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Sega Makes Fun Of EA’s ‘Surprise Mechanics'

3 Jul 2019, 23:27 PM
#1
avatar of SturmtigerCobra
Patrion 310

Posts: 964 | Subs: 11

Longer news story:
https://www.coh2.org/topic/92606/ea-rebrand-loot-boxes-to-surprise-mechanics


Official Sonic Twitter Makes Fun Of EA’s ‘Surprise Mechanics’ By Announcing Sonic Horses
https://www.thegamer.com/official-sonic-twitter-makes-fun-eas-surprise-mechanics-announcing-sonic-horses/

Sega Tweet:
https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/1141503740605652992

@sonic_hedgehog
Hi everyone - we are pleased to announce new "Surprise Mechanics" for Sonic Horses!

You can now buy a "Surprise" for only 5 SonicBuxx™, or our new "Gaggle of Surprises" package for 200 SonicBuxx™!

Don't worry - our treatment of these Tiny Horses is entirely ethical.

4 Jul 2019, 12:31 PM
#2
avatar of Tiger Baron

Posts: 3145 | Subs: 2

That's ironic when we go back to $5 premium commanders.
4 Jul 2019, 12:37 PM
#3
avatar of Katitof

Posts: 17914 | Subs: 8

That's ironic when we go back to $5 premium commanders.

Go complain when the commanders will be in a surprise mechanic box with 1% drop chance, with remaining 99% being 10 bulletins that don't even change into currency.

It really doesn't get any more stupid to equalize DIRECT FUCKING PURCHASE OF WHAT YOU WANT with something that's being locked from you behind a math that is supposed to make you invest artificially set sum of money before you're allowed to have a chance at what you wanted.

In CoH setting, if you go to buy a banana, you go and buy banana.
In EA setting, if you go to buy a banana, you'll get 200 onions before you'll get a banana and that's if you're lucky, other customer may get banana on first try, while another may pay a lifetime supply of onions and never see banana.

Believe me, there is no one on this forum who knows as much shit about that as me, after all, I used to build this shit.
4 Jul 2019, 13:28 PM
#4
avatar of Grim

Posts: 1096

That's ironic when we go back to $5 premium commanders.


Not really. You can either buy them or hope they drop. You don't have to buy loot boxes until you get what you want by sheer chance.

Plus if those $5 commanders are what keep the servers up and patches coming then I can live with that.
4 Jul 2019, 15:17 PM
#5
avatar of RollingStone

Posts: 173

That's ironic when we go back to $5 premium commanders.

Hold on, aint all commanders can be bought with warspoils? Althougth it would take around 100 battles with spoils only to get that, but it still possible.
4 Jul 2019, 15:25 PM
#6
avatar of Crecer13

Posts: 2184 | Subs: 2


Hold on, aint all commanders can be bought with warspoils? Althougth it would take around 100 battles with spoils only to get that, but it still possible.


No, warspoils were added about two years later (I do not remember exactly) the appearance of the game, before that the commanders were bought for real money. And I would even now buy really new commanders with new abilities and techniques, because without new content, the game becomes more boring and boring to play.
4 Jul 2019, 19:28 PM
#7
avatar of elchino7
Senior Moderator Badge

Posts: 8154 | Subs: 2



No, warspoils were added about two years later (I do not remember exactly) the appearance of the game, before that the commanders were bought for real money. And I would even now buy really new commanders with new abilities and techniques, because without new content, the game becomes more boring and boring to play.


Even worst, you had no supply income before and duplicates were a thing. So it wasn't rare that you could get multiple of the same commanders been dropped.
4 Jul 2019, 19:42 PM
#8
avatar of Crecer13

Posts: 2184 | Subs: 2



Even worst, you had no supply income before and duplicates were a thing. So it wasn't rare that you could get multiple of the same commanders been dropped.


Yeah. Initially, supply drop randomly, and when I already got everything I needed, the system was reworked and forgotten, I have a ton of coins for which there is nothing to buy. In this situation, it would be better if Relic to continue to produce paid content: DLCs, Commanders, and (personally for me) historical skins.
8 Jul 2019, 12:37 PM
#9
avatar of Felinewolfie

Posts: 868 | Subs: 5


Go complain when the commanders will be in a surprise mechanic box with 1% drop chance, with remaining 99% being 10 bulletins that don't even change into currency.

It really doesn't get any more stupid to equalize DIRECT FUCKING PURCHASE OF WHAT YOU WANT with something that's being locked from you behind a math that is supposed to make you invest artificially set sum of money before you're allowed to have a chance at what you wanted.

In CoH setting, if you go to buy a banana, you go and buy banana.
In EA setting, if you go to buy a banana, you'll get 200 onions before you'll get a banana and that's if you're lucky, other customer may get banana on first try, while another may pay a lifetime supply of onions and never see banana.

Believe me, there is no one on this forum who knows as much shit about that as me, after all, I used to build this shit.


What do you mean you used to build this shit?
8 Jul 2019, 18:55 PM
#10
avatar of SeductiveCardbordBox

Posts: 591 | Subs: 1

CoH2 may have been slow to roll it out, but that was development trouble.

Remember the commissar chest preorder bundles, anyone? Premium currency, woop woop!

(Did we get any war spoils for those that preordered in the end? I honestly forget)
9 Jul 2019, 08:27 AM
#11
avatar of Hannibal
Senior Moderator Badge

Posts: 3114 | Subs: 2


Go complain when the commanders will be in a surprise mechanic box with 1% drop chance, with remaining 99% being 10 bulletins that don't even change into currency.

It really doesn't get any more stupid to equalize DIRECT FUCKING PURCHASE OF WHAT YOU WANT with something that's being locked from you behind a math that is supposed to make you invest artificially set sum of money before you're allowed to have a chance at what you wanted.

In CoH setting, if you go to buy a banana, you go and buy banana.
In EA setting, if you go to buy a banana, you'll get 200 onions before you'll get a banana and that's if you're lucky, other customer may get banana on first try, while another may pay a lifetime supply of onions and never see banana.

Believe me, there is no one on this forum who knows as much shit about that as me, after all, I used to build this shit.

While it's true that lootboxes and the CoH2 model is hard to compare, you're leaving out important information.
Given Relic's track record of overnerfing and overbuffing things, the commander you buy today because you think it's cool and opens up different strategies might not be like that tomorrow. We've seen many commanders come and go, and I'd be pissed if I spent real money just to see the commander nerfed to unplayability.
And before you jump on that train: I'm not talking about nerfing OP stuff for balance, but some commanders have changed from a viable meta build to completely useless within one patch.
If you buy a commander, you still don't know what you get. Might be a banana for a week, and become an onion for the rest of the game
10 Jul 2019, 05:02 AM
#12
avatar of SturmtigerCobra
Patrion 310

Posts: 964 | Subs: 11

EA: "I struggle with the perception that we're just a bunch of bad guys"

EA Struggles With The Perception That They're Bad Guys... Seriously?:

SOURCE:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-07-02-ea-i-struggle-with-the-perception-that-were-just-a-bunch-of-bad-guys
10 Jul 2019, 08:44 AM
#13
avatar of Tiger Baron

Posts: 3145 | Subs: 2

From my experience anybody with $$ in their eyes is "a bad guy". Money is simply all they think about and they're even willing to sell their own mothers to get it which is unacceptable at least for me. Money should simply be a means to an end, not the end.

The moment obtaining currency becomes your prime target in life is the moment you lose your humanity.
10 Jul 2019, 16:08 PM
#14
avatar of elchino7
Senior Moderator Badge

Posts: 8154 | Subs: 2

EA: I REJECT MY HUMANITY!

They are a business with shares in the stock market and their first goal is to satisfy investors not gamers.

10 Jul 2019, 16:47 PM
#15
avatar of Tiger Baron

Posts: 3145 | Subs: 2

EA: I REJECT MY HUMANITY!

They are a business with shares in the stock market and their first goal is to satisfy investors not gamers.



They have shares in the stock market because they USED to publish good games, a very, very long time ago. Now it's all about just milking most 12 year olds of their parents' money while losing their player base more and more every year over SJW and money milking actions.

Ergo no $$$ if no player, that's what these people need to understand. You make good games and you focus on the player, you get money out of, you start focusing on making money, and not the player, you lose sight, go blind, start losing people and thus, money, which will one day end in your demise.

EA, Activision and Blizzard are all classic examples of this.

EA is known to have started this DLC trend back in 2009, but before then they were known for good games the likes of Battlefield 1942, BF2, 2142, BF:BC2, BF3, FIFA, the Sims and so on and so forth. Now they dish out mostly SJW "stuff" (Blacks consisting of around 50 of player skins in a match in BF1, women so in BF5 as well) and having those season passes or whatever and loot boxes, and are trying to now call them "surprise mechanics" to go over the look box drama which is obviously not working and even backfiring in their money hungry faces.

Activision was responsible for some superb games like CoD, CoD2, CoD: WaW and CoD:MW but now have gone beyond the number 4 with their rehashes and even just titled their game WW2 to summarize again, women in WW2 along with loot boxes and so forth, not to mention gameplay that's now decades old just reskinned.

Blizzard being well known for Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and recently Overwatch, have also sadly started falling to SJW "stuff" and money hunger because their fans' love, devotion and (financial) support was not enough, they need more, more money, seeing as how others are going for it. If it's not obvious what I'm talking about, Tracer's butt causing a controversy and drama just to attract attention to Overwatch which is still in my opinion at least struggling against TF2, and them thinking they can silence the internet with it's rule 34. Diablo on mobile as well, like seriously?

Now recently Creative Assembly, SEGA's other, more older than Relic love child, have begun to sink in the SJW "stuff" along with all others. First there was the abnormal female general spawn rate in Rome 2 which was handled poorly by the community team in my opinion since they told their customers to basically fuck off. Now it's the "no sexy girl pics for workshop items" travesty for Three Kingdoms, again for whatever reason. I won't even go into the DLC lists for their games which are, very, VERY long, and borderline pay to win altho I sort of see the point in the mini-campaigns being DLC. But they have a huge problem of locking major civs in day 1 DLC, courtesy of SEGA I'm guessing.

I will finally end it with Relic, who I think did a really poor job with both this game and DoW3. Technicalities apart, the story for the Soviet campaign was just dull and I probably will not ever touch it again, unlike the millions of times I've replayed all of CoH's campaigns, the list of pay to win commands there were $5 each, were the meta for a month and then got nerfed into oblivion, then the $40 AA campaign, like it was brilliant, don't get me wrong, but making it a bit more like DoW Dark Crusade's campaign would have been a bit better where it also allowed you to play as the OKW for example and more worth it's price.

Then we have DoW3 which was something that absolutely NOBODY asked for in terms of gameplay, but at least they didn't try to milk it to dig their hole even deeper.

I mean it can totally just be me looking at this from a very nostalgic and grim perspective but it looks as if these once brilliant game developers (and publishers) are turning a blind eye to their fanbase and viewing them as some sort of brainless, stupid wallets on legs that cannot possibly tell them what they want, how to improve their products and if something is wrong to fix it.

There is no more human interaction between these developers and publishers and their players, it's basically robots, thinking they're talking to other robots now. Before developers were some random guys that just liked and wanted to make videos games, now it's business down to the core and it wasn't always so.

I know the finale was a bit longer than I expected but I just wanted to get this out there, also this kind of summarizes what I think the chilled out dudes making games were back in the 2000s:
10 Jul 2019, 23:25 PM
#16
avatar of elchino7
Senior Moderator Badge

Posts: 8154 | Subs: 2

snip


The problem is that whole "losing player base = no money" is not true, because whales > big playerbase in term of money.
We are slowly seeing a change been made with better regulations, but the trend won't change in the near future.

Let's not exaggerate with EA in the past.
It's funny you mention the Sims, cause that was basically the biggest most obvious cash grabber and almost fraudulent IP they released before the whole lootbox system appeared.

BF sage used to charge for expansions which didn't add too much but the community would bought them in a sign of good faith since there were mod tools to use on them.
BC2 was a console port which end up been a great stand alone game but not a proper BF per se. BF3 had premium for which you basically payed 2x the cost of an AAA game.
FIFA forces you to buy the game each year and on top of that they can't even play test or fix bugs from several games in the past.
BF1/BF5 has not been done with neither the BF3/4 or old BF titles gameplay design. BF1 was at least polished. The whole SJW debacle with the title is just a tree in the forest.

I mean it can totally just be me looking at this from a very nostalgic and grim perspective but it looks as if these once brilliant game developers (and publishers) are turning a blind eye to their fanbase and viewing them as some sort of brainless, stupid wallets on legs that cannot possibly tell them what they want, how to improve their products and if something is wrong to fix it.


Guess what. Most of the playerbase is like that. And the problem plenty of IP are suffering nowadays is listening to this group of people.
You need the feedback of loyal and knowledgeable players, because they are the ones who will back you up through decades. The casual market is the one who will abandon the ship whenever they see a new shiny.
11 Jul 2019, 05:08 AM
#17
avatar of SturmtigerCobra
Patrion 310

Posts: 964 | Subs: 11

The moment obtaining currency becomes your prime target in life is the moment you lose your humanity.

The truth is in the money trail and who owns big business/EA? (see below).
There is a price tag on everything, black market or not.
Money = more power. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

EA/Activision's dehumanization of gamers & China
Current modus operandi. We are no longer customers, we are cattle/whales. Employees are an expendable resource.
EA, Activision Appear in List of Top 100 Overpaid CEOs:
https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/ea-activision-overpaid-ceos-1203148414/

On top of this, they cycle workers to reduce salary:
https://www.coh2.org/topic/88462/call-of-duty-activision-greed/page/1#post_id756865


It's disgusting and also why we need some regulation when the market doesn't self-regulate (EA & Activision clearly won't change).
Also worrisome China becoming the biggest game market and building a new social credit system that influences the gaming industry.

11:45 - new social credit system (a dystopian nightmare for gamers)
SOURCE:https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained

The Whales of Microtransactions, and the Elephant in the Room:
https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-whales-of-microtransactions-and-the-elephant-in-the-room
Game studios are now purposefully designing bad systems and mechanics, hoping that people will be willing to pay to get past the poorly-made parts of the service: when microtransactions are the sole source of income, we start to build our entire product around that model.

The guaranteed way to help fight this corporate greed is voting with our wallets.

Remember Dungeon Keeper? - RTS game
EA Gets Lambasted Over Dungeon Keeper Microtransaction Gouging (mobile):
https://www.cinemablend.com/games/EA-Gets-Lambasted-Over-Dungeon-Keeper-Microtransaction-Gouging-62161.html
"The game's pay-walls were so obtrusive to the gameplay that it actually caused Eurogamer to give Dungeon Keeper a 1 out of 10."
EA also tried to rig the reviews (re-routing negative criticisms).
But that's not even the worst part about it. The worst part about it, as expounded by AlphaOmegaSin so eloquently, is that EA is re-routing negative criticisms about the game by aiming to prevent gamers from giving a score lower than “5” for the game's rating on the Google Play store.

As reported by Joystiq, anything between “1” and “4” will redirect players to EA's feedback page, where-as a perfect “5” will let gamers continue to play.

In simple terms: EA is trying to fix the review aggregate so when unsuspecting customers see the game on the app store, it only shows an average high score (since most people won't be able to give it a low score without going out of their way to do so).

CDPR the new Blizzard? Capitalism is bad?
No I'm not bashing capitalism nor Americans but without good execution, ideas are shit.
Relic balance 'execution' is proof of that.
Hence the saying;"Hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works".
It's not fair market competition when Wall street have legalized cheating (also called lobbying).
ESA gaming lobby:
https://www.theesa.com/
Take a note of the list of members:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Association#List_of_ESA_members_and_their_subsidiarie
CDPR should be proud about not being on the list.
CDPR (GoG & Cyberpunk 2077): "Think about the gamer, they are not walking wallets"


Who owns big business (and EA): the rise of passive investors/the Big Three


Vanguard top shareholder in EA and Activision Blizzard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanguard_Group
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EA/holders/
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ATVI/holders
If EA and Activision Blizzard changed name to Vanguard (the fastest growing asset managers of the big three, see below) then gamers have a better understanding of what is happening.

These top investment funds (other people’s money) are also top shareholders in the largest US financial companies.
Major shareholders in Alphabet Inc. (Google) include Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity (FMR), and Capital: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GOOG/holders
BlackRock and Vanguard Are Less Than a Decade Away From Managing $20 Trillion, 2017:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-04/blackrock-and-vanguard-s-20-trillion-future-is-closer-than-you-think

What Is an Index Fund?:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indexfund.asp

The largest asset managers & democratisation of investing:
Insiders call it "vertical integration"
https://theconversation.com/these-three-firms-own-corporate-america-77072
Some observers have lauded this development as the “democratisation of investing”, because it has significantly lowered investor expenses.

But other impacts of this seismic shift are far from democratising. One crucial difference between the active fund and the index fund industries is that the former is fragmented, consisting of hundreds of different asset managers both small and large.

The fast-growing index sector, on the other hand, is highly concentrated. It is dominated by just three giant American asset managers: BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – what we call the Big Three.
*SNIP*
In the S&P 500 – the benchmark index of America’s largest corporations – the situation is even more extreme. Together, the Big Three are the largest single shareholder in almost 90% of S&P 500 firms, including Apple, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, General Electric and Coca-Cola. This is the index in which most people invest.
*SNIP*
Hence, just three companies wield an enormous potential power over corporate America. Interestingly, though, we found that the Big Three vote for management in about 90% of all votes at annual general meetings, while mostly voting against proposals sponsored by shareholders (such as calls for independent board chairmen).

The following figure that shows that the Big Three dominate the US economy:

Hidden power of the Big Three? Passive index funds, re-concentration of corporate
ownership, and new financial risk:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/30AD689509AAD62F5B677E916C28C4B6/S1469356917000064a.pdf/hidden_power_of_the_big_three_passive_index_funds_reconcentration_of_corporate_ownership_and_new_financial_risk.pdf

Vanguard Patented a Way to Avoid Taxes on Mutual Funds:
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-vanguard-mutual-fund-tax-dodge/
This astounding success gives Vanguard funds an edge over competitors. Yet the world’s second-largest asset manager has avoided drawing attention to it. Top executives at the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based firm don’t want U.S. policymakers looking too closely at how they’re doing it, according to a former insider.

Two of America's biggest passive funds are about to get aggressive with companies, 2015
https://www.businessinsider.com/vanguard-blackrock-going-activist-2015-3?r=US&IR=T
The article quotes a letter from Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb, who said, "In the past, some have mistakenly assumed that our predominantly passive management style suggests a passive attitude with respect to corporate governance. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Big Three using new AI research:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ai-has-become-so-popular-in-picking-stocks-that-its-become-ineffective-2017-10-06
One of the biggest trends among asset managers in recent years has been the use of artificial intelligence in managing investments. These companies have employed powerful computers to mine massive data sets—including corporate commentary, social media chatter, credit-card data, and other statistics difficult for humans to discern patterns—and then developing portfolios based on that analysis.

Elon Musk was right

TL;DR Vanguard/EA - unhinged:


This crony capitalism is just the tip of the iceberg. Evidence from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/
12 Jul 2019, 10:42 AM
#18
avatar of DerKuhlmann

Posts: 469

It was sad seeing wow go dog shit expansions after expansions.
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