Ben-DutkaThe million-dollar question is clear and troubling- Would you consider it cheating?
Battlefield 3 features robust online multiplayer, designed specifically to reward those who put in the time. But now, even if you don't wish to put in the time, you can still unlock everything. Just gotta pony up the cash, if you're willing.
It's the "Ultimate Shortcut Bundle" and it costs a whopping $40. Yeah, that's high in the realm of downloadable content, but it gives players instantaneous access to all of those aforementioned unlockables. You get all class-specific weapons and gadgets, all co-op weapons, and even all the vehicle upgrades; that's a grand total of 119 upgrades, all immediately available if you're willing to pay. You can also pick up each individual pack: the Kit Shortcut Bundle (class unlocks) for $25, the Vehicle Shortcut Bundle for $18, and the Co-op Weapons Shortcut for $5.
Those who have struggled and triumphed to earn those unlocks might feel a little miffed. In fact, many do. After hours and hours of play, all their hard work can be equaled by any "n00b" who can easily buy everything necessary. Now, you still have to work for upgrades and attachments and all that, but the veteran BF3 players aren't too happy with this shortcut. Presumably, DICE and EA did this to facilitate continued sales of the game; many might say, "Oh, I don't want it now; I'd be so far behind all the people who have been playing it since last year." This way, you can level the playing field right off the bat.
But hey, is it really "level?" Just because you've unlocked everything by paying for it doesn't mean you can beat the dude who has hundreds of hours logged. After all, this is a game of skill , right? The question is, will we see this practice in the future? And in what capacity? Might it start hitting single-player games, too? "Here, just give us more money and we'll give you the best equipment in this RPG." But maybe it will only apply to online multiplayer…even if those who put the time and effort in remain a little peeved and flat-out call it cheating.
Related Game(s): Battlefield 3
Im not happy about it. A level 2 killed me in my tank with heat seeking missles from a heli. A level 2! Then all the time i spent trying to level up my sniper i get outsniped by some douch who bought the pack so my brand new sniper i had just unlocked was outclassed by a low level he had a x12 scope while i had a x7. Dice and EA kinda pissed me off to be honest.
As a legitimate Level 2 in the game (and sucking terribly, to be honest) I still don't like it when people use their money to buy their way to winning online.
This just means your not the best at the game. You do know that you could use smoke to get away from the missles right?
Well, I guess the saying time is money really matters to EA and some people. Personally my guess is it`s gunna take at least $60+ hours to get everything unlocked.
So LOL, so that`s about $0.42 per hour of gameplay you want to shave off.
So unless you have some mighty cash laying around and don`t mind wasting it on this or just really impatient.
Otherwise $25 of mine could be put to a much better use then this.
It's not cheating, it's pathetic and lazy.
EA did this to Burnout Paradise years ago. A lot of players had played the crap out of the game and earned everything in it. Then along comes Mr Entitlement mentality and bitched up a storm on the EA forum for Burnout Paradise, and on Criterion's own forum. Result? DLC to unlock everything. Anyone that had worked to get the ultimate car was now the same as the n00b who couldn't even complete a race for crashing every 50 yards.
Are Battlefield 3 players that earned all these things right to be miffed? Oh yeah, they are, absolutely they are.
It's not cheating, but it is pathetic, lazy and cheap.
It is indeed. I hope this never comes to any multiplayer game I play. It's absolutely lame. Those who have worked their way up the ranks and exerted all the effort to earn the cool stuff get shafted, big time.
Indeed, I've busted my digital arse trying to unlock everything. And it's worse when you see a low level with a USAS-12 with frag rounds who doesn't even use anything else, I've seen plenty of people use that shotgun over and over, it's annoying, now the MK3A1 is the new USAS-12..
I can't wait till I get enough money I'm going to buy my own server.
I had the exact same title in mind: Burnout Paradise. My buddies and I were sooo proud of our unlocked car and really struggled with completing the challenges and win races etc, and then one day all of a sudden loads of players with FAT cars we hadn't even seen before appeared online. That DLC spoiled the fun completely.
Beamboom,
I was one of about 10 players and 50 other assorted journalists and developers that were given early access to the Rai-Jin car. It was a reward to 10 players that had spent hundreds of hours on Criterion's own forum acting as community leaders/moderators and generally speaking were recognized as leaders in the community (at the time). The car was to be released to the rest of the playing public as DLC about two weeks later in the form of a reward for specific challenges. In the week after the initial release of the car to the few test crash dummies like myself, there was a horrible backlash against Criterion and the players that had the car. The end result (I'm not kidding) was that they abandoned the plans for the events that would have awarded the Rai-Jin (and Olympus) as prizes. They had to force-enabled (essentially breaking one of the features in the game to do it) the car for everyone immediately and a few months later new DLC arrived that enabled everything; and ultimately their forum was closed because the backlash effectively destroyed the community.
It was entitlement minded gamers bitching that they should have the car now as well. They didn't want to race for it, or earn it. I was in the middle of all of this, and let me tell you, entitlement minded gamers who don't want to earn the prizes are about the lowest form of gamer life on the planet, only outdone by cheaters who hack their saves or the folks that pirate games.
The DLC that arrived in Burnout Paradise killed the game for anyone that wanted to actually play it because they might spend 30 hours burning through the game to get all the cars, and along the way some kid with no game skill would be riding around in the best car online making life difficult for everyone.
I've always seen the top items in a game that are unlockable as a reward for gamers that are dedicated, and good enough, to get them. It's kind of a mark of distinction that says that you had the skill to get the rarest of rare items. When a DLC ticket enables those things, or cheaters hack their saves to get them, it devalues that achievement, and removes any distinction that says "this is a good player that worked hard".
I've never quite forgiven the Eye of Moron (aka the collective dismbodied, negativity, entitlement mindedness, ignorance, stupidity, immaturity and hostility of the Internet) or EA/Criterion for that Fiasco. The Criterion boys that awarded the cars were great guys, but their management hung me and the others out to dry when that happened.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 4/4/2012 9:53:34 AM
Yes it was a catastrophic decision, plain and simple.
Higlander, I just had to "thumbs up" you twice!!!!
But I say it's not only pathetic, lazy, and cheap, I "DO" consider it the most pathetic, lazy, and cheap form of cheating too!
To any who would even consider buying into this crap, why would you buy a game & not actually NOT play through it in order to get your money's worth out of it.
I mean come on now really, you can't look at yourself in the mirror & truly say that you're not being more than just a bit delusional to yourself…….and your own ego.
FYI…
To clarify my statement above a bit further, I have no problems with someone buys maybe a gun, a piece of armor, or a small in-game trinket or two, etc.
Or maybe even using those "complete unlocks" in a hand-held PSP or Vita game(such as Motorstorm RC) just because I envision those handhelds more often being used as a travel companion and such, so I wouldn't think that a lot of commuters might have enough spare free moments during their 15 minute bus/train/car ride to work, to really dedicate to the game all at once.
BUT….my middle finger "IS" pointed solely towards those console players who don't feel the need to play or level up correctly, playing that particular game the same way originally intended for you to do so.
And to the developers and/or publisher's that put this kind of useless sh!t out…
"Shame on you for worshiping at "The Altar Of The Almighty Buck", than over your own integrity"
Yeah it's really pathetic. What if you could pay $50 and get everything in skyrim unlocked? What is the point of playing the game? There isn't one. If people actually do this just make fun of them, they prolly use money to get laid as well. Consider EA/Dice a $40 hooker.
The difference being, getting 1 hit killed in multiplayer just because you've played less so have less achievements is NOT fun. Have equipment equal to the rest of the players and relying on your skill vs their skill is. Regardless of how many hours you've put in.
yeah – i bought the engineer pack – didnt play bf3 very much as i had input lag that made it damn near unplayable before this big patch – i dont have the time to unlock evrything – so i bought the engineer pack so i can use the m4a in both US and Russian class. I only play team deathmatch so the carbine is all i want.
These guys are slowing copying COD with the death streaks. Trying to lure noobs. Seriously this is not the right way to teach/ help people get better.
I don't play Battlefield, so I'm not sure if I should have a say in this. Regardless, it is my opinion that paying to unlock weapons/classes/vehicles for competitive multi-player really shouldn't matter. Of course, I might be biased based on my history as an old-school SOCOM player.
If your ability to compete in an online shooter is dependant on having weapons/armour that is superior to that of your opponents, then it really isn't about skill is it? With the exception of SOCOM 4, every iteration of the game dating back to the PS2 days had every weapon available to use for any player, regardless of whether that player had logged 1000 hours online or 10 minutes. Whether you lived, or died, was based solely on your shooter skills and smarts. Whether you won, or lost, was dependant on how well you communicated with your teammates and how well you worked together. Your ranking in the game was based on how well you did, your level on the time you've committed, but never on factors based on superior firepower/perks/etc.
Since Call of Duty 4, people have become used to the idea of unlocking perks, or better weapons, to gain a competitive edge. For the average gamer, this tips the playing field in favour of those with the most time to play. If games like these are ultimately about skill, as veteran players claim, then does it really matter if someone chooses to pay to unlock these items? If someone is level 2 and repeatedly kills someone who is level 30 with the same weapons that the level 30 player spent hours upon hours to unlock, does that invalidate the skill that the level 2 player obviously has? Or is it more a reflection on the level 30 player that when the playing field is even they are no longer as competitive?
Personally, I would never pay to unlock content that I can earn with a little bit of time and effort, but I won't begrudge a player that simply does not have the time to devote to unlocking everything, in order to level the playing field, from doing so.
Last edited by BorrowedTime on 4/3/2012 11:18:53 PM
But it's not leveling the playing field at all. It's giving the ability to have absolutely everything. That means they have capabilities past all the low to mid ranking people who might not have the money or time to unlock everything. You either unlock everything from the start, or have a progression that can't be cheated upon. It shakes the very foundation of a leveling up/unlocking system to be able to buy everything with real world money.
Also, I don't think it's the veterans that are the ones who are going to complain, but more the legitimate low and mid ranking people like myself. Take a look at Knightzane's first post to get an idea of what I'm talking about. He has a 7x scope but was outsnipered by a beginner who bought a 12x scope.
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 4/3/2012 11:47:08 PM
Right on, I am _so_ with this. This generation has brought about the 'unbalanced by design' set of games. Hell, SOCOM:Confrontation (prior to the weapons in Cold Front) is about the only shooter that deserves to be called a 'competitive shooter' this gen'. Everything else has foregone any semblance of providing a balanced competitive environment in favour of allowing players to scratch their OCD itch to 'collect 'em all'. What happened to just damn playing?
I'm right with BorrowedTime here – if anyone is cranky they got killed by a level 2 who paid to unlock stuff, they should be embarrassed that they got killed by someone with no experience with the game and cranky at themselves (if they're that way inclined emotionally). How _dare_ BF3 force them to fight on an (almost – people still have to get kills for weapons sights and attachments) level playing field. The injustice!
lol.
And I'm saying this as a BF player that's unlocked all of the Support kit, and a good chunk of the Engineer. I'd _rather_ everyone had access to everything in a game, means I don't feel I'm getting an unfair advantage and a level playing field makes for a better game.
Last edited by Axe99 on 4/4/2012 12:10:54 AM
I thumbed up BorrowedTime but I can see ZenChi's point about the middle group of players. In that case maybe what you buy should be more of a x2, or x4 experience speed unlock so you still have to play to receive the upgrades over a period of time, but that period of time is drastically reduced?
They could even have different price points for 2x, x4, x6.. etc
If someone wants to pay that much for that DLC instead of spending months and months to unlock this content, more power to them.
The people who do it the hard way will just have to deal with it or move on. Yes, it sucks, but such is life.
$40!? Let's hope the money that's made from the people that buy this goes into the budget for a sequel to Mirror's Edge. In the special thanks portion of the credits they can give acknowledgement to:
"The Suckers that Bought the BF3 Unlock All DLC".
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 4/3/2012 11:52:56 PM
A newb with the best gear is still a newb. Gank 'em, then trash talk 'em for being a scrub with a credit card.
I love online gaming.
Time is money – it's no less fair (given that we have different amounts of free time available) that it takes time to unlock things, than people pay to do it. Personally, I reckon all these unlocks are ridiculous in the MP arena, and everything should be open to all from the start. As it stands at the moment, the way online MP is set up, it'd be like in Soccer allowing the teams that had been around for longer to have smaller goal mouths, or better running shoes with significantly better grip. And it's just as daft in online competitive gaming as it sounds in real-life sport ;).
Now all the people without gold lined wallets have the smaller arsenal. Hooray for rich people! Throw money at things you can't win at!
I definitely agree with you about the way online MP is currently setup though. It rewards the people who spend the most time with the game through experience based unlockables, which means new players are stuck in a rut just starting out. I believe that this needs to be changed, but the answer isn't letting people throw money at the game to unlock everything. This now deters the other players who can't throw around money like that. There has to be some sort of middle ground.
I think the guns should all be unlocked at the beginning, but you choose which one you want to use to upgrade it. Maybe you could pick a weapon to fully upgrade at the beginning, but you have to use the others if you want to fully upgrade them. This way new players can have something to work with, instead of being left high and dry.
The playing field should be leveled a bit, but should have some small, non game breaking rewards for the people that spend a lot of time with the game. As for the special weapons (Mortar, Javelins, etc.) they should still be unlocked with time as you get used to the class, but as for your base weapons, the playing field needs to be leveled. This would help to lower deterrence of newer players, but also keep the veterans happy. Also, make experience gain quicker. It's quite slow right now, and quickening things up a bit would also help.
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 4/4/2012 1:40:59 AM
Aye, but you could equally say hooray for all the people with lots of free time ;).
Agree with what you're saying though – personally I like the idea of balanced fire-arms and damage, so have unlocks, but not have the unlocks significantly more deadly than the original guns. I'm dead-set against the unlocks on vehicles the way the game does it, but then I'm pretty old-school and level-playing field about these things.
"I remember the day that the people on the top of the leaderboard were there because they were good at the game, not just because they'd spent a lot of time on it and had unlocked the best kit" [shakes walking stick] But I understand the need in games to meet gamers' emotional need to 'progress' and have goals to work for. Just a shame that this is skewing core gameplay :(.
Id rather play against someone who bought this then some one that pays for a monthy subscription for auto aiming
The point raised by Ben in the article is valid with regards to new players. I wouldn't even think of picking it up now as I'd spend most of the time dying as I'd be using a level 1 pea shooter vs whatever superscoped cannon the long timers are using.
If it truly is a game of skill then there shouldn't be any upgrades. That way it would be a balanced playing field permanently and the only thing that would matter would be a players skill.
You are drastically overstating the weapon upgrades. Airpower is about the only advantage you would truly see with an experienced player vs a new one
Its rather absurd but dice is in it for the $$$. I know it takes a loong time to unlock stuff in bf3 but charge $40+ to unlock everything and then the rediculous fee to "rent a server" being able to host matches online should be free. Also it would be nice if dice moved their a** releasing mew maps why do we have to wait 7 months for the next dlc from the time B2K was released ??
This is cheating, with a price, Everything has a price now in gaming. Even laziness.
if they didn't have dollar signs in their eyes, they could have just tweaked the leveling system so a noob could level up faster.
I don't know who's worse, the pathetic gamer who would seriously pay $40 to unlock stuff that's already in the game, just because he's too lazy to play the game, or DICE/EA for being so disgusting as to acutally try to trick people into paying that much for just unlocking some content that's already in the game from the start.
Sickening, and it's exactly what's wrong with the gaming industry today, it's just the natural step beside online passes, day-one DLC, paying to see certain endings, the list WILL unfortunately go on, and on…
paying money to get something others had to bust their a$$ off to get?
how could it NOT be considered cheating!?
i f*cking hate it when developers do this because its just so unfair!
people have to bust their a$$ off to earn these things, then you get your hard work torn away from some guy who has a little too much money.
its like busting your a$$ caring a fridge up a set of stairs, then someone comes along drops it out the window and uses a crane to put it back.
thus throwing all your hard work out the window!
if you can buy gear, then why not XP or even trophies?
coming up in the next FW update, $20 for a platinum trophy of your choice, and $50 for a whole series!
as the saying goes, everything has its price.
so sad, but so so true.
Last edited by ___________ on 4/4/2012 4:31:57 AM
I guess I'm one of the few people for this.
Sure it gets everything unlocked, but really, if they're noobs and don't know what they're doing, how effective will the unlock be in their hands?
Besides, not every player is going to be good in Battlefield, so it seems a little unfair to me that they can't get to experience some of the premium unlocks of the game. It doesn't seem right, since they're the ones that likely paid for the game, so they should be able to enjoy it thoroughly, even though they're not very skilled at the game.
All in all, I think people just love to complain. It's really not a bad thing.
I could care less. If somebody wants to waste their money on something like this then let them. I know I earned my stuff by hard work. It doesn't make a person better at the game because of this it just gives them more choices.
BF is a game of skill not dumb luck. Even though a person may have all the stuff unlocked for the jets doesn't mean anything if they can't fly it. Flying them takes skill which somebody jumping into the game isn't going to have for the first time in one.
It's just a shameless cash grab. This has nothing to do with fairness or leveling the playing field for new players. The bottom line is EA did their research and determined there's a market for it, which means they can make some extra money on it. Considering this feature was likely very inexpensive and easy to deliver, slapping a $40 price tag on it gives them a HUGE ROI.
While I agree 100% that it's cheap, lazy, and downright unfair; I doubt that EA's shareholders are complaining.
Although, if they really are interested in fairness I think they should patch the game with a set of 'super' or 'elite' unlockables that can't be purchased.
Totally agree that EAs motivation isn't fairness (or they wouldn't have released an unbalanced-by-design MP game in the first place ;)).
But at the end of the day, time is just as much of a commodity as money. As long as the rank of the players remains low (ie, they don't get insta-top-rank) – which is the case – then they still have to earn their rank (which they do), then why do the higher-ranked players suddenly complain that the lower-ranked people have the same tools that they do? And the people at the lower ranks complaining have equally valid complaints against the people who have put in the time, and the people that have put in the money.
I'd never do it m'self, don't get me wrong (I'll game 10-30 hours a week, so if I like a game enough to unlock stuff, I can go ahead and unlock it), but if I was someone with a tough job and a family, and got to game for 2-3 hours a week, I could definitely see the appeal, and the appropriateness, of this kind of option.
Of course, there will be people with time _and_ money that do it, but I've never worried too much about that – I'd rather win or lose based on skill, rather than because I've played the game longer and have better kit (hell, I feel _dirty_ that I have better kit from playing the game longer).
Wow, epic fail EA, epic fail! How can you punish a player that legitimately levels up their character? Do you really need the money that bad? Pathetic, hopefully the gamer out cries will prevent this from happening in 2143.
Last edited by CrusaderForever on 4/4/2012 10:10:19 AM
I couldn't care less. They can unlock anything they want but in the end a n00b isn't going to match my gangsterness since i've been playing for well close to 200 hrs now. Equipment doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to use it. I mean really… I see it as the jokes on them. They have to pay real money to get what i've already got for free. LOL. This is already OFN and anyone whos really serious about BF3 doesn't care what anyone else has, as long as they're tops at the end of the match. Thats what matters. LOL. Once again… Just a bunch of whining and crying is all i hear. Plus unlocking things is what drove me to keep playing for hours on end. It makes you work harder and want to do better to get the gun you've been wanting for so long. Who cares is a level 2 has a USAS. They're still a level 2!!!
That's right. It's like playing Scorpion Vs. Scorpion online in MK9: Even though you're both playing the same character with the same abilities, the experienced player is going to dominate.
I say let the BF3 n00bs waste their money and realize that all that gear didn't make them a better player. They have to have the hours of playtime in order to compete.
It's not for me but I can see why some people would want this. I've just recently bought BF3 and going online realized that if I'm only a Level 1 or 2 and I go into a room, I've got no chance in hell of being anything other than a practice dummy for the other players. Yes part of it is that I am not that great at online shooters, but I can hold my own in other games, but mostly it has to do with equipment and learning maps.
I hopped into a game the other day which was unplayable for me because you had idiots swarming the spawns picking us lower level players off as we spawned. How is a person supposed to learn the maps when you can't even move two feet?
I don't understand why no one seems to adopt the method that Warhawk used. Have ranked matches for players of certain levels. Level 1-5, then 10-20, etc…keep the game play relatively fair. Leave the option open that if someone chooses to get thrown in with some guys that are way better then them, (Clan or friends) they can do so, but for the most part put them in a room with people of similar skill level.
I understand the need to play against players better than you in order to get better, but there is a huge difference between someone a little better than you and someone who has already maxed out their levels. That's like buying an RPG, watching the opening FMV and then going straight to the final boss battle….Would you play a game that does that?
But again buying all the equipment doesn't alleviate the problem of people being around spawn points. I've never experienced this problem before. thats the beauty of squad spawn and flag spawn. there is rarely a time when you can only spawn in one location. I can definitely understand how frustrating it is to die all the time. BF3 really takes some getting used to before you can be any good at it. No equipment will help you with that. It's actually better to experiment with different classes and different weapons within those classes.
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/26
I dont get why peoples would want to pay for an unlock when that would be taking away from the game itself. It actually makes me want to play more when i know Im earning my shit and play harder when i know im about to unlock a weapon that ive been looking to get. Only Noobs would make a purchase like this.
My cousin who is a doctor is one of the people who actually pay for these types of DLCs. He has done it with several EA games since this is common practice for them. He rarely has the time to game, and he really isn't skilled at any genre of games either, making this a great deal for him. And since the developers made such a piece of crap multi-player, I don't hold any grudges against my cousin for buying these either.
I haven't and won't buy a Battlefield or COD game until they go back to the class system that BF2: Modern Combat had. I bought the first Bad Company and realized that the game(s) are set up to give an advantage to those that put in excessive amounts of time. Now don't get me wrong I understand that even in a class based game(where there are 0 unlocks) that time is the single biggest factor in determining whether or not they are skilled, though a n00b will be a n00b even with a thousand hours of playtime. Unlocks other then say skins have no place in online MP competition.
I personally think that EA and Activision are on a quest to destroy legitamate online competition and rake in the cash while doing it. And I hold them %80 responsible and the casual/bad players that constantly complain on the games message boards are at %20.