Battlefield 3's Pre-Order Firepower Upsets Gamers
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
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The thing about online balance is that there's a certain subset of the player base that will eagerly buy into an unbalanced advantage. It's probably not sustainable, but there are significant profits to be made in the short term by catering to these players.
Then again, a real genius marketer for these games, could come up with a mechanism that puts equivalent power in the hands of the player who didn't buy the pre-order before they quit the game and boycott it in droves. Which provides an opportunity for the next "advantage for extra cash" option. Repeat indefinitely for indefinite profits.
Just don't be fooled into thinking that a completely level playing field is truly desired by all (or even most) serious players.
Then again, a real genius marketer for these games, could come up with a mechanism that puts equivalent power in the hands of the player who didn't buy the pre-order before they quit the game and boycott it in droves. Which provides an opportunity for the next "advantage for extra cash" option. Repeat indefinitely for indefinite profits.
Just don't be fooled into thinking that a completely level playing field is truly desired by all (or even most) serious players.
If you can still unlock these weapons/attachments through regular play, I have no problem with that. Just gives them a slight edge for a day and then most people will have those weapons anyway.
If you cannot unlock these weapons/attachments through regular play, that is a problem. It doesn't matter what the stats are, they could be completely shit weapons/attachments and it would not be okay. You do not punish your userbase for not forking a preemptive $5 for anything.
I doubt you will not be able to unlock them, or if you can't then the stats will be the same as some other gun like that one pistol thing in Bad Company 2. Either way, I'm still excited for the game, though I doubt I will preorder as I am always apprehensive towards preordering games no matter what.
If you cannot unlock these weapons/attachments through regular play, that is a problem. It doesn't matter what the stats are, they could be completely shit weapons/attachments and it would not be okay. You do not punish your userbase for not forking a preemptive $5 for anything.
I doubt you will not be able to unlock them, or if you can't then the stats will be the same as some other gun like that one pistol thing in Bad Company 2. Either way, I'm still excited for the game, though I doubt I will preorder as I am always apprehensive towards preordering games no matter what.
I can't believe people are actually making such a big deal out of this.
First of all, this isn't even the first game to do this. (Medal of Honor 2010)
Second, sure it will give them a boost on day one, but when the rest of the players begin to catch up the gap will begin to close.
First of all, this isn't even the first game to do this. (Medal of Honor 2010)
Second, sure it will give them a boost on day one, but when the rest of the players begin to catch up the gap will begin to close.
Pre-order content should never give players an active advantage over other players. Giving people who pre-order the game weapons that are potentially more powerful than the standard starters, and even attachments for weapons that have been said to be exclusive is unacceptable.
That's the problem here, it's that you get exclusive, potentially advantageous content just because you pre-ordered, it's plain unfair regardless of whether regular players could unlock these weapons through normal ranking anyway.
Pre-order DLC should be restricted to something cosmetic, that way, you're not giving any players unfair advantages and scenarios like this don't occur.
That's the problem here, it's that you get exclusive, potentially advantageous content just because you pre-ordered, it's plain unfair regardless of whether regular players could unlock these weapons through normal ranking anyway.
Pre-order DLC should be restricted to something cosmetic, that way, you're not giving any players unfair advantages and scenarios like this don't occur.
I don't understand what everyone is getting up in arms about. The weapons unlock day one for preorders, that it. You'll probably be able to unlock them as you level up. Hell its not like this is anything new. Right off the top of my head I can think of two other games that did similar things (namely CoD: W@W (late game rifle) and Killzone 3 (all weapons for 24 hours)) and it did nothing to break the game. As for the flash suppressor and the exclusive ammo, if the latest trend in video games is to be followed, the flash suppressor will likely limit the range of the rifle and/or lower the damage, and I haven't seen the shotgun in action but for the love of good its a shotgun, I'ld be surprised if it takes more than 2-3 hits to kill someone even without special ammo.
Also if you're so worried about this, why not just preorder? What's the big deal? All you have to do is pay a small deposit which will be applied to the price of the game anyways and boom free stuff. Now if you're too lazy to just go to the store for 5 min, well that your own fault than. As for the people saying that they don't preorder games cause they're unsure about the quality, well the preorders will affect you least of all than won't it, since by the time you get it people will have already maxed out their characters and you'll be dealing with god knows what kind of firepower.
Also if you're so worried about this, why not just preorder? What's the big deal? All you have to do is pay a small deposit which will be applied to the price of the game anyways and boom free stuff. Now if you're too lazy to just go to the store for 5 min, well that your own fault than. As for the people saying that they don't preorder games cause they're unsure about the quality, well the preorders will affect you least of all than won't it, since by the time you get it people will have already maxed out their characters and you'll be dealing with god knows what kind of firepower.
Seriously, what's the big deal? It was the same with BC2, you can unlock those weapons anyway, and they aren't good to begin with. Together with the fact that somebody with the lowest weapon still has a chance against somebody with all unlocks due to skill and tactics, this is just getting angry because you want to.
Normally I'd think "well maybe they just get the content right away while others have to unlock it" or something to that effect. However, it's EA, they're money-grabbing dicks of the highest order. They would sell first 5 mins of gameplay for full-price and charge you a small fortune for the rest of the game via DLC if they honestly thought they would make money from it.
It's not really about money, because the limited edition costs the same as the regular edition. And, it isn't a matter like Dragon Age 2 where the DLC will be free to pre-orders but cost 7 dollars for other people.irequirefood said:
Unless you don't have the money until some long time after launch, I don't see how anybody can not have the money to pre-order if they were going to get a regular copy in the first place. All a person has to do is put 5 bucks down at some game store or give the full price and not have to hassle with paying(except for taxes) when the game comes out. Or, even better in my opinion, pre-order the game from Amazon where it is free to pre-order, and you can get launch date delivery for 99 cents, and taxes don't apply, so you actually get the game a couple bucks cheaper. The money doesn't come out of your account until the game is launch(and if you find out you can't pay at launch than you can just cancel the order a few days before launch).
Besides this DLC they are giving out is just a release code to unlock guns that will be unlockable by people with the regular version. So basically for the pre-order people are getting guns that everybody else will have with a 3 or 4 days of play.
The mess and protest is just a bunch whiners that won't look at how insignificant this pre-order bonus is. What I'm surprised at is that people aren't mentioning the 4 maps that pre-orderers are going to get. To me 4 maps means DLC that people are going to have to buy later, like the DA2 stuff(Not that I think both instances are bad things).
People really need to get their heads screwed back on about such things. So people, preorder if you want the stuff a few days early, if you don't have the money so what, that is life and when you do have the money to buy the game, take the 3 or 4 extra days of play to unlock the stuff that other people got for preordering.
Preorder bonuses are rewards for loyal customers. Loyalty rewards have been around a long time, besides the publisher EA, has the rights to do whatever it wants with its product. If you don't like what they are doing, don't buy it. But don't stage silly protests about something that will only be in effect for a few days, and ruin the reward for loyal customers.
oh boy, the same drama as back in the day with bad company 1 (as far as i have heard, since i'm part of the glorious pc gaming master race i obviously havn't played it). didn't they plan the exact same thing and then quickly backpaddled when the rage ensued? and now they try it again, the sneaky fucks.
as two prophets far wiser then me put it in comic form back then:
as two prophets far wiser then me put it in comic form back then:
Wow, pre-orders that break the game. Good idea. I have to say, between stuff like this, and the compulsory use of their digital distribution platform, this game is looking less and less attractive. It's like every week they are giving people an excuse to not want the game.
As an aside note, if you pre-order on Origin, you get a shotgun that is good in the battlefield free to play game, which is not a good game. They are using what looks to be a very successful title to advertise a shitty title of theirs. The jokes just keep rolling out from these guys, haha.
Edit: they will not beat out CoD like this. No matter how much better of a game it may be.
As an aside note, if you pre-order on Origin, you get a shotgun that is good in the battlefield free to play game, which is not a good game. They are using what looks to be a very successful title to advertise a shitty title of theirs. The jokes just keep rolling out from these guys, haha.
Edit: they will not beat out CoD like this. No matter how much better of a game it may be.
The article suggests that the items will just be unlocked earlier - So I don't think this would have any effect on game balancing.
On the other hand, if there are game changing bonuses in the package, they should seriously evaluate their pricing model.
Paying full price for a game should always give you access to a fair and balanced multiplayer experience if thats the main selling point of your series.
If they add in options for Firepower/clip-size/whatever-Buffs for "VIP" customers, they have to make the same buffs available for anyone whos willing to become a VIP later on.
Judging from the Ads, Free2Play Shooters are doing fairly well these days,and they use exactly that mechanic.
The shiny graphics and the scriptfest called "campaign" alone don't warrent a 60$ pricetag.
However blown away I am from the visuals of the trailers, I wouldn't buy BF3 for 2 reasons:
1) EA decided to change their online store once, rendering my copy for the BF2125 Add-on unplayable and worthless after about 2 months of playtime. They didn't bother to replace my old "download key" (from a store purchase nevertheless) with a valid key for their new store. I don't trust them anymore and will not buy any PC game from them at retail price.
2) Modern shooters are way too arcady for my taste. If it looks that damn realistic, I expect a realistic experience.
On the other hand, if there are game changing bonuses in the package, they should seriously evaluate their pricing model.
Paying full price for a game should always give you access to a fair and balanced multiplayer experience if thats the main selling point of your series.
If they add in options for Firepower/clip-size/whatever-Buffs for "VIP" customers, they have to make the same buffs available for anyone whos willing to become a VIP later on.
Judging from the Ads, Free2Play Shooters are doing fairly well these days,and they use exactly that mechanic.
The shiny graphics and the scriptfest called "campaign" alone don't warrent a 60$ pricetag.
However blown away I am from the visuals of the trailers, I wouldn't buy BF3 for 2 reasons:
1) EA decided to change their online store once, rendering my copy for the BF2125 Add-on unplayable and worthless after about 2 months of playtime. They didn't bother to replace my old "download key" (from a store purchase nevertheless) with a valid key for their new store. I don't trust them anymore and will not buy any PC game from them at retail price.
2) Modern shooters are way too arcady for my taste. If it looks that damn realistic, I expect a realistic experience.
Wow, I didn't know about the extra maps... That is quite unfair unless they introduced some sort of pre-order price increase. But I guess it would get more copies sold on release. To be honest most of my post was just kidding around, and I guess guns that are already in the game are better than pre-order specific ones that you can only get through DLC after it's released.Sonic Doctor said:
Didn't Penny Arcade predict this?
And if I remember my Bad Company, shotguns were stupidly effective so giving out auto-shotguns with AP flechette rounds sounds like a nice good game breaker. Then again, that was Bad Company and this is regular Battlefield.....
And if I remember my Bad Company, shotguns were stupidly effective so giving out auto-shotguns with AP flechette rounds sounds like a nice good game breaker. Then again, that was Bad Company and this is regular Battlefield.....
