In a recent interview about the controversy on the Group Up! Podcast, hosted by Twitch channel SVB, Neuss remarks: "I’ll be totally honest, the response has kind of surprised me.
“It’s totally understandable when you break it down like that,” he adds: “What we wanted was for players to have more choice … the goal here was: ‘what if an event had a similar structure to what we had today, but you could pick the thing you got at the end?’” While the event offers a similar amount of rewards to other seasonal events, Neuss admits that the team was “misguided” in its framing.
I’d imagine the reason why players are upset is because not only do you not get everything out of the winter pass if you pay for it, but the fact that the last thing this game needs is more monetization…
If they truly wanted to give us a “surprise”, I feel like a free pass that anyone can grind without any implementation of purchasing a boost would fare a lot better, especially considering the skins you can earn are mostly reskins anyways
I really don’t understand this whole thing about “more” monetization.
Guys, it’s 4 skins (and a bunch of other junk) for $5. That is an absolute fuggin’ bargain compared to how they usually do things.
Imagine it was last year or even just the last event. Every single skin would have been in the shop for $20 each and the only skin we get for free is one we couldn’t even choose.
Now we get to choose which skin we want for free and if you want up to 4 skins it’s $5. A fraction of the price it would have cost during any other time in OW2’s lifespan.
If the argument is that people want everything for free, then yeah, I can see them being upset. But arguing for everything to be free in a F2P game is bonkers level of expectation.
That’s definitely what it is. People don’t like hearing it, but a lot of it is that OW1 spoiled people so much that now that things are how they are now, it causes all this drama.
Like I don’t even want some of the skins, but I’m happy I get a chance to nab Widowmaker Kerrigan. Always wanted that one.
Granted, it is, but also consider its 5$ for the privilege to grind for a skin that was released a long time ago and mostly reskins.
Also, the wording of It’s $5 for 4 Legendary skins, which feels squarely in the spirit of the Holidays to me. ! feels a bit tone deaf when in the past, the spirit of the holidays would be giving us a free golden lootbox (guranteed legendary) 5 pack of loot boxes.
It just leaves a bad taste considering what this game once was.
I mean, I’m angry that there’s nothing to do. Gotta stay out of Comp because of Mauga. Quickplay is still a waste of time. The same winter games that we’ve had since 2017.
There’s nothing new here and I regret every time I queue up for a game.
Imo it’s as simple as if you are comparing this to ow1, yes it is worse monetization since ow1 had most skins for free by playing.
If we compare it to the way ow2 has been during events for over a year, this new system is allowing people to buy a few skins for a lot less money than usual, if they can play a few hours a week. Or, still pay much less than usual, by buying the tracer bundle and straight up buying the skins without playing. It is an improvement over ow2 events, but still worse than ow1, as expected.
The problem is that it’s simply an attempt to get more players to spend money.
The most difficult thing is to get a player to spend money for the first time, after that it gradually becomes easier because the first and biggest hurdle has been overcome.
And that’s exactly what this 5 bucks for 3-4 skins is, it’s basically a gateway drug.
Something similar with the 1 coin bastion skin. The result was that a number of players now have an odd number and are then left with 999 coins, for example, which can lead to them buying coins for the battle pass.
It is naive to believe that there are no marketing strategies and psychological tricks behind it. The people who suggest and decide on something like this know exactly what they are doing.
The choice is also not really given, as the skins for Rein and Kerrigan can only be obtained via the Premium Pass and thus act as a lure (“It’s just 5 bucks, hehe”).
Furthermore, you shouldn’t forget that there is the Tracer bundle for $30 which contains enough tickets (+ a few earned ones) to get all the skins without buying the premium pass.
I think it was just 5 event lootboxes, not a golden lootbox. Pretty sure the golden lootbox was just for anniversary.
We need to stop comparing the monetization of a fully priced game with paid lootboxes to the monetization of a free to play game. Compare the game to itself, not to a dead game. Because what we want is for the game and its monetization to improve. And compared to the Christmas 2022 event which was a free Brig skin and $20/$10 shop skins, the Christmas 2023 event is far more generous, and offers a lot more choice to the consumer. Which is a whole lot of steps in the right direction and far better than anything else they’ve offered so far. Have we reached a perfect medium? No, but we’re definitely seeing an improvement.
So what you have to actually play the game to get the tickets? That’s the whole point of the game. To play it. If what you want is a free skin collector game that requires no actual participation besides log in and collect, I don’t know what to tell ya, but this is not the game for that and you’re gonna have a bad time.
It isn’t though and that’s the problem. It’s the opportunity to grind for skins for $5 rather than actually just getting the 4 skins for $5. Especially when almost all of them are rehashes or recolors. Rather than just having a holiday discount or whatever, they’re selling another battlepass on top of the battlepass they already sold for the new season.
The way that tweet is framed is at best tone deaf and at worst manipulative, that’s why it’s getting so much heat.
Actually, it’s kind of a crazy monetization scheme even compared to other Blizzard properties.
Overwatch: grind for one free skin, or pay $5 to grind for up to 4 skins, or pay $30 to get all winter cosmetics. Additional pricey winter cosmetics sold separately.
Diablo 4: free winter cosmetics in shop. Also, grind our free winter event for even more cosmetics. Additional pricey winter cosmetics sold separately.
Giving players “more choice” would be making the winter event have more skins but no paid mini-battle-pass. Even if we could only collect fewer items, at least we wouldn’t have to pay more for any of them.
This event should have been premium for those that already paid for the battle pass.
The fact that he stated in the tweet that he wanted to give us choice on unlocking a reward (F2P can not even unlock 1 of the top tier skins without paying) and that he is interested to see if FOMO will overshadow this…
He said everything with just that, we are just a piggy bank to them and he wants to watch us buy in due to FOMO. Not from me Satan i will spend my money elsewhere
$5 = 480 tickets
480 = Rein OR Widow skin, Bap skin, McCree skin, Illari skin, highlight intro, a weapon charm, a profile icon, a namecard of your choice, and a spray of your choice. Or any combination of the above if you want.
You have to play to get the tickets, okay, cool, so what? You’re gonna play anyway, right? Not a problem. Don’t wanna play, just want the stuff? There’s a discounted bundle for that too at $30. And if you’re not gonna play and you don’t wanna pay $30, then it’s not an event for you, so why are you here?
Swear some of you still believe everything should be free and require no participation either. Please tell me what universe you live in where that’s how all your businesses work and let me know how to get there because it sounds great.
The fact you’re all ignoring how much better this is than just five $20 skins or five $30 bundles in the shop boggles my mind. If I cared about any of those heroes or cosmetics in general, I’d be happy with this direction. It’s cheap, it’s choice, it’s good for the players who play and I don’t care about the players who don’t.
feels a bit tone deaf when in the past, the spirit of the holidays would be giving us a free 
