Cosmetic MTX are gameplay affecting

General Discussion
21

If anything the battlepass cosmetic model popularise by fortnite destroyed the bad lootbox model on AAA titles

It destroy the latter because consumer realize how much better it is to be able to just buy what you want and the value battlepass being.

22

It’s about finding new ways to sell you nothing at absurd prices. Often people pay 10% of the original price of a single purchase game for one item. Games don’t fail for lack of money unless they’re bad games and people don’t buy them.

I never claimed there were. I’m just saying the MTX altered those games and not entirely in a good way.

Like I said 99% of people won’t understand it.

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23

Yep.
Even if we ignore the cosmetics themselves, it leads to forced multiplayer/grouping, silly “progression” systems tied to a battle pass (hey look, free XP bonuses, so you have to interact with the UI that advertises our season pass!!) etc.
Who knows, maybe they will do the D:I thing where you get daily login bonuses (please no!) for going into the Shop.

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24

terrible comparison

a good chair makes a huge difference, not cosmetic

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25

D:I is a beta test to see how people react to cash shop trash, and apparently most people do not give a flying F about it. Their profit number is a solid proof, as much as I hate it i cant even deny that stat.

So yeah not looking forward to D4 to be honest, even if it is “purely cosmetic”, its a dangerous slope imo.

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26

Thing is, the OP is right.

Cosmetic MTX are bad for the game and bad for the community. They are 100% designed to generate feelings of being left out, feelings of inadequacy, feeling that no matter how much the game is played or how skilled the player may become, they will never achieve what someone can acquire simply by swiping their credit card. All of that, every single little bit of it, is a careful marketing scheme designed to get you to open your wallet.

And here’s the saddest part. You’re already going to open your wallet just to buy the game. So let’s all stop to consider this very carefully.

Diablo 4 will not need any kind of a microtransaction or live service monetization model to make its money and cement support for many years to come. They will make hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of the base game and it’s expansions. They will make more money through merchandise and licensing. This corporation is not your friend, and they don’t need your charity via buying a hat.

But if that’s too complicated for you, or you don’t really want to engage with the more problematic ethical considerations it brings up, here’s a slightly simpler take. Everything they want to market as microtransactions could be built into the game and it’s expansions as part of their base content. You could do specific quests or chains of quests to target specific cosmetic drops. You could do other kinds of quests to alter or transmogrify the newly acquired cosmetics. You get the point, or at least I hope you do when not making yourself look ridiculous by trying to dismiss a legitimate criticism. Folks claiming that cosmetic microtransactions are fine don’t really get it. And I suspect they don’t want to get it. Diablo Immortal has (so far) proven financially successful and in doing so has set an incredibly dangerous precedent. Anyone who is dead set on trusting that blizzard will not break their promises regarding future content may be betting on the wrong horse.

3 Likes
27

Yup, sometimes facts do care about your feelings. Because sometimes the facts are driven by them. Don’t tell Ben Shapiro I said that. :grin:

28

I still insist that the op is over reacting.
So I don’t agree with the very first part of your post.

The latter though is spot on! I agree :100:%. It is, or can become a slippery slope.

The free battle pass vs the premium one. The mention of tiers and premium tiers. (This should be paired with the question how much does Blizzard intend to price the game?)

My gut feeling is not a good one, because if it turns out that the premium battle pass will offer more content, as in quests, events and so on, then that will start a new storm.

My point is that having others running around with looks I don’t have will not lock me out from my game.

29

Exactly some people just want to cry a river over everything, I don’t really care what some kid looks like in a game in which I will most likely ignore him anyway. The last person who tried to impress me with how bad a** he was regretted it. I am not impressed with how people look. Basic gear looks just fine to me I am not sure if I will spend any money on the “Look at me” gear.

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30

He’s really not.

Ethical? We are talking about a multi billion dollar company, ethics does not apply. IF they can make more money they will. As far as that goes cosmetics is by far the least bad option.

Activision have used the exact same system in CoD for years, clearly they have a firm grasp on how much money it makes and that it’s clearly a “good” system as they still use it.

31

It won’t lock you out, no, but I feel you’re missing the point. Cosmetics–skins, hats, wings, pets, and so forth–are in the game, yeah? They’re in a video game where the visual presentation of the media is a big deal; think about how players scrutinize graphics, much less interactive content (which, come to think of it, includes cosmetic items). All this stuff, cosmetics to boot, is part of the complete experience of the game, and hiding part of that behind MTX is a scam.

What’s more–and this is REALLY IMPORTANT, y’all–Blizzard doesn’t have to do this. They’re doing it out of greed, not necessity, and the more players casually accept it in a full-priced game, the more they’re going to do milk us all.

We should stop being okay with companies locking content behind unnecessary pay walls.

32

Well, technically, it is affecting game play in a potentially negative way as those who do not want to see them will and therefore have a lessened experience due to those using them forcing it.

So, make it capable of being turned off. Much as mobile games can have in-app purchases completely disabled, usually.

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33

He really, really is whether you like it or not.

34

He’s factually incorrect in calling cosmetics P2W. That’s not something to discuss, that’s the facts. They give no gameplay advantage which is a requirement for something to be P2W.

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35

Correct.

“Nothing offered in the Shop grants a direct or indirect gameplay advantage. So, while many of these may look like powerful pieces of gear, they have no in-game stats.”

36

OP isn’t even saying it is Pay to win, he is directly saying it isn’t. He is saying it affects gameplay. Which I dont fully agree with. You can say it affects the game experience however.
But… he definitely isn’t wrong. While having cosmetics do not affect gameplay, obtaining cosmetics IS gameplay. So for those who care about such things, moving cosmetics from something you play to get, to something you pay to get, clearly does affect their gameplay.

And of course, as multiple people have said, the monetization design itself also affects gameplay design. So even in that sense, obviously gameplay is affected. Even if you never use a single cosmetic item yourself.

2 Likes
37

I’d probably be inclined to agree with the OP if either the following applies:

  • Cosmetics grants actual bonuses that beneficially affect character power and/or progress
  • Players who opt out of mtx cosmetics have no way of changing how their characters will look, and regardless of what gear they’re wearing and/or how high their character’s level is, their character would look barely any different from when they first started out.

But neither is the case. Mtx cosmetics are stated to offer no actual bonuses to character’s abilities and they won’t affect a character’s power and/or progress. And players who opt out of mtx cosmetics can still use cosmetics that they find in-game to change up their character’s appearances.

Now if someone wants to say that the mtx cosmetics should also be available in-game, just at an incredibly low droprate (around cosmic wings area) and/or requires immense effort (like completing incredibly difficult achievements), then sure I wouldn’t be against that. As of right now though, I don’t have much issue with the current monetization.

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38

Thank you. End of story until the next crying jag.

39

Hmmm. Sounds like someone is trying way too hard to be offended about something as trivial as xmogs. Some people just love to QQ for the sake of QQ, maybe even attention? Ooookay. I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but that’s the way life is going now-a-days. Hey, man. You do you.

If you like an xmog, either find it or pay for it. It doesn’t matter what game it is. If you are 100% against MTX, then you will be forcing yourself not to enjoy some xmogs. You will just need to live with it. It’s a situation of your own making/doing. Simple as. No?

Me? If I like xmog and the price is right, then I will think about it. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I don’t know. I will worry about crossing that bridge when I get to it. No need to panic now, especially since the game is still many months away from launch.

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40

I am fully aware of that danger that some will feel inferior, but there is a need to take a step back and of the importance. That a lesson that is out in the real world too learn as well.

Now just like you say a full price game should be self funded, period. I fully agree there.
Having mtx cosmetics is a BIG extra.
The weird thing is that there seems to be a demand for extra cosmetics by some.

My point of view is to that it is a grey area. I don’t like it, but it seems to be creeping in. The question is how far it will move on, it is unquestionably the new trend to milk the customer.

Anyway we will have to wait and see how it plays out.