This is my first time seeking out a place to voice my concerns. With that said I love the gameplay so far and only hope the competitive scene takes off. My biggest pet peeve is not being able to level up efficiently. I bought the battle pass thinking the unlockables make it a good deal, but now that I’ve played 3 days and grinded challenges the best I can (not playing objectives or having fun) I’m at level 6… no way I’m sticking around if its gonna be like this… look at rocket leagues design and mirror that. I use to think rocket league was expensive but yall really took that trophy . I hope this game grows to be as sensational as halo 3 and reach. I really want to love this game but not till progression and rewards system is fixed. I’ll keep buying battle passes when you stop asking for more money to level up
This is extremely hyperbolic word use and I sincerely urge you to reword this. This flagrant language incites a lot of toxic discourse and just isn’t all that productive. I’ll explain.
First your title is just wrong. When people refer to predatory monetization schemes they mean casino games. Loot boxes and slot machine rewards that trigger the same stimulation as gambling and preys upon people who are prone to give into impulsive gambling.
The monetization scheme, at worst is arguably manipulative. That’s fine, advertisement and artificial preservatives are manipulative too. It’s whatever for me.
Now most of that first paragraph you wrote is totally valid. I would like you to explain your reasoning a little better for why those things are bad, but really you did a decent job. What I take issue with is when you said, “The free items of any note (Armour pieces) are so few and far between they may as well be non existent.”
This is hyperbole again. I wish you could provide an alternative to what we have instead of coming off unreasonably. It might as well NOT be non existent. The simple matter of fact is that it is something. Now I’m not excusing it. I’m just asking you to be more considerate of your language.
Your second paragraph is a lot worse however. You started out by claiming it’s malicious, which just, no. You have no evidence that 343 and Microsoft’s goal was to make playing the game frustrating. There is a large team of hard working developers and programmers that worked their butts off to make a good game, and I just don’t feel comfortable with assigning malice to those folks.
After that you said there needs to be a rework of the progression system. Nice, please go into more detail on how that should happen. That would be very constructive and you seem bright enough.
Two final things. First, you did that thing I mentioned that I don’t like where you implied a whole collection of peoples intentions by saying 343 is gonna beg for us to open our wallets. I’m not gonna repeat myself but just, c’mon try to be sincere.
Lastly, If you haven’t seen worse monetization you simply haven’t been looking hard enough. The video game industry is larger than just the AAA action/shooters and there are tons of scummy, abusive and anti-consumer practices happening all over. Whether it be in the mobile games market or even in the indie games scene. It happens. Some perspective goes a long way.
Anyway I hope none of this came off as mean spirited. I just had a critique of this post and figured I’d share it. I hope it got some folks out there to reconsider some factors, and hopefully collectively our criticisms of the game got a little bit better. 
without hyperboles, our readable content would be quite boring. So I have to disagree with your criticism of the use of hyperboles to make a point.
Secondly, I think taking advantage of addictive stimulants could be considered as “predatory”. Attempting to unlock every cosmetic could stimulate one’s addictive tendencies. Although, it would most likely push players away than attract them, so they have that going for them, even if it means less long-term customers.
With req packs you could earn them through gameplay, adding incentive to play, there is nothing rewarding about buying a set of gear for 30$.
I dont understand how your defending ripping a core mechanic of the game out of our hands and asking money for it, f2p or not.
Halo has never needed micro-transactions to survive, its campaign will provide all the money the game would require, the store is a rip off plain and simple.
Without hyperbole, 343 would never listen, many things in halo 5 required insane community outroar before they were fixed and we are not trying to repeat that game all over again
Secondly, the part of your brain that triggers when spending money is the same as when your gambling, its the same dopamine rush of getting something cool you want, or for others adding to the collection, so this system can certainly be predatory with the fear of fomo (possibly never seeing the same set in the store again)
That feels pretty speculative. Like, we have data and meta analysis on the effects of gambling addiction and loot boxes. I feel like there’s plenty argument for why loot boxes and gambling mechanics of that sort aught to be criminalized.
On the other hand I can’t begin to form an argument for why a really grindy mechanic should be criminalized because some players might be neuro divergent in a way that leaves them susceptible to, uh, video game addiction?
dont understand how your defending ripping a core mechanic of the game out of our hands and asking money for it,
Nothing was ripped out of your hands. Req packs didn’t exist in Halo Infinite.
With req packs you could earn them through gameplay, adding incentive to play, there is nothing rewarding about buying a set of gear for 30$.
First of all, there’s plenty of cosmetics that you can earn if you want that “sense of pride and accomplishment” (lol). Second of all, who cares if some players want to pay money for a random skin in the store? It literally doesn’t affect you at all.
Halo has never needed micro-transactions to survive
I don’t care. If some whale wanting to spend money in the store means I don’t have to buy map packs, they can have all the MTX they want
To the first paragraph; you say that, but if you look in the credits to Infinite there are literally community members who were consulted on the development of the game purely because they were known to give reasonable and constructive feedback. I simply don’t think what you’re saying is true.
As for that second paragraph, if that’s true I’d love to see some data on that. Truth be told I’m a little skeptical of the image you’re trying to paint there. The fact that the store cycles and that leads to predation seems like a stretch.
1st. I never said they ripped req packs away, i said they ripped away customization from a large majority of players for profit
2nd. Event armours and those earned for free are mainly fractures, which differ from the style most like (myself included) i enjoy being a spartan while most of thats in the store.
3rd. Your not caring doesnt matter, it does to many others. It would get content regardless, this is halo not some indie title with no backing, so the decision to lock away such a feature for more profit is scummy
Am I the only one that doesn’t care at all about armor? I play with the default armor you start with and I’ve been having a lot of fun, for free
Its what apex does by not circulating skins after events, its adds rarity and people love that, look at people buying 1,000$ skins in csgo, or 100$ accounts on fortnite because they have rare skins that never came back. Its all about that fomo baby
If your argument is that FOMO is manipulative, well yeah I agree. That’s fine though. I have no problem with people dropping $1000 bucks on a skin so long as they’re not being abused by the company.
All too true. All of these concerns were voiced months ago and not listened to. After the uproar with Battlefront 2 the entire industry should have been on notice about gamers not tolerating practices like this. I guess they forgot?
1st. I never said they ripped req packs away, i said they ripped away customization from a large majority of players for profitBlockquote
You can earn customization items and equip. The core mechanic is still there. Are there some exclusive skins for people that want to buy them? Sure. That doesn’t equal “a core mechanic of the game” was ripped out of your hands. If you want an exclusive skin that costs thousands of dollars to make? Fork over the cash. Don’t want to fork over the cash? You don’t get it. /shrug
3rd. Your not caring doesnt matter, it does to many others. It would get content regardless, this is halo not some indie title with no backing, so the decision to lock away such a feature for more profit is scummyBlockquote
It absolutely wouldn’t “get content regardless.” If the game doesn’t make money to justify the “backing,” then the backing gets pulled. Will it recoup its development cost from the campaign? Almost certainly. But if you want a full team to keep working on the game to add maps and content for years after its release, where’s that money gonna come from? You have two options: F2P with MTX, or paid expansions/DLC with no MTX. Pick one.
There’s more like you. I love my pretty armor though, but I don’t let the monetization get in the way of me enjoying my time.
People defending 343i for locking the Mark VI helmet behind the paywall is hilarious. 
Everyone gonna be rocking the default Cavallino for a good year, lmao
Holy man, keep jumping through hoops to justify your take, tell me how the boot down there tastes.
Yeah, technically speaking its there if you have the cash, but for people whove played this game for years., its appalling to have to pay for something that was once free, especially since there was no reason to monetize it, halo 3, reach and 4 all had no micro-transactions and still received post game support, microsoft wont just let halo die they are a multibillion dollar company with a multi billion dollar ip
Well, it’s kind of a smart move isn’t it? A LOT of people will want that helmet and pay money to get it. Gotta love the good ol’ US of A.
Halo 3, Reach, and 4 all had map packs that cost money. I need you to actually read what I said, because you literally made my point. They “monetized” the multiplayer in older Halo games by selling maps. Now they’re selling cosmetics. Holy crap dude.
microsoft wont just let halo die they are a multibillion dollar company with a multi billion dollar ip
What you’re seeing right now is Microsoft not letting Halo die. They’re doing it via MTX.
Smart in the same way that selling tampons at a higher price because of how much they are needed kinda smart. Hyperbole.
Milking fans is sad, and i hate that this is the direction 343 wants to take this games monetization