Relic trying to save War Spoil with Free Commander Rotation

Cynthia_RE Developer
http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/company-of-heroes-2-general-discussion/73797-free-commander-rotation-requests-and-feedback

Greetings, CoH2 Players! A quick note to announce a feature going live quite shortly: the Free Commander Rotation. Starting today, every time you sign in to Company of Heroes 2 during the course of this promotion you will be shown which commanders are free to use. While the event is running, you’ll find these Commanders in your inventory alongside your other items with a small timer icon to indicate they are temporary. They will remain in your inventory until we move on to the next rotation. Whether you're new to the Company of Heroes series or you've been playing for a while and have yet to experience certain premium Commanders, this is your chance to check them out!

We're working to give you new ways to experience the content within the game. The purpose of this thread is for us to gather feedback from you, the players - and to gain insight into which commanders you'd like to see featured. Please note that as with any feedback thread, we may not act on every single point - especially due to possible conflicting opinions.

That being said, have at 'er!

Play nice, have fun, keep it clean. We're here, we're listening, and there is more coming down the pipe.


FAQ:
Do I need to activate a Steam key or complete any extra steps to access these premium Commanders?
Nope! We do the legwork for you. Each Commander will be automatically turned on for a temporary time frame. You'll see them in your inventory as soon as the promotion starts, once you've logged in to the game. Once the promotion for that specific Commander has ended, it will be removed from your inventory.
Which Commanders will you be featuring?
We're going to keep you guys on your toes, and maintain an air of mystery here! We WILL confirm that we will be featuring Commanders from all of the currently playable factions for maximum variation. You'll just have to log in to see who's featured, and when.
You featured a commander I've already purchased, I paid money for this and now others are getting them for free!
The free Commander rotation is only temporary. Meaning at the end of the promotion, players will see these Commanders removed from their inventory unless they were owned prior to the free rotation. We will continue to cycle through different Commanders, in order to maximize how many players experience something new. Thank you for your support!
I did not purchase The Western Front Armies release. If the featured Commanders are for those armies, can I still try them out for free?
No, you will need to own the armies before you can play with a Commander.
I'd like to make a request for a specific Commander to be featured. Where can I do that?
We've started a Forum thread <here> where players can share their thoughts on who they might like to see featured. Please note that we cannot guarantee we will act upon all requests, but we would certainly love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this feature.
Last edited by Cynthia_RE; Today, 11:15 AM.

--------------------------------------------------------
When I first read this, I was stunned. This is the alternative feature Relic decide to install to save War Spoil？Not a currency system, not a parallel micro-transaction system, but this? Why do I feel like this idea should belong to games like League of Legend?

Why do I hate this idea so much, you may ask? Well, let me tell you! So imagine, they actually put the new WFA commanders on the rotation for a period, you got supper exited, as you can finally have "new ways to experience the content within the game". Well, guess what, few days later, you find yourself again in the pit hole of War Spoil lottery machine. Do not get your WFA commanders from drops? Well, we have good news, you now can try them for few days every few months!

Embrace yourself, this could even get worse. According to Relic, the rotation will cover all 4 factions, all commanders. Well, you want to try Rifle Company or Scavenger Doctrine? Nah, what about trying this brand new Osttruppen Doctrine (now a complete joke just to remind us how Relic style balance work, I mean 200 manpower for Osttruppen? They are not even half as good as US rear echolen) or this lovely Soviet Mechanized Support (actually pretty good)?

To be honest, I just feel like Relic are really stubborn with some of their own design. You remember the timer they putted on commander drops during Alpha? You grind for years and get to use Rifle Company for a shinny 48 hours! Better not sleep at all. Well, everyone hate it, like seriously mad, so they took it away before release. But now, guess what, the timer is back, in a not so shinny new form...

------------------------------
What I am pretty disappointed about is that they decided to announce this system on the patch day, right after they finally responded yesterday towards the up growing concerns the community hold towards war spoil. It seems to me that this is their Ace in the sleeves for now, and proved my point before that they are quite positive with the current War Spoil System and probably would do very little change to it. So as far as I understand, currency system, parallel micro-transaction, those are not really possible in the near future any more. They may make the drop rate increase a tiny bit, but I do not even think they would change the duplication thing.

Now about this new rotation system. I do not like the idea at all, as to me it seems like a carrot on a fish wire just to keep the rabbit (player) run further with the rough road (War Spoil). And from human psychology aspect, this would just make the players already suffering from constant disappointments due to War Spoil, experience a similar type of Shock Therapy. You own it for a while, you are happy, they take it away, now you cannot get it, you are depressed. Though it is not completely logical, as you mentioned, taking the rotation commanders away does not decrease the time it take for you to get the commander you want (which can be 700 hours in current system), people tend to feel depressed by such actions. After all, most of us do have emotions, and will react more positively towards positive reinforcements.

Does that new rotation block the possibility of unlocking the new commanders and then later on use them at your own will?

Does that new rotation block the possibility of unlocking the new commanders and then later on use them at your own will?

No this is probably just in addition to the current war spoils system.

You still have a chance to get a random commander drop based on your play time.

It's amazing that they've introduced this and not even touched war spoils.
As a community we could keep asking for the same two WFA over and over again, so that they are (almost) given to us for free.

This new system is all the more insulting considering they just finished saying they don't want to push DLC. Unless I'm wrong this new system is basically a way of reviewing DLC. It's not as if anyone is going to finish playing with the temporary commanders and think to themselves 'wow, they were good, I can't wait to eventually get them as war spoils in several months/years time!'

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. This seems like a good idea, especially since war spoils are such crap at the moment.
I don't think it's a fix to the war spoils, just a stop gap measure so people can still try the new commanders until they fully fix it.

Since you put it like that it is strictly speaking better than nothing - or duplicates.
In which case we need to make sure that we ask for WFA commanders every single time.

Does that new rotation block the possibility of unlocking the new commanders and then later on use them at your own will?

No, it does not. What I am pretty disappointed about is that they decided to announce this system on the patch day, right after they finally responded yesterday towards the up growing concerns the community hold towards war spoil. It seems to me that this is their Ace in the sleeves for now, and proved my point before that they are quite positive with the current War Spoil System and probably would do very little change to it. So as far as I understand, currency system, parallel micro-transaction, those are not really possible in the near future any more. They may make the drop rate increase a tiny bit, but I do not even think they would change the duplication thing.

Now about this new rotation system. I do not like the idea at all, as to me it seems like a carrot on a fish wire just to keep the rabbit (player) run further with the rough road (War Spoil). And from human psychology aspect, this would just make the players already suffering from constant disappointments due to War Spoil, experience a similar type of Shock Therapy. You own it for a while, you are happy, they take it away, now you cannot get it, you are depressed. Though it is not completely logical, as you mentioned, taking the rotation commanders away does not decrease the time it take for you to get the commander you want (which can be 700 hours in current system), people tend to feel depressed by such actions. After all, most of us do have emotions, and will react more positively towards positive reinforcements.

CoH2 community in a nutshell.

Commanders only paid for? Complain and say it's pay 2 win.
Unlockable commanders via playing? Complain that there are duplicates and drop rate is too low.
Unlockable commanders via playing + random rotation? Complain and say that this is even worse than just unlockable commanders.


Never happy I unless you get exactly what you want, right? If you want 1000$ and someone on the street donates you 999$ you gonna complain to him that it isn't 1k, rite? D:

I cannot even....

Just as we speak, the system is deployed. Everyone now have access to Mechanized Assault (OST) and Counter Attack Tactic (Soviet) for 1 week (168 hours). For those of you who think they are going to just put WFA commanders on the rotate list, don't you feel a kiss on the cheek?

CoH2 community in a nutshell.

Commanders only paid for? Complain and say it's pay 2 win.
Unlockable commanders via playing? Complain that there are duplicates and drop rate is too low.
Unlockable commanders via playing + random rotation? Complain and say that this is even worse than just unlockable commanders.


Never happy I unless you get exactly what you want, right? If you want 1000$ and someone on the street donates you 999$ you gonna complain to him that it isn't 1k, rite? D:

People aren't happy because literally all those ideas were terrible. Just because Relic keeps getting it wrong doesn't mean that people are complaining unfairly.

CoH2 community in a nutshell.

Commanders only paid for? Complain and say it's pay 2 win.
Unlockable commanders via playing? Complain that there are duplicates and drop rate is too low.
Unlockable commanders via playing + random rotation? Complain and say that this is even worse than just unlockable commanders.

sounds about right. cant wait to see what they complain about next.

People aren't happy because literally all those ideas were terrible. Just because Relic keeps getting it wrong doesn't mean that people are complaining unfairly.

and your solution is?

People aren't happy because literally all those ideas were terrible. Just because Relic keeps getting it wrong doesn't mean that people are complaining unfairly.

+1

We are a miserable lot, we're given loads of duplicate faceplates and victory strikes for free and without even asking for them, and we have the audacity to complain that they're unwanted.
There's no pleasing some people....unless you offer them a system that isn't very, very broken.

We are a miserable lot, we're given loads of duplicate faceplates and victory strikes for free and without even asking for them, and we have the audacity to complain that they're unwanted.
There's no pleasing some people....unless you offer them a system that isn't very, very broken.

Just because a thing is free and unwanted does not change the fact it's absolutely free, cost you nothing, is a thing you would not have otherwise had, and have no right to complain about having.

It's literally Relic handing you things you didn't pay for and have no right to own, other than that relic decided to give them to you. You don't get to complain that they're not the things you want. That's not how free works.

@Brachiaraidos
@Wooof
@Milkacow

+ over 9000 to you guys.

I don't believe in aliens much...but if I did, the COH2 community is a piece of humanity I would be embarrassed to show them.

Just because a thing is free and unwanted does not change the fact it's absolutely free, cost you nothing, is a thing you would not have otherwise had, and have no right to complain about having.

It's literally Relic handing you things you didn't pay for and have no right to own, other than that relic decided to give them to you. You don't get to complain that they're not the things you want. That's not how free works.

Ill mail you my used toilet paper. Im giving you it for free, and you didnt want it, it costs you nothing, you wouldnt have my waste otherwise, and i suppose you have no right to complain tons of it was dumped on your lawn?

most vet players already bought these 2 commanders.

Its not because the people crying for pay 2 win were wrong that we have to love in their name all this bullshit...

Just because a thing is free and unwanted does not change the fact it's absolutely free, cost you nothing, is a thing you would not have otherwise had, and have no right to complain about having.

It's literally Relic handing you things you didn't pay for and have no right to own, other than that relic decided to give them to you. You don't get to complain that they're not the things you want. That's not how free works.

I understand your point, I honestly do. But I believe what those of us who are upset about this feature is not against this feature, but against the fact that Relic seems to choose this system as the saving grace for War Spoil. I do not think it is the correct thing to do.

For example, if I just bumped into your car, according to common logic, the correct thing to do would be get off my car, say sorry to you, give you my insurance information. However, what if instead of taking my social responsibility, I choose to do something quite random but yet still a "free" and nice thing, such as I get off the car and give you a candy bar, then off I go?

For me, what the War Spoil system need now is immediate attention and fix, maybe not even deploy anything, just put out a plan or a pool for player to discuss. These action would show that Relic is aware of their responsibility and the problem facing, just in the same way a decent man handing you his insurance card. While random nice free act, such as handing you a candy bar, sure is not bad on its own, it is not the kind of act appropriate for such situation.

sounds about right. cant wait to see what they complain about next.



and your solution is?

Look at half the threads on this forum, or the basic economy systems for any successful free to play game. Personally I just want no duplicates with a progression system linked to rank or something else that can be easily tracked. I would even be ok with bypassing some of the progression (except commanders) by buying xp.