Paid content in videogames (DLC, loot boxes, passes, currencies, "surprise mechanics" and - new! - pay more or wait!)

Hexx wrote:I've not bought Stickers for years but there's not "Basic", "Heroic", "Epic" iterations of them with different prices/odds are there?

Not trying to derail the thread or anything, but Match Attax trading cards have exactly that. You can buy normal packs with a small chance of getting the special cards, or the big packs with a guaranteed special card, or the tins with super limited edition cards.

EDIT - Pokémon cards have that too.

You definitely get varying sizes of packs for other collectible things (like the plastic toys you may often see in supermarkets), where the larger, more expensive packs have rarer/better contents.

Bastards, they've managed to infiltrate everyday life without us even realising. This goes deeper than we first thought

I bought some Haribo party mix the other day, no cola bottles!

The struggle is real.

Photek wrote:I bought some Haribo party mix the other day, no cola bottles!

The struggle is real.

Haribo lootboxes.

Party mix sucks, tangfastic all the way, but only the jelly ones no foamy ones

Errkal wrote:Party mix sucks, tangfastic all the way, but only the jelly ones no foamy ones

You're a scumbag

more heat than light wrote:

Hexx wrote:I've not bought Stickers for years but there's not "Basic", "Heroic", "Epic" iterations of them with different prices/odds are there?

Not trying to derail the thread or anything, but Match Attax trading cards have exactly that. You can buy normal packs with a small chance of getting the special cards, or the big packs with a guaranteed special card, or the tins with super limited edition cards.

EDIT - Pokémon cards have that too.

Oh wow really? That's horrible.

Won't someone think of the children?

Hexx wrote:

Errkal wrote:Party mix sucks, tangfastic all the way, but only the jelly ones no foamy ones

You're a scumbag

Foamy sweets are evil, vile and wrong. Luckily the wife is a twisted freak and likes them so I leave them all for her

Errkal wrote:Party mix sucks, tangfastic all the way, but only the jelly ones no foamy ones

Ban request

Posted this comment in the BF 2 thread, but after much thought I've made the decision not to openly support a lot of the larger publishers any more, (or any developer who places MTs above everything else), through buying their games new. Also, I feel a lot of new games are vapid, soulless experiences, (through gameplay seemingly taking a back seat to the myriad of ways publishers try to squeeze more and more money out of customers), that I simply don't think they are worth the asking price - if even worth bothering with at all.

Again, thank God for my back catalogue. Used to view it with dread thinking I'd never get around to playing half the titles I'd purchased, but now I'm going to be buying far less games it's become quite an inviting prospect.

Gemini73 wrote:Again, thank God for my back catalogue. Used to view it with dread thinking I'd never get around to playing half the titles I'd purchased, but now I'm going to be buying far less games it's become quite an inviting prospect.

I've been living off back catalogue, Games With Gold and EA Access for a couple of years now. Still not really making any inroads into the pile of shame.

more heat than light wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:Again, thank God for my back catalogue. Used to view it with dread thinking I'd never get around to playing half the titles I'd purchased, but now I'm going to be buying far less games it's become quite an inviting prospect.

I've been living off back catalogue, Games With Gold and EA Access for a couple of years now. Still not really making any inroads into the pile of shame.

Yeah it's going to take a while to put a significant dent in my own pile of shame, but now's a good a time as any to get started. Pretty cool though, going through my Steam list and discovering something I'd completely forgotten about, like Wizardry 8 for example.

Also got several un-played titles across PS3 and 360 I'm eyeing up.

I REALLY don't need to buy anymore games...we'll apart from FO Vegas on PC, but I'd already committed to that purchasing decision yesterday.

I think part of the reason is that modern day games take up huge resources to make with gamers expecting 4K graphics and so on. However anything over 50 quid is too much for any game including any DLC so games development should change accordingly.I wonder how much money the average gamer will sink into SW Battlefront 2 for the base game, dlc and micros before they realise they have been ripped off.

Gemini73 wrote:

more heat than light wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:Again, thank God for my back catalogue. Used to view it with dread thinking I'd never get around to playing half the titles I'd purchased, but now I'm going to be buying far less games it's become quite an inviting prospect.

I've been living off back catalogue, Games With Gold and EA Access for a couple of years now. Still not really making any inroads into the pile of shame.

Yeah it's going to take a while to put a significant dent in my own pile of shame, but now's a good a time as any to get started. Pretty cool though, going through my Steam list and discovering something I'd completely forgotten about, like Wizardry 8 for example.

Also got several un-played titles across PS3 and 360 I'm eyeing up.

I REALLY don't need to buy anymore games...we'll apart from FO Vegas on PC, but I'd already committed to that purchasing decision yesterday.

I could definitely have plenty to play without buying any new games ever again, especially now I've found a way to play stuff that I haven't been physically able to for several years (see the "How Ironhide got his gaming groove back" thread for details).

Ironhide wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:

more heat than light wrote:

Gemini73 wrote:Again, thank God for my back catalogue. Used to view it with dread thinking I'd never get around to playing half the titles I'd purchased, but now I'm going to be buying far less games it's become quite an inviting prospect.

I've been living off back catalogue, Games With Gold and EA Access for a couple of years now. Still not really making any inroads into the pile of shame.

Yeah it's going to take a while to put a significant dent in my own pile of shame, but now's a good a time as any to get started. Pretty cool though, going through my Steam list and discovering something I'd completely forgotten about, like Wizardry 8 for example.

Also got several un-played titles across PS3 and 360 I'm eyeing up.

I REALLY don't need to buy anymore games...we'll apart from FO Vegas on PC, but I'd already committed to that purchasing decision yesterday.

I could definitely have plenty to play without buying any new games ever again, especially now I've found a way to play stuff that I haven't been physically able to for several years (see the "How Ironhide got his gaming groove back" thread for details).

Read through your thread today, awesome stuff Iron. With all the toxic bickering found within the community outside of Grcade, not to mention the whole loot boxes debacle, it's good to read something positive that's gaming related.

andythevillan wrote:I wonder how much money the average gamer will sink into SW Battlefront 2 for the base game, dlc and micros before they realise they have been ripped off.

DLC is free, and I imagine the majority of people don't use microtransactions (or only buy one or two?) which works fine for the pubs if the intention is to go after whales.

Seems pretty shitty to me when games keep loot box odds secret - for all we know there could be some serious manipulation of the odds going on behind the scenes. People should at least be told the odds of the drops so they can make a more informed purchasing decision.

Garth wrote:Seems pretty shitty to me when games keep loot box odds secret - for all we know there could be some serious manipulation of the odds going on behind the scenes. People should at least be told the odds of the drops so they can make a more informed purchasing decision.

The whole random aspect of lootboxes is weird. I get that it is basically gambling, but why pay real money for virtual items when you don’t even know what you are going to get?

Even if I don’t do it, I can at least understand why people pay for cosmetic changes, or pay for the best gun, or an XP boost or a car or whatever. Why the hell people pay for a chance at maybe getting something good is beyond me.

Moggy wrote:Why the hell people pay for a chance at maybe getting something good is beyond me.

Because chance and luck-based outcomes hit our brains with feel-good responses, something that has been known since at least the 1950s. Publishers know we are all just like the pigeons in the skinner box, hitting the lever to get an irregular reward.