[TotW] Free to Play, Pay to Win or One and Done?

I do agree with you regarding loot boxes, if they are restricted only to cosmetics and without giving and advantage to the buyer (like Dota 2 or CSGO). But for me, I had best experience with games like Skyrim and Witcher 3: I buy full game, and if I like it I will buy probably any additional DLC. And the same will be with Cyberpunk 2077. One additional note; don't know for you guys, but I detest when some games are trying to "force" you to buy things through microtransactions in game. In some games I wish I had Addblocker.

I prefer pay once and play games with extra DLC. Just makes a game have a nice enjoying experience playing it

Payed to play is missing so much !

I think TF2 was the best use of cosmetic items in a F2P game. The community thrived for so long till Valve killed it with their declining support and releasing Dota 2, their favorite child.

I still wish games were a one and done thing. I guess for developers its hard to keep making content for a game they get no revenue out of but for consumers, paying on and on just to keep a game relevant is hard in the long term.

Dekades
During lunch, my colleagues and I were in a discussion about why certain AAA titles from major developers and publishers have flopped, recently. It seems that the past few years have been hard on big named games. It's my theory that on top of not having the original teams that bore the AAA game franchise, a lot of the games now a days are built around a revenue model instead of, well, a gameplay experience. I think when developers are forced to create around a revenue model, it can restrict gameplay systems and mechanics, which in turn affects how a person may enjoy a game. Personally, I don't mind loot boxes if they're for cosmetics only. I have huge problem with pay-to-win or stupidly RNG gacha mechanics. I'm 100% ok with paying full price for a game if I know I'm going to get a good value out of it and will pay extra for strategically priced DLC. So for this week's Thread of the Week, I want to know what your preference is. Fill the poll out and let me hear your thoughts!

Once and Done (pay once for the game) + Paid DLC and then free to play (paid seasons) is what i would like if provided the option. Instead of keeping on paying for each and every items in the game.

All my money went into pretty and cute cosmetics including beautiful clothes and weapons. 😳

one and done please :|

Haven't bought too many games so far, mostly i wait for the to be cracked and download them. I got games like OW, Diablo 3, The Witcher 3. Some of them really made me want to have the game in my collection. But i guess i want to buy the whole game and have the additional dlcs included.

Hmm... I don't really agree with paid DLCs either. The other 3 leading choices are what I picked.

Can someone tell me what's the difference of loot box and RNG cosmetics?

I like games like legend of Zelda, where you can get DLC but they just enhance YOUR gameplay, and don't mess with others. I don't agree that you should be able to purchase upgrades in online games.

It's obvious that gaming is BUSINESS, and games are made for PROFIT. ...but, back in a days the games were made to give fun for players, now it seems that all that matters is money, and it sucks a lot. They are squeezing us like lemons, and will continue until we say HELL NO!. I love Civilization series but now it's an outrage; playable game for 50$, then additional civs and leaders for few bucks each, addons with new machanics for 30$ each, WTF?!? Ultimate Platinum Edition, Season Pass - sign of times? Naah, TYVM devs, I'm out! I'll play it after a year or two, when the most ;) of bugs will be fixed, and for quarter of a price - it isn't worth more.

one and done I am against the model that allows people to BUY their way to victory *cough* clash of clans *cough*

Hermanator
Can someone tell me what's the difference of loot box and RNG cosmetics?

They can be one in the same. You can get RNG cosmetics in loot boxes. But not all loot boxes contain RNG cosmetics exclusively. Loot boxes can also include tactical advantages, like giving you a better gun. For example, both Overwatch and Hearthstone have loot box mechanics. Overwatch has literal loot boxes, while Hearthstone has their loot boxes as card packs. You can grind out time or pay for both games. However, Overwatch loot box items are purely cosmetic; skins, sprays, voice lines, etc... Hearthstone however, depending on the cruel or kind fate of RNG, may give you a card that can essentially turn your deck into a winner. Technically, you can play to earn currency to get the specific card you want, but that could take a long time. You can also pay for a large amount of card packs and hope that you get the card you want and if you don't, you'll still have plenty of duplicate cards you can turn into currency to get the card you want. Even though you may have not been able to get the card you want through opening a lot of packs (Loot Box RNG), because you paid for all those cards and you now have the materials to craft the card you want, you have gained an advantage in time. Now imagine when a new expansion set is released. Instead of playing for days trying to earn the materials to get the card you want. You drop a lot of money on card packs and start building your deck on day one. That is a paid advantage. Now, I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing. They're emulating the nature of card games and card packs. As a kid I used to collect Garbage Pail Kids and Baseballs cards. I spent a lot of money hoping for that one card I really wanted. Sometimes I got lucky. Other times, I never got it and paid market price for the card I really wanted. Now that I think about it, I really should look for those cards.

I always rather to just pay for the game, and that is it. I am not really a fan of lootboxes, or any other thing that could give you an advantage over players. However, I am just fine if a game has cosmetic stuff that you can buy (such as character outfits, gun "skins" etc..), that does not give an advantage over other users. DLC's are also good if they do not give other users an advantage, such as some games like Euro Truck Simulator where you can buy extensions to the game map for more areas to drive around in.

Dekades
They can be one in the same. You can get RNG cosmetics in loot boxes. But not all loot boxes contain RNG cosmetics exclusively. Loot boxes can also include tactical advantages, like giving you a better gun. For example, both Overwatch and Hearthstone have loot box mechanics. Overwatch has literal loot boxes, while Hearthstone has their loot boxes as card packs. You can grind out time or pay for both games. However, Overwatch loot box items are purely cosmetic; skins, sprays, voice lines, etc... Hearthstone however, depending on the cruel or kind fate of RNG, may give you a card that can essentially turn your deck into a winner. Technically, you can play to earn currency to get the specific card you want, but that could take a long time. You can also pay for a large amount of card packs and hope that you get the card you want and if you don't, you'll still have plenty of duplicate cards you can turn into currency to get the card you want. Even though you may have not been able to get the card you want through opening a lot of packs (Loot Box RNG), because you paid for all those cards and you now have the materials to craft the card you want, you have gained an advantage in time. Now imagine when a new expansion set is released. Instead of playing for days trying to earn the materials to get the card you want. You drop a lot of money on card packs and start building your deck on day one. That is a paid advantage. Now, I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing. They're emulating the nature of card games and card packs. As a kid I used to collect Garbage Pail Kids and Baseballs cards. I spent a lot of money hoping for that one card I really wanted. Sometimes I got lucky. Other times, I never got it and paid market price for the card I really wanted. Now that I think about it, I really should look for those cards.

Your response is much appreciated, kind sir.

I greatly prefer paying once and for all for a game and eventually for DLC if they add real content and not just cosmetics, but i spend a bit of time on free to play with rng cosmetics, but i can't stand pay to win. About lootboxes i like when they drop cosmetics or alike, so the balance isn't broken.

Dekades
During lunch, my colleagues and I were in a discussion about why certain AAA titles from major developers and publishers have flopped, recently. It seems that the past few years have been hard on big named games. It's my theory that on top of not having the original teams that bore the AAA game franchise, a lot of the games now a days are built around a revenue model instead of, well, a gameplay experience. I think when developers are forced to create around a revenue model, it can restrict gameplay systems and mechanics, which in turn affects how a person may enjoy a game. Personally, I don't mind loot boxes if they're for cosmetics only. I have huge problem with pay-to-win or stupidly RNG gacha mechanics. I'm 100% ok with paying full price for a game if I know I'm going to get a good value out of it and will pay extra for strategically priced DLC. So for this week's Thread of the Week, I want to know what your preference is. Fill the poll out and let me hear your thoughts!

If i pay $60 for a game, I expect it to be a finished product. That being said im ok with DLC that comes later, it gives me something to do after ive already beaten a game I enjoy.

Full game all the way, better if it has dlcs included.

Not gonna lie, I've played multiple gacha games so I guess I could say I'm OK with the gacha system even though I'm not actually a big fan of it. Puzzle & Dragons, Brave Frontier, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Fate/Grand Order, Fire Emblem Heroes and many others. I mostly play free to play and sometimes use the free Google Play money I get from doing surveys when if I feel like it. Sometimes the gacha revenue works pretty damn well though depending on who is handling the game. For example, Dragalia Lost gives so many freebies (the most I've ever seen in any of the gacha games I've played) to the point where being free to play is actually very viable to progress. I would just log in on a random day and I would see a random "Thank you for playing, we appreciate you" message containing free summon tickets for no reason. I wasn't used to this level of kindness in a gacha game and got to the point where I would feel guilty not supporting the game lol. I almost never spend money on this game to try to win or progress, but instead I spent money on this game as some form of donation to show my appreciation.