I need to vent a bit here:
Remember when the Steel Championship was like the Ravens event where you’d have a limited time workbench to craft all the paints/stickers and cosmetic items? Now, they’ve gone and locked all that behind a SECOND paid battle pass of this season. I want to really emphasize the fact that this season has TWO PREMIUM BATTLE PASSES. I have NEVER seen that before in any other game; F2P or paid. That’s pretty damn scummy…
Also, remember when the Syndicate and Founder events would unlock permanent crafting recipes? Now they’ve gone and changed it to temporary ones.
Just want all you wallet warriors to know that so long as you keep shelling out money to this game, the monetization will continue to slide downhill like this. Sometimes I forget this game is a beta due to all the crap they’re asking us to pay for.
It was never like ravens events with a workbench. It was always ranked with some limited participation prizes mostly decor and a few stickers.
.
Actually, the last one that came before this one did have a workbench to make the items…
I don’t remember it using talers like ravens did though…
This was the last one no bench: [PC] Crossout 0.12.80. Steel championship - News - Crossout The bench was just a side event (upgrade thing)
I still plan on getting the next Battle Pass, because it’s got stuff in it that I asked for specifically, and I keep hoping this game will stop with all the “Beta” BS one day, I guess…it won’t. This isn’t a test. It’s an exercise in bad marketing. Great game, but really bad shopping.
I was trying to talk myself into getting the “Iron Shield” pack (the markdown is good), but I decided not to, because of how this game operates (inconstantly, but consistently inconsistent). I’ll still get the Next Battle Pass, because I tend to get my money’s worth out of those, but they are shaving that down bit by bit every time they present a new one. A lot of the things in them now I absolutely don’t want in my inventory, like Stabilizers, and the cabs tend to be too high in power-score for my taste, and full of perks I’m not interested in.
And still, nobody plays. That’s what amazes me sometimes; they will have two or three events running at the same time often and still show record low (Steam) player populations sometimes…I suppose it’s difficult to tell exactly what the numbers are, but like Twitter, half of the population are obviously bots.
I think their marketing direction is a failure, and does them more harm than good. It’s a great game system with beautiful graphics, fantastic themes and atmosphere, good lore. It’s a good product, but horribly mismanaged, from my perspective. It’s like they are struggling and desperate, and relying on shenanigans to make ends meet, and every month or two they introduce a new shenanigan, and lay it over the last one.
I don’t think they should have to rely on shenanigans to make good money with this product, but IDK.
If you think the game or the game company scam you for money…don’t buy!!
Game events run differently from a same game at different time doesn’t seem to be scummy. The events has free and pay levels on battlepass, no? It is players choices what to go for, no? ie, if a shop let you have free drinking water and then changed not to later, doesn’t make the shop running a scummy tactic!
What kind of logic are we running on this topic? Why when I come back after a few weeks and still have people on this kind of negative-ness to the game and the game company? What would be the point, if the game company let you have everything for free? How long before players get bored?
I do play hack and slay games. I have pickup Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate about 2 weeks back on xbox. I have already unlocked all playable characters and 85% of their 5* weapons. That is 145 characters. Of course, I could spend 20 times more money just to buy clothing for them and then pay 10 times more for a few maps. Fighting games like DOA, street fighters have the same clothing options. That doesn’t affect the game play, but do they worth the extra cash?? Only the people willing to pay will feel their worth.
Different game models make their income differently.
Buyer beware.
Not all marketing is the same.
They could do better, probably. I don’t think they are making the connection between their bad marketing strategies and their abysmally low player population, so I’m not sure voting with your dollar will work on these guys.
I think feeling ripped off is a typical complaint about this game and the reason a lot of people give for quitting. There’s nothing unusual about this topic, and acting surprised or put off that somebody mentioned it is ridiculous. No need to clutch your pearls. It’s not a far fetched indictment, or some radically skewed perspective. It’s a topic worth contemplation for developers and gamers. It’s relevant, IMO.
Personally, it’s hard for me to tell if it’s just sloppy management (irregular releases of material, and wonky pricing) or if they are getting comfortable with common modern predatory marketing practice. Probably everything in my house is made with at least 8% nylon and 20% bullschit, so that if I was too critical of the hustle I would likely own nothing. I’m not sure if what they’re doing is truly malicious, or just some guys with a minor hustle trying to make a cool thing fly in a dog eat dog world.
People will draw the line at different places in the sand. Some will tolerate more bullschit than others, but they should be careful with this game they play or they could find themselves doing something less interesting for a living. The public isn’t made of Teflon. They could screw up a good thing.
I wish they had better marketing. I think the game suffers for it.
I think having a second battlepass for the steel championship rewards was a bad move. I get that they need to make money, but it made players like me give up early on the brawl, since the free rewards weren’t worth the time required, and the locked rewards weren’t worth the money.
While I’m sure they made a little bit of money from it, it made the brawl so unpopular that the matchmaking became even more frustrating.
You guys know I rarely complain about the devs’ business decisions, but this was a dumb one.
Damn, my bad. You’re right. I guess my main point was that the paints (Red Glade, Fresh Turf) weren’t locked behind a premium BP when I got them.
I agree, that’s why I’ve only bought the Woody Pack from this game and will never pay for anything else. With all the balance changes they’re constantly doing, you just can’t count on the item you bought being the same item you paid for a month, week or even a day in the future. I crafted my first Legendary part awhile back so, I know I’m good staying as a F2P-ish player 
.
This is the way free to play games work. The balance and re-balance with contains keep adding into the game. The new meta for players willing to pay to stay on top. Again, players willing to pay are the ones to feel their worth/worthless.
I do NOT like football and I never like the football event. I can see there are 500+ players on the Xbox that use this paid to play “steel chap” event.
The only way to know is to compare that event from the last that number of players were dropped. We can’t tell exactly how many players use the battlepass. Having 2 battlepass events may not be a bad idea as the faction battlepass event run for 60 days(?). I only need about 10 days to finish it(on PC). I am sure there are players don’t use the BP, pay to use on or the other, or pay to use both. Only the game company will know if they bring in good income or not.
This is the same on players keep saying on how the game company keep bringing new car packs into the game but NOT caring about the game balance before. I do see there are NEW parts in car parks. Most of them I do NOT need to pay to unlock on PC. I am sure many players willing to pay for them too. Were they good/bed ideas? Aren’t for me as a player to worry about. I would worry, if the game do NOT get any update…
No problem. I know what you mean though I worry that they will keep trying to over use this event model too and lock all the non-sticker or resource rewards behind a paywall. Steel Champs has always been one of my least favorites too so the level structure makes it feel extra grindy. Personally I just think rewards are fair to ok for the event but over priced for what they are in a BP. It really doesn’t deserve to have the same price as a full battle pass as the value comes no where close even if it comes with a pack vehicle.
I don’t really find it shady though, it’s actually good that they want to try new things and reusing code is money wise. It’s also good that they are making new content as they do it too. Unfortunately it’s only a, few paints, damage counter, and a CK though…
Things just got weird.
Crossout has always been scummy tactics: the game
Scummy business practices, scummy gameplay, scummy tactics, scummy builds, scummy players, scummy meta, scummy developers, scummy company, scummy community, scummy everything.
That’s pretty harsh.
I’d say it’s always been a roller-coaster. It’s a fun game often, but it’s got a dark side too. It’s cruel sometimes. When it’s good it’s really good, and when it’s bad people get so mad they launch DDoS attacks.
The community can be mean. You got that right too. I’m not going to argue with that all. It can be spectacular. I can almost see why some nations states have made trolls illegal. It can be mind boggling, I think.
Can you win an argument while making yourself look like an arsehole? Is that really a “win?” It’s a little like settling a custody dispute by sawing the children in half, maybe.