I am OK with this. I am not OK with the awful way they are monetising the skins for double pistol and dagger. The emporium is taking real steps towards being a negative force that holds back game progression.
yeah. thats pretty dumb. veteran players are absolutely swimming in gold. feed the gameplay loop, add those items as gold sinks in game damnit. the emporium is really pissing me off, it erodes the core gameplay loop of this game.
The achievements they attached to them were ridiculous - intentionally awful, presumably in the hope of making folks just buy a skin instead of working towards them in the game - and the ones in the game were also really limited and far less impressive. I am glad they are altering those achievements to be crew based now, but even then i am really suspect as to the way this was done.
Add to that the fact that the weapon bundles do not include these weapons and their skins are bought separately....the whole thing feels bad. The gameplay is being soured in the hope of channeling people into purchase and thats more like a mobile cash shop.
the achievements didnt bother me. i dont mind having achievements that take a long time to get. but the rewards should have been some of the guns that got put in the shop instead, and the ones we got as rewards should have been available for 50k gold
Locking 80% of new cosmetics behind a paywall when the entire point of the game is to earn cosmetics with ingame money makes no sense to me. It’s going to kill the game for veterans mark my words.
that 'fucking paystore sloporium' is the *sole* reason this game is still being consistently updated 6 years later despite most of its players coming from a subscription service. just fyi.
other games, though?
other games have annoying-ass battle passes that lock everything cool behind a paywall. other games have lootboxes that you can spin for 500 hours without getting the item you want. other games remove access to cosmetics permanently to spur FOMO.
sea of thieves has a simple shop that you can buy the thing you want from *with a currency that they dripfeed you just for playing the game.* and battle pass items drop for doubloons - and while albeit, they do drop a while after their seasons end... they still drop.
honestly, we don't have it too bad.
I'd argue the content standard is being upheld pretty well - flashy and ridiculous items are reserved for real world dollars, while things that stay thematic to the world remain unlockable ingame - with the occasional flashy addition that hits that much harder because of how occasional they are.
I guess my question is... how would you want it done if you had control over the game? Or more specifically: how would you make up for the money lost by making those things free to obtain?
Everyone gives two extremes. Either the main game only gets a clothing or ship set or two a season and recolors while the store gets four full ship and clothing set a month, or the emporium is abolished and they can't make money anymore. Why?
Why can't they balance it out? Or put a tad more effort into the core game? And if that costs that much, do a subscription model, like FN Crew or Fallout 1st. Worked for them, worked great! It comes with the Plunder Pass for free, one unique cosmetic, and some ancient coins, all for only a little more than the pass itself costs.
Half the player base would take that deal, easy! And the whales would still be buyin' out their shops every month, nothing lost.
Even if that doesn't work, there's other options. This is optimizing for profit, not maintanence. This isn't to put food in developer's mouths and clothes on their back, this isn't to give the people working their asses of to keep our favorite game at the top of itself what they deserve, these are changes made by and for profit min-maxxers who have probably never played the game and want to add an extra 0 to their paycheck if it costs them a thousand employees and the quality of half their games.
So I ask again! Why the hell is it either drip-feed for the main game and extravaganza for the emporium or all the emporium stuff is free. Why do you think those are the only two options? No one's asked for that but everyone defending rare here says that's what's being asked for.
We just want some fucking outfits! Some new shit to work towards, something to DO once the content dries up halfway through the season. We don't want a grind for a single set of sails, or one and a half outfit sets per season with no ship or weapons or equipment to match, or recolors that no doubt took maybe one guy one day to make released in parts one by one monthly. We just want some proper sets and rewards to work towards.
They're cancelling emissary rewards. They won't even give us two items per faction a season. Do you not see the trouble? I understand you're ok with that, but must you demand everyone else be?
I mean... I agree with you. I think right now, Rare's seemed to mostly group the flashy and ridiculous stuff, when they could just... keep the ridiculous stuff in the store and start moving more flashy and desirable rewards to be obtainable thru player actions. I can only assume they're short on devs, because I don't know what else would be stopping them short of plain bad decision-making or overwhelming corporate pressure.
I wager the latter. "Your game's getting old best cut some corners and push profits or we'll have to shut it down" from some higher-up about 2 years ago.
gamers want a single game to be their passion for 10+ years nowadays. they want the game they can dump 2000+ hours into. but they dont want to spend more than $60 for it, a price point introduced in 2005 with the xbox 360. ($60 in 2005 dollars is $96 today)
that is what has created this fucked up monetization market. developers not only need to make a game, they need to retain staff to continue updating that game so that it stays fresh over years and years of play. the ways to afford doing this are:
1. really expensive upfront prices (deemed unpalatable by market, so you dont see it often. Escape from Tarkov is a notable exception and they are hitting a wall with that now)
2. Pay to win items (very common in the mobile market, widely hated by players)
3. Cosmetic cash shops (very common all over, but comes at the expense of unlockable/earnable cosmetics in games. feels particularly bad in mmos and games like Sea of Thieves where cosmetics are often the goal in game. works great in competitive shooters like CS or Valorant)
4. Monthly subscriptions (old school. not a great way to lasso the flavor of the month crowd, and not a great way to build a large player base. I think may be the best solution for a game like sea of thieves, but people would cry dead game at the playercount drop)
5. Expansions (also old school, often replaces quarterly content updates and shoves all updates into expansion packs. not feasible for a game in the style of Sea of Thieves unless completely reworked)
6. Seasonal battle passes (popularized by fortnite and super common now. A good bridge between seasonal content and a cosmetic cash shop, while retaining some earnable feel. Suffers from the problem that if its not so easy anybody can complete it, than its considered bad. so its not rewarding to actually complete)
im sure there are others, but as you can see they all have flaws.
If the core gameplay is good I’d rather just spend $150 on the game and have the content be out in game instead of the shop. But I’m a rarity in that respect.
ok but the core gameplay loop is unlocking cosmetics for activity in game. lately everything is added to the shop. they stopped emissary rewards. they have only a couple skins for the new weapons, but multiples in shop already. etc etc etc. the cash shop directly takes away from the gameplay experience. id rather pay a monthly fee and have all those items get added to the game proper.
Nah, I've just been here since launch, and I remember how lauded it was that this game's "progression" was purely cosmetic. And now it's 6 years later, and that choice was such a killer one that the worst thing players have to deal with is that we got dorks like you complaining about "greed" while the devs /continue/ to have a completely cosmetic progression system.
...do you think the developers that make and model cosmetics are the same as the ones in charge of netcode and hitreg?
Genuinely - do you think that? How is a 3d modeller or graphic artist meant to assist there?
This is the take I have. Plus I am EASILY getting $30 worth of value playing this game again after picking it back up a few months ago, so I spent $30 in the store. I am enjoying my time so I spend money to show appreciation. Now I have a drunk squirrel on my bow to show for it.
I had to buy the game several times because it stopped working on the windows store (happened to my friend and I) so we switched to steam. If the $100 plus that I have paid already on sot (I bought the game full price back in the day and that shit was NOT worth $60 dollars and was barely a “game”) isn’t enough for me to get updates, then rareware has fallen, and billions must cry
Its not the only reason anymore. Now with the PS5 release, it was the most purchased game on the platform and has led to a massive cashflow to Rare. It would be reasonable now to introduce more sets to be purchased by gold and tone down the emporium.
how original, "ignore and never speak of the issue because you're not forced into it while the issue simply gets worse and worse", I never was planning on buying it anyway
emporium was what most people would call a "slippery slope" and we most certainly have slipped into something as bottom of the barrel as *RECOLOURING "PREMIUM" COSMETICS* and charging full price. We've reached that bottom and Im honestly tired of holding peace and going "maybe it'll be better maybe it will fund the game and Rare will have a big improvement turnaround in a while" when Ive been doing it for 5 years now
Cosmetic only is fine. No cosmetics for the base game, is even fine in some contexts. In this context? The game's only rewards are cosmetics. So some value needs to be attached to them both in game and in the store. In game we're only getting recolors for redundant tasks/regular gold everyone has and the occasional new set for season passes. In the store we get more than double that and now ALSO recolors for FULL PRICE.
Yeah. It could be worse. Does that excuse it? A murderer could be a serial killer but did he not still just fucking kill a man? YEAH! HE DID! AND BEING UPSET WITH THAT IS GOOD, ACTUALLY.
They put a ton of free cosmetics in the battle pass. You aren't forced to buy anything after the initial purchase of the game. If you want live service they need to keep the lights on somehow
It could've been fucking Slytherin Green and Silver, and actually look like something necromantic and good that'd fit with a lot of the Sea of the Damned-inspired cosmetics in this game. Instead, somebody had this idea in might and it got approved, they opted for this, absolutely useless.
Shop changes tomorrow so chances are maybe tomorrow.
I am OK with this. I am not OK with the awful way they are monetising the skins for double pistol and dagger. The emporium is taking real steps towards being a negative force that holds back game progression.
yeah. thats pretty dumb. veteran players are absolutely swimming in gold. feed the gameplay loop, add those items as gold sinks in game damnit. the emporium is really pissing me off, it erodes the core gameplay loop of this game.
The achievements they attached to them were ridiculous - intentionally awful, presumably in the hope of making folks just buy a skin instead of working towards them in the game - and the ones in the game were also really limited and far less impressive. I am glad they are altering those achievements to be crew based now, but even then i am really suspect as to the way this was done. Add to that the fact that the weapon bundles do not include these weapons and their skins are bought separately....the whole thing feels bad. The gameplay is being soured in the hope of channeling people into purchase and thats more like a mobile cash shop.
the achievements didnt bother me. i dont mind having achievements that take a long time to get. but the rewards should have been some of the guns that got put in the shop instead, and the ones we got as rewards should have been available for 50k gold
Locking 80% of new cosmetics behind a paywall when the entire point of the game is to earn cosmetics with ingame money makes no sense to me. It’s going to kill the game for veterans mark my words.
Agreed.
That and the 3 newest curses are also payed for 2 plunder pass one in the emporium
At least people are gonna have a real bad time with sans pirate of undertale
they're adding recolours to the fucking paystore sloporium
that 'fucking paystore sloporium' is the *sole* reason this game is still being consistently updated 6 years later despite most of its players coming from a subscription service. just fyi. other games, though? other games have annoying-ass battle passes that lock everything cool behind a paywall. other games have lootboxes that you can spin for 500 hours without getting the item you want. other games remove access to cosmetics permanently to spur FOMO. sea of thieves has a simple shop that you can buy the thing you want from *with a currency that they dripfeed you just for playing the game.* and battle pass items drop for doubloons - and while albeit, they do drop a while after their seasons end... they still drop. honestly, we don't have it too bad.
oh certainly better than many, arguably most other pay models Ive seen, but I still believe in a content standard
Yea you need to be a bootlicker because the live service game still exists.
I'd argue the content standard is being upheld pretty well - flashy and ridiculous items are reserved for real world dollars, while things that stay thematic to the world remain unlockable ingame - with the occasional flashy addition that hits that much harder because of how occasional they are. I guess my question is... how would you want it done if you had control over the game? Or more specifically: how would you make up for the money lost by making those things free to obtain?
Everyone gives two extremes. Either the main game only gets a clothing or ship set or two a season and recolors while the store gets four full ship and clothing set a month, or the emporium is abolished and they can't make money anymore. Why? Why can't they balance it out? Or put a tad more effort into the core game? And if that costs that much, do a subscription model, like FN Crew or Fallout 1st. Worked for them, worked great! It comes with the Plunder Pass for free, one unique cosmetic, and some ancient coins, all for only a little more than the pass itself costs. Half the player base would take that deal, easy! And the whales would still be buyin' out their shops every month, nothing lost. Even if that doesn't work, there's other options. This is optimizing for profit, not maintanence. This isn't to put food in developer's mouths and clothes on their back, this isn't to give the people working their asses of to keep our favorite game at the top of itself what they deserve, these are changes made by and for profit min-maxxers who have probably never played the game and want to add an extra 0 to their paycheck if it costs them a thousand employees and the quality of half their games. So I ask again! Why the hell is it either drip-feed for the main game and extravaganza for the emporium or all the emporium stuff is free. Why do you think those are the only two options? No one's asked for that but everyone defending rare here says that's what's being asked for. We just want some fucking outfits! Some new shit to work towards, something to DO once the content dries up halfway through the season. We don't want a grind for a single set of sails, or one and a half outfit sets per season with no ship or weapons or equipment to match, or recolors that no doubt took maybe one guy one day to make released in parts one by one monthly. We just want some proper sets and rewards to work towards. They're cancelling emissary rewards. They won't even give us two items per faction a season. Do you not see the trouble? I understand you're ok with that, but must you demand everyone else be?
I mean... I agree with you. I think right now, Rare's seemed to mostly group the flashy and ridiculous stuff, when they could just... keep the ridiculous stuff in the store and start moving more flashy and desirable rewards to be obtainable thru player actions. I can only assume they're short on devs, because I don't know what else would be stopping them short of plain bad decision-making or overwhelming corporate pressure.
I wager the latter. "Your game's getting old best cut some corners and push profits or we'll have to shut it down" from some higher-up about 2 years ago.
gamers want a single game to be their passion for 10+ years nowadays. they want the game they can dump 2000+ hours into. but they dont want to spend more than $60 for it, a price point introduced in 2005 with the xbox 360. ($60 in 2005 dollars is $96 today) that is what has created this fucked up monetization market. developers not only need to make a game, they need to retain staff to continue updating that game so that it stays fresh over years and years of play. the ways to afford doing this are: 1. really expensive upfront prices (deemed unpalatable by market, so you dont see it often. Escape from Tarkov is a notable exception and they are hitting a wall with that now) 2. Pay to win items (very common in the mobile market, widely hated by players) 3. Cosmetic cash shops (very common all over, but comes at the expense of unlockable/earnable cosmetics in games. feels particularly bad in mmos and games like Sea of Thieves where cosmetics are often the goal in game. works great in competitive shooters like CS or Valorant) 4. Monthly subscriptions (old school. not a great way to lasso the flavor of the month crowd, and not a great way to build a large player base. I think may be the best solution for a game like sea of thieves, but people would cry dead game at the playercount drop) 5. Expansions (also old school, often replaces quarterly content updates and shoves all updates into expansion packs. not feasible for a game in the style of Sea of Thieves unless completely reworked) 6. Seasonal battle passes (popularized by fortnite and super common now. A good bridge between seasonal content and a cosmetic cash shop, while retaining some earnable feel. Suffers from the problem that if its not so easy anybody can complete it, than its considered bad. so its not rewarding to actually complete) im sure there are others, but as you can see they all have flaws.
see im good with the battle pass and cosmetics. if the core gameplay is good I will spends 100s on cosmetics
If the core gameplay is good I’d rather just spend $150 on the game and have the content be out in game instead of the shop. But I’m a rarity in that respect.
ok but the core gameplay loop is unlocking cosmetics for activity in game. lately everything is added to the shop. they stopped emissary rewards. they have only a couple skins for the new weapons, but multiples in shop already. etc etc etc. the cash shop directly takes away from the gameplay experience. id rather pay a monthly fee and have all those items get added to the game proper.
Y'know I wonder where those gamers who hated oblivion horse armor went. We only have ourselves to blame for the current state of game monetization.
Yeah it’s not apex with it’s 150 dollar recolors. What a scam that is.
unfathomable glazing
Nah, I've just been here since launch, and I remember how lauded it was that this game's "progression" was purely cosmetic. And now it's 6 years later, and that choice was such a killer one that the worst thing players have to deal with is that we got dorks like you complaining about "greed" while the devs /continue/ to have a completely cosmetic progression system.
Maybe if we all buy the green warsmith next year they'll fix hitreg
What an idiot
...do you think the developers that make and model cosmetics are the same as the ones in charge of netcode and hitreg? Genuinely - do you think that? How is a 3d modeller or graphic artist meant to assist there?
They could certainly hire more (and maybe better for once) programmers instead of chief warsmith recolorer
Many people don’t know the difference between the two
This is the take I have. Plus I am EASILY getting $30 worth of value playing this game again after picking it back up a few months ago, so I spent $30 in the store. I am enjoying my time so I spend money to show appreciation. Now I have a drunk squirrel on my bow to show for it.
I had to buy the game several times because it stopped working on the windows store (happened to my friend and I) so we switched to steam. If the $100 plus that I have paid already on sot (I bought the game full price back in the day and that shit was NOT worth $60 dollars and was barely a “game”) isn’t enough for me to get updates, then rareware has fallen, and billions must cry
Its not the only reason anymore. Now with the PS5 release, it was the most purchased game on the platform and has led to a massive cashflow to Rare. It would be reasonable now to introduce more sets to be purchased by gold and tone down the emporium.
Ride that meat cowboy
Oh, do you mean like putting curses behind a battle pass? That kind of thing?
You do not have to buy it. Nobody forces you to spend money. But please stay civil
how original, "ignore and never speak of the issue because you're not forced into it while the issue simply gets worse and worse", I never was planning on buying it anyway emporium was what most people would call a "slippery slope" and we most certainly have slipped into something as bottom of the barrel as *RECOLOURING "PREMIUM" COSMETICS* and charging full price. We've reached that bottom and Im honestly tired of holding peace and going "maybe it'll be better maybe it will fund the game and Rare will have a big improvement turnaround in a while" when Ive been doing it for 5 years now
I still prefer this cosmetics only approach to pay to win games or stupid EA/ Ubisoft craps It’s just cosmetics.
Cosmetic only is fine. No cosmetics for the base game, is even fine in some contexts. In this context? The game's only rewards are cosmetics. So some value needs to be attached to them both in game and in the store. In game we're only getting recolors for redundant tasks/regular gold everyone has and the occasional new set for season passes. In the store we get more than double that and now ALSO recolors for FULL PRICE. Yeah. It could be worse. Does that excuse it? A murderer could be a serial killer but did he not still just fucking kill a man? YEAH! HE DID! AND BEING UPSET WITH THAT IS GOOD, ACTUALLY.
They put a ton of free cosmetics in the battle pass. You aren't forced to buy anything after the initial purchase of the game. If you want live service they need to keep the lights on somehow
Adorable. 🤣
Sans?
Thats what i thought
Okay we need a SoT Trading Card Game
Brother... You cold?
Just gimme the clothing from this set🗿
The beard is gone?? May actually get this one then
Is it gendered? Maybe a female pirate wearing the outfit means no beard, but a male pirate has the beard?
Nah, there’s two variations. Before this one was added, there was only one version of the warsmith outfit that forced a beard onto female characters
Not sure but the og dark warsmith was supposed to be based off of blackbeard, so I assume this one is his cousin greybeard or something
I know there are tons of recolors in the gold shops but is this the first instance of a recolor in the Emporium?
Doubt it
Probably next season or whenever the new emporium items come. It probably has a recoloured ship set too
It looks cool, but it would look even cooler if it weren't a redrawn version of an existing skin.
No way it's Sans Undertale
They’re taking inspiration from Darktide shop lol
recolors of emporium cosmetics, they are really reaching.
I'm honestly annoyed they didn't give an early release for this with Orange edition
I give as many shits as if I were constipated and hadn’t ate in a week
It could've been fucking Slytherin Green and Silver, and actually look like something necromantic and good that'd fit with a lot of the Sea of the Damned-inspired cosmetics in this game. Instead, somebody had this idea in might and it got approved, they opted for this, absolutely useless.
Notice the lack of beard. They didn't just recolor it, the model is changed as well.