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Is the "Legendary" quest line a cash grab?
From the Open Beta email released today, there will be a "Legendary" quest line that players will have to purchase in order to see some of the game content. Even if the game is not "Pay to Win", I think this is a huge red flag, especially with a subscription based game. Do you agree?
There is no way I'm going to play a game that has micro-transactions for content. I have to pay for a subscription AND PAY AGAIN to do things within the game?!?! Paying for cosmetic upgrades is one thing, but this is content and should be covered by the subscription. Where does it end? Am I going to have to pay for 'content packs' every 2 months?
This reminds me of EA and the DLC packs for games like Sims 4.
From the email:
Apocalypse will have Chapters with Adventure Paths that have 50 levels of progression available to players, and will update every 10-weeks. This will give players a free progression path filled with unique cosmetics that are earnable through the collection of experience from playing any of the 3 game modes Apocalypse will offer. There will be an optional Legendary Path that players can purchase. Both paths provide daily quests and weekly quests for players to complete. These quests give lore that relates to the story of Verra during the Fall, thousands of years before the start of the MMORPG.
We have decided that all Alpha One backers will have lifetime access to the Legendary path. We will also be giving all Beta and Alpha Two backers access to the first Chapter's Legendary path, with over 50 cosmetics available to earn!
There is no way I'm going to play a game that has micro-transactions for content. I have to pay for a subscription AND PAY AGAIN to do things within the game?!?! Paying for cosmetic upgrades is one thing, but this is content and should be covered by the subscription. Where does it end? Am I going to have to pay for 'content packs' every 2 months?
This reminds me of EA and the DLC packs for games like Sims 4.
From the email:
Apocalypse will have Chapters with Adventure Paths that have 50 levels of progression available to players, and will update every 10-weeks. This will give players a free progression path filled with unique cosmetics that are earnable through the collection of experience from playing any of the 3 game modes Apocalypse will offer. There will be an optional Legendary Path that players can purchase. Both paths provide daily quests and weekly quests for players to complete. These quests give lore that relates to the story of Verra during the Fall, thousands of years before the start of the MMORPG.
We have decided that all Alpha One backers will have lifetime access to the Legendary path. We will also be giving all Beta and Alpha Two backers access to the first Chapter's Legendary path, with over 50 cosmetics available to earn!
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Here's what the path's look like if anyones curious. https://imgur.com/a/MUKOsFo
As for the concerns regarding unique lore/cosmetics transferring into the main game - as the MMO progresses in development, it is very likely that we will find most rewards (all being cosmetic) offered in the BR to be acquirable either through the shop, or in-world. At least, those that translate into the MMO.
Currently, with the BR being the only Ashes-related game that is currently playable, I find no issue with exclusive rewards being offered to those participating it its development. The importance of this testing warrants the incentives put into place by Intrepid, and the monetization allows them to continue working on this venue without impacting the progress of the MMO itself.
One could argue that Ashes could follow the path laid out by Fortnite and focus too heavily on the BR, should it become successful, but... to say that's a stretch is an understatement. BRs are definitely more of an FPS thing. We saw Realm Royale gain some attention for a while, but that died pretty quickly (Although a sizable part of that was the fault of the studio itself).
tl;dr: Everything's fine and the world has yet to burn. Well, technically it's just about to burn, but that won't happen until Horde mode
So we don't even know if there is more quests with the legendary path and if they reveal more lore.
And these "quests lines" are not some epic quests which will reveal huge chunks of lore. Most of the quests will be "collect 10 bows in one match" "kill 5 people in one match" "visit the following location". So these quests will probably just reveal tiny tidbits of lore.
Also because you were talking about subscription and "pay to win":
You realise that this isn't the open beta for AoC the MMORPG?
Its the open beta for Apocalypse.
Free to Play BattleRoyale,Siegemode and Hordemode.
In order to do this, they need to expend more resources at a more rapid rate than anticipated, thus the insertion of the pay model into the BR. The devs also need to accomplish in a very short time what they would have had months or years to pull together - servers to accommodate hordes of players numbering in the hundreds of thousands. And in order to make the changes necessary to accomplish all this in such a challenging time-frame, they need tons of information from running more and more players through the game - thus the inclusion of beta testers, and the forthcoming complete withdrawal of play-restrictions.
So basically, after making exemplary progress on the MMO, meeting every planned deadline and being weeks if not months ahead of schedule, instead of taking it easy on themselves by maintaining their good pace and facing issues as they arise, they said, "Screw it, let's get this server sh*t show out of the way so we won't have to deal with it later" (Probably paraphrased a bit), and upped their pace even further. Now they're designing and optimizing servers along with a secondary game with which the servers can be tested, while still creating the core systems and mechanics of the game itself.
I'm starting to better understand why we're seeing more of Sleepy Steven lately.
I just hope nothing is remove, not a single cosmetic, I hope over the years I can earn everything and never need to rush.
I think the legendary chapters are free for me anyway based on my support package I bought.
As said, you have to spend money and play the game to unlock the skin. Was it EA or activision that resently did this with a game after the reviews of the game. Of course, they also hid it behind progression that was long to do, but you could pay even more to skip it. Yes we get to play the game. But we are also testing the game, and have to deal with all the issues, so they can release a better game, which will give it better reviews. And now they are hiding stuff behind a paywall. And i bet you, the nicest items will be those you have to pay for.
Oh, so the paid path also gives xp boost, so it goes even faster. Like the company's people hate
On a tangential note, I'm wondering if you could gain experience just by being fodder for those who are actually good at BR? I'm so bad at this.
B ) The quests do not offer extra content, just more cosmetics;
C) This is just another way to support the game and it is entirely up to us if we want to do it or not.
So yeah, stop being a scab
But if they keep the mode even after the game is launched, they then need this monetization and more money to Intrepid, more money to our MMORPG.