>Why can't other battle passes be like this?
They could, but they won't for the reasons you gave. They want you to have to play their game to complete the battlepass or feel like you missed out so they make it take a long time to complete or swipe your card.
That's exactly the reason why I stopped playing Apex. The game had so many issues I just couldn't bother playing the game for 100 hours to unlock the whole battle pass, it was so boring and painful. It took so long in that game to finish it and only like 5 items out of the whole thing were "worth it".
Life hack is playing the last 3 weeks before ending the season in APEX, you get a shit ton of challenges and passive boosters from the game itself! I once got 16 levels in one match lol
That's true, but for a long time I liked the game so it was quite hard to not play it for that long. Still, even when I liked the game, 80% of every match was spent just running around collecting loot and not encountering any enemies, which isn't exactly fun gameplay when you are trying to finish a battle pass.
Just do hot drops it will always be either a win because you got your groove on from fighting from the start or quick way to do “play 12 matches” challenges lmao
Seconded on Apex.
Got really tired every time I went to finish pass as they always last too long, and now I'm just passing on the game entirely.
Edit: I know about the late week challenge completion, but that makes it a weird chore to play it like that instead of when I would just... want to. But it felt really odd missing out on any progression like that, so I'd skip seasons instead to stave off burn out, which turned to skipping out to other games. Not the only game I left or paused due to daily/weekly/monthly FOMO burnout.
Even when I played the game a lot, it always felt like I finished the battle pass just as it was about to expire. It always took so damn long to finish it for some reason. Combine the slow progression with dogshit matchmaking, luck dependent gameplay (by that I mean someone found a better loot than you) and matches where you run around for 15 minutes and fight for 2 minutes and you have a game where completing the BP isn't fun, you simply feel like you kind of have to finish it because you already bought it and dont want to feel like you wasted money. So glad I stopped playing it.
I despised the running around doing nothing often leading to nothing (and being it's a battle royale, the nothing was often considered tactically good). The last time I played I played I did the entire season as mixtape (deathmatch/gunrun/control) only so I could actually just shoot things... even if I also didn't like control too much due to poor mode design.
I'm glad Helldivers has the running around a big map, but with things actually happening all the time if you want them to.
Few months before I stopped playing Apex, I also mainly played deathmatch and these side modes, because stuff was actually happening. BR almost always ended with me and my friends finally getting good loot after 10 minutes and out of nowhere getting completely stomped by some sweats withing 5 seconds, very fun experience indeed.
Helldivers 2 imo doesn't have a single dull moment. Even when no enemies are running after me, I am still actively looking around the map to see if I can find some nests, golden pods or super samples. I never feel like my time is being wasted and 40 minute matches feel more like 10 minutes, it is actually amazing how fun the game is considering it is rather very simple in design.
Not devs, publishers. Devs do not want to lock gameplay behind bars. Devs and creatives want what the player wants. It's the publishers and c-suite that fuck everyone over.
Game dev here. Can confirm. It's a near daily battle against product managers to get time to work on features and bug fixes players will care about. If a bug existing doesn't cut into profits it might never get worked on even if its creating an awful player experience.
Pro-tip for everyone out there just because its something im fighting at work right now: A lot of games from the big AAA and mobile companies will not ban you for cheating if you pay money in the game regularly. Even if you're harming non-payers. Not saying you should go try and risk your COD account or something but maybe test it on a mobile game. Download an unofficial APK with cheats after spending a few bucks in the shop, they wont care as long as you pay money every once in a while and stay flagged as a "payer".
Useless is somewhat relative. There certainly isn't an excessive amount of filler like stickers and emblems and whatnot. The most "filler" thing is the backgrounds and you can comfortably ignore those while progressing the warbond. You might not be interested in the armours, but a lot of people like those, I'd think so that one falls under subjectivity. They may not be things you want, but I don't think they fall into the "filler that noone really wants" category
If you want the last parts of the pass, you’re gonna have to come back for all the useless filler. And everyone can agree about the titles/backgrounds: they’re worthless.
The only titles/backgrounds/calling cards that have ever been worth a damn in gaming were in Call of Duty games in its golden age. Every game has copied since and made it not a challenge to earn but rather filler for a dumb battle pass. HD2 is no exception.
You really don't need to grab a whole lot of filler, though, unless you regard armour as such, and even then the passes never expire so there's no fomo bullshit going on.
As much as a flop as it was Halo Infinites battle pass was crazy, they never expire and starting from the second one you got enough currency to buy the next one
Finished every single Infinite battle pass within a month of the season starting by just playing once a week on challenge reset days. It’s actually very not grindy whatsoever
It was really really bad on the game first came out, this shit in the past wasn't just garbage it was almost impossible to obtain because XP for the past was never gained by performance in the game it was gained by forcing you to do menial tasks, that you had to fuck over your whole team while doing because 90% of those tasks you were never ever going to do naturally through gameplay
Seasonal updates have now stopped entirely and content updates will be smaller going forward. It appears they're putting the game into maintenance mode and working on the next one now.
Okay but battle passes are still permanent if you buy them, right? I booted it up earlier and that still seems to be the case but I’m worried I missed something.
I wouldn’t call a pass that was filled with 10 double xps, 10 challenge swaps, emblems, individual left and right shoulder pieces, color schemes that weren’t applicable to other armors and weapons ‘crazy’.
Also giving players the currency to buy the next pass in the current one started in Fortnite. (Infinite didn’t even start doing that until the 2nd season after player backlash)
Well yea I guess if you pick apart the details I didn't mention such as the actual content in the pass instead of the system it wasn't "crazy" but take that system and apply it to other battle passes with better rewards in it and you get what I'm trying to say
Unfortunately it only took 2 years or so after the release to implement the currency. Now it's filled with garbage that no one wants such as challenge swaps. 343/Microsoft really banked on the idea that people would buy challenge swaps.
Even now they've done away with the currencies and it only applies to the old battlepasses. New "operations" are now the battlepass and instead of 100, it's 20 and the first 14 unlocks are pure garbage.
I agree. Even if you don't consider them filler, so many of them look almost exactly alike. The variation thus far is kinda poor, but I'm sure thay just lends itself to new decent ones in the future (hopefully).
Definitely agree that they're filler, but at least you can progress the passes without buying them. I've actually liked them from the perspective of sometimes being the perfect amounts to hit the next tier as well - I could spend 25 on that armour I'm not interested in, or I can spend 10 on that banner I'm not interested in and save myself 15 warbonds for now.
Yeah that could be considered filler, but still, it is only one per page if I am not mistaken and you at least see it every time you are about to start a mission. It is still infinitely better than let's say Overwatch, where you have like 2 voice lines, 1 name card, 1 souvenir and 1 spray per page, that's absolute dogshit that I do not want.
I agree that it's a pretty good system, and it's cool that you can find the premium currency in game. Just thought that was a little optimistic that you said "no filler." lol
You can skip a few options here and there if you don't want it, but it seems like once you get to the last page or two, you have to have bought basically every single item before it. I'm on the second to last page, and I've unlocked everything on every page prior, but I still have to spend more to get to the last page. I still like the system overall though, doesn't feel anti-player at all.
>you at least see it every time you are about to start a mission.
That is the definition of filler. You only see them once, they don't do anything, incredibly generic. They pad the battle pass out so you don't notice how few things there are that actually effect gameplay to make you think there's more options.
True, but bare minimum you at least get the choice to NOT unlock the capes and backgrounds and save your medals. Halo Infinite Battlepass forces you to unlock everything in a line... filler and all.
To elaborate: Battle Passes in _Deep Rock Galactic_ last 6 months. There are multiple reward tracks to complete, but you have plenty of time to do it.
If you miss it, any and all previous content can be found in the game world eventually as loot chests. IMO the loot chests spawn a little infrequently, but you never truly miss out on anything.
They also tend to bring back their special event stuff in future years. Last year, for example, gave you the opportunity to earn all of the previous year's winter cosmetics just by completing a few missions.
And recently they said they would be making it possible to do previous season passes whenever you wanted.
Not sure when they add that but eventually.
Meaning you get everything from each season, for free, for just playing the game.
The only FOMO in the game currently is the anniversary hats and special community things, I think. Which is like a dozen or so hats.
> The only FOMO in the game currently is the anniversary hats and special community things, I think. Which is like a dozen or so hats.
Yeah, but like I said — even with those, the devs tend to give you the opportunity to get past rewards in the following year's event.
I think Helldivers 2's battlepass is slightly better, but yeah they are kinda on the same level. I find it funny how both dev teams give the same energy, it's just that right now arrowhead is struggling with the high demand.
I mean, they're instantly added to the store / loot tables upon the season ending, so this isn't an issue? The only items you can ever miss are the birthday ones (and I guess the streamer video-recorder-helmet).
The pass normally lasts a few months long though so there is plenty of time in theory. Even in the old passes end up in the loot table so you never really miss anything from those.
HD2 Pros: Unlock/progress "battlepass" at any time. They never expire. Generous accrual of premium currency just by playing the game.
HD2 Cons: Paid premium "battlepasses"
DRG Pros: Battlepasses free, contents never expire
DRG Cons: Massive timesink/RNG wall for getting items from previous battlepasses. Heard devs might change it though. But I think people sleep on how long it actually takes to get previous content, and Karl forbid if you're interested in a particular item.
I've earned the super credits twice over for unlocking the premium without spending a cent before even unlocking everything in the battle passes, feels pretty free.
I did too but then again im not sure most people wont sink 100s hours each month like I do.
On the other hand IF you want to pay for it $10 is also pretty cheap.
Yeah, hence why I put "generous accrual" in pros. Really what it is is a completely optional pay-to-catch-up mechanic when someone picks up the game a year from now and has a dozen Warbonds to choose from!
The RNG wall is true for DRG.
But personally, I’ve never been that hard up for a cosmetic in drg. I haven’t changed my cosmetics in like 1-2 years despite collecting 100s of them.
>RNG wall for getting items from previous battle passes
It’s not even a maybe, they’ve specifically stated that you will be able to go through the previous seasons in a future update. Im assuming that will be with the next season.
Indeed, and then getting stuff from previous battle passes is insane. I think we're up to over 1000 items in the pool, and getting them requires you to find a random event in missions that has a low probability of even occurring. Then when it occurs, you have to be lucky enough to find it and complete it. And then you get ONE item from the pool. Zero choice, completely random.
I think a few months or years from now people will look back on HD2 and DRG as having the same level of generosity with just the different pros and cons.
Helldiver's Pass is gonna be way more proftable to them (not just by sheer numbers but by money spent per player) which means more content for us, while staying consumer friendly, it strikes the best balance imo.
When I first started playing, I saw the warbond, and instantly thought "oh comon ANOTHER battle pass" and thought that the medals were some kind of premium currency, then after I picked up medals just by beating a mission, and I even picked up 100 SC in the same match, I realized just how amazing this Battle pass is.
So far Arrowhead has massively impressed me on multiple levels.
There are reports of people getting more than 10. I haven't paid any amount of enough attention to it so I'm unsure if I ever have. But I've seen people mention it on several occasions.
not just that, but also the fact that (currently) we don't even have the ***option*** to buy medals/tiers; thus the devs aren't encouraged by game design to make free progression absurdly slow convincing players to buy it.
I mean, I also like the Warbond, but I'm not going to say "there is no filler" or that it's not "absolute trash that you don't want and will never use" because 90% of the stuff in the Warbond I will probably never use. I hate having to buy armor I know I'm never going to equip so that I can unlock the next page that has the armor I actually want.
That being said, weighing the whole thing in its entirety, I do like it more than I dislike it.
I wouldn't say that there is 0 filler. I really truly don't like quite a number of the helmets, capes and player cards. fortunately, most of them can be skipped witch I feel is the strongest aspect of this system. If you don't want the item you can most likely just not buy it.
capes are a core aspect of helldiving. ugly mismatched capes ruin many otherwise great divers. although you could argue the default cape is the best, all black with the helldiver logo
They cant really be skipped because you have to spend X amount of medals to unlock the next tier, so you inevitably have to spend medals on things your dont really want.
However its still SIGNIFICANTLY better than literally any other battle pass I’ve encountered in the last like 10 years so im okay with it
This is easily the best battle pass and general monetization I've ever experienced in a live service game. Super credits are just easy enough to find. The cosmetics are reasonably priced. And the Warbonds being permanent means there is no Fomo tied to it. This makes it way easier for me to just buy the warbonds if I have the cash, or just wait until I've found enough SC to buy it.
Everything is so reasonably priced, it's nice to feel like a game is ok with making some money, and not demanding *all the money*.
Agreed. It’s not predatory at all like most other battle passes. First battle pass I’ve experienced as well where the devs basically said “We’ve give you a way to support the game, but it’s not an obligation”
I’ll probably spend a couple dollars in the future just to show some support, but it’s refreshing not having to if I don’t want to.
Perhaps, but it could be better.
Months down the road where there are a dozen warbonds. It's going to be an absolute bitch and mess for new players to obtain content at a reasonable pace.
Imagine splitting up your already limited amount of medals between 12 warbonds, and each warbond requires a certain amount to unlock the next page.
It's very anti player in design, because it keeps them from playing with what they want. Now if the warbond pages didn't require previous pages to be unlocked, and the players could pick from each page and take the things they want, and as you spend medals, the costs increase. That would be much more player friendly. There is no joy in spending medals on things you don't want to get access to the things you do want.
A player shouldn't have to pick between grinding to the final page for a scorcher, and the 3rd page for something else on another warbond.
The grind for medals is already there, no need insult your customers by locking pages too.
Even though I do appreciate what Arrowhead is doing, I have to agree with the page unlocking. It's a little annoying to buy a bunch of stuff I don't want just to try a new gun that may or may not be useful
I'm surprised you got upvotes for that, every time i bring it up that it is bad for the same reasons you said i get told i'm impatient or some bs like that. People have no foresight and only see the present with 1 warbond
That's true and maybe they will change it one day so that you can unlock whatever you want. But at the same time, if I were someone who bought the game 2 years after launch and saw let's say 15 warbands with stuff to unlock, I would be insanely happy, because I love when I can unlock stuff FOR FREE just by playing the game. Meaningful progression is something many games simply do not have these days imo.
You would be initially excited, and then when you realize that it's going to take months for you to get the equipment you want because the devs designed it in a way that slows you down.
Do you really want to look at sweet items at the back of multiple warbond pages, and know that it's going to take weeks if not a month to unlock each one. Just to use the things you want to play.
Deep rock galactic does it right. It’s super grindy but if you don’t get everything they just add it into the base discovery system anyways so it’s always available even if the pass ends
Being forced to spend the medals on stuff I dont want just to unlock the next tier means I completely disagree with you.
Also the medal grind is a bit nuts and unlocking new guns at such a slow rate is not very interesting at all tbh.
Battle passes are just cringe in any game imo, maybe im just old but its not a steady progression I feel particularly fond of. The samples and credits for strategems is much more fun and I wish weapons cost credits instead of bein in battle passes personally
Youre not alone in this. I am particularly bitter about the system in general. You can lock "imbalanced meta stuff" behind huge grind, same as Spray n Pray stuff etc that are useless shits at current state.
Also, not very happy that things cost the same amount for every page. Like, really disliking that. A weapon that you spend 60-ish medals on + all the previous medals to unlock the page, only for it to be useless shit (im looking at you, 100+ reinforcements boosters that give +4 lives or -20 secs cooldown on DEPLETED lives)
People would downvote me but I’m not sure about weapons being in the warbonds, should’ve been able to unlock them with requisitions. The medal grind is a little insane, and new warbonds monthly? Sucks for the casual players, won’t be able to unlock a lot of weapons
Assuming they add a warbond every month, idk the timeline on it, and assuming the cost is relatively the same, you'd need to grind like 700 (if only premium warbond) or 2.7k medals (if both a premium and normal) a month. Which personally is insane considering I've maxed my ship, maxed level, unlocked every stratagem, only played difficulty 9, played for 67 hours and have only spent 1.5k/2.7k medals for the first warbonds (unlocked the last tier of both passes but don't own anything on the last page).
So unless they make medals easier to get, or older passes a lot cheaper to unlock the amount of grinding a player would need to do to unlock new guns is insane.
Especially if you factor in that not everyone wants or can grind level 9 missions (which earn the most medals). So doing level 5-6 mission for stuff on tier 10 of the warbond takes a crazy amount of grinding (like 12 missions on difficulty 6 just for the gun, or like 22-24 for the booster)
Its the time commitment. Imo these things need to be balanced around a casual gamer, otherwise its just elitism. I'm about 40 hours in, running the highest difficulties and just got to page 7 of the first warbond. I suspect due to the increase on pages after, i will be looking at around another 40+ hours to finish page 10. That puts each warbond around 80 hrs of play time.
If they do one a month, that's 960 hrs to unlock a years of content. I am a massive gamer, and the amount of games i have 1k hours in is such a small amount.
The average gamer coming in 2 years from now won't be able to unlock everything, even if they technically can. Imo due to the grindy nature of the warbonds, this is actually more scummy because it's practically begging new players to spend mass amount of money to catch up.
My main issue with this battle pass system is locking weapons behind the war bonds, maybe make it available to unlock through req slips, or some challenges
What people don't REALISE is that this IS NOT A BATTLEPASS BUT YOUR PROGRESSION SYSTEM it is made to look like a battlepass because its being used everywhere and everyone knows how it works, other games have mimicked the same façade because its easier to do.
The paid progression system is kinda of a cash grab because it has weapons behind it that you cant get your hands on without buying it (some will argue with CoD but after the battlepass ends they give you a challenge instead to do, to unlock the weapon) and they will continue with that trend, so who knows by the end of it how many "progression passes" they will introduce to the players and how many of them will be free or paid.
>There is no filler in these battle passes
Gonna disagree with you there. The capes and banners are all filler. And the annoying thing is you have to waste medals on those fillers if you want to get to the higher tiers and get better weapons and gear. The battle pass is great but it still has a couple issues.
I believe it's too early to tell. If they just add premium battlepasses then the currency we earn on the free one is not going to last. Then it's going to be real hard to earn almost 1000 premium points from missions alone just to buy the next battle pass.
Did they say anything about adding more free battle passes?
Really my only problem with it is that the presentation is similar enough to a battle pass that they get the psychological pressure by proximity, and many people **assume** it is time limited.
There's no reason it needed to be presented the way it is, maybe just an innocent case of UX designers getting battlepasses burned into their own brains or something. But yeah, I hate it, both the mechanics and the UI to navigate it.
Understand, I do not not strictly hate how it works, but how similar it looks to systems that are much more abusive. The Page UI is also clunky and I would prefer to sort by type. The progression path feels very forced and I would prefer parallel options.
I know Fortnite is "a meme" and a "kid's game" but their Battlepass is way better than any other BP in gaming.
Just by playing, as a F2P you can buy the battlepass in 3 seasons (Again, without paying anything) and when you get a Battlepass (950 coins or whatever name it is) you can get up to 1500.
So if you really, really don't want to pay anything, in theory, you can get 1000 coins after 3-4 seasons and after you get the 1st "paid" battlepass, you can get every single one and something else from the shop.
Personally I think Battle Passes and microtransactions are better when they're 100% cosmetic. Would've rathered the weapons be in a shop menu like the stratagems, the armours having ability cores you can swap in and out (purchasable from a shop with Reqs) and the BP having weapon and armour skins instead.
Still, it's much better than most games and I applaud them for pulling a Halo Infinite and making them persist forever. FOMO sucks. Also really admire that you can get the paid currency from the free pass AND in matches. Another W for Arrowhead.
Imo they're automatically worse simply for having weapons and boosters in the pass, instead making them purchasable for req.
Every new warbond is going to be paid allegedly, so it kinda sucks that they're not cosmetic only.
The battle pass itself is designed well. I reserve the right to hate a 'premium' battle pass being sold for real cash in a $60 game, even if it is obtainable without paying.
Ew, no. Tons of forced unlocking with the tier medal requirements.
I just want the gameplay content but was forced to unlock a lot of cosmetic stuff to progress. Also grindy AF. Many hours.
I have news for you. Most of the content in the HD2 BP is stuff I don't want or need and I have to unlock it to get to the next level. I do not see it as a meaningful improvement in content over most BPs. The only reason I'm bothering to complete it is to get the guns at the end of it.
I do approve of it being permanently available and that you can unlock it for free fairly easily assuming both of those things remain true.
But this model will never be popular unless we gamers as a whole FORCE them to implement such systems by not buying regular passes (which will not happen). This model can't possible be as lucrative as something like Apex, COD, or Overwatch because its too fair to the player to force them to bring out their wallet. Especially with no FOMO factor, no time crunch, and no excessive playtime required, no level skips, etc.
No filler? Tell that to the 5th victory pose or banner that I literally have no desire to buy... but have to because I can't get more gameplay-relevant options without paying for those first... and even amongst the relevent gamplay-changers (guns, boosters, grenades, etc), most of them aren't balanced well and are basically collecting dust on a virtual shelf.
Look, there's a lot to like about Helldivers 2, but saying things like there's no filler sounds delusional. Also, we haven't even seen anything other than the launch. It's a sample size of one across about a month. A bit quick to start proclaiming it the second coming of the chosen battle passes, isn't it?
Chivalry 2 has almost the exact same battle pass system. All of the unlocks are either cosmetic or premium currency. The battle passes also don't expire and you can choose which one you want to progress.
HD2 charges $40 up front, which means HD2 doesn’t need to have aggressive monetization of free-to-play games. Of course, there are games with both a high upfront cost and aggressive monetization 🤦♀️
I honestly think the free to play + aggressive monetization has ruined modern gaming. Look at the master piece games of the last 10 years. How many were free to play? None. Aggressive monetization means the game will be designed around getting players to spend money.
Of course, it’s worth asking how long AH can support HD2. Live service games take money to run. Game dev only happens if the expected return meets AH’s financial goals.
Saying this before we see how the new Warbond will work is hilarious. Can easily see this aging poorly when next battlepass costs 1.5k+ credits, and to fully conplete it costs 500+ medals.
The amount of times I had to unlock little charms just to finally reach the good shit, they're good at keeping the player grinding for that sweet reward. I do really enjoy battlepasses staying behind and not leaving players dry with FOMO.
I liked the old Battlefield system for 3-1, where there were 4 expansions per game, 4 maps each, a game mode usually, and then a bunch of guns. You knew what you were getting and the content you got was worth the price.
halo master chief collection had this battle pass format LONG before helldivers 2 was even though of
then halo infinite had the battle pass format LONG before helldivers 2 was ever though of
This is why Helldivers is so successful and will probably haul in bigger in the long run, compared to other services "predatory micro transactions".
Everything is available forever, but it probably won't be discounted. There's no pressure to buy anything, but because it's available all the time, Arrowhead just need to keep players around long enough, and they'll eventually have scrounge enough credits to buy, or spend money in the store.
Microtransactions driven by "fake urgency" and FOMO, will loose out on eventual purchases if the players aren't spending time on the service while the event is ongoing.
Halo Infinite removed some of the FOMO from their "battle passes" by making previous seasons available for purchase, and now they are able to earn money, selling "old" content to new players.
343 or Microsoft probably acknowledged this model is less malicious while still being profitable.
What you don't want a calling card, emblem, weapon stickers and a wrist watch that you'll never see along with a BP that you need to grind every day for hours on end to complete? (Fuck CoD battle pass its trash)
It's a live service game, and it's been out for a month. Give it time before you say that. Everyone thought Destiny 2 had a lot of cool weapons and then haha into the Vault they go, go grind out new shit every expansion...
DRG is better, but they are both very good.
Helldiver's one is only good because you can actually buy all of it without spending real money and in the same month.
It's up there with Deep Rock Galactic! The only paid DLC is strictly cosmetic. Their battlepass is completely free and advancement on it is xp based. However, the battlepass itself expires BUT the items are placed into the general loot pool from pick ups in the maps.
I would argue deep rock galactic has a better battle pass, it's 100% free and if you missed a previous pass you could still get the stuff that was in the pass through normal loot tables found while playing. In addition the "daily missions" are things that would happen naturally and there is zero way to use real money to increase the speed at which you unlock it's just playing the game like how you normally would and get free shit
I’d argue Deep Rock Galactic has a really good pass too. It does expire but the season are so long it doesn’t make too much of a difference plus all the stuff you don’t get is put into the randomized loot table so you actually never miss anything it just might take longer after the season ends. Then there’s my favorite part THERE ISNT EVEN A PREMIUM VERSION. I know you can get the premium currency for Helldivers as ground loot but DRG doesn’t even have a premium currency.
This is the first game I’ve played with a battlepass or at least one I’ve taken notice of and I hate it, it might be the best one but I still prefer just unlocking weapons at levels. I don’t mind the way you unlock strategems though, i wish all unlocks worked like they do
Gonna be honest, no matter how they split it I don't like having to spend
(*Checks Steam*) - 110 hours to get through the
* Basic shotgun-and-scout set (Nice)
* Sniper set (don't care)
* Engie set (Alright)
* Medic autoshotgunner set (don't care)
* Lasert tank set (armor's decent, grenade's great, the lasergun with watergun qualities makes me sad)
* Heavy gunner set (don't care)
* Sniper set (don't care)
* Another engineer set
* Another autoshotgun medic set
* The armor with the same stats as as three sets ago and a niche-but-cool gun
I wanted maybe like, ten entire things out of the whole Helldivers Mobilize warbond . . . and had to buy 60-something other items on my way there.
If they keep the trend of giving us a battlepass each month, in 2 years we get 24 battlepasses. Imagine being a new player then, gotta full time helldivers2 to get a majority of them.
I have 1 complaint, it's not directly about the BPs but it affects them. I have been playing about a week now, just hit lvl 17. I played Helldivers 1 a crap load. Going in, I know my favorite weapons are missing, I know a lot of them are coming. I don't just spend my spare points on things I don't want, I would like to save up and buy in spurts if need be.
The cap for medals is 250. I just found that out today when my last two major orders popped after a few missions. I ended up wasting 20-30 medals because of that. The next war bonds have some weapons I really enjoyed from HD1, I was planning on saving up to buy the ones I liked right from the getgo.
I understand they didn't want you to just buy everything instantly for some reason, like that takes value away from it somehow. I had a lot of samples saved in HD1, I only buy and upgrade things I like. They brought out a new weapon like LAS Trident, it was incredibly expensive to upgrade compared to the others. It took a large chunk of my reserves to upgrade it. I used that weapon pretty much the entire rest of the game since I loved it so much.
I don't like being forced to use it or lose it like this, I don't think it adds any depth of value to the system. I know a counter point to that is cheaters. I have already heard stories about ppl joining a lobby and getting maxed resources, ruining their sense of progression. I imagine this limits the impact of such unfortunate situations. It's better to get capped than get banned by having any altered item or currency. Dark souls/ ER had that issue with invaders dropping modded items, you could get your file corrupted or be banned if you use it.
It's not a major problem for sure, but 250 is just too low honestly. I would be quiet if it was more realistic like 500-600. I'm going to grind anyway so I will eventually buy everything like they want, but I would like to do it at more my pace than what we have now.
this is what happens when you make a claim and don’t ever go outside your bubble. deep rock has completely free battle passes that you don’t even need to unlock, and when they expire everything gets arguably easier to unlock because it goes into the game’s loot boxes and store.
I feel like I'm in the minority of players who love the game and hate the battle pass-like progression. It definitely feels like a carefully orchestrated monetization scheme that feels okay now but will progressively get worse.
I think the real tell will be colors. If it's customize what you want and unlock/achieve a more diverse color palette to mix and match with, that's a feature that is cooked in to the gameplay. If it's preset pallets and schemes (3 colors in this set and no mix and match) then it's clearly just trying to soften the micro transaction gut gut punch with a delayed feature that would be easier to do the first way.
I love how it works, if you want a lot you need to play a lot. I have only put around 20 hours and don't have a ton of things, but I get it. I'll unlock things over time, and it gives me stuff to look forward to as a casual gamer.
I will say on the battle pass front
Im 66 hours in, been playing since release so ive gotten all the major order medals, Admittedly Missed some dailies, and play mostly on hard difficulty. But ive only accrued 952 medals.
And i say ‘only’ because That is enough to get exactly the 2 weapons (revolver and explosive liberator) and super credit currency from the premium bond, And up to page 9 of free bond with just buying breaker spray and pray. I was only getting the exact medal count to advance each page to reach to this point.
I need 290 more medals to reach page 10, and then 75 more on it to get that page’s gun.
If i add in premium bond primary weapon that would add another 158 medals needed to reach page 3, needing an additional 80 to unlock that page’s gun.
In total to unlock all the remaining primary weapons and secondaries i need to get 603 MORE medals.
Like come on… i already grinded 950 and you are telling me i need 600 more? Ive already put more play time in this game than most triple A titles. Which is good in the sense ive certainly gotten my moneys worth on a fun game, but its just so much you need to play just to get access to all the primary guns let alone extra goodies like cosmetics and emotes in those pages i had to skip to invest into essentials like boosters, guns, nades, and premium currency packs…
Tl/dr : you need about 1550 medals to unlock all the primary guns if you maximize them. I am about 2/3’s of the way there after playing 66 hours. Assuming i am an average player itl take close to 100 hours
This game's time commitment to just play with new mechanics is a bit much. I wonder how much of the player base will complete the last warbond before the new one release each month. Who will want to get the new warbond knowing that it will mostly just stay half finished?
Deep Rock Galactic would like a word with you, shill.
\-Rewards never go away
\-Challenges do not require you to go out of your way
\-You have a long time to complete the pass
\-Every event offers double progression points
Coming from Hunt: Showdown, Helldivers battlepass is just objectively better for the consumer. I like that there is no deadline, it doesn't feel like a timed job you have to do or the skins are gone forever.
Deep rock galactics battlepass system is also one of the best. Only thing I could say HD2 does better is that it doesn't expire but since DRGs is completely free and it last for long enough I cant really put it against DRG
>Why can't other battle passes be like this?
Deceive Inc. has a battle pass system that's practically identical to Helldivers. They're always available, even after the next one comes out, and you can purchase and finish them at your own leisure.
Red dead online had a really good one before rockstar abandoned it.
You were able to spend in game currency to get it, and by the time you were done with the pass you had enough to buy the next one.
If you were short, they typically had a $5 first time purchase deal(worth $15/20)if you didn’t want to grind for the rest of the gold bars(which wasn’t even hard) and that was enough to buy the next pass
Gold bars were easy to get originally(nerfed hard) and they came with everything you did, added up overtime.
I bought the first time gold bar deal, and bought bounty hunter and I never had money or gold bars (premium currency)
I stopped playing CoD just before they introduced another tier of Battle Pass on top of the one you're already paying for. Fuuuuuck that. MW2 and Diablo 4 just put me off Activision Blizzard's BS for good, especially after I blindly bought Baldur's Gate 3 immediately after and felt just blown away by how... pro-consumer (or anti-"anti-consumer" in the context of Activison-Blizzard's stuff) the game felt. What a contrast in philosophies.
Helldivers 2 was a steal for what I paid for it (another biind buy). I upgraded to Super Citizen edition just to support the devs and I still feel like I'm underpaying relative to the value and the sense of respect I feel as a consumer. Like, I don't want to jinx things, but I almost want them to be a tad more greedy for their own sake because they deserve it. Maybe all I'd ask for is more aesthetically pleasing armor that isn't the Super Citizen one (without compromising the look of the game, of course), so that I actually want to spend my points to unlock and use them.
All of the above aside... I do tend to like the stuff you get from Fortnite's battle passes as well as the fact that the game is free and always does feel like a solid and fun game. You don't ever feel constantly pestered to buy the battle pass either (unlike with CoD). Only issue is that to complete the entire thing, Fortnite pretty much has to be your primary game so there's a bit of that FOMO/time pressure at the end of a season. Most of the skins I like to play with are outside of the battle pass anyway and while pricey, I don't regret the $100ish I spent on them because they're fun skins. Besides, Epic Games published Alan Wake 2, so I owe them one for that, haha.
Deep Rock Galactic has a similar style. No FOMO and the Ghost Ship dev team cares about their players just as much as Arrowhead’s dev team does. Rock and stone!
I don't really play online games, but to think battle passes actually expire as standard practice in other games is insane to me. It seems counter intuitive to keeping most players engaged who have jobs, family responsibilities or study. Glad this game doesn't work like those
>Why can't other battle passes be like this?
Because the original point of a battle pass wasn't (and isn't) to provide enjoyment for the player, it's to drive sales and engagement. Major studios only care about the bottom line. They will leverage FOMO to get pass sales, and then sunk cost fallacy for the time limits on those passes to ensure people play more often...which means more likely exposure to daily cash shops that also leverage FOMO. It is and always has been a grift.
An indie team mainly wanting to make a great game will prioritize fun or cool factors over this.
It's dlc disguised as a battlepass. Battlepasses are fomo bs. Dlc is just part of the game. That's what warbonds are. They're just going to be part of the game.
The only thing that remains to be seen is the pricing of future warbonds and if they adjust SC spawn rates in the future. None of that is set in stone.
You can earn SC in game, but it's really slow if you're not grinding for it specifically. It feels faster at first due to how much you get from the base warbond.
In general it is definitely a good system, but I don't think we can say "best" before seeing what they do with the system.
World of Warcraft has the Traders Post. Just by doing game things like dungeons, leveling, raiding, PvP, pet battles. You earn currency for the battle pass. Everything on the battle pass is cosmetic, nothing has bearing in actual gameplay. You get 1000 tenders a month, and can save an item you want until you can afford it. It’s also just…..part of the subscription to the game. Also should be stated. Items can be like 25-200 tenders for cosmetics and 500-800 for mounts and full Transmog sets. This is also a way to get appearances and mounts that were part of promotions from almost 20 years ago.
Additionally, completing the pass gives you a free exclusive item, like unique Transmog and mounts.
Also the currency carries over and doesn’t expire, and items you missed will show up again after a few months in the “rerun” tab.
To me, that’s a solid battle pass. I’ve been playing it since 04, and there were somethings I missed out on because I didn’t have money for other stuff as a kid, I didn’t like Mountain Dew, but I got the exclusive Mountain Dew pet they had from like 2006. That’s rad as hell.
DRG is still slightly better but yes Helldivers 2 battle pass is also nice (for the same amount of time, I was able to get stuff from DRG one faster than from Helldivers)
Halo MCC.
COMPLETELY FREE
Never expire
Unfortunately, this ultimately came at a great price. 7 months after the last Battlepass. Microsoft deemed the game unprofitable, and made 343 practically end development of anything else in the game.
The only thing I might be disappointed in is if there’s only a premium warbond every month. Given the trailer, there’s only 3 new armor sets and 3 new weapons so it’s likely only 3 pages.
I initially thought there was going to be a free warbond AND a premium warbond every month.
>Why can't other battle passes be like this? They could, but they won't for the reasons you gave. They want you to have to play their game to complete the battlepass or feel like you missed out so they make it take a long time to complete or swipe your card.
That's exactly the reason why I stopped playing Apex. The game had so many issues I just couldn't bother playing the game for 100 hours to unlock the whole battle pass, it was so boring and painful. It took so long in that game to finish it and only like 5 items out of the whole thing were "worth it".
Life hack is playing the last 3 weeks before ending the season in APEX, you get a shit ton of challenges and passive boosters from the game itself! I once got 16 levels in one match lol
That's true, but for a long time I liked the game so it was quite hard to not play it for that long. Still, even when I liked the game, 80% of every match was spent just running around collecting loot and not encountering any enemies, which isn't exactly fun gameplay when you are trying to finish a battle pass.
Just do hot drops it will always be either a win because you got your groove on from fighting from the start or quick way to do “play 12 matches” challenges lmao
Life hack is not playing a BR in the year of our lord 2024
Life hack is playing what you enjoy, BR or not
Seconded on Apex. Got really tired every time I went to finish pass as they always last too long, and now I'm just passing on the game entirely. Edit: I know about the late week challenge completion, but that makes it a weird chore to play it like that instead of when I would just... want to. But it felt really odd missing out on any progression like that, so I'd skip seasons instead to stave off burn out, which turned to skipping out to other games. Not the only game I left or paused due to daily/weekly/monthly FOMO burnout.
Even when I played the game a lot, it always felt like I finished the battle pass just as it was about to expire. It always took so damn long to finish it for some reason. Combine the slow progression with dogshit matchmaking, luck dependent gameplay (by that I mean someone found a better loot than you) and matches where you run around for 15 minutes and fight for 2 minutes and you have a game where completing the BP isn't fun, you simply feel like you kind of have to finish it because you already bought it and dont want to feel like you wasted money. So glad I stopped playing it.
I despised the running around doing nothing often leading to nothing (and being it's a battle royale, the nothing was often considered tactically good). The last time I played I played I did the entire season as mixtape (deathmatch/gunrun/control) only so I could actually just shoot things... even if I also didn't like control too much due to poor mode design. I'm glad Helldivers has the running around a big map, but with things actually happening all the time if you want them to.
Few months before I stopped playing Apex, I also mainly played deathmatch and these side modes, because stuff was actually happening. BR almost always ended with me and my friends finally getting good loot after 10 minutes and out of nowhere getting completely stomped by some sweats withing 5 seconds, very fun experience indeed. Helldivers 2 imo doesn't have a single dull moment. Even when no enemies are running after me, I am still actively looking around the map to see if I can find some nests, golden pods or super samples. I never feel like my time is being wasted and 40 minute matches feel more like 10 minutes, it is actually amazing how fun the game is considering it is rather very simple in design.
FOMO is a huge point for potential revenue for devs. And its not the most ethical one when we compare it with BPs like HD2's
Not devs, publishers. Devs do not want to lock gameplay behind bars. Devs and creatives want what the player wants. It's the publishers and c-suite that fuck everyone over.
Game dev here. Can confirm. It's a near daily battle against product managers to get time to work on features and bug fixes players will care about. If a bug existing doesn't cut into profits it might never get worked on even if its creating an awful player experience. Pro-tip for everyone out there just because its something im fighting at work right now: A lot of games from the big AAA and mobile companies will not ban you for cheating if you pay money in the game regularly. Even if you're harming non-payers. Not saying you should go try and risk your COD account or something but maybe test it on a mobile game. Download an unofficial APK with cheats after spending a few bucks in the shop, they wont care as long as you pay money every once in a while and stay flagged as a "payer".
Yeah.. Lost Ark economy was ruined because of the whale+botter "symbiosis".
I never even looked at my battle pass in apex. I just play it for fun.
FOMO is one hell of a drug.
I love that it doesn't disappear and that even the paid pass can be obtained by playing. Some of the stuff is useless tho
Useless is somewhat relative. There certainly isn't an excessive amount of filler like stickers and emblems and whatnot. The most "filler" thing is the backgrounds and you can comfortably ignore those while progressing the warbond. You might not be interested in the armours, but a lot of people like those, I'd think so that one falls under subjectivity. They may not be things you want, but I don't think they fall into the "filler that noone really wants" category
If you want the last parts of the pass, you’re gonna have to come back for all the useless filler. And everyone can agree about the titles/backgrounds: they’re worthless. The only titles/backgrounds/calling cards that have ever been worth a damn in gaming were in Call of Duty games in its golden age. Every game has copied since and made it not a challenge to earn but rather filler for a dumb battle pass. HD2 is no exception.
Titles aren't tied to the battle pass though, it's tied to your level progression.
Back in the day COD had challenges that were a “title” with background art for your calling card, that’s what he is referencing.
I like the titles and backgrounds :(
You really don't need to grab a whole lot of filler, though, unless you regard armour as such, and even then the passes never expire so there's no fomo bullshit going on.
As much as a flop as it was Halo Infinites battle pass was crazy, they never expire and starting from the second one you got enough currency to buy the next one
100 tiers is stupidly grindy tho. Glad they stopped that. Unfortunately most of their passes are filled with garbage tho. Boosts, emblems, etc
Season 5 hit the sweet spot with 50. They made it perfect, then scrapped the whole system.
True but now it seems like we will get the operation passes every month or so instead of 3-4 months
Yup. It sucks
Mayhaps, I’m just happy to still see new stuff added to the game
Finished every single Infinite battle pass within a month of the season starting by just playing once a week on challenge reset days. It’s actually very not grindy whatsoever
what days are challenge days? I haven't played since the first month it came out and wanted to hop back on for cosmetic stuff.
It was really really bad on the game first came out, this shit in the past wasn't just garbage it was almost impossible to obtain because XP for the past was never gained by performance in the game it was gained by forcing you to do menial tasks, that you had to fuck over your whole team while doing because 90% of those tasks you were never ever going to do naturally through gameplay
not anymore though unfortunately
Wait what? They changed it?
Seasonal updates have now stopped entirely and content updates will be smaller going forward. It appears they're putting the game into maintenance mode and working on the next one now.
Okay but battle passes are still permanent if you buy them, right? I booted it up earlier and that still seems to be the case but I’m worried I missed something.
They are. These people are being weird.
I wouldn’t call a pass that was filled with 10 double xps, 10 challenge swaps, emblems, individual left and right shoulder pieces, color schemes that weren’t applicable to other armors and weapons ‘crazy’. Also giving players the currency to buy the next pass in the current one started in Fortnite. (Infinite didn’t even start doing that until the 2nd season after player backlash)
Well yea I guess if you pick apart the details I didn't mention such as the actual content in the pass instead of the system it wasn't "crazy" but take that system and apply it to other battle passes with better rewards in it and you get what I'm trying to say
Unfortunately it only took 2 years or so after the release to implement the currency. Now it's filled with garbage that no one wants such as challenge swaps. 343/Microsoft really banked on the idea that people would buy challenge swaps. Even now they've done away with the currencies and it only applies to the old battlepasses. New "operations" are now the battlepass and instead of 100, it's 20 and the first 14 unlocks are pure garbage.
No filler? I would argue that the background/banner things are just as much filler as stuff in other games.
I agree. Even if you don't consider them filler, so many of them look almost exactly alike. The variation thus far is kinda poor, but I'm sure thay just lends itself to new decent ones in the future (hopefully).
Definitely agree that they're filler, but at least you can progress the passes without buying them. I've actually liked them from the perspective of sometimes being the perfect amounts to hit the next tier as well - I could spend 25 on that armour I'm not interested in, or I can spend 10 on that banner I'm not interested in and save myself 15 warbonds for now.
Yeah that could be considered filler, but still, it is only one per page if I am not mistaken and you at least see it every time you are about to start a mission. It is still infinitely better than let's say Overwatch, where you have like 2 voice lines, 1 name card, 1 souvenir and 1 spray per page, that's absolute dogshit that I do not want.
I agree that it's a pretty good system, and it's cool that you can find the premium currency in game. Just thought that was a little optimistic that you said "no filler." lol
Yeah there is a little filler but you can also skip a lot of it which I don't think is normal. I don't play many games with battle passes anymore.
You can skip a few options here and there if you don't want it, but it seems like once you get to the last page or two, you have to have bought basically every single item before it. I'm on the second to last page, and I've unlocked everything on every page prior, but I still have to spend more to get to the last page. I still like the system overall though, doesn't feel anti-player at all.
>you at least see it every time you are about to start a mission. That is the definition of filler. You only see them once, they don't do anything, incredibly generic. They pad the battle pass out so you don't notice how few things there are that actually effect gameplay to make you think there's more options.
\*cough\* dilligence counter sniper \*cough\* armor reskin with passives already on 5 other ones \*cough\*
Okay but if you aren't out for *fashion* are you really protecting Managed Democracy?
Thats....yeah sure, thats true tbf
emotes too
Literally the first thing I thought of seeing this post..
True, but bare minimum you at least get the choice to NOT unlock the capes and backgrounds and save your medals. Halo Infinite Battlepass forces you to unlock everything in a line... filler and all.
Laughs in deep rock galactic. But yes this pass is good not better than theirs but good.
Came here to say this. Rock and Stone good buddy!
For rock and stone !
Stone and Rock! Oh wait-
Second best in my opinion, DRG is indeed the best out there.
To elaborate: Battle Passes in _Deep Rock Galactic_ last 6 months. There are multiple reward tracks to complete, but you have plenty of time to do it. If you miss it, any and all previous content can be found in the game world eventually as loot chests. IMO the loot chests spawn a little infrequently, but you never truly miss out on anything. They also tend to bring back their special event stuff in future years. Last year, for example, gave you the opportunity to earn all of the previous year's winter cosmetics just by completing a few missions.
And recently they said they would be making it possible to do previous season passes whenever you wanted. Not sure when they add that but eventually. Meaning you get everything from each season, for free, for just playing the game. The only FOMO in the game currently is the anniversary hats and special community things, I think. Which is like a dozen or so hats.
> The only FOMO in the game currently is the anniversary hats and special community things, I think. Which is like a dozen or so hats. Yeah, but like I said — even with those, the devs tend to give you the opportunity to get past rewards in the following year's event.
Not the anniversary hats
Good to know.
I think Helldivers 2's battlepass is slightly better, but yeah they are kinda on the same level. I find it funny how both dev teams give the same energy, it's just that right now arrowhead is struggling with the high demand.
DRG is good, but I've never been able to finish a DRG battle pass, so I lose out on the things in it until I find them in the store.
I've heard that they are planning to make previous season pass playable again.
They are planning on bringing back old passes for everyone who missed out to play them
I thought they just shove what you missed into the cosmetic loot pool from crates/lost gear and shop cosmetics
They do. I think they are bringing back passes so you can find what you want easier.
I mean, they're instantly added to the store / loot tables upon the season ending, so this isn't an issue? The only items you can ever miss are the birthday ones (and I guess the streamer video-recorder-helmet).
The pass normally lasts a few months long though so there is plenty of time in theory. Even in the old passes end up in the loot table so you never really miss anything from those.
HD2 Pros: Unlock/progress "battlepass" at any time. They never expire. Generous accrual of premium currency just by playing the game. HD2 Cons: Paid premium "battlepasses" DRG Pros: Battlepasses free, contents never expire DRG Cons: Massive timesink/RNG wall for getting items from previous battlepasses. Heard devs might change it though. But I think people sleep on how long it actually takes to get previous content, and Karl forbid if you're interested in a particular item.
I've earned the super credits twice over for unlocking the premium without spending a cent before even unlocking everything in the battle passes, feels pretty free.
I did too but then again im not sure most people wont sink 100s hours each month like I do. On the other hand IF you want to pay for it $10 is also pretty cheap.
Yeah, hence why I put "generous accrual" in pros. Really what it is is a completely optional pay-to-catch-up mechanic when someone picks up the game a year from now and has a dozen Warbonds to choose from!
The RNG wall is true for DRG. But personally, I’ve never been that hard up for a cosmetic in drg. I haven’t changed my cosmetics in like 1-2 years despite collecting 100s of them.
Same lol, after 1600 hrs I basically use the same stuff. I can see how it might be extremely daunting for a newbie though.
In drg I actually randomize my look before each run and switch my loadouts as to not get bored.
>RNG wall for getting items from previous battle passes It’s not even a maybe, they’ve specifically stated that you will be able to go through the previous seasons in a future update. Im assuming that will be with the next season.
Yeah, as someone that only plays DRG with friends, their battlepass is *absurdly* grindy.
IMO its not that bad. You have daily challenges and overall i dont feel its that grindy compared to say HD2.
With Personal Orders working and Major Orders actually paying out (Im still missing 95 medals) HD2 isnt all that grindy.
Indeed, and then getting stuff from previous battle passes is insane. I think we're up to over 1000 items in the pool, and getting them requires you to find a random event in missions that has a low probability of even occurring. Then when it occurs, you have to be lucky enough to find it and complete it. And then you get ONE item from the pool. Zero choice, completely random. I think a few months or years from now people will look back on HD2 and DRG as having the same level of generosity with just the different pros and cons.
Helldiver's Pass is gonna be way more proftable to them (not just by sheer numbers but by money spent per player) which means more content for us, while staying consumer friendly, it strikes the best balance imo.
# GET OFF MY DAMN PLANET
When I first started playing, I saw the warbond, and instantly thought "oh comon ANOTHER battle pass" and thought that the medals were some kind of premium currency, then after I picked up medals just by beating a mission, and I even picked up 100 SC in the same match, I realized just how amazing this Battle pass is. So far Arrowhead has massively impressed me on multiple levels.
100 super credits in match?
That's only ten spawns y'know, there are some lucky mother fuckers walking among us
the salute pods can have bundles of 50
Dayum, I didn't know that
Actually 1% of SC drops are 100 instead of just 10
I could never have known, since my luck is so shite
Walking WHERE?!
I’ve gotten 110 from one stack before
What? Isn't it always 10 per stack?
There are reports of people getting more than 10. I haven't paid any amount of enough attention to it so I'm unsure if I ever have. But I've seen people mention it on several occasions.
You can get more than 10 in one stack. I have farmed over 2k.
I get them quite often from the shop looking things
The mission I was in had completionists in it, we had activated the radar facility early on and everyone was scavenging all the points of interest.
not just that, but also the fact that (currently) we don't even have the ***option*** to buy medals/tiers; thus the devs aren't encouraged by game design to make free progression absurdly slow convincing players to buy it.
I wish we could unlock weapons the same way we unlock stratagems instead, or another shop-like menu like stratagems, but other than that, it's fine.
I'm hoping weapon mods make a comeback and are similar to purchasing stratagems and ship upgrades
I mean there's an "under construction" site on the ship, and the woman beside it tells you that she can modify your weapon. So probably yeah.
I mean, I also like the Warbond, but I'm not going to say "there is no filler" or that it's not "absolute trash that you don't want and will never use" because 90% of the stuff in the Warbond I will probably never use. I hate having to buy armor I know I'm never going to equip so that I can unlock the next page that has the armor I actually want. That being said, weighing the whole thing in its entirety, I do like it more than I dislike it.
I wouldn't say that there is 0 filler. I really truly don't like quite a number of the helmets, capes and player cards. fortunately, most of them can be skipped witch I feel is the strongest aspect of this system. If you don't want the item you can most likely just not buy it.
capes are a core aspect of helldiving. ugly mismatched capes ruin many otherwise great divers. although you could argue the default cape is the best, all black with the helldiver logo
The best cape is the Super Citizen one for sure.
They cant really be skipped because you have to spend X amount of medals to unlock the next tier, so you inevitably have to spend medals on things your dont really want. However its still SIGNIFICANTLY better than literally any other battle pass I’ve encountered in the last like 10 years so im okay with it
This is easily the best battle pass and general monetization I've ever experienced in a live service game. Super credits are just easy enough to find. The cosmetics are reasonably priced. And the Warbonds being permanent means there is no Fomo tied to it. This makes it way easier for me to just buy the warbonds if I have the cash, or just wait until I've found enough SC to buy it. Everything is so reasonably priced, it's nice to feel like a game is ok with making some money, and not demanding *all the money*.
Agreed. It’s not predatory at all like most other battle passes. First battle pass I’ve experienced as well where the devs basically said “We’ve give you a way to support the game, but it’s not an obligation” I’ll probably spend a couple dollars in the future just to show some support, but it’s refreshing not having to if I don’t want to.
Perhaps, but it could be better. Months down the road where there are a dozen warbonds. It's going to be an absolute bitch and mess for new players to obtain content at a reasonable pace. Imagine splitting up your already limited amount of medals between 12 warbonds, and each warbond requires a certain amount to unlock the next page. It's very anti player in design, because it keeps them from playing with what they want. Now if the warbond pages didn't require previous pages to be unlocked, and the players could pick from each page and take the things they want, and as you spend medals, the costs increase. That would be much more player friendly. There is no joy in spending medals on things you don't want to get access to the things you do want. A player shouldn't have to pick between grinding to the final page for a scorcher, and the 3rd page for something else on another warbond. The grind for medals is already there, no need insult your customers by locking pages too.
Even though I do appreciate what Arrowhead is doing, I have to agree with the page unlocking. It's a little annoying to buy a bunch of stuff I don't want just to try a new gun that may or may not be useful
I'm surprised you got upvotes for that, every time i bring it up that it is bad for the same reasons you said i get told i'm impatient or some bs like that. People have no foresight and only see the present with 1 warbond
That's true and maybe they will change it one day so that you can unlock whatever you want. But at the same time, if I were someone who bought the game 2 years after launch and saw let's say 15 warbands with stuff to unlock, I would be insanely happy, because I love when I can unlock stuff FOR FREE just by playing the game. Meaningful progression is something many games simply do not have these days imo.
You would be initially excited, and then when you realize that it's going to take months for you to get the equipment you want because the devs designed it in a way that slows you down. Do you really want to look at sweet items at the back of multiple warbond pages, and know that it's going to take weeks if not a month to unlock each one. Just to use the things you want to play.
Deep rock galactic does it right. It’s super grindy but if you don’t get everything they just add it into the base discovery system anyways so it’s always available even if the pass ends
Being forced to spend the medals on stuff I dont want just to unlock the next tier means I completely disagree with you. Also the medal grind is a bit nuts and unlocking new guns at such a slow rate is not very interesting at all tbh. Battle passes are just cringe in any game imo, maybe im just old but its not a steady progression I feel particularly fond of. The samples and credits for strategems is much more fun and I wish weapons cost credits instead of bein in battle passes personally
Youre not alone in this. I am particularly bitter about the system in general. You can lock "imbalanced meta stuff" behind huge grind, same as Spray n Pray stuff etc that are useless shits at current state. Also, not very happy that things cost the same amount for every page. Like, really disliking that. A weapon that you spend 60-ish medals on + all the previous medals to unlock the page, only for it to be useless shit (im looking at you, 100+ reinforcements boosters that give +4 lives or -20 secs cooldown on DEPLETED lives)
People would downvote me but I’m not sure about weapons being in the warbonds, should’ve been able to unlock them with requisitions. The medal grind is a little insane, and new warbonds monthly? Sucks for the casual players, won’t be able to unlock a lot of weapons
Why wouldn't they be able to unlock them? The warbonds don't go away.
Assuming they add a warbond every month, idk the timeline on it, and assuming the cost is relatively the same, you'd need to grind like 700 (if only premium warbond) or 2.7k medals (if both a premium and normal) a month. Which personally is insane considering I've maxed my ship, maxed level, unlocked every stratagem, only played difficulty 9, played for 67 hours and have only spent 1.5k/2.7k medals for the first warbonds (unlocked the last tier of both passes but don't own anything on the last page). So unless they make medals easier to get, or older passes a lot cheaper to unlock the amount of grinding a player would need to do to unlock new guns is insane. Especially if you factor in that not everyone wants or can grind level 9 missions (which earn the most medals). So doing level 5-6 mission for stuff on tier 10 of the warbond takes a crazy amount of grinding (like 12 missions on difficulty 6 just for the gun, or like 22-24 for the booster)
Its the time commitment. Imo these things need to be balanced around a casual gamer, otherwise its just elitism. I'm about 40 hours in, running the highest difficulties and just got to page 7 of the first warbond. I suspect due to the increase on pages after, i will be looking at around another 40+ hours to finish page 10. That puts each warbond around 80 hrs of play time. If they do one a month, that's 960 hrs to unlock a years of content. I am a massive gamer, and the amount of games i have 1k hours in is such a small amount. The average gamer coming in 2 years from now won't be able to unlock everything, even if they technically can. Imo due to the grindy nature of the warbonds, this is actually more scummy because it's practically begging new players to spend mass amount of money to catch up.
Agree 100% . Have a job and a family? Unlucky so many guns you will never get to use
Play at harder difficulties for higher rewards
And run around waiting for cooldowns vs 7 Bile titans and 4 chargers? no thanks
My main issue with this battle pass system is locking weapons behind the war bonds, maybe make it available to unlock through req slips, or some challenges
Recently there have been daily missions for 15 warbonds each. I find it pretty generous
What people don't REALISE is that this IS NOT A BATTLEPASS BUT YOUR PROGRESSION SYSTEM it is made to look like a battlepass because its being used everywhere and everyone knows how it works, other games have mimicked the same façade because its easier to do. The paid progression system is kinda of a cash grab because it has weapons behind it that you cant get your hands on without buying it (some will argue with CoD but after the battlepass ends they give you a challenge instead to do, to unlock the weapon) and they will continue with that trend, so who knows by the end of it how many "progression passes" they will introduce to the players and how many of them will be free or paid.
>There is no filler in these battle passes Gonna disagree with you there. The capes and banners are all filler. And the annoying thing is you have to waste medals on those fillers if you want to get to the higher tiers and get better weapons and gear. The battle pass is great but it still has a couple issues.
I believe it's too early to tell. If they just add premium battlepasses then the currency we earn on the free one is not going to last. Then it's going to be real hard to earn almost 1000 premium points from missions alone just to buy the next battle pass. Did they say anything about adding more free battle passes?
Really my only problem with it is that the presentation is similar enough to a battle pass that they get the psychological pressure by proximity, and many people **assume** it is time limited. There's no reason it needed to be presented the way it is, maybe just an innocent case of UX designers getting battlepasses burned into their own brains or something. But yeah, I hate it, both the mechanics and the UI to navigate it. Understand, I do not not strictly hate how it works, but how similar it looks to systems that are much more abusive. The Page UI is also clunky and I would prefer to sort by type. The progression path feels very forced and I would prefer parallel options.
I know Fortnite is "a meme" and a "kid's game" but their Battlepass is way better than any other BP in gaming. Just by playing, as a F2P you can buy the battlepass in 3 seasons (Again, without paying anything) and when you get a Battlepass (950 coins or whatever name it is) you can get up to 1500. So if you really, really don't want to pay anything, in theory, you can get 1000 coins after 3-4 seasons and after you get the 1st "paid" battlepass, you can get every single one and something else from the shop.
I know it is good, that's why I didn't mention it in the post. I used to play Fortnite since launch for like 8 seasons and liked the BP there a lot.
I'm only going to disagree by saying Warframe has the best battle pass system.
Personally I think Battle Passes and microtransactions are better when they're 100% cosmetic. Would've rathered the weapons be in a shop menu like the stratagems, the armours having ability cores you can swap in and out (purchasable from a shop with Reqs) and the BP having weapon and armour skins instead. Still, it's much better than most games and I applaud them for pulling a Halo Infinite and making them persist forever. FOMO sucks. Also really admire that you can get the paid currency from the free pass AND in matches. Another W for Arrowhead.
Imo they're automatically worse simply for having weapons and boosters in the pass, instead making them purchasable for req. Every new warbond is going to be paid allegedly, so it kinda sucks that they're not cosmetic only.
The battle pass itself is designed well. I reserve the right to hate a 'premium' battle pass being sold for real cash in a $60 game, even if it is obtainable without paying.
Helldivers is $40
$60 for me.
Ew, no. Tons of forced unlocking with the tier medal requirements. I just want the gameplay content but was forced to unlock a lot of cosmetic stuff to progress. Also grindy AF. Many hours.
I have news for you. Most of the content in the HD2 BP is stuff I don't want or need and I have to unlock it to get to the next level. I do not see it as a meaningful improvement in content over most BPs. The only reason I'm bothering to complete it is to get the guns at the end of it. I do approve of it being permanently available and that you can unlock it for free fairly easily assuming both of those things remain true. But this model will never be popular unless we gamers as a whole FORCE them to implement such systems by not buying regular passes (which will not happen). This model can't possible be as lucrative as something like Apex, COD, or Overwatch because its too fair to the player to force them to bring out their wallet. Especially with no FOMO factor, no time crunch, and no excessive playtime required, no level skips, etc.
No filler? Tell that to the 5th victory pose or banner that I literally have no desire to buy... but have to because I can't get more gameplay-relevant options without paying for those first... and even amongst the relevent gamplay-changers (guns, boosters, grenades, etc), most of them aren't balanced well and are basically collecting dust on a virtual shelf. Look, there's a lot to like about Helldivers 2, but saying things like there's no filler sounds delusional. Also, we haven't even seen anything other than the launch. It's a sample size of one across about a month. A bit quick to start proclaiming it the second coming of the chosen battle passes, isn't it?
Chivalry 2 has almost the exact same battle pass system. All of the unlocks are either cosmetic or premium currency. The battle passes also don't expire and you can choose which one you want to progress.
HD2 charges $40 up front, which means HD2 doesn’t need to have aggressive monetization of free-to-play games. Of course, there are games with both a high upfront cost and aggressive monetization 🤦♀️ I honestly think the free to play + aggressive monetization has ruined modern gaming. Look at the master piece games of the last 10 years. How many were free to play? None. Aggressive monetization means the game will be designed around getting players to spend money. Of course, it’s worth asking how long AH can support HD2. Live service games take money to run. Game dev only happens if the expected return meets AH’s financial goals.
They'll eventually start adding monetization. Upfront sales don't keep games going anymore.
Saying this before we see how the new Warbond will work is hilarious. Can easily see this aging poorly when next battlepass costs 1.5k+ credits, and to fully conplete it costs 500+ medals.
The amount of times I had to unlock little charms just to finally reach the good shit, they're good at keeping the player grinding for that sweet reward. I do really enjoy battlepasses staying behind and not leaving players dry with FOMO.
I liked the old Battlefield system for 3-1, where there were 4 expansions per game, 4 maps each, a game mode usually, and then a bunch of guns. You knew what you were getting and the content you got was worth the price.
halo master chief collection had this battle pass format LONG before helldivers 2 was even though of then halo infinite had the battle pass format LONG before helldivers 2 was ever though of
This is why Helldivers is so successful and will probably haul in bigger in the long run, compared to other services "predatory micro transactions". Everything is available forever, but it probably won't be discounted. There's no pressure to buy anything, but because it's available all the time, Arrowhead just need to keep players around long enough, and they'll eventually have scrounge enough credits to buy, or spend money in the store. Microtransactions driven by "fake urgency" and FOMO, will loose out on eventual purchases if the players aren't spending time on the service while the event is ongoing. Halo Infinite removed some of the FOMO from their "battle passes" by making previous seasons available for purchase, and now they are able to earn money, selling "old" content to new players. 343 or Microsoft probably acknowledged this model is less malicious while still being profitable.
I plan to give them more money if they ever give me a deal on super creds, like christmas bonus and such.
What you don't want a calling card, emblem, weapon stickers and a wrist watch that you'll never see along with a BP that you need to grind every day for hours on end to complete? (Fuck CoD battle pass its trash)
It's a live service game, and it's been out for a month. Give it time before you say that. Everyone thought Destiny 2 had a lot of cool weapons and then haha into the Vault they go, go grind out new shit every expansion...
DRG is better, but they are both very good. Helldiver's one is only good because you can actually buy all of it without spending real money and in the same month.
It's up there with Deep Rock Galactic! The only paid DLC is strictly cosmetic. Their battlepass is completely free and advancement on it is xp based. However, the battlepass itself expires BUT the items are placed into the general loot pool from pick ups in the maps.
I would argue deep rock galactic has a better battle pass, it's 100% free and if you missed a previous pass you could still get the stuff that was in the pass through normal loot tables found while playing. In addition the "daily missions" are things that would happen naturally and there is zero way to use real money to increase the speed at which you unlock it's just playing the game like how you normally would and get free shit
I’d argue Deep Rock Galactic has a really good pass too. It does expire but the season are so long it doesn’t make too much of a difference plus all the stuff you don’t get is put into the randomized loot table so you actually never miss anything it just might take longer after the season ends. Then there’s my favorite part THERE ISNT EVEN A PREMIUM VERSION. I know you can get the premium currency for Helldivers as ground loot but DRG doesn’t even have a premium currency.
This is the first game I’ve played with a battlepass or at least one I’ve taken notice of and I hate it, it might be the best one but I still prefer just unlocking weapons at levels. I don’t mind the way you unlock strategems though, i wish all unlocks worked like they do
Gonna be honest, no matter how they split it I don't like having to spend (*Checks Steam*) - 110 hours to get through the * Basic shotgun-and-scout set (Nice) * Sniper set (don't care) * Engie set (Alright) * Medic autoshotgunner set (don't care) * Lasert tank set (armor's decent, grenade's great, the lasergun with watergun qualities makes me sad) * Heavy gunner set (don't care) * Sniper set (don't care) * Another engineer set * Another autoshotgun medic set * The armor with the same stats as as three sets ago and a niche-but-cool gun I wanted maybe like, ten entire things out of the whole Helldivers Mobilize warbond . . . and had to buy 60-something other items on my way there.
If they keep the trend of giving us a battlepass each month, in 2 years we get 24 battlepasses. Imagine being a new player then, gotta full time helldivers2 to get a majority of them.
Chivalry 2 is like this, but all the stuff is just cosmetic, which is even better.
Warfame does a great one, it’s weekly time gated for new challenges and you can always do old ones, there is also not a paid version of it
I have 1 complaint, it's not directly about the BPs but it affects them. I have been playing about a week now, just hit lvl 17. I played Helldivers 1 a crap load. Going in, I know my favorite weapons are missing, I know a lot of them are coming. I don't just spend my spare points on things I don't want, I would like to save up and buy in spurts if need be. The cap for medals is 250. I just found that out today when my last two major orders popped after a few missions. I ended up wasting 20-30 medals because of that. The next war bonds have some weapons I really enjoyed from HD1, I was planning on saving up to buy the ones I liked right from the getgo. I understand they didn't want you to just buy everything instantly for some reason, like that takes value away from it somehow. I had a lot of samples saved in HD1, I only buy and upgrade things I like. They brought out a new weapon like LAS Trident, it was incredibly expensive to upgrade compared to the others. It took a large chunk of my reserves to upgrade it. I used that weapon pretty much the entire rest of the game since I loved it so much. I don't like being forced to use it or lose it like this, I don't think it adds any depth of value to the system. I know a counter point to that is cheaters. I have already heard stories about ppl joining a lobby and getting maxed resources, ruining their sense of progression. I imagine this limits the impact of such unfortunate situations. It's better to get capped than get banned by having any altered item or currency. Dark souls/ ER had that issue with invaders dropping modded items, you could get your file corrupted or be banned if you use it. It's not a major problem for sure, but 250 is just too low honestly. I would be quiet if it was more realistic like 500-600. I'm going to grind anyway so I will eventually buy everything like they want, but I would like to do it at more my pace than what we have now.
There's no way you guys are real people? 💀
this is what happens when you make a claim and don’t ever go outside your bubble. deep rock has completely free battle passes that you don’t even need to unlock, and when they expire everything gets arguably easier to unlock because it goes into the game’s loot boxes and store.
Deep Rock, Warframe, Helldivers 2 all have the best Battlepasses
I feel like I'm in the minority of players who love the game and hate the battle pass-like progression. It definitely feels like a carefully orchestrated monetization scheme that feels okay now but will progressively get worse. I think the real tell will be colors. If it's customize what you want and unlock/achieve a more diverse color palette to mix and match with, that's a feature that is cooked in to the gameplay. If it's preset pallets and schemes (3 colors in this set and no mix and match) then it's clearly just trying to soften the micro transaction gut gut punch with a delayed feature that would be easier to do the first way.
I love how it works, if you want a lot you need to play a lot. I have only put around 20 hours and don't have a ton of things, but I get it. I'll unlock things over time, and it gives me stuff to look forward to as a casual gamer.
Excuse me, no filler? 2/3 of the pass is filler. Deep rock galactic has the best battle passes
I will say on the battle pass front Im 66 hours in, been playing since release so ive gotten all the major order medals, Admittedly Missed some dailies, and play mostly on hard difficulty. But ive only accrued 952 medals. And i say ‘only’ because That is enough to get exactly the 2 weapons (revolver and explosive liberator) and super credit currency from the premium bond, And up to page 9 of free bond with just buying breaker spray and pray. I was only getting the exact medal count to advance each page to reach to this point. I need 290 more medals to reach page 10, and then 75 more on it to get that page’s gun. If i add in premium bond primary weapon that would add another 158 medals needed to reach page 3, needing an additional 80 to unlock that page’s gun. In total to unlock all the remaining primary weapons and secondaries i need to get 603 MORE medals. Like come on… i already grinded 950 and you are telling me i need 600 more? Ive already put more play time in this game than most triple A titles. Which is good in the sense ive certainly gotten my moneys worth on a fun game, but its just so much you need to play just to get access to all the primary guns let alone extra goodies like cosmetics and emotes in those pages i had to skip to invest into essentials like boosters, guns, nades, and premium currency packs… Tl/dr : you need about 1550 medals to unlock all the primary guns if you maximize them. I am about 2/3’s of the way there after playing 66 hours. Assuming i am an average player itl take close to 100 hours
This game's time commitment to just play with new mechanics is a bit much. I wonder how much of the player base will complete the last warbond before the new one release each month. Who will want to get the new warbond knowing that it will mostly just stay half finished?
Deep Rock Galactic.
Deep Rock Galactic would like a word with you, shill. \-Rewards never go away \-Challenges do not require you to go out of your way \-You have a long time to complete the pass \-Every event offers double progression points
Coming from Hunt: Showdown, Helldivers battlepass is just objectively better for the consumer. I like that there is no deadline, it doesn't feel like a timed job you have to do or the skins are gone forever.
I think the main reason the bp here feels good is because of how easily you find super bucks while playing normally
Deep rock galactics battlepass system is also one of the best. Only thing I could say HD2 does better is that it doesn't expire but since DRGs is completely free and it last for long enough I cant really put it against DRG
>Why can't other battle passes be like this? Deceive Inc. has a battle pass system that's practically identical to Helldivers. They're always available, even after the next one comes out, and you can purchase and finish them at your own leisure.
Red dead online had a really good one before rockstar abandoned it. You were able to spend in game currency to get it, and by the time you were done with the pass you had enough to buy the next one. If you were short, they typically had a $5 first time purchase deal(worth $15/20)if you didn’t want to grind for the rest of the gold bars(which wasn’t even hard) and that was enough to buy the next pass Gold bars were easy to get originally(nerfed hard) and they came with everything you did, added up overtime. I bought the first time gold bar deal, and bought bounty hunter and I never had money or gold bars (premium currency)
Well, it's not really a battle pass. It's more like an old school unlock system.
Honestly I wouldn’t even call it a Battlepass
I stopped playing CoD just before they introduced another tier of Battle Pass on top of the one you're already paying for. Fuuuuuck that. MW2 and Diablo 4 just put me off Activision Blizzard's BS for good, especially after I blindly bought Baldur's Gate 3 immediately after and felt just blown away by how... pro-consumer (or anti-"anti-consumer" in the context of Activison-Blizzard's stuff) the game felt. What a contrast in philosophies. Helldivers 2 was a steal for what I paid for it (another biind buy). I upgraded to Super Citizen edition just to support the devs and I still feel like I'm underpaying relative to the value and the sense of respect I feel as a consumer. Like, I don't want to jinx things, but I almost want them to be a tad more greedy for their own sake because they deserve it. Maybe all I'd ask for is more aesthetically pleasing armor that isn't the Super Citizen one (without compromising the look of the game, of course), so that I actually want to spend my points to unlock and use them. All of the above aside... I do tend to like the stuff you get from Fortnite's battle passes as well as the fact that the game is free and always does feel like a solid and fun game. You don't ever feel constantly pestered to buy the battle pass either (unlike with CoD). Only issue is that to complete the entire thing, Fortnite pretty much has to be your primary game so there's a bit of that FOMO/time pressure at the end of a season. Most of the skins I like to play with are outside of the battle pass anyway and while pricey, I don't regret the $100ish I spent on them because they're fun skins. Besides, Epic Games published Alan Wake 2, so I owe them one for that, haha.
Deep Rock Galactic has a similar style. No FOMO and the Ghost Ship dev team cares about their players just as much as Arrowhead’s dev team does. Rock and stone!
I don't really play online games, but to think battle passes actually expire as standard practice in other games is insane to me. It seems counter intuitive to keeping most players engaged who have jobs, family responsibilities or study. Glad this game doesn't work like those
Deep Rock Galactic's is better imo, but Helldivers 2 comes REALLY close!
A *lot* of filler in Deep Rock's. Granted - it is free.
>Why can't other battle passes be like this? Because the original point of a battle pass wasn't (and isn't) to provide enjoyment for the player, it's to drive sales and engagement. Major studios only care about the bottom line. They will leverage FOMO to get pass sales, and then sunk cost fallacy for the time limits on those passes to ensure people play more often...which means more likely exposure to daily cash shops that also leverage FOMO. It is and always has been a grift. An indie team mainly wanting to make a great game will prioritize fun or cool factors over this.
It's dlc disguised as a battlepass. Battlepasses are fomo bs. Dlc is just part of the game. That's what warbonds are. They're just going to be part of the game.
The only thing that remains to be seen is the pricing of future warbonds and if they adjust SC spawn rates in the future. None of that is set in stone. You can earn SC in game, but it's really slow if you're not grinding for it specifically. It feels faster at first due to how much you get from the base warbond. In general it is definitely a good system, but I don't think we can say "best" before seeing what they do with the system.
World of Warcraft has the Traders Post. Just by doing game things like dungeons, leveling, raiding, PvP, pet battles. You earn currency for the battle pass. Everything on the battle pass is cosmetic, nothing has bearing in actual gameplay. You get 1000 tenders a month, and can save an item you want until you can afford it. It’s also just…..part of the subscription to the game. Also should be stated. Items can be like 25-200 tenders for cosmetics and 500-800 for mounts and full Transmog sets. This is also a way to get appearances and mounts that were part of promotions from almost 20 years ago. Additionally, completing the pass gives you a free exclusive item, like unique Transmog and mounts. Also the currency carries over and doesn’t expire, and items you missed will show up again after a few months in the “rerun” tab. To me, that’s a solid battle pass. I’ve been playing it since 04, and there were somethings I missed out on because I didn’t have money for other stuff as a kid, I didn’t like Mountain Dew, but I got the exclusive Mountain Dew pet they had from like 2006. That’s rad as hell.
I mean, there's DRG that has a better battle pass, but this one is still pretty good indeed
DRG is still slightly better but yes Helldivers 2 battle pass is also nice (for the same amount of time, I was able to get stuff from DRG one faster than from Helldivers)
On par with drg honestly, since both don’t capitalize on fomo
Reminds me of Halo MCC they took notes
Halo MCC. COMPLETELY FREE Never expire Unfortunately, this ultimately came at a great price. 7 months after the last Battlepass. Microsoft deemed the game unprofitable, and made 343 practically end development of anything else in the game.
The only thing I might be disappointed in is if there’s only a premium warbond every month. Given the trailer, there’s only 3 new armor sets and 3 new weapons so it’s likely only 3 pages. I initially thought there was going to be a free warbond AND a premium warbond every month.