This isn’t really up for debate. Better gear, weapons, and upgrades materially affect the game - ergo, they have a material impact.
You’re conflating the word “material” (as in, a tangible effect), with “necessary”. They don’t mean the same thing.
Well, that certainly settles it, doesn’t it? :)
And yet, I and the vast majority of players who never buy these items, never miss them, and there is absolutely zero impact to us. So exactly how this this material to the game as a whole again?
How can something be “material” if it never impacts the vast majority of the player base? At best you can say that for those who actually do buy these items, they are material to those players. But for everyone, pzzzt, no impact whatsoever.
You’re obfuscating. Ubisoft sells items that have a material impact on gameplay (ie. not just cosmetic). That was the entire point of the conversation. You can buy a bunch of the best gear in the game for real money. Not up for debate.
This then shifted to “well, it’s not material if it isn’t necessary”. Not the debate, or the definition of “material”.
Now it has shifted to “well, it’s not material to you if you don’t buy them”, which is essentially a restatement of the “if it isn’t necessary” argument.
The “best gear” in nearly any loot-based game isn’t NECESSARY; it’s designed to fuel an IMPULSE towards collecting better and better stuff. And that’s where you’ll find Ubisoft, helpfully offering you some of that better stuff for naught but a few coins. You won’t even miss them, we promise.
As for having no impact whatsoever on everyone else, you are wrong again. Games that feature these kinds of MTX are ALWAYS balanced, however slightly or obviously, towards nudging you to “solve” problems the game’s own design creates, with money. MTX are a core part of the financials for these publishers these days, not some tip jar they’d be aww shucks thrilled if you tossed a dollar or two into.
If you resisted that, or had a bunch of fun despite it? That’s great. Lots of people do. That’s not the same as declaring it has no impact on the game.
Except it obviously does have an impact on you, in that it completely changes the pacing of the game. That may not bother you, but it’s definitely an impact, and a significant one.
Look at the items that are available on the store and tell me how they change the pacing of the game. Hint - they don’t. All they do is supply some additional armor or weapons perks. The only thing these perks do is give some additional options for how you might okay the game, or enhance certain abilities you already have. They don’t change the game balance (none are game breaking) nor do they break the game . But if you do feel this is true, then please explain how they impact the pacing.
Have you played the game? Have you looked at the items available for sale? The problem with your statement above is that the armor sets/weapons aren’t really the “best gear”. They just provide you with some additional perks/bonus options that aren’t in the original game. At most they just give you some additional playstyle options. There are no uber items for purchase in the store. If there are, then please point them out to me and explain why they are so much better than what I can currently use.
This is an assertion without any evidence. So here’s your challenge - pick any weapon/armor set on the Odyssey store and tell me exactly how the game is “balanced towards” or “nudges” me to solve the game play with that item in preference to items already in the game. Should be simple, right? Here’s your chance :)
Not that I have any beef in this, but I can just start at level 1. And spend to buy the best items and the exp and money booster.
Big time saver. Yet you insist that it does not impact the game. I think you are so insistent on being right that you can’t even put yourself in the shoes of someone starting out, as opposed to someone who had experienced everything the game had to offer.
This is getting tiring.
Not only have I played the game, I am currently playing the game, and level 82. I didn’t say the stuff you could buy was THE best gear - I said it was a bunch of the best gear in the game, at minimum on par with any of the other legendary gear available in the game. You’ve mutated that into me claiming the existence of “uber items” on the store.
Duuuuude, this very discussion thread is filled with people (including myself) providing examples of things in the game designed to nudge you towards buying drachmae (or the drachmae booster), materials packs, and auto-leveled legendary gear (particularly in later levels, when the price to manually upgrade gets truly ridiculous).
You’re opportunistically framing this as me (or anyone else here for that matter), claiming that the actual bonuses on the gear itself are uniquely superior to any other legendary gear in the game, when no one has done this.
Huh? No, you can´t - Those weapons will be your level, and they will stay at that level, for when you purchased it. There are plenty of other just as good weapons in the game, that you get normally, or even just find.
The xp boost is actually making the game harder, not better, in that you have to level up your equipment faster.
edit: Unless of course auto levelled weapons really are a thing now? That would be extremely boring to purchase then - locking you in to one weapon?
On top of that, the game isnt hard - Its not like its difficult to progress in the game like in, say, any dark souls games.
There’s no gear that automatically levels with you. My use of the term was to refer to when you buy legendary gear from the in-game store, and it comes automatically leveled to whatever you were when you bought it.
Agreed that the XP Booster is of dubious value, unless you’re really into unlocking skills I guess.
In terms of affecting gameplay, the real “values” early on, are in buying ship lieutenants and materials. Later in the game, the drachmae booster and gear items would become very attractive, because gear upgrades cost a small fortune in money and materials. I’m lvl 82, and it costs me over 50k drachmae and around 4k total in materials, to upgrade a single piece of gear to my level.
The final ship upgrades also cost a fortune - I think the final hull upgrade was something like 275k drachmae, plus over 10k of two different materials, and over 4k of one of the rare materials. For a single upgrade. And ALL of the final ship upgrades are in that ballpark.
This is where Ubi make their money. Things start off reasonably enough to hook you on the game, and then they eventually ramp up to crazytown once they know they’ve got you.
And your point is? That buying in game items and xp boost does not have a material effect on how a person plays his game?
Indeed - The weapon you purchase at level one with real money, is in no way
the best items. Are you just out to argue now, or did you really not understand my point?
Yeah, the officers you can buy are better. I mostly avoid naval combat, but is the +3 (Or however much extra something those bring) percent really worth anything in the game? I just add women to my officer list and play as all amazon band, no matter what rarity they have.
Also - Those final ship upgrades, are they neccesary? That´s a real question, since, I dont do much naval fighting.
Again, I find the game pretty easy, and the difficulty is adjustable, so there really is no real need for any super cool uber weapons, in my mind.
I really didnt understand your point.
Are you saying that me buying ingame items wont affect my game play? Or that I need to keep buying stuff to affect my game play?
Because if it’s the second point then you just conceded that buying items affect my game play.
Nobody is saying that it is “necessary” to buy. The point is that having ingame items “materially” affects game play.
Oh - sorry then. Thanks for not being a jerk about it, like I was kinda.
Well,thats…really a difficult thing to answer, isnt it? At some point, anything you buy will affect your gameplay, but how much?
I guess I am just saying that it is in no way neccesary, and will not make your game …eh…materially easier, to purchase a legendary weapon at level one - maybe perhaps except for 5 minutes? As I mentioned earlier, the xp buff is not a good idea, and will probably affect your game negatively instead. The money thing - yeah, that kinda sucks, I agree.
I think I am only level 50 or such, but money was a bit tight at the end, since I was often upgrading my weapons.
Glad to sort it out. Also I didn’t think your post was rude or anywhere close to it at all.
Back to topic. The ingame sales idea is to capture whales who spends like no tomorrow.
So it is indeed disingunous of them to sanction people who make mods to make life easier while claiming that their decision have nothing to do with their monetization of mechanism to make life easier. As your point about money proves.
No, they aren’t NECESSARY to complete the game. MTX that were literally necessary to finish the game would get absolutely torn to shreds by players and media alike.
Instead, publishers structure their games (and microtransactions) to capitalize on psychological impulses. You don’t need any of those final ship upgrades, but you do if you’re someone who is impulsively compelled to want to max out everything in your games. So Ubisoft balances their systems to require JUST enough laborious grinding, that a significant percentage of players will at least consider just buying their way out of it.
Maybe not at first, because that might just put you off the game altogether - but hours later, when you’ve bought in to the game? Sure.
Games like Diablo are entirely designed around the impulsive desire to see your numbers go higher and higher, and get better and better stuff with better and better numbers so you can get better and better stuff with better and better numbers so you can g…
It isn’t NECESSARY to buy card packs for FIFA Ultimate Team, but hey, maybe this next pack will have that player with the better numbers I’ve been looking for.
They are combining selling cheat codes for singleplayer games with locking down the singleplayer title so 3rd party cheat apps have a much harder time “cheating” in the game.