign since 343i is obviously really depending on the F2P revenue. Folks who pay for the experience really should be able to express themselves through free color choice, as has always been the case in Halo games going back to CE.
It’s hard not to feel cynical about Coatings. They not only lock color choices behind a paywall, they also limit the number of possible color combinations players can ever have access to (at one point, I did the math on this, and 343i would literally have to release over 27,000 unique coatings to match the high-water mark for the series to date (Halo 3’s independent Primary/Secondary/Tertiary color options)).
I understand and agree that there are some benefits and unique advantages from Coatings (unique patterns/textures/etc.) But I honestly think they should’ve been an alternative option rather than a full-on replacement for free Primary/Secondary color selection.
Between weapon/vehicle skins, charms, battle pass revenue and the inevitable plain 'ol “pay to skip grind” option, there ought to be plenty of in-game revenue streams without hampering something so core to Halo’s customization as players having freedom to choose their own basic armor colors.
Still really disappointed in this decision by 343.
Many PC games have a community which creates editors and such to implement into the game’s installation. Take FIFA for example, which I haven’t played in years, but for a long time you could download updated Face and Kit packs into your roster, which were shared by the community. I don’t know if that will be possible for Halo, but it really should have that feature provided by the 343i team as well as being compatible with XBox.
I mean 343i is putting resources into creating supposedly (not-so-much) unique armor permutation and coatings, when instead, the community could create it.