His name you mean, right, @CodeMage ? He is the source of the best bandages in the game.
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Uh, no, I mean I literally didnât know that he existed, at all. Iâve never even been inside Kingâs Niche. And those bandages? I only ever saw them on Siptah. I thought they werenât available in Exiled Lands 
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Well, now you know, thanks to the BP. That alone made it worth the trouble. That minidungeon also lands you a good sum of gold, silver and a legendary weapon. Itâs also good to level thralls. 
Did you get the emote at the entrance, @CodeMage ?
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To be fair, I wouldnât call the Battle Pass optional content.
You have a choice. Spend $10 now and grind out the Battle Pass levels.
Or wait until they eventually decide to give it as overpriced content in the Bazaar, probably starting some time next year.
That is what CE comes down to now. How much furniture or other items were added for free in the Age of Sorcery update? Compare that to how much was added in the Battle Pass or Bazaar.
This is all content you miss out on if you donât engage with the Battle Pass. Content you sure as hell are never getting for free. If you donât participate in the Battle Pass, you will almost certainly have to purchase it from the Bazaar, at much more than $10.
Donât buy things from the Bazaar? This is all the stuff youâll miss out on.
Show me a list of free additions to the game in the last 4 months. Betting itâs nowhere near the amount of paid content on those two lists.
But donât sit and try to say the BP is optional. If you are a console player, the BP is your cheapest option to get new content in this game now.
Age of Sorcery added new mechanics, spells, a handful of workstations. But compare how much came freely as part of this, compared to how much of it is embedded into either the Bazaar or the Battle Pass.
When the number of new armors/weapons and other items in the BP/Bazaar > what is added in the free updates, you can no longer say either of them are optional. Because if you donât participate in either, youâre missing out on a large part of what the game has become.
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Maybe? I donât pay a lot of attention to emotes, so Iâm not sure if I stumbled upon it or not 
BP is as optional as any DLC. Do you consider DLCs to be optional?
You also have a choice of grinding out the BP levels without paying for it. Granted, you wonât be able to claim most of the rewards until you pay for the BP, but at least you can avoid the risk of having wasted the money you paid for it if you somehow donât manage to complete it in 3 months.
Hey, how about you do your own homework and compare the patch notes to that wiki page? Iâm not saying youâre wrong, or right, but Iâm kinda tired of everyone coming in and saying âshow me this and I bet itâs like thatâ to support their own arguments. Itâs pretty much on the same level as âIâm just asking questions hereâ.
Uh, pretty much every sorcery-related BP or BLB item is entirely cosmetic. Theyâre either reskins of base-game sorcery stuff, or sorcery-themed placeables. None of them have any special gameplay function you donât get in the base game. In fact, the only one that a PVE player like me would consider special in any way is the Arcane Curio Cabinet, thanks to its inventory capacity, which is an issue that they should fix.
Yeah, no, youâre conflating two kinds of content here: new cosmetic-only stuff, and new playable content.
I can agree 100% that the playable content theyâve released since they decided to go with the modern monetization leaves a lot to desire. No new dungeons, no exciting new enemies, no significant additions to the story and lore. The sorcery game mechanics range between meh and okay. In short, the new stuff is not exactly on the scale and level weâve come to expect from previous major updates.
Then again, theyâve kinda painted themselves into a corner when it comes to that. The Exiled Lands map canât take more content, and Siptah is paid DLC, so it makes you wonder where the new content is supposed to go. Even if they released a new, free map, those of us who love Exiled Lands would still complain about being neglected. The game is reaching its technical limits.
But thatâs a whole different discussion. The point is that BP and BLB are, in fact, entirely optional. Even if these items were totally free and you could click on them in the store and receive them for no money whatsoever, it wouldnât make the game any less stale.
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Ah. I thought it was more than that forc some reason.
Iâve always been pretty underwhelmed by the battlepass and was hoping, back when it was being play tested, that they would add more interesting challenges to it.
I donât think it kills the game. Just another example of a feature that doesnât quite live up to its potential.
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Didnât they fix the Arcane Curio Cabinet a few patches back or was that a different cabinet?
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It was the Arcane Bookcase. The Arcane Curio Cabinet is a BP item, the Arcane Bookcase is a BLB item.
My other half is annoyed, verry annoyed from the battlepass. He has no interest in doing it but yet, every time he is trying minding his buisness he gets notified that he finished a task. After some days he had enough. Did not logged in since then.
There is no way to turn this off so people can play as they prefer it or got used to. The battlepass gets literally forced onto peoples screen. So yes, I understand that some people might feel the battlepass is destroying their game experience.
The least Funcom could do is make some adjustments so people can turn it off.
I personally do not feel disturbed, but thats just because I am farmer and builder at heart. I do not mind grinding or doing the stuff I feel I have to do. But others might not feel the same intusiasm as I do.
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Then they have made the best choice available.
Oh boy here we go again, just like some members who complained that the Head Hunting encounter was upsetting them. This is not like doing your taxes. The Battle Pass is purely optional, you are not obligatted to complete it and you never have been. Here is a suggestion; if for some bizarre reason you feel that the battle pass has âsucked out all the funâ in your game, maybe stop doing the challenges and abstain from purchasing the next one. And instead, just go back to playing the game as you did beforehand, or if for are no longer able to do so, take a break for a couple of months. Do people have so little impulse control nowadays?
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No. Itâs the battlepass grinding. We went from playing the game and occasionally paying $20 for a DLC - to hours of grinding to get a new color flame for a torch.
This has no meaning here. The event rewards are in-game not added to a playerâs account. They are super ignorable if you want to ignore them.
Itâs not so much impulse control as it is an OCD adjacent Need to have the shiny things.
Also you all seem to be forgetting/ignoring the part when Iâm not alone. Non of my friends want to play anymore either. They all feel similarly.
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IdkâŠ
I mean letâs be frank here.
Do I think Funcoms marketing strategy is absolutely disgusting and they ARE being abusive with it as much as itâs allowed?.. YesâŠ
Iâm sorry, but thatâs just a simple yes⊠and I think a lot of us know that and knew it from the point they introduced the system⊠I think THEY know it very well, itâs not like the prices are made accidentally etc.
And whether you choose to see it or not, they are hooking into every tiny bit of tried and true psychological method to get money out of you⊠and get as much out of you as they can in a truly shameless fashion.
Here comes the interesting question though⊠can we really blame them?.. (maybe? dependsâŠ)
Thatâs the sketchier question though, since they do need to make money and they suddenly brought on some specialists and seem to have figured out how to make way more than before⊠which is probably in some ways a major relief for the companyâŠ
As a side-note⊠which company wouldnât want to make way more money than before? If the opportunity is presented to grab the cash⊠I think most companies would grab as much as they canâŠ
And as long as people are buyingâŠ
So⊠on what does it depend whether we can blame them or not?.. I think it depends on how we look at themâŠ
If we put them on a pedestal like many players have done so and hold them to standards of âhonorâ and other similar sentiments then of course⊠we will end up disappointed and angry⊠however if we hold them to the standards of an average company trying to make money⊠then itâs not so surprising and the pieces fall in place.
As for the OCD collection of things and grinding⊠a large number of people doing that actually have the ability to switch that off, so in the majority of the cases weâre not talking about people with actual mental illness who are compelled to buy anything⊠weâre talking about your average gamer who is simply a âcompletionistâ and WANTS to own every tiny bit of content released.
The difference is that the second group has the ability to switch that OCD off if they come to the conclusion that they either want to or need to (for financial reasons maybe). Accepting the changes goes a long way hereâŠ
With all that said, I too wish they wouldnât be trying to âmilkâ us to this degree and wish they were the version of themselves that the fans placed on pedestals, but the game changed and it is what it is⊠I do agree with people here that the content IS optional and if you ignore all that âwrappingâ, the old game is still underneath and in some ways itâs better than it has ever been.
So I still like the game and Iâm even making mods for it etc 
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I agree with some others. For the OP, the BP is a convenient excuse to claim burn out on when itâs just the game itself you are tired of and have actually make the BP case in that you kept playing because of itâŠso you are upset that itâs doing itâs job and keeping people engaged. Not anyoneâs fault but your own to be that controlled by basic game as service marketing.
@Winthor had a great idea just to have the ability to turn off BP notifications though.
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The OPâs premise may seem illogical to some - picking yours as a well-worded example, Jimbo.
However, it does have merit.
Imagine if the baker mafia decided to make cake free, and even pay people to take and eat cake.
Cake âsalesâ and consumtion would probably rise.
Now, imagine them ending their offer and taking money for their cake again - letâs say the same price as before.
Cake sales would decrease - and it may even sink below the numbers before the cake giveaway. People got bored by cake, took free cake for granted, were made to think about cake, calories and capitalism, and suddenly, theyâre not willing to pay for cake.
Illogical? Yes. But humans are illogical.
The Battlepass can have the same effect - maybe not on all, maybe not on the majority, but certainly to a part of the community, including me.
One gets excited about killing 10 rocknoses and get a somewhat interesting new digital gimmick. The brain now equates killing rocknoses with getting a reward. When thereâs no reward anymore, killing rocknoses isnât cool anymore.
Thereâs a funny video about little monkeys and grapes that shows a very similar problem and how deep our wiring goes:
Man, Iâd like some cake. Or at least a grape.
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Yep. This is the âsticker shockâ i mention all the time when talking about monetization. But I would go further in the analysis and say the older way gave hardcore fans a means to Pokemon the game and âcollect them allâ. This was a measure of pride and separation from others (âI have been with the game since presale daysâ and XYZ). The new monetization takes that collector mentality away and that is psychological betrayal to the unspoken agreement these diehards had with the company⊠loyalty was used as a status symbol to pride over others and now the new way makes it economically nonfeasible to collect it all
Since battlepass and the bazaar were both implemented, weâve seen a stream of steady new decorations and armors, building set expansions and new content to the base game due to the new revenue stream. Iâm very happy about that. I also dont admin my way through it.
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After Chapter 1, even before Testlive was over, some others and I asked for notifications to be toggleable. We should be able to turn it off, because it severely messes with immersion.
This. The Must-Have Drive. Or âthe completionist.â
Youâre not wrong to feel how you do, and Iâm not technically wrong as a retailer to try and exploit this. But I wonât. Although my business has a part of âexclusivityâ and âtimeliness,â we always make it clear the goodies will come back again. I think if Funcom simply made a leeetle statement about FOMO and the actual lack thereof, people might play on a bit more at ease.
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I have no issue with this. A toggle for people would be helpful. The notifications do kinda show up like roadside billboards at times and is especially noticeable when youâve already completed the battlepass and donât have a reason to see them anymore.
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I wonât ramble about the BP being the cause for people quitting the game. I imagine some people might hate the monetization system so much that it actually makes them want to stop playing. Each to his own.
I think the access to the BP and the BLB should be made via the main menu instead of the tabs. I donât like seeing them mixed up with game menus. Personally, it breaks a little my immersion. It doesnât bother me, but I would prefer to go to the main menu to see those things.
The BP should have an on/off switch. Once you finish the BP, itâs kind of pointless to keep seeing your progress in challenges you donât mean to complete. Also, if you want to opt out of the BP, you donât need to have it shoved down your throat, reminding you it exists. Funcom could add a toggle challenges option.
I suspect it isnât implemented like that so itâs harder to ignore both the BP and the BLB. Iâm not sure that wonât backfire, though.
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