Pay to unlock Battlefield 3 kit and vehicles - how does this make you feel?

[matt]

I wonder if this unlocks just the guns, or all the attachments that go with them as well....

Personally I enjoy the feeling of unlocking something new, I wouldn't want to just buy it all. Besides, the guns by themselves are fairly well balanced, it's the attachments that really make the difference. Although getting all the vehicle unlocks would put people at a huge advantage.

Any way around it though, if someone starts playing BF today, and buys all the kit, they will end up playing against a lot of people who also have a heap of cool weapons, and actually know how to use them because they've worked their way up the ranks, and their cool stuff won't really help them much. I find the majority of servers are at least half full of players with the little eagle next to their names. New players with or without bought guns are going to suffer.

[OmegaFenix]

@OmegaFenix, I understand what you are saying, and the way I said stuff might have been understood wrong.

It's not the mechanic that "I only play cause I get something" which is the reason for sticking with a game. As you said having FUN is the main reason to play a game, but for me, having fun entails knowing that what I sacrificed in order to play, somehow was worth it.

Battlefield 3 isn't balanced when it comes to gameplay, as you will get the issue where having better upgraded kits will give you the upper hand quite often. Because of that fact I sacrificed time in my life to get my kits upgraded, in order to reduce that unbalanced effect, which allowed my skill to be the deciding factor in any scenario, thus being fun. Highly upgraded kits tend to make crappy players appear good, and that reduces the fairness, and thus the fun that I experience from playing.

On a side note, it's the same type of reason why I will never have fun playing WoW, as it's not the player with the most skill that "wins" it's the player with the most time. Just imagine you could upgrade your level of your character by paying......

However in WoW you can't buy the best gear with actual money (not legaly anyways) as such the best players has the best gear as that gear is only attainable by completing raids or hardcore instances.

From what you explained of you habits in BF3 it sounds to me like you would have alot of fun in WOW as its entire system is based around rewarding the player, whether with XP or Loot, its called a Skinner box, complete action A to receive a unknow reward, its the reason people become addicted to MMOs. You only get the best gear by beating the high level quests etc, the same exact system BF 3 employs, you only have the best guns when you are at the highest level. Skill isn't really a factor at all.

[PsychoR8der]

However in WoW you can't buy the best gear with actual money

That's what I meant, imagine you could buy the best gear, as you can do now in BF3. Then people that earned it the hard way, wasted their time.

To simplify everything I said, seeing as we are talking past eachother. If all players in BF3 had the same gun and the same things unlocked on their accounts from the start, I would still love BF3 to the death, even if there is nothing at all to earn by playing.

[matt]

The main difference here I think is that in an RPG, if you have a high level character, it'll kick ass no matter what, but if you put a new BF player with all the kit against an experienced BF player with just the base kit, chances are the experienced player will still win.

Not that I approve of being able to buy the kit. I just don't think it's going to have all that much impact on the game.

[OmegaFenix]

That's what I meant, imagine you could buy the best gear, as you can do now in BF3. Then people that earned it the hard way, wasted their time.

To simplify everything I said, seeing as we are talking past eachother. If all players in BF3 had the same gun and the same things unlocked on their accounts from the start, I would still love BF3 to the death, even if there is nothing at all to earn by playing.

So why is it an issue that other people who dont want to/aren't able to spend years slogging through the muck to get all the gear now buys it. If your playing because its fun and getting the l33t gear is just a bonus then whether I buy the gear (not plannng on buying shit I stopped playing BF3) or not should have no effect on you. When you start feeling you wasted your time then you are no longer playing because its fun, you are playing for what you get.

[OmegaFenix]

The main difference here I think is that in an RPG, if you have a high level character, it'll kick ass no matter what, but if you put a new BF player with all the kit against an experienced BF player with just the base kit, chances are the experienced player will still win.

Not that I approve of being able to buy the kit. I just don't think it's going to have all that much impact on the game.

It propably wont, it might actually improve the experience for some new players who would other wise have been stuck with the starting gear for ages due to not being able to get anywhere as they spend more time in the respawn screen than in game.

[matt]

It propably wont, it might actually improve the experience for some new players who would other wise have been stuck with the starting gear for ages due to not being able to get anywhere as they spend more time in the respawn screen than in game.

There is that, people starting now would seriously suffer without having a leg up like that, and most people playing now have already unlocked so much stuff that it's not worth paying for it. Maybe it's not such a bad thing hey.

[OmegaFenix]

There is that, people starting now would seriously suffer without having a leg up like that, and most people playing now have already unlocked so much stuff that it's not worth paying for it. Maybe it's not such a bad thing hey.

I haven't touched BF3 MP since probably November when Skyrim hit. I wasn't very hight level when I left and was already experience frustration due to players with better kit simply walking over me and having little to no change to just get into the flow. If i was to boot it up now I would not last a min.

However I haven't played Halo Reach MP in about 6 months, if I boot it up right now I will still be playing against player of the same skill as I was when I stopped. If I perform crap in a few rounds the internal matchmaking system will downgrade my skill and next round I will play with others of the same Skill level. In a few rounds I am back into the swing of things and my skill goes up, as such I face off against other people of the skill. IMO this is the reason games like COD and BF have a narrow band of core players, its unfriendly to new players so the community doesn't really grow except for the few who manage to stick it out for the significant amount of time it takes for them to get the gear required to compete on the same level.

Like I said as long as the gear purchase is optional and no gear gets locked away as purchase only this won't effect the game over all.

[MrTallShaw]

Ag who cares, part of the fun of playing the game is working towards an unlock and being satisfied when you finally get it. And only the people who slog through it all will know that. If you skip all that, you're only ruining the game for yourself. I'm talking about the extreme here where someone unlocks everything and they're only at level 5.

But it does make the game more accessible for new players.

I love this game but I'm not a hardcore gamer who plays every night, I may only play once a week, if that. But I'm super close to unlocking the USAS-12 which I've been looking forward to unlock since I started playing (pity about the nerf now lol). So I may fork out R50 to unlock, or I may not.

The choice is mine though.

But I will say this, unlocking everything early would be like handing a child an AK and saying "Go on, kick ass." Not really going to happen. The guys who have slogged through the entire game have worked up some serious skill. And they own because they are experienced.

[weakest_link]

ag just let them buy it ... and be overwhelmed with all the weapons and attachment options, they will still suck in the end