Exactly as the title says. I miss themed DLC sets that I could purchase and play with indefinitely. I miss having consistent content that I could buy without needing to first buy in-game currency. I miss not having yet another battlepass that demands that I treat a game like a second job to fill an arbitrary checklist to give me the opportunity to possibly use the things I’m dropping $30+ on. I love my Arena set, my frontier set, my Derketo stuff, etc etc… And I miss being able to just buy the things I want with a reasonable amount of money instead of paying with either a reasonable amount of money and a ludicrous amount of time or a ludicrous amount of money to buy the levels needed
Oh, and I hate the bazaar. Either stop “rotating” the stock or just ditch the whole thing. My loading screen advertises 2 sets that aren’t even available right now, which just further salts the wound.
At the price of the DLCs, I can live with that. Better then paying 2X for 1/20 of the content.
Oh everything in possible
But I don’t see a full map as an age. It’s a pretty absurd notion.
When I bought the DLCs if didn’t like them I could have gotten a refund. Try that the next time a bazaar item is dropped broken or not close to what you were lead to believe you were buying.
Oh, rest assured, there are differing opinions. And you’ll see them on display soon enough. No, I’d say that the lack of replies was mostly due to a mix of resignation and exhaustion.
Resignation, because countless people have voiced the same complaints you have, and nothing has changed for the better, not even a little.
Exhaustion, because every time someone dares to complain or agree with the complaints, there’s a small group of people who will do all in their power to shut down the discussion and, if possible, insult those who complain.
But if you really want to try again, then sure, why not? Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
My own complaints about the new monetization echo some of yours and @DeaconElie’s. In no particular order:
Lack of transparency. You often don’t know crucial details about what you’re buying. Two examples that come to mind are the Lost Dungeon set with its weird blocky architecture, and Acheronian Illusionist Mystery Box with its tiny size.
No refund policy. After the unpleasant surprise you get from the lack of transparency, you’re left with no recourse. No refunds. Buyer beware. Better luck next time, pleb.
No sharing. Want to give someone an in-game gift by crafting them something from the Bazaar? Keep dreaming, those days are over. To be fair, this isn’t just the Battle Pass and Bazaar, they managed to sneak that restriction into the old DLCs via the construction hammer.
Online only. Ain’t no such thing as offline single-player in the brave new monetized world. If you’re not online, you don’t have access to the stuff you “bought”.
Crom Crypto. Speaking of “buying”, you aren’t. The only thing you buy are the Crom Coins, and those are to crypto currency what gift cards are to real money; you can’t buy an arbitrary amount and you can’t use them for anything else. Let that sink in, there’s something even worse than crypto.
Pricing dark patterns. While we’re on the topic of Crom Crypto, we might as well cover one of the sleazy, predatory dark patterns adopted from the industry at large: pricing items just a tiny bit above the amount of CC you get in a bundle.
FOMO (BP Edition). Speaking of dark patterns, let’s talk about FOMO. Missed the BP by a few days? Too late, too bad, you ain’t getting any of that stuff. What’s that? You’d like to pay to buy it later down the line? No can do. It’s your own damn fault for not having the foresight to start playing this game earlier.
FOMO (Bazaar Edition). But wait, that’s not all! FOMO is a gift that keeps on giving. Did you see something in the Bazaar that you liked? Are you considering maybe waiting for a YouTuber to drop a review of it? Think twice. Or better yet, don’t think, act now, because it’s going “out of rotation” soon and who knows when or if it will be back? I mean, sure, Funcom says everything that goes out of rotation will eventually be back, but they also say they only introduced rotation to avoid making the store “cluttered”, and that’s a straight up crock of shіt.
“Discounts” no one understands. A brand new thing pops up on the Bazaar and it’s already “discounted”. Don’t reach for your consumer rights yet, boys and girls, even in those jurisdictions that actually have them. You see, it’s not that kind of discount, it’s the other one, the “bundle discount”. The price is “lower” than it would be if these items were offered individually. Except, you know, they aren’t actually offered individually. And even if some of them eventually get offered individually, no one can understand how the discounts formula works. But why worry about that, when you can enjoy the dopamine rush of buying at a bargain?
That’s my laundry list of monetization complaints. Now grab some popcorn.
I’ve been away from the forums for a while, so I haven’t seen any of the other posts. Exhaustion seems like the correct choice of word. It’s not rage inducing or exciting. It’s not fun or anything. Just… tiresome. Yet another battlepass… yet another game turning into a grind, as if Conan needed help being grindy
yah i would rather have the DLCs. i actually take exception to the term DLC, since it was never Downloadable content, it was already in the game files, and was really Unlockable Content. but the industry standardized the term and it stuck even tho it was bs.
as far as the bazaar goes, i bought a couple of things, was underwhelmed by them, so i dont buy anything anymore, even if i think it looks cool. but realistically, i don’t fit the buyer’s market for the bazaar, as i don’t really play the dollhouse mode. there are enough people buying the stuff, so it is profitable for them to stay with the same business model. that’s capitalism. we can complain about it, and there is nothing wrong with complaining, but it won’t do any good. it’s like designer handbags or jeans with some french guy’s name on it. that shit isn’t made for me, it’s made for people who care about that crap. i think it’s a waste of money, but i don’t care how other people waste their money, and i don’t get bogged down in how companies make their money. like i said, i’m with you in principle, but when it comes to the real world practicalities of it, i won’t waste my money or my time on trinkets and doo-dads that have no effect on the actual gameplay.
And yet, again, BP progression now goes along with other types of things you usually do. Crafting, Harvesting, etc.
Some people might not even “care” about BP progression and progress on it.
DLC, either you buy, or dont.
It is really frustrating to some players to have to see borderline ungrateful takes on some stuff the people at Funcom does specifically to make players’ lives better. And if it was a bit better recognized, maybe it would be better worked on.
We have always to understand that business is business, but sometimes, there are options to do business this or that way. If “no matter what they do” people will complain, business is the only thing that matters. If people were less on the complaining side, and more on the contemplating side, trying to understand what is done in a way to both satisfy business and enjoyment, maybe these would figure even more proeminently.
This one very much likes the old DLCs
Hence this one acquired them.
They would yet be a bargain at half again or perhaps even double the price.
That they do not require connection to the, reliable as a Derketo approved chastity belt, Funcom Live Services is a constant source of comfort.
This one strongly feels that Lemurian and Stygian full culture pack were glaring holes in that line.
That having been said, this one does not hate the Bazaar in concept. There are many things that are nifty that simply wouldn’t fit into a cultural bundle. The Bazaar is an excellent option for these things.
Also, while this one detests the idea of fixing a DLC with Bazaar add ons, this one very much supports the idea of expanding them
The Stormglass Cathedral being an excellent example.
The Bazaar is not at all without merit.
This one gnashes their teeth with the current implementation, but there is plenty of room for both.
Yes there are. I love the bazaar and battlepass because I don’t have to wait upwards of 5 months or more for a new dlc. I liked the old dlc too, but there were too few of them.
You go on each and every topic that criticizes Funcom and you write condescending posts about how “business exists to make money” and how people are stupid to not understand that.
And then, out of the blue, you write a post where you talk about players being “borderline ungrateful” and how Funcom would “work better” if they were “recognized better”.
Which is it?
Is Funcom merely a business that exists to make money and our opinions don’t matter in the face of their financial success? Or do our opinions actually matter and it’s not just about making money? You can’t have it both ways.
If you’re always going to act like you’re superior to the rest of us, at least pick a reason and stick with it.
And that’s precisely what our complaints are about! Have you read a single word of what people have written here?
Of course people will complain. People will always complain, because they’re people, plural. You’re saying that if we want Funcom to listen to players’ feedback, we have to act as if we were one person with one mind. You’re saying that if Funcom does something according to feedback from some portion of players, no other players are allowed to criticize that.
Are you truly not aware of how utterly, ridiculously impossible that is?
Having an in-game store is not a bad idea at all. Nothing on my laundry list precludes having an in-game store.
I think Battle Pass is not a bad idea, either. I don’t like the iron-clad exclusivity of it, but the rest is pretty decent.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen someone answer these complaints with something along the lines of “well the old DLCs didn’t generate enough revenue”, as if the false dichotomy they’re imposing is something completely natural.
The choices aren’t just “go back to old DLCs and go bankrupt” and “use a monetization system riddled with dark patterns and anti-consumer practices”. There’s plenty of options in-between.
I don’t think there would be as much pushback from players if Funcom did things that players have been asking for since day one to have worked on (Most recent in my mind is that the thrall pots are still broken and have been for a while now)
I’m just suffering from “Battlepass fatigue” since every game under the sun has one. World of Warships: Legends, another game I play frequently, has an absurdly long battlepass. Even Warframe is giving it some funny looks with the Nightwave stuff. I just want to buy content, and play content when I have the time. I haven’t had the time for the last like 6 months to play any amount of Conan and it turns out I missed out on some pretty spiffy stuff.
Hey! Stop bullying the mult-imillion corporation! They get enough bullying from their QA department, apparently. /sarcasm
If they sold all of the battlepass content up front for $20 like they did with the DLC’s, then you could have your cake and eat it too. And my issue with the bazaar isn’t so much that it exists. It’s that the stuff that’s in it is all limited time… like they’re running out of stock or something and pretty soon all the 1’s and 0’s will be sold out.
This pretty much sums up my gripes about the current discussions about anything monetary related in the gaming industry. For the longest time, we talked about how predatory Loot Boxes were, and a similar conversation was had. “Other systems don’t generate enough revenue, so loot boxes are the way to go!” Nevermind the fact that it’s literally gambling. Then EA proved that they really should be illegal and everyone collectively decided that Loot Boxes became a symbolic evil. Now we have battlepasses that lock content not just behind paywalls, but now timewalls as well to where if I only have 15 minutes a day to check in and start some production cycles in my base then I’m just not showing enough commitment for my money to mean anything.
They did for dlc and it took a long, irregular time to get them, now they don’t and the battlepass is regular. I prefer the new system. I get more content this way.
Have you done this battle pass? As far as battle passes, go the effort is easy and it might as well just be a dlc, IMHO. Even with the imposed 8 levels max/day, you are still easily able to complete within 2 weeks… something you have 3 months to complete.
Now the DLCs were a waste of effort with very little meat on the bone. I would venture to say 80% of the Dlc content isn’t used and if you do decide to deck out you place with all of it, your base is a laggy mess and you risk getting booted from officials.
What I have seen is that FC is somewhere in the middle already. Their prices are high but I have seen much worse. Compare CE to diablo iv. Just saying.
Anyways, business transactions require two parties in agreement. If you find it overpriced, don’t buy it. Let them know here and social media. Move on and play without the shiny new widget.
And yet, when I point out that the reason dlcs can’t fairly be compared to battlepass/bazaar is because Funcom didn’t bother releasing dlcs on a proper schedule for several years - thus making it extremely unlikely that they even could receive the same income, because they attempted to sell so much less content in that time period - you insist that almighty Funcom is right anyway and this approach (an approach that alienates far more players than dlcs ever did) is ‘proven’ to be the best one. But then immediately here you admit that dlcs were too infrequent and they did not release enough content for you.
I happily accepted that you were still enjoying the game, even in its current disastrous state, but it’s good to finally have proof that you are just another one that is not capable of honest argumentation and will simply oppose even the slightest criticism of Funcom’s choices. I won’t waste my time with you again in future.
And I will continue to maintain that if Funcom had put out dlcs at an equivalent rate to the rate they now use for battlepass/bazaar content (with an appropriate price increase to account for several years of inflation) they would likely be making as much money as currently, if not more (because they would generate less ill will). It wasn’t that they couldn’t put out dlc content at this rate, since they now do so, it was simply that they chose not to, and then use those misleading figures as the basis for decision making.
Ah, but if the ‘Funcom always right’ crowd were to acknowledge that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing then they would have no strawman to dismiss.
Buying the first DLC didn’t give you enough croms to buy the next
And I will maintain if pigs could fly we wouldn’t need fertilizer trucks.
The amount of time it takes an artist to create content is always the same. The bazaar is releasing a DLC a piece at a time over the same period of time it would take to make a DLC bundle.
Just a reminder, it’s not funcom making the decisions. That changed when this changed. I doubt seriously the Funcom content artists were under as much production stress before tencent bought them and put them on the season pass/in game store grind.
And as can be seen, the quality of content has suffered.
I’d rather have it right next month then broken today. But funcom content artists don’t have that option.
