Can’t make money of havin fun anymore. We’re just wallets waiting to be picked clean.
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“Oh but customization was always a part of Halo!” Who ever threw themselves into the grind for a specific cosmetic in Halo, only to STOP PLAYING when they finally got it? I’d wager no one, because the cosmetic isn’t the goal but a perk.
I’d just like to pick up one one point here, you say the cosmetic isn’t the goal but a perk, in past Halo titles and in a lot of games prior to the free to play model that used to be true, but now, progression is intrinsically linked to monetization so cosmetics are increasingly the goal.
The whole point of battle passes and similar systems is to keep you paying to get a drip feed of items, they are designed to extract as much money from customers as possible.
If anyone doubts that check out what the companies themselves say, there are papers, press releases and videos out there that talk about the psychological tricks employed to manipulate people into spending.
Now you might be reading this saying “ah, well they don’t trick me, I don’t spend my money” great, that’s great for you, but that isn’t true for the majority of customers, game publishers these days can and do make billions just from microtransactions in individual games, it’s not about making a reasonable and fair profit it’s about making as much money as they possibly can at the expense of all other goals no matter what the cost to customers.
If you personally believe that’s ethical or responsible then fine, that’s your opinion and you are entitled to it, but free to play games aren’t about trying to be fun foremost and hoping you spend money because you enjoy it, they are about driving you to spend money first and foremost.
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The game is F2P yes, thing is it’s not even fun. Several aspects of the gameplay are completely broken. It’s honestly dihearting to the point I don’t even want to play ot anymore
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I very much agree with the overall spirit of your post, but this exact type of thing I quoted just makes me mad/sad. We are truly in a gaming dystopia.
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Most of what you’ve said in response to customisation is outright wrong, and none of your post diminishes people’s legitimate complaints.
For a start, Reach isn’t the only game with comprehensive customisation. Even if you exclude Halo 3 because it had fewer armours, Halo 4 and 5 both had hundreds of armours, helmets and visor colours. I had hundreds of armour pieces in Reach and every armour piece in H5 REQ packs without spending any money beyond the retail price. No such progression exists here to accommodate that experience. Outside of barebones events that take place over several months, there is no mechanism whereby players can earn armours by simply playing the game.
Secondly, if customisation wasn’t valuable to the player experience, then why have 343i monetised it so heavily? Why have they created an armour coating and armour core system that is specifically designed to hinder player customisation? They know very well that customisation is a franchise staple and a big incentive for players to continue playing the multiplayer. It’s good for player engagement.
We also know that armour cores are not hard-coded into the game’s cosmetics, because the bots can mix armours from different armour cores!
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This is a question I’ve asked a few times and I’ve never seen anyone provide a good answer.
If none of this stuff matters, why is it so expensive and why is it front and center?
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Just because you don’t care about customization doesn’t mean it’s not okay to do so, as many others have said, customization has been a prominent feature in many Halo games at this point, people are attached to it so it’s too late to just strip it all away and charge ridiculous prices for it.
Being free to play is not an excuse for predatory practices and the ruining of features that have been part of the franchise for a decade now.
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There are some holes in this reply that it’s not even funny reading posts like this.
A shop should never dictate a game’s direction, period. It takes the sense of value a game has and throws it literally out the window. (The #1 dumbest decision any company can ever make with a game like Halo.) Especially knowing its history and the enjoyment it has given many fans over the years before the shop was ever introduced to Halo.
Only PvP.
Fun is an opinion…
The last part remains to be seen knowing how a lot of things are going to be drip-feed and some of it quite a few months down the road, and a few things have not been confirmed if they will be added or not.
Explaining the obvious did absolutely nothing for you.
I’m looking at how this is being treated as f2p, but there is nowhere near enough content to justify the direction things are headed at this point.
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I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying about FTP and microtransactions as a whole, but you’re taking my statement out context. People keep referring to what was vs what is, acting as if always having that content in game is what made Halo. That their reason for playing wasn’t the game but the pursuit of in game unlocks, and that without it they are now somehow being taken advantage of or have a gun to their head because why else would they play a game but to unlock cosmetics.
Theyre acting as if they’d only ever played the game for unlocks, and there’s been some incredibly unethical bait and switch now that they’re monetized. The concept is moronic. I don’t blame people for being irritated with FTP in the least, I hate the entire stricture, but people going after 343i as if this hasn’t become an industry norm? All I’ve got for then is a reality check.
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You’re right that this has become the norm but I don’t like “the norm” and apparently neither do you, so if we don’t like the norm aren’t we justified in saying “hey 343, we don’t like this”?
Ok it might not change anything but if players just accept it then it’s going to get worse and worse across the industry. We might well have already gone past that tipping point but does that mean we should just accept something that we don’t like?
As for your point about just playing the game for the unlocks, I do get your point, people should play games because they enjoy them not for some pavlovian response to unlocks and battle passes and the like. You’re right, but it’s harder to do that now because the games are designed around microtransactions rather than fun.
With the older Halo games (to varying degrees) you could unlock things if you wanted to put the effort into do so and you thought that was a rewarding reason to play. Now however those unlocks are being increasingly pushed on us, 343 has artificially created more value around them or at least the perception of value around them in order to get more people into the FTP monetization.
If game companies use all of the dark arts to try and part us with our money there reaches a point, maybe not for all players but certainly for some, where a large part of the experience isn’t about enjoying the gameplay it’s about acquiring new cosmetics. It shouldn’t be like that and I don’t think any player wants to be that sort of player.
The OP is 100% right, we SHOULD be playing the game to have fun, the problem is players are literally being conditioned to play for unlocks as it makes the games companies more money and that isn’t good for any of us as consumers.
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Industry norm is not an excuse. We should be expecting more from 343. To go against the norm, to deliver a good product.
This only became the norm because too many people defended this nonsense, told others not to care about it, and oppenly supported it.
If someone is abusing you, you should fight against it, not bend over and take it like a good little cow.
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If people played games for fun then Halo would not be free with a fully stocked cash shop.
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We have more slots to customize our gear now than we did in Reach.
Cross core seems(?limited?) to be coming down the pipe, or is at least possible.
We’ve got the armor in the current Heros of Reach BP, the ones in the campaign’s A hope for Tomorrow * progression track, the ones available in the free Fracture events and challenge/feat unlocks*.
Armor coatings are not that bad, you’ve got a bunch of basic free colors and in the past we were mostly one main color anyways; I personally don’t think the secondary color’s little strip not being customizable is an affront to halo.
I think the outcry is driven by the unavaiability of a multitude of these things at the base level; having a few option from the get go as aside from the current one armor set/core at base.
*Available at launch.
Not sure why you pretend to not understand, but people find the chase for rewards and customization gun. They have since at least Halo 3.
MCC set the bar so high. MCC was 2 steps forward, this is a massive step backwards
You’re missing the point. I gave those examples to show that the drama isn’t just some petty squabble but a showing of how many people care about Halo.
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I personally don’t play halo for the cosmetics and progression, but to say I didn’t have at least a little fun unlocking and progressing in previous games would be a lie. I don’t have many issues with what is in place right now because I don’t really care much, but a huge portion of the community is demanding better and I will support that because I realize other players have different preferences to me and I want the best for the whole community, not just players that share my thoughts/preferences.
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Nothing I said was inaccurate actually. Halo 4 reduced the level of offered customization from Reach and put a focus on pre-made armor sets and literal skins. Customization was still there, but it was a step down and earning those cosmetics became conditional by way of rank, commendation, or challenge based criteria, y’know, one of those things people are complaining about with Infinite. Halo 5 reduced things further by flattening customization to armor set (many if which were pallet changes of redundant sets), helmet and visor and locking the bulk of them behind loot boxes. So less customization, with a lootbox mechanic, in a full priced game? Lootboxes being the things that led to lawsuits and court orders in several countries for their gambling aspects. Again, Reach was the first and last Halo game that offered the type of system people keep implying has been synonymous with the brand. Every game prior was much more limited, every game thay followed reduced the feature.
Moving on, at no point did I say that customization wasn’t valuable, what I am criticizing is this notion that it is intrinsic to peoles ability to play or enjoy the game. A huge distinction, and I’d advise rereading what I actually said on the matter. If you’re only playing to grind cosmetics, free or in game or wwhatever, you are in a gross minority of all gamers, let alone Halo players. People will play the game because they enjoy the gameplay. Cosmetics add value, no question, but their the icing not the cake.
Lastly, I’ve also never implied the game was perfect, beyond reproach or criticism. Point of fact I’ve leveled several criticisms myself. What I have called out, and I’ll continue to call out is the notion or implication that what 343i is doing with Infinite is somehow uniquely egregious. There is a lot of legit criticism regarding their FTP approach, but such things get drowned out by the more common criticisms on these boards. Keep criticism coming, but keep some perspective about what you’re criticizing. Being mad that your free game doesn’t have enough free stuff isn’t valid criticism. Being mad that the completely optional purchases total more than 1k, is not a valid criticism. A single accessory purchase being $15? Valid criticism. Armor coatings and visors being locked to cores or kits? Valid criticism. Swap mechanic and limited progression contributing to the push for microtransactions? Valid criticism. There are more, but keep perspective.
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Run that thought process in reverse.
It is important, therefore you have a demand and can monetize that demand. In a F2P game self expression is important, and being that you can’t/didn’t monetize the gameplay loop the next best thing to do that is ,well, player expression.
Why?
Becasue as we stated, it is important and sought after by the player and it has no impact on gameplay or if it does, it probvides a negligable boon at best.
So, it’s the price paid for F2P. Which, at Halo’s MS for the past ~7-9 years that has been far below average, was the best choice from an IP standpoint.
Personally i’m not particullary appeased with the F2P move, but I understand and respect the decision.
And if we are all honest, what we got was and is not what the doomsayers said. Sure it has problems, kinks in the chain, but let this new and acted on policy of feeback and implimentation run it’s course.
And while doing so, remeber that decisions made to save or propel the IP forward are not dictated by the players wills, but by their wallets. The mob speaks.
And like the Gravemind, They Listen.
“There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen.”
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Yes, many people care. I know that.
But it is important to acknowledge that being too close or too caring about an issue can blind ones perspective.
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