[Diablo 4] Who actually likes Battle Passes in games?
Title.
I've never purchased a battle pass. They've always been a detractor to me. In any game I've played. I just can't bring myself to spend $10 here, $15 here , oo shiny skin $25 here, on top of paying $70 for the base game.
Isn't it just another progress tracker like the seasonal journey? You get small rewards as you gain experience or complete achievements or whatever.
The premium battle pass is claimed to only be cosmetic items, we'll see how long that lasts. I have zero interest in purchasing cosmetics so I'll only be doing the free battle pass stuff, I guess.
I just want to go back to the days of Diablo 2. I guess I should stick with D2: Resurrected and WoW: Classic. No extra fluff. I always refer to Classic as "WoW distilled. No extra stuff. No confusing battle pass stuff. Just play the game and enjoy.
Most days I fee like the "get off my lawn" old man when it comes to this stuff.
They are basically the evolution of daily quests. They give out mostly meaningless things and keep you playing to grind EXP for your Battlepass. Unlike daily quests, there's often a paid version with better rewards - at which point its also like a less direct subscription fee. Sometimes you basically need the rewards to progress, but you can still claim its Free2Play or a one time purchase, which is only technically true.
Sounds like a rep grind got into a collision with DLC and someone decided the result would be perfect to suck even more money out of players wallets. Thanks for the explanation, I think I'll pass on that one.
I hate them alongside any other extrinsic factors the game companies try to push on us to increase engagement. I want to want to play the game because I like playing it, not to get some reward or FOMO. This applies for battlepasses just as for daily quests or similar things. In fact, I recently have started to prefer games which are not (pseudo) MMOs as these usually come with way less bullshit even if I don't like the game as much.
For example, I think Diablo's (at least 3, did not try out 4) gameplay is way superior to Grim Dawn's gameplay, but I still play the latter because it's not D3 and I want something different.
It's the prime reason, I didn't get D4 yet.
I don't trust the "it's all only cosmetic" spin, they are drumming up. Battle Passes exist to make money, they don't exist to make gamers happy.
So, I'll wait and see until we exactly know what's in the battle pass, and how obnoxious they advertise it and what kind of nudges there are in place to fork over money. If it turns out to be something that indeed can be ignored, I will probably jump into D4. If the battle pass cannot be ignored, I'll stay away.
I wouldn’t mind them in games if they’re really pumping new free content on a regular basis. I get the trade off. Regular new quality content and money coming in allows them to keep a solid team for it.
Why I hate them though and never buy them is the timed garbage. It’s predatory. I’d be fine if you could buy and pass that’s ever came out and complete them at your own pace. Like hey I love the stuff they’ve been adding to a game. Here’s a tip and for the donation I get some cosmetics with some goals to work towards at my own pace. The timing aspect of them is some psychological bullshit to boost their viewership and stress you out so you just outright buy $20 shit from the cash shop. I don’t obsessively play a single game so they’re meaningless to me.
I'm not really interested in most microtransactions, but I don't mind battle passes in games I intend to spend a lot of time playing. It gives me something to do in game that feels rewarding, helps make the seasons feel different, and throws a couple of bucks at something I enjoy doing to keep that thing being made. And unlike a subscription fee I can buy in or avoid it season by season without any cancellation drama.
It depends on how they handle it. I don't mind the passes where you can earn another battle pass by completing the one you bought. However, I do hate that they are timed; I'd prefer to buy "Battle Pass 1" and complete it at my own pace instead of losing the chance to get items that I paid for.
I wouldn't expect the free currency though if they weren't timed.
The passes in minecraft dungeon were the first I saw that were not time based. You could only contribute to one pass at a time, and could toggle at the camp.
This is how they work in halo Infinite too. You can choose which battle pass you want to be active for you to level up while you play. I wish more games would do that instead of banking on FOMO
Deep Rock Galactic has free battle passes, so those are fun. Plus, they roll anything you didn't earn from a previous battle pass into the cosmetics that you can earn for free while playing. That's the only battle pass I'm interested in when it comes to gaming.
Isolated to one game I don't really mind them but when too many games have a battle pass they become a problem especially when they are time limit like most are. I just don't have enough time to complete multiple battle passes in different games. If they weren't time limited though I wouldn't really care how many games have one.
If the progression of other live service games is any indication the only difference between how those games operate their battle passes and how diablo 4 will operate is the time it takes to ingrain it into their community.
I doubt this initial battlepass will have anything too egregious to start but as the game progresses more and more they'll start to add in items and services that drift the battlepass into more predatory territory and if they do this slow enough or cultivate their whales hard enough they'll be able to continuously move their communities goalposts. I'd imagine they'd want to avoid going full diablo immortal right now as I think the general perception of that game to most people semi-familiar is that its a gacha mobile game with a diablo skin and they'd likely want to avoid that until they have a more dedicated player base to exploit.
tldr: This battlepass probably won't be too bad to start but overtime it'll get a lot worse.
I really don’t mind them, but honestly if they don’t pay for the next pass I wouldn’t bother. Well it really depends on how they are set up. I do enjoy having another goal with interesting rewards to look forward too. Getting a guaranteed reward is nice when you are grinding and nothing is set.
To people saying they are just for the money, of course everything about a game is for the money. Gaming companies aren’t charities and live services aren’t cheap. If you want constant updates and new features, there will be a required fee as you move along.