The exchange has been a failure

Games Halo: The Master Chief Collection
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When the exchange was first added to the game I was weary of it. It has only gotten worse. I’m a game like MCC, there is no reason that things should be tied to a weekly rotation. It’s literally only for FOMO. These items should be tied to permanent challenges and/or should be available in the store at all time. When new items are introduced, like they just were in the most recent update, time-gating feels horrible. Having earned more than enough Spartan points (or whatever they’re called this week) to buy everything added, having it dragged out over months feels horrible. The exchange has always felt this way, and this most recent content drop has just exposed these issues.

I don’t even care if they start to charge for SPs. It doesn’t effect me and I understand that the current system places a very high barrier of entry on any potential new players. Removing the time-gated FOMO systems on items would serve double duty in this regard.

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You may be interested in contributing to these existing threads:

https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/343-you-need-to-stop-relying-on-the-exchange-and-bring-back-seasons/544395

https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/343-you-gotta-axe-the-rotationary-portion-of-the-exchange/544256

https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/new-mcc-content-needs-to-get-out-of-the-exchange/544288

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That’s just it.

The Exchange has succeeded in making you wait and HAVE to come back to re-engage. It’s for metrics, analytics, it has succeeded in making MCC look better for investors, higher-ups, and thus Microsoft, look better.

At our expense.

What fails us succeeds the system.

The question is: What will we do about it?

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I’d say the best answer is what the player counts are already implying people are doing, putting it down and walking away.

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i do come back to the game but only because it gets genuine content updates, like the new forge options for reach and flood firefight. i do like the new armor especially because it’s in H2A which i think could be updated a more, praying for new maps, but the exchange is 100% pointless. it wont change if not enough people dont speak up, it would literally take seconds out of their day to make post. Take Down The Exchange!

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Not sure you read my post.

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i read it and understand you think the exchange is what brings people back, not the massive amount of content they have outside it or the fact it’s the ultimate halo experience. to be honest i don’t really care if they change it or not i still like playing mcc but i have this problem with infinites shop and have eliminated that problem by uninstalling it as it does not offer very much outside the shop.

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Haha, no, that proves you didn’t read it. The Exchange is one of several incentives keeping people coming. Not the only thing.

Damn work on your comprehension.

No, see, the Exchange and putting EVERY NEW ITEM in there? Makes people log in at LEAST once a week - and they get to see this and next week’s content. Are they grinding out challenges for their existing seasons or the newer stuff? Who knows? Who cares? It’s more time logged on, more interaction, more numbers.

You don’t get it.

The exchange is a tool to make the suits happy and keep engagement up - not the only one, just one of many.

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Sure, if you play every week, you will unlock everything. Not everyone can do this, or should. The Exchange gives you a chance to get what you missed. What is the problem?

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A season would have been so much better than being dripfed :<
they def had enough to make it hundred tiers

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not every one has time to play and the Only thing To Miss is stuff in the exchange. so what if there’s something you like in it but dont have enough sp’s or time to earn more and end up missing that weeks items? well your only option is to wait till it comes back and it will, but god knows how long that will be. so why dont they just put it in the catalog to get what/whenever we want?

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alright no need to be ugly, your first post makes it sound like some evil elaborate tool to sucker players to keep playing mcc, still sounds like that, but why would higher ups care? it’s not like their making any money from it, or atleast not much. like you said how would they know what brings back players, maybe through feedback from the community like this? why else are we here, i thought this place was easier for 343 to get feedback, not like scouring youtube or twitter posts.

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I think the worst part is that it doesn’t have to be. Series/Seasons could be used for coherent themes or sets of items, like the Gundam items and Halo 2: Anniversary cosmetics, or the Halo 20th Anniversary items, while the exchange could be used for leftovers that aren’t really coherent with a series.

There are a TON of items that could fit there, like expired special Avatars that were distributed in early years like Mister Chief, or nameplates you unlock by playing other games like Halo Wars or Spartan Strike, unused skins, stuff like that. They could be great for people who have too many points, but with its rare rotation and miniscule availability, it hasn’t been serving that purpose well and instead overwhelm people who barely have any points.

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Another week another 10 arbitrary points. 3 points for a battle rifle coating with an item description so devoid of meaning it appears to have been AI generated.

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So first off, apologies, but if you’re asking why higher-ups would care, then I don’t think you understand corporations and capitalism, and how it’s been getting worse and worse and driving corporations to make every single cent they can. Algorithms show them what causes engagement, what doesn’t.

Think of the exchange like a carrot on a stick, okay? Think about the constant week to week tease of what’s coming, and then logging in that week to see what comes on next. Then, think about what you do to get stuff - do your weekly challenges, right?

Well, that’s just it. You can spend those points… anywhere. On your passes, on the Exchange, or - hold onto and get a ton more, for those days when the exchange has EVERYTHING you want. this is REALLY predatory for completionists who want very much to get everything, but HAVE to prioritize the FOMO of the exchange since THAT’S going somewhere, but the passes aren’t. So you focus on what WON’T be here next week.

You get it? It’s predation - and it will get WORSE once you can buy MCC’s points. “Oh, we made so much content and it takes soooooo looooong to unloooooock! ; _ ; what if there was… you know… :point_right:t3: :point_left:t3: a way to… to expedite that? With… Maybe money? haha, you know, like, like just a little, just a… a little microtransation :)”

That’s 343i / Microsoft’s plan. It’s FOMO, it’s making money. It’s player retention, which is HUGELY important, but NOT as important as…

Daily Logins (unique)
Daily interactions (unique)
Time played per player
Hourly player count peaks
Daily player peaks

And they will do whatever drives those up.

This is how the system works. I don’t really get why it isn’t well understood, since it’s been this way since the early-to-mid 2010s in gaming.

EDIT: Luckily, they have confirmed they are not going to be adding purchasable Spartan Points. Thank the Gods.

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Pose next week is 5 points…

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yeah the exchange pretty much lured me in with the H2A armor but in hopes they support it with more content like new maps, heck maybe new weapons if they can. challenges aren’t really much of a grind, not like infinite, you can literally play whatever/however you want and you get points. i don’t really see it as predatory as it’s all completely free. i just bought the game everything else is no extra costs. it’s really completely on me weather i want to get the exchange stuff. MCC is virtually a complete game, all these cosmetics are just a bonus, so no one should feel obligated to keep playing just for just them.

But i still feel the rotations are totally pointless as there’s probably new players who have a long ways togo before earning everything and old players who probably have everything and are just sticking around to play halo. Now everything i’ve said about MCC is the complete opposite with Infinite, except for the pointless rotation that goes for both. that’s were 343s biggest problem is and i am very much fighting against it.

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Haha, oh wow.

20 characters.

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i know thats basically the argument people who defend infinite have but like i said infinite sufferers from the complete opposite problems mcc has.

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Only thing to make it better is get rid of the Rotation & make the Exchange a page, everyone’s happy

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