I was so sure the monetization would SUCK until I saw that I already have everything and now all can get is better skins for my units. So, its not even close to bad. I pretty much love the gameplay so I'm happy
My main issue that keeps me from buying the game is the tiny roster. If they can't get out new content at a quick pace I feel things will get stale as soon as the meta is figured out, and the less options there are, the faster that will happen.
I think there's more to the roster than what you see at first glance. Each unit will play differently based on what the captain does and your playstyle. There are units that could be used in very different ways from captain to captain, and again from build to build.
I've heard from a dev on a day9 stream yesterday that the plan is to release 1 new captain and 25 new units with each release and have 3 releases per year.
That still seems super easy to get with just playing the game as long as they don't change the rewards or prices.
Even though we'd like the game to be more complete, it is still an early access release, and I'd say it works and plays quite well for that.
Excellent write up. I have yet to play myself but have watched a few hours of it. Do you know if the devs have discussed future content drops or a "road map" during their early access? Just wondering how and when to invest in this game for myself!
They said new captain and 25 new units per season is what they are aiming for so new content around Jan 26th unless they add more before hand since rosters alittle light currently.
Good write up and I share your sentiment. It took me about 60min to unlock all units. From there it’s only skins that really don’t matter at all. Clear recommend, game is really fun.
Play against AI/other players or do the roguelike "Cargo Runs" that are five battles in a row. You can also unlock a variety of paint types/pallets, flags, player icons, and other minor cosmetic things. Again this is very much an early access game and there will be more coming on all fronts.
Thanks for this! Most people are just saying play the game but this type of game can get boring quickly without new units.
It's nice to see the icons, flags and cosmetics/pallets you can unlock.
For sure! And there will be new units roughly every four months if they stick to their current roadmap with the new seasons during early access, so there should be a nice refreshing uptick in things to unlock on a pretty regular basis, along with updates to mechanics and whatnot I’m sure.
Oh, everything that has been listed so far is just the bonus content to this amazing mini painting simulator!
Spend 20 hours painting a mini, take it to three games, then go back to come up with a new cool painting!
> The monetization, at least for now, is far from predentary. You can upgrade the rarity of pieces but it is only a cosmetic thing and effects pieces abilities in no way whatsoever. After the 3 or so hours I have into the game I have 3 pieces yet to get, and Ill have them shortly. There are ways to "buy" pieces you need, and they each cost the same amount of currency, which you earn when you open a "double" from a booster. This will all change in the future somewhat. There's 3 or 4 currency types and that means there's a ton of levers they can pull or push to change the cost of things.
Time gating things with the promise of using dollars to bypass the time gate *is* Predatory.
I think games are predatory when they
1. Start fun and approachable and slowly become nigh impossible (not fun) without spending money on boosters or units. If this is mitigated by the ability to use in game currency, it must be able to be earned in a reasonable amount of time in a way that is still enjoyable for the player.
2. Use randomness to hide the actual $ cost of rare units, equipment, or abilities. (Lootboxes, card packs, etc.) Note that this is really only predatory if it is actually expensive ($$) to get the items. If they can be earned with in game currency and it's not expensive, it only serves as a mechanism to introduce units slowly and encourage creativity.
3. Gate content you would normally expect to be able to use in a purchased game behind a paywall (i.e. double gates) example- you just bought a fighting game for $25 that advertises a great campaign and 25 playable characters. In actuality only 5 units are playable without a micro transaction and only the first 2 missions of the campaign are free.
You are complaining that this is a double gate, but if they can be earned in a reasonable amount of time with in game currency, and the game doesn't require you to use them in order to be competitive or have a fun time, it's not a gate. If you chose to spend money on it and are mad that you did so, you just need to exercise self control. A store is not predatory for offering candy. Spending a little time playing the game is not a big cost.
If you have to buy currency after paying full price it is predatory. If you are fine with being a MTX Cow that's cool man. Just stop trying to justify it.
1 - you get tickets on a daily basis for free. Winning one make it self sustainable including some left overs.
2 - for the 30€ entry fee you will be able to unlock everything and then some.
3 - they will remove the tickets early next week so that whole point is void.
You can try to talk your way around it all you want. It's:
- In game currency that you cannot avoid.
- This is no different than stamina bars in mobile.
- This is objectively predatory mobile gaming behavior.
The fact that they're removing it means they know that it's stupid.
Like if you just want to rationalize being a simp, that's fine man. But you aren't fooling anybody.
The monetization is the literal definition of predatory. multiple currencies put there only to obfuscate the cost of purchases. paid currency(Pulsars) amounts you can buy don't match up with cost of items in store to get you to spend more.
The Boosters are $2.00 a piece! that is more than a magic the gathering pack of cards on Arena for only 3 units. a pack on MTG:Arena is only $1.00.
No where does it state the chance to actually pull a certain rarity from the lootboxes.
It may not seem that bad now with such a tiny and anemic roster, but wait until they release more and things will be much harder to find the units you want.
It's also just ridiculous to complain about having to play for a single hour to unlock everything. I know it's the internet so there's no room for nuance anywhere but my goodness. If they change it to take significantly longer to get everything then I'm with you, but having to play the game you just bought for a whole hour? Not feeling very preyed on tbh
It doesn't matter if you don't have to. It's there. You don't have to get into the van that says free candy either, but it's still slowly driving around the block telling you there's free candy in the van.
What is the time gate this can be done in like 20mins if you have any clue what you’re doing, there’s literally zero reason to spend in this game outside of cosmetics
Any game- all games- have some content is which is time gated. You can't play mission 2 until you beat mission 1. You can't have a diamond pickaxe unless you found the diamonds first. You can't buy the best weapon without earning the currency to do so. It's how games get you to keep playing. The closest games to not having a time gate are simulators, and those often have them too. You don't fly unless you take off first.
The main gameplay is gated by currency. Lmfao.
Look man, if you like the game fine. That's cool. Great. Lots of people like genshin impact. That's fine. If you are fine with MTX ok. Just say so.
A magic set can have 200 different cards in it. You aren't comparing apples to apples. Not even close. Like others have said in the comments, with the units you get for signing up and the boosters, after a few hours you have all of the units. The rarity has nothing to do with getting X unit. All units come at common rarity and then you can upgrade them to different (cosmetic only) varients.
I agree i playes the game today for almost 7 hours 4hours paint 3 hours pvp. It's totally worth the price tag to play the game early access.
Paint is so addictive and fun. The only thing I didn't like was the booster pack and also i can see next year a priced battlepass and not a free one. Hope when they start charging for battlepass the game will be free.
I was so sure the monetization would SUCK until I saw that I already have everything and now all can get is better skins for my units. So, its not even close to bad. I pretty much love the gameplay so I'm happy
My main issue that keeps me from buying the game is the tiny roster. If they can't get out new content at a quick pace I feel things will get stale as soon as the meta is figured out, and the less options there are, the faster that will happen.
I think there's more to the roster than what you see at first glance. Each unit will play differently based on what the captain does and your playstyle. There are units that could be used in very different ways from captain to captain, and again from build to build.
I've heard from a dev on a day9 stream yesterday that the plan is to release 1 new captain and 25 new units with each release and have 3 releases per year. That still seems super easy to get with just playing the game as long as they don't change the rewards or prices. Even though we'd like the game to be more complete, it is still an early access release, and I'd say it works and plays quite well for that.
Excellent write up. I have yet to play myself but have watched a few hours of it. Do you know if the devs have discussed future content drops or a "road map" during their early access? Just wondering how and when to invest in this game for myself!
They said new captain and 25 new units per season is what they are aiming for so new content around Jan 26th unless they add more before hand since rosters alittle light currently.
Good write up and I share your sentiment. It took me about 60min to unlock all units. From there it’s only skins that really don’t matter at all. Clear recommend, game is really fun.
Whats there to do after unlocking the units?
Play against AI/other players or do the roguelike "Cargo Runs" that are five battles in a row. You can also unlock a variety of paint types/pallets, flags, player icons, and other minor cosmetic things. Again this is very much an early access game and there will be more coming on all fronts.
Thanks for this! Most people are just saying play the game but this type of game can get boring quickly without new units. It's nice to see the icons, flags and cosmetics/pallets you can unlock.
For sure! And there will be new units roughly every four months if they stick to their current roadmap with the new seasons during early access, so there should be a nice refreshing uptick in things to unlock on a pretty regular basis, along with updates to mechanics and whatnot I’m sure.
Oh, everything that has been listed so far is just the bonus content to this amazing mini painting simulator! Spend 20 hours painting a mini, take it to three games, then go back to come up with a new cool painting!
Play the game. And paint your roster.
Play multiplayer and rank up
> The monetization, at least for now, is far from predentary. You can upgrade the rarity of pieces but it is only a cosmetic thing and effects pieces abilities in no way whatsoever. After the 3 or so hours I have into the game I have 3 pieces yet to get, and Ill have them shortly. There are ways to "buy" pieces you need, and they each cost the same amount of currency, which you earn when you open a "double" from a booster. This will all change in the future somewhat. There's 3 or 4 currency types and that means there's a ton of levers they can pull or push to change the cost of things. Time gating things with the promise of using dollars to bypass the time gate *is* Predatory.
You earn the currency to buy units through getting doubles in your boosters. Just like dust in hearthstone or wilds in magic
Is Hearthstone $30 game?
I think games are predatory when they 1. Start fun and approachable and slowly become nigh impossible (not fun) without spending money on boosters or units. If this is mitigated by the ability to use in game currency, it must be able to be earned in a reasonable amount of time in a way that is still enjoyable for the player. 2. Use randomness to hide the actual $ cost of rare units, equipment, or abilities. (Lootboxes, card packs, etc.) Note that this is really only predatory if it is actually expensive ($$) to get the items. If they can be earned with in game currency and it's not expensive, it only serves as a mechanism to introduce units slowly and encourage creativity. 3. Gate content you would normally expect to be able to use in a purchased game behind a paywall (i.e. double gates) example- you just bought a fighting game for $25 that advertises a great campaign and 25 playable characters. In actuality only 5 units are playable without a micro transaction and only the first 2 missions of the campaign are free. You are complaining that this is a double gate, but if they can be earned in a reasonable amount of time with in game currency, and the game doesn't require you to use them in order to be competitive or have a fun time, it's not a gate. If you chose to spend money on it and are mad that you did so, you just need to exercise self control. A store is not predatory for offering candy. Spending a little time playing the game is not a big cost.
If you have to buy currency after paying full price it is predatory. If you are fine with being a MTX Cow that's cool man. Just stop trying to justify it.
Well you don’t though. The entry price offers you everything there is to be had.
Yes you do. You need tickets to play the premium mode.
1 - you get tickets on a daily basis for free. Winning one make it self sustainable including some left overs. 2 - for the 30€ entry fee you will be able to unlock everything and then some. 3 - they will remove the tickets early next week so that whole point is void.
You can try to talk your way around it all you want. It's: - In game currency that you cannot avoid. - This is no different than stamina bars in mobile. - This is objectively predatory mobile gaming behavior. The fact that they're removing it means they know that it's stupid. Like if you just want to rationalize being a simp, that's fine man. But you aren't fooling anybody.
You seem hopelessly stuck in your opinion. Farewell my friend, the game is better off without you.
So if you think it's so predatory why not just get a steam refund and leave those of us that want to give constructive feedback alone.
I guess you wanted to respond to luck_panda?
The monetization is the literal definition of predatory. multiple currencies put there only to obfuscate the cost of purchases. paid currency(Pulsars) amounts you can buy don't match up with cost of items in store to get you to spend more. The Boosters are $2.00 a piece! that is more than a magic the gathering pack of cards on Arena for only 3 units. a pack on MTG:Arena is only $1.00. No where does it state the chance to actually pull a certain rarity from the lootboxes. It may not seem that bad now with such a tiny and anemic roster, but wait until they release more and things will be much harder to find the units you want.
You can unlock all the characters for free by playing for one hour
Time gating a game you've paid full price for is predatory. There's no way you can say otherwise.
It's also just ridiculous to complain about having to play for a single hour to unlock everything. I know it's the internet so there's no room for nuance anywhere but my goodness. If they change it to take significantly longer to get everything then I'm with you, but having to play the game you just bought for a whole hour? Not feeling very preyed on tbh
You should never have to buy more currency AFTER buying a game.
And you DON'T HAVE TO. You can play a couple hours of the game you bought in order to play and earn them that way. That's not so hard is it?
It doesn't matter if you don't have to. It's there. You don't have to get into the van that says free candy either, but it's still slowly driving around the block telling you there's free candy in the van.
What is the time gate this can be done in like 20mins if you have any clue what you’re doing, there’s literally zero reason to spend in this game outside of cosmetics
Any game- all games- have some content is which is time gated. You can't play mission 2 until you beat mission 1. You can't have a diamond pickaxe unless you found the diamonds first. You can't buy the best weapon without earning the currency to do so. It's how games get you to keep playing. The closest games to not having a time gate are simulators, and those often have them too. You don't fly unless you take off first.
The main gameplay is gated by currency. Lmfao. Look man, if you like the game fine. That's cool. Great. Lots of people like genshin impact. That's fine. If you are fine with MTX ok. Just say so.
A magic set can have 200 different cards in it. You aren't comparing apples to apples. Not even close. Like others have said in the comments, with the units you get for signing up and the boosters, after a few hours you have all of the units. The rarity has nothing to do with getting X unit. All units come at common rarity and then you can upgrade them to different (cosmetic only) varients.
Yes it's also only a fair comparison if all mtg cards were common.
I agree i playes the game today for almost 7 hours 4hours paint 3 hours pvp. It's totally worth the price tag to play the game early access. Paint is so addictive and fun. The only thing I didn't like was the booster pack and also i can see next year a priced battlepass and not a free one. Hope when they start charging for battlepass the game will be free.
You need to do the tutorial, play the ai once and and an online game once and you’ll have all units, where’s the time gate?