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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The Ignorance Surrounding Battle Passes

Fortnite has been somewhat of a hot discussion topic in the past few weeks. First there was the controversy surrounding Sony locking Epic Games accounts to PS4 consoles and not allowing cross-play with the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. There was then the in-game rocket launch event which drew people's attention. Let's not forget PUBG trying to sue Epic for copying them before dropping the case. But now there seems to be a new point of controversy emerging, being the Battle Pass. Whether you enjoy the game or not, that is not what this threat is about, this is strictly to discuss the Battle Pass, and people's flawed (or so I believe) views of it.

Here is the specific article I will be referring to: https://www.pcgamer.com/battle-passes-are-replacing-loot-boxes-but-theyre-not-necessarily-a-better-deal/?utm_content=bufferf40f8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamerfb#comment-jump

 

The article discusses the rise of Battle Passes, being a trend popularized by Fortnite and then adopted by Rocket League and PUBG, and how their popularization could create a problem worse than last years problem with micro transactions. They list some of the pros, such as eliminating random chance by letting the player see everything they can earn in the pass before even buying it. The cons being that each item in the pass then needs to be unlocked by playing the game, and players are only given 10 weeks to do so before a new season starts, which some may not have time for.

As i read this all I could think was that the author had probably heard from his friend what a Battle Pass was, maybe he didnt even play Fortnite himself. So all I could think was that this fear of Battle Passes is due to ignorance, and I mean that in the textbook definition of the word, people actually do not know enough about the Battle Pass to fairly judge it. So now Im just going to go through and address some controversies surrounding Battle Passes and why I actually feel they are a good thing (following Fortnite's model)

-Battle Passes cost 950 V-Bucks, of which 1000 can be purchased for $9.99. A Battle Pass lasts for 10 weeks and then the player needs to buy the Battle Pass for the next season. What the article overlooks is that the Battle Pass gives the player to earn V-Bucks that they can spend on whatever they want. Each pass lets the player earn up to 1500 V-Bucks, meaning yes, you can earn enough V-Bucks to buy another Battle Pass and never have to spend another penny on the game.

-To earn each reward in the Battle Pass the player needs to level up and complete challenges in order to advance tiers in the Battle Pass. The article seems to assume that this is meant to be a challenge but it really isnt. If you just regularly play the game you will get pretty far in the pass with little effort. I play a few days a week for a few hours at a time. This season is about to end and I am currently at tier 92 and am on track to hit tier 100. Anyone with moderate skill could reasonably pull it off. In the weekly challenges alone there are enough points to earn 50 tiers, and daily challenges plus leveling up more than adds up to enough points to reach tier 100. 

-There are some who dont agree with the "tier up and get a skin" style of progression as they feel it promotes unhealthy gameplay. The game should feel rewarding just from playing it, not by collecting skins. I both agree and disagree. In this case, skins act as a trophy that you feel proud to show off in-game, and they can also reflect overall progress. If you see someone sporting last Season's tier 100 skin, you know they must be a good player. Default skins usually specify that the player doesnt care enough about the game and will likely be an easy target. Unlockable dances are also fun to show off to your friends and taunt other players with. Its like an achievement that actually has worth after you complete it



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The randomness combined with real money is the problem with lootboxes. Random items exclusively for ingame currency not purchasable by real money is OK, as are non-randomized stuff you can buy for real money. So I agree with you, battle passes are not really that bad. They may offer a bad deal, but you know it beforehand.



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His concerns seem reasonable and spot on to me. People with careers and families can’t realistically play games on a regular basis. I’m a teacher, and during the school year I barely have time to touch games and I don’t even have a family to worry about.



gergroy said:
His concerns seem reasonable and spot on to me. People with careers and families can’t realistically play games on a regular basis. I’m a teacher, and during the school year I barely have time to touch games and I don’t even have a family to worry about.

But you're aware of it, so you can choose against the battle pass. The difference to lootboxes is here you know exactly what you get. That may a bad deal for you in your situation, and that's fine. But it is not a gambling thing like lootboxes.

BTW, at least Fortnite also offers to buy many cosmetic items directly without battle passes. So if you lack the time to play but want a cool skin, you buy it directly.



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fuck passes, fuck subs, im done with it once i buy the damn game. plain and simple.



 

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LiquorandGunFun said:

fuck passes, fuck subs, im done with it once i buy the damn game. plain and simple.

Game is free though.

As for the OP, the line about

" If you see someone sporting last Season's tier 100 skin, you know they must be a good player."

you know this is in the paragraph which follows the one where you wrote

" Anyone with moderate skill could reasonably pull it off."

So which is it?

In my views when you see a person running about with the tier 100 skin it tells me just one thing about them, they love to pay for cosmetics, no two ways about it, the skins are 100% cosmetic and do nothing for you in game, you can buy both the pass and buy the tiers for cash so someone with a high tier skin could just swipe their mums credit card more than someone who convinces her to pay for just the base battle pass.

But yeah, the only thing you can tell about a player with a battle pass skin is that they bought the battle pass, they bought a thing for money which gives them zero advantage in a game just because it looks pretty, in my opinion... that isn't a "good player" and if anything I would deem it to be a more fun target because when you shoot that person in the head you know they're a person that cares what their head looked like right before it exploded into items.



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Fortnite battle pass is great I only bought the very first one but now I have unlocked them all since using v bucks earned through the passes. So no further cost to me. And not this current season but the last one I was only about tier 50 with a week left and I bought the pass. You know why? Because I get about 9 weeks worth of challenges all at once meaning I could get to 100 easily even if it was the last week of the season and I'd also get the v bucks back I spent on the pass plus a little profit.

I have to say I love the fortnite system.



It sounds like any other DLC to me, which means that while I'm not a fan, I don't see why those who purchase DLC would be offended by it.



Free to play games always have a way to get you to spend money. That's why they are free to play. Free to play games are usually not worth it in the long run. These games usually have some padding element, that can be gotten around by spending money. So a game that would have been a lot of fun, becomes a slow grindy crawl. I mean, I quit League of Legends once I realized that I was spending real world money on things that I could have ground for. I spent about $200 over three years, when I should have just payed $60 for the initial game, and been done with it. What really worries me is that Fortnite is completely free, and on all systems. So kids can easily get their hands on it. And if kids grow up with the toxic F2P model, they're more likely to be accepting of things like microtransactions, content carving, and pre-order bonuses. We've already seen this sort of thing happening, with people starting to accept "1 year warranties" as the norm for electronics. If companies tried to pull that crap in the 90's it would have lead to a massive sales drop. This will lead to a future where everything is free to play, but in reality costs way more money than a mere $60 purchase. Games won't be as good, and most people will just play on their phones. 

Last edited by Cerebralbore101 - on 06 July 2018

Ganoncrotch said:
LiquorandGunFun said:

fuck passes, fuck subs, im done with it once i buy the damn game. plain and simple.

Game is free though.

As for the OP, the line about

" If you see someone sporting last Season's tier 100 skin, you know they must be a good player."

you know this is in the paragraph which follows the one where you wrote

" Anyone with moderate skill could reasonably pull it off."

So which is it?

I can see where my words can get a bit messed up, so i'll elaborate. yes, anyone with moderate skill and enough time can reach tier 100 in the Battle Pass, but it is still an achievement none the less. for me personally, if i am in a match and see somebody with a higher level skin, my first instinct then is to avoid them. theyve more than likely spent more time in this game than i have. another thing to note is that there is a good bit of strategy with each of the challenges needed to reach tier 100, requiring players to use different weapon types to get kills, getting kills at different locations, etc. so thats what i really mean when i say they are a good player. they know at least the majority of the fundamentals off the game and likely know how to maneuver each area of the map. 

i hope this clears things up