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I don't think any of the balance/bug fixes matter. People don't engage/come back because they fix bugs, or modify some values on units. Nothing is broken to the degree that the game is unplayable.
It is bleeding because of the lack of content. Needs a monthly supply of Battlegroups/Maps.
If you are going to peddle some color-swaps, tweaks and bug-fixes as the highlights of your patches - this isn't a live service game. This is literally patching in the form of software fixes. Live service means regular content updates, and the piss mtx in the store are not the update, they are just... monetization attempts...
It has been over a month and nothing came out. All the fun stuff you had in CoH2 for 4vs4 - it is not there. Scouting for the new 4vs4 map continues.
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Even if splicing unique IDs/friend list is a requirement for crossplay, it is not good enough. There have been examples of proper crossplay UIs, being capable to scan your native platform's friendlist, and merging both in-game and Steam/Playstation...
Management said crossplay is a requirement, and Relic just took the most straightforward and clunky approach to making the playlist. Shortcuts and shortcoming everywhere.
I am very skeptical of any console people converting into the pvp multiplayer. This has gone belly up so many times... You always make compromises that doom your game, or you just ignore the console people. Microsoft can afford to build RTS games for their own platform as a marketing exercise.
I doubt voice-chat is coming to this game, ever. This is not a competitive game to warrant it. Even most competitive games have opt-in voicechat, optional feature. |
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I believe that somewhere down the line, voice chat and cross-platform play is planned for CoH 3. It would explain the weird friends list bugs that plagued the multiplayer test, as maybe it had some half-baked code for integrating steam and consoles that was buggy, and also might explain why you don't get to see player usernames, but instead get unique colors, which could make it easier for console players to communicate. Although that might just be because Relic wants to hide usernames just in case they are offensive. They are trying to farm blackrock bux after all.
There aren't very many games that I can think of which have an in-game friends system which DON'T have crossplay. Blizzard and EA games come to mind with their in-game friends lists which integrate platforms. In fact, the only game I can think of which has an in-game friends list which doesn't have crossplay would be CoH 1, but that feature was there because coh wasn't integrated with steam at the time afaik, and it was dropped in CoH 2 for presumably that reason.
The main menu has some of the laziest UI design you can think of. From the splash-screen artwork that looks like someone gave up halfway painting it from the sketch to illustration.
To the small details like the radar is being replaced by the spinning dots, or the loading bar no longer ammo-belt being loaded but just a flat rectangle. Call these cosmetic bits tacky, but whoever made them put some effort in.
There is no grand-mastermind plan for the UI, just Relic doing the bare minimum poorly.
Also in COH2 just off the top of my head, UKF when choosing Anvil there is an ability called Advanced Warning which is passive and increases the sight of territory that you own. It has never worked since day 1 and it is still in the game to this day lying to you. Relic made a typo and a quick 2s fix would fix the ability but they couldn't be bothered once to fix it.
I can confirm that it is indeed a scam.
Quite a lot of items in CoH2 are either poorly made (aka doesn't work or sometimes doesn't work), or their effect is so poor that you just shouldn't use them. It is a painful trial and error process to determine what is broken, and what is practically useless, in the game that is 10 years old.
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Not necessarily. It's a pretty random example I know, but in another, popular game I play called "Dead by Daylight", a premium cosmetic skin for one character costs 11€ on average while a new chapter -which includes two new playable characters and 6 new playable perks- costs 7€
Wait for the new CoH3 battlegroups and see how much they cost, and then let's complain afterwards if it's a rip-off
What you are comparing seems to be one optional cosmetic piece vs paid DLC. Paid DLC will always cost less, while optional cosmetics more.
Though there are plenty of better examples of developers not fucking over base game/F2P audience with new gameplay content. For example, BF42 new heroes, weapons and vehicles. All you have to do is play the game, you aren't even asked to choose whether you want to spend your currency on a new hero, or upgrade something.
There have been plenty of fair updates (new content) that have been either completely free, or unlocked swiftly doing challenges. The only concern is that this isn't some altruistic charity, but the free gameplay content is the form of engagement, and the revenue is expected to come from cosmetics. If you aren't getting the revenue on skins, then you have to pivot and monetize it somehow...
It is Total Warhammer business model. Sure, it costs a lot to get a new army relative to the base-game price, but it is a fair deal. I would say CoH3 can charge $15 for the new faction, and $5 for the 4th+ new battlegroups (provided there is a F2P path that takes a month of grind to get it) |
But I really don't get where people are coming from with this "they prioritized the store over fixing the game or adding features!", like how exactly do you come to the conclusion that they pulled manpower & resources away from balance patches and features so that they can rush the store out? In fact, it is very likely that it's completely separate teams working on those things.
They (all PR) will spin the same situation depending on the decision they make:
• We postponed our (Pirate Emporium, Store, First Season, Skins, Paid Content) to focus on the main game and more free content
• Our teams are working hard on all things, we have an exciting update to share from our store/skins/seasons/battelpass team that is working parallel to the other teams
Everything outside hotfixes is being developed months prior to debut. It is very likely that the store content has been finished or 90% finished at release.
It is simply bad optics when your game is sinking, but the highlight of your first major patch is a mtx store. Don't go against the gamers, if they are already negative, just have the foresight to NOT deploy mtx that will further disappoint the playerbase. Even if delaying the store has 0% effect on the other teams fixing the game. You will get your chance to sell content when you fix the game
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Name me a single multiplayer game that actually was ready for release over last 10 years.
Grounded
Fortnite
Deep Rock Galactic
Apex Legends
Temtem
Genshin Impact
Valorant
Legends of Runeterra
Marvel Snap
There are games like Overwatch 2, Valheim or Multiversus that are still technically not fully released.
Oh the list is great. There is a pattern: games will always have problems on release. The trick is to call that period something like early-access or open-beta. Not required, but you greatly increase the perception of quality, and shake off a ton of criticism that applies during the first 3-6 months of unofficial release. Relic got lucky game "journalists" are some twats who think that Animal Crossing and Clash of Clans are the equivalent strategy games, so they gave Relic good scores.
Rosbone might be too dramatic, but everybody who rammed their early-access build as official got roasted, and the overwhelming amount of games simply never recovered. The 10 year plans crumble when the Audience is a fraction on what you projected, reviews negative/mixed, and the post-launch monetization makes just enough to cover the janitor's bill.
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Out of interest: How much Merot can you earn with their challenges, how much merit does a skin cost and thereby how long (in hours of gameplay) does it roughly take to be able to buy a skin (i.e. what is the earn rate of 'merit'?)
900/weekly challenges
200/dailies
1000/soldier skin
4000/vehicle skin
(Very poor selection for freemium, most skins are cash-only now)
Yet, despite being garbage pricing, I see no point in these skins. They look worse than most colorswaps you get in F2P games. This is coming from the guy who buys Battlepasses in the games I am active + see value, and even skins (but that was in the past).
We had some ok skins in CoH2: black-orange dazzle, the classical jaw-decals. Even if they reach the same quality/visual interest, it is not worthy of my time. You would need some "hero" skins which would come with the fashionable/historical attire and new voice acting. Instead of picking a sniper, you would get a choice between some silent focused personality and more chatty/brash american.
The behemoth looming are the battlegroups: don't get caught with your pants down when they ask for 15k for one, which would amount to 2-3 months of engagement.
The only reason I care about the mtx is the business model:
1. Relic provides value for the players
2. Players put more money into the game
3. Game gets more support
4. Relic provies more value etc.
But this shit ain't going to work out. Na-a, Relic broke the first promise of a good product, and now they are delivering the watered-piss with the mtx. |
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Bruh, these skins are like the junk you found in Division dumpsters, but with mobile-tier visuals.
And... while I have realistic expectations on Relic's short term capabilities, wishlist would include Seasons instead of random patch names with random updates/store items. Title seasons after the locations/events, debut:
• Map of the said location
• Cosmetics (at least some) from that event
• Battlegroups (could be 1-2 per season), perhaps something thematic if possible. If the Season takes place in Italy, debut something that participated in those battles. If it is an African map, release something for DAK.
• More inspiring challenges
• If the game ever grows into a healthy community, promote some experimental ruleset mode.
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1.) Player names added back
2.) An option to enable CoH 2 style unique player colors (player is always blue)
3.) A more intuitive assigned unique color system (no red/orange teammates, etc.)
Agreed on all points.
Though you cannot have everything, as in all at once. Either players are uniquely colored, or you will tell me "Green come here", and I will be... Green is playing top, I am Blue in our lane, I don't have this feature enabled  . At no point in like 2000 hours of 4vs4 I found async colored teammates bad.
But there is one thing that according to Modders was impossible to fix in CoH2: plane colors. It was a functional disadvantage to have no color-coded information whose planes were coming in, and being downed. You only knew friend or foe, but not enough when double call-ins happened and overlapped. |
It really does not matter if there are 100 or 100000 players online, when vast majority picks one side over another, you WILL wait regardless how you cope with it if you refuse to pick the underpopulated side.
Its like this since WoW battlegrounds.
I had two games in my CoH2 4vs4 history where the Allies players managed to sneak into the Axis matchmaking.
Good memories.
But this issue is not unique to CoH. It has some solutions, such as incentivizing players to queue up as the "lower" popularity role or side. CoH has nothing special to give as far as rewards go now, but if going by CoH2: it should give supply coins or whatever currency CoH3 is going to have. Whatever the threshold is for the "imbalance", it simply activates the queue-up incentives.
Relic just needs to modernize and adopt so many features/tricks/tools that are standard in gaming today, and they do make a difference when deployed.
+ I would welcome a "All Factions" queue-up. At some point you just want to play the game, late nights 4vs4, and then all factions go. Needs some tuning in the XP/Rankings to allow me to queue up as both Rank 10 USF and Rank 20 UKF for different MMR tiers, but it is all doable. This issue isn't going to solve itself out: the faster you deploy these features - the better the experience going to be. |
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Relic Entertainment
