This topic of the Battlepass changes has been interesting to say the least. So when I found out that we had to kill, craft, etc to get BP exp, my initial thought was that my way of completing Battlepasses before would be nerfed.
So let me explain how I used to do it.
I would do the challenges in the 2 right most slots, these popped up as Purple (70xp) challenges most times with a chance at Gold (150xp). I wouldn’t do the challenges in the middle (unless it was purple or gold) or the two on the left hand side as these had the greatest chance of being green (30xp) and blue (40xp).
It was the most efficient method. You need 60,000xp total to go from 0 to 60. On average I was getting a bit more than 700xp per challenge. I had a great chance of it being a Purple with an occasional gold. With this method I needed to do an average of around 80 challenges.
To make this happen, I only did challenges in those two right most slots and when I had bonuses accrue. Bonuses accrue at 5 per day, and cap at 25 (or 5 days). This would take me about 10 days to complete a battle pass (assuming I started with 25 bonus from previous days before the pass came out, and two sets of 5 days each). So I would do the challenges and use up my bonuses, then repeat every 5 days until it was complete. If I was very close to completing but had no bonuss, I might grind out a few challenges to knock it out.
I would login to singleplayer to do these challenges. I could admin teleport to locations if needed, and I used a Pippi spawner to spawn in stuff I needed to kill (each spawned in with like 50hp and died to a single hit, and I could kill 10x things with a single attack as needed).
Now with the changes, all of that is obsolete. Not nerfed, but deprecated. What I do now is login to singleplayer and just run several crafting stations. I don’t need mods, I don’t need admin panel. I could literally farm up enough mats to get the current cap now.
I have several benches setup and set them to make a ton of items and just wait till I get 8000xp and then stop. Put the made stuff into the dismantling bench to get the resources back.
Before the changes, It would take about 30-45 minutes per login for like 3-4 logins to complete a battlepass.
After the changes it will take 2-5 minutes per login at around 6-7 logins to complete it.
So while it takes more times logging in to complete a battlepass, it only takes about 30-45 minutes total (and no admin/mod usage) instead of nearly 3 hours total.
From my perspective (in how I play, not my opinion) the changes improved things. It takes 10x less time spent doing the Battlepass than before and half the time overall to complete the battlepass.
What I’ve done is had conversations with people about their playstyle and found some interesting diversity. And I say interesting because I had no clue that people played like this.
So I don’t think most do this, but on the other extreme, there are some who would continue to grind challenges even without bonuses. So if one did their bonuses and then kept going. It would take around 650 challenges to complete a battlepass. This would take them about 3-4 days. Though I can’t imagine how many hours per day that was. Certaintly more than the method I used.
For them the new changes makes the Battlepass take twice as long in total time across a week. It is not an improvement.
Neither myself or the other example is what the average player does (though my newer method is way more accessible than my old way). I would assume that the casual average player is likely getting their Battlepass done over all, quicker, and without the headache of doing 80-650 challenges.
I can see from Funcom’s point of view that challenges can be done for a bonus (they don’t count towards the limit). And that they are required to complete the battlepass, but on average they will save a day or two if you do them. So it can be a distraction a player can take if they wish. But general playing the game normally around 2-3 hours day, and about 3-4 days a week should get the average player done with their battlepass in about 2-3 weeks. Which I think is an improvement over what it took said player before. Especially without using admin panel or mods.
Now here’s my opinion. Even though its an improvement for me. I still don’t like it. I have a bias against Battlepasses in general. Paying for something so that I can MAYBE get something IF I finish it in time, is a bad design. I also don’t like the idea that if a friend of mine buys the game and wants something from the first six battlepasses, they simply have no access, not even to purchase it.
They could literally tell Funcom they will buy $1,000,000 in crom coin, and the answer is, ‘no.’ They could offer to double whatever they made since Age of Sorcery, and the answer is still, ‘no.’ That does not make sense to me. FOMO is a horrible practice that not only hurts the consumer, but the one selling the content.
IMO the previous battlepasses should be available at all times. Even if they have to be completed one by one. I mean think about how much login time you would get from a new player that bought the game today. If they wanted all 7 battlepasses, they would need to grind out 420,000xp worth. With challenges (and my math might not be perfect here) but they would be logging in every day for 2 months, or 3 if they play a bit more casually.
I don’t like the 8000/day cap, its a timegate. But if there was no limit to how long you had to complete a battlepass then that would be that bad. It would get done when it gets done. Something to work on as you play.
If FC wants money, and want numbers of people playing, well let us cook. I know plenty of players that have money to give, and time to play… if they are allowed to spend the money on what they want, and put the time into the goals they want to.