@ganymede said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@ghost said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
Oh, and...
@Admiral not the Hog Pit. Take that attitude elsewhere, please.Excuse me, but that was my attitude, thank you.
Sure, sure, but I'm hoping we can keep from calling something stupid without those so I guess you're calling me stupid too throwdowns.
Those start fights. 
@ganymede said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@ghost said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
Last I read, microtransactions account for 25% of all profits in the gaming industry.
Micro-transactions support the theory I have that most new gamers are fucking stupid.
Whatever. I hate you, I hate them.
Do you ever have those moments (about video games) that make you feel like an old person screaming at people to get off your lawn?
I have them a lot.
Sample dialogue:
When I was a kid, you bought an NES cartridge for $30 and you got the WHOLE GAME. Not HALF of Ninja Gaiden or Super Dodge Ball, but ALL of it. God damn it, I remember the GOOD days when you got ALL of it. You didn't pay for games in INSTALLMENTS.
Or.
I remember when DLC was done right. You'd buy a game, get the WHOLE game, and then the developers would get to work after the game was released and say HEY, WE LOVE THAT YOU APPRECIATE THE GAME, SO WE WORKED HARD TO ADD 40 HOURS OF GAME PLAY AND NEW ADVENTURES BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU. But noOoOoO now it's like: Thanks for buying the $60 disc. For an additional $20 at launch you can buy an 8 byte update that will unlock stuff that was already on the disc you just bought. Because capitalism.
Oh, and...
@Admiral not the Hog Pit. Take that attitude elsewhere, please.
Well, really, if you think about it, making a video game without microtransactions is a lot like making a movie. It's a moneymaking project designed with a release that includes a lot of the following:
...all up to the release of one product that they hope, at $60-$100 per customer, will recoup these costs up amd over the profit line. It's kind of like how a movie has to pay millions to make a movie (Hey, Jennifer Lawrence puts butts in the seats, but her asking price is...), but if the movie doesn't go over into a certain profit margin, it is considered a failure.
So do I get why microtransactions are a thing? Of course. Especially with new IPs, a video game really is a "let's throw this against the wall, see if it sticks, and hopefully walk away with millions" affair.
It's a cheap, profitable, and tried and tested means of mitigating the risk of failure, but it's still tricksy and bullshit.
Last I read, microtransactions account for 25% of all profits in the gaming industry.
@arkandel said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@alzie said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@arkandel said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@lithium said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
Buy to play is dying? No. It's just not as absurdly profitable as it was. It is still profitable if the company is ran properly.
GW2, still profitable.
WoW, still profitable.
Hell even original EQ and EQ2 are still profitable.Is WoW buy to play? It has a monthly subscription, and you can buy some things (not terribly important) which grant advantages, such as gold.
I think the worst thing you can buy on WoW right now is an instant leveler but that doesn't really allow you to win the game since you still have 0 knowledge of how to effectively play your class.
You misspelled best thing! I hate levelling.
But to also be honest, levelling doesn't teach you anything about playing your class in any environment worth a damn at max level - there's no reason to maximize your DPS rotations, your intended spec is possibly different than what you're using to level up (you can level as a healer for example but it's hardly the best way), there are no raids, little PvP if any, and in 5-mans everything dies too fast.
You're just killing 10 bears, rinse, repeat for 110 levels.
Say leveled...
...you get levelled.
@theonceler said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
@ghost said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
This pisses me off, greatly, being a Destiny 2 fan and all.
Somewhere along the timeline, these greedy motherfuckers forgot that they were in the business of providing entertainment to us for trade, not proving us with a means to supplying them with a constant revenue stream.Uh. No. Getting a constant revenue stream is literally the number one purpose of their (and most profit-based) business.
No, I understand from a business perspective what business is.
What I was trying to say is that I'm not a fan of this strange shift from "we make an entertainment product for consumers who enjoy videogames" to "we make an impulse transaction product with an associated video game."
This is about greed, not about the product. This is about mutating an existing product that has done well for decades into building a revenue stream by means of psychological manipulation.
The patented microtransaction tool is specifically designed to utilize the psychology of reward, competitiveness, and the negative reinforcement of failure to drive sales.
What the fuck ever happened to just putting out a fun game? Quid pro Quo? You make a fun game and I'll buy it?
This transition to manipulation of the customer base is really mean spirited from a consumer standpoint. In fact, I might even read up on the legality behind designing monetary systems to specifically psychologically generate a feeling of need, and whether or not consumers are truly being preyed upon.
Team Transactions
Oct 11
Recalled F Emerson Etem from Tucson (AHL).
Oct 10
Assigned C Dylan Strome to Tucson (AHL). Recalled F Mario Kempe from Tucson.
Oct 5
Named Tom Hoof vice president of marketing.
Oct 4
Assigned F Mario Kempe and G Marek Langhamer to Tucson (AHL).
Oct 1
Assigned D Dakota Mermis to Tucson (AHL).
Rumor has it Duclair might be heading to Tucson soon.
@Ganymede Who has two thumbs and has been right so far about the Arizona Coyotes?
@ganymede said in Yes! More Micro-transactions! (Activision, WB Games and EA appreciation thread):
Really fucking good, actually. Physics are spot-on, and the controls aren't too sensitive. Checking is more realistic. And you get to micromanage errrrrrything with your franchise. Don't like the price of nachos at the Air Canada Centre? Knock it down or jack it up -- whatever!
Drafting and trading remains horrible, and you still can't extend contracts.
I always try to make a winger or defender go up through some team like the Brandon Wheat Kings or London Knights and then get drafted by the Red Wings. Like an asshole, I delete the character and re-try the whole process in hopes of getting something else.
I might pick it up, then.
@ganymede How is NHL17?
I usually only buy an NHL game every other year.
It's not currently in Destiny 2.
If it comes to D2, then I'm out.
@misadventure Short version: Activision patented a microtransaction+matchmaking system that will provide options for advertising in-game for items/purchases that require hard currency, and then the matchmaking system will purposefully pit players who opt-in/buy-in against players who don't.
Thus rewarding people who pay with a better chance of winning(by setting them on one side of the fight against players who don't), and punishing players who don't and enhancing the pressure to opt-in in by pitting them against players who did.
This pisses me off, greatly, being a Destiny 2 fan and all.
I mean, this is some low-down dastardly, nasty, no-good, cantankerous, megalomaniacal, O.J. Simpson, supervillain BAWWWWLSHIT.
Somewhere along the timeline, these greedy motherfuckers forgot that they were in the business of providing entertainment to us for trade, not proving us with a means to supplying them with a constant revenue stream.
@seraphim73 that is fucking awesome and ice cold. I love it.
I'm breaking my Hog Pit radio silence to suggest that this post be moved to the Mildly Constructive board.
I think it's too useful and should be made immediately available to any musher on this forum.
Thanks for taking the time, @SunnyJ
Seconded on Under Armour.
Theyre affordable and sturdy. Ive been using one as my go-to laptop/IT bag for years and I love it.
@kanye-qwest Preferably something more closely related to RPG gaming, but whatever, if you've got a fun story share it. I created this thread for fun.
@chet I ran Blob against them. I had a lot of fun when they'd punch him and get their fists stuck in rolls of sweaty blubber. I played that up, seriously, because that's what Blob is great for.
I'll go first.
His name is Lazarus.
One time, in a SuperHero tabletop game, I asked my players to list their characters' pet peeves. The list came up as follows:
So I created an on the spot character whom I accidentally named "Laz". Laz was a waiter at a pizza place the heroes went to out of costume to try to take some time off. Enter a hipster with an ironic haircut, a neck tattoo of a rose, and a finely coiffed beard, wearing a plaid shirt and a white belt with his blue jeans. His dialogue was as such:
They ended up accidentally causing him to die in a kitchen explosion.
A few months later we started a new super hero game. They were all playing mutants at Xaviers. GUESS WHO THEY RUN INTO AT A COFFEE HOUSE?
Only now, Lazarus is a mutant with a fringe mutant skill of +40 to coffee making, technopsychic control of all APPLE devices, and a power where he will resurrect after dying, but with no prior knowledge of 48 hours before his death.
"Oh hey, look at you guys! Hey, have you heard of 311 versus the Volcano? They're like a country version of Metallica meets De La Soul..."
Dead.
"Oh, dude we've never met before, my name's Laz, pronounced Laaaaws but it's short for Lazarus..."
Dead.
"Dude, do you guys wanna sign up for my quinoa apple butter microbrew tasting?"
Dead.
They're now begging me to have Laz show up in every game I run for them.
@lotherio By whack, though, please don't kill.
Without Bing we would have never had Tasha Yar