http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gears-of-war-4-to-include-microtransactions/1100-6438819/

Microtransactions. Meh. At least they are only cosmetic, and earnable in game. I think Halo 5 pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to the amount of time you have to play before earning packs, and in that game it's not just cosmetics.

For the maps, apparently they will rotate one free map per month, but you have to buy it in order to play customs. Which my first thought was, people play Gears customs? Also, I don't get the logic behind rotating them out every month. Would be better to just add a new one free each month and leave the old one in. Maybe they will adopt that strategy. Again, like Halo 5. The more competitive shooters with free map DLC the better.

Giving away free maps will always be getting a thumbs up from me.

At first I thought the article was about God of War 4, I was certainly confused.

Oh. That GoW.

I have no problem with cosmetic microtransactions but ... this is random? That's kind of odd.

This approach seems to be what the big AAA devs are going for. Free maps, to keep the user base engaged, and micro transactions on cosmetic stuff, that can be unlocked by playing the game, earning some currency and unlocking things at random. Basically to prolong the time you have to take before unlocking stuff.

And if you really want something you gotta spend a shit ton if money trying to unlock it randomly

Still the end result, gameplay isn't affected and we get more content like maps... So it ain't that bad

Custom matches were a big part of GoW1, the popularity of them didn't really start to simmer down until they introduced a new matchmaking system that placed emphasis on 'social' unranked, but pre configured playlists.

Anyway, this does not deter me at all. Still interested to see how the game turns out

Same here.  We need better clarifications that we should all agree upon.

Personally, GoW belongs to God of War as it came out first and I think Gears 4 is easier to recognize. Shortening God of War to 'God 4' sounds off.

Other games:

MK = Mortal Kombat and not Mario Kart, eventhough the first Mario Kart came out a month before Mortal Kombat the game was actually titled as Super Mario Kart.

SF = Street Fighter obviously but I've seen a few people are now using SF for Star Fox. Just no.

damn I thought it was aboud god of war.

I thought it was Gears 1,2,3,4 not GoW

Love to see free multiplayer maps and hope more and more developers do this until it becomes the industry standard, Long go the days when a real life friend was to tight to buy a DLC map pack and your entire group is stuck on the base game maps for years lol.

GoW will always be gears of War :D

Great to here, but hopefully its handled better than Halo 5.