But I really don't get where people are coming from with this "they prioritized the store over fixing the game or adding features!", like how exactly do you come to the conclusion that they pulled manpower & resources away from balance patches and features so that they can rush the store out? In fact, it is very likely that it's completely separate teams working on those things.
They (all PR) will spin the same situation depending on the decision they make:
• We postponed our (Pirate Emporium, Store, First Season, Skins, Paid Content) to focus on the main game and more free content
• Our teams are working hard on all things, we have an exciting update to share from our store/skins/seasons/battelpass team that is working parallel to the other teams
Everything outside hotfixes is being developed months prior to debut. It is very likely that the store content has been finished or 90% finished at release.
It is simply bad optics when your game is sinking, but the highlight of your first major patch is a mtx store. Don't go against the gamers, if they are already negative, just have the foresight to NOT deploy mtx that will further disappoint the playerbase. Even if delaying the store has 0% effect on the other teams fixing the game. You will get your chance to sell content when you fix the game
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Name me a single multiplayer game that actually was ready for release over last 10 years.
Grounded
Fortnite
Deep Rock Galactic
Apex Legends
Temtem
Genshin Impact
Valorant
Legends of Runeterra
Marvel Snap
There are games like Overwatch 2, Valheim or Multiversus that are still technically not fully released.
Oh the list is great. There is a pattern: games will always have problems on release. The trick is to call that period something like early-access or open-beta. Not required, but you greatly increase the perception of quality, and shake off a ton of criticism that applies during the first 3-6 months of unofficial release. Relic got lucky game "journalists" are some twats who think that Animal Crossing and Clash of Clans are the equivalent strategy games, so they gave Relic good scores.
Rosbone might be too dramatic, but everybody who rammed their early-access build as official got roasted, and the overwhelming amount of games simply never recovered. The 10 year plans crumble when the Audience is a fraction on what you projected, reviews negative/mixed, and the post-launch monetization makes just enough to cover the janitor's bill.
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Out of interest: How much Merot can you earn with their challenges, how much merit does a skin cost and thereby how long (in hours of gameplay) does it roughly take to be able to buy a skin (i.e. what is the earn rate of 'merit'?)
900/weekly challenges
200/dailies
1000/soldier skin
4000/vehicle skin
(Very poor selection for freemium, most skins are cash-only now)
Yet, despite being garbage pricing, I see no point in these skins. They look worse than most colorswaps you get in F2P games. This is coming from the guy who buys Battlepasses in the games I am active + see value, and even skins (but that was in the past).
We had some ok skins in CoH2: black-orange dazzle, the classical jaw-decals. Even if they reach the same quality/visual interest, it is not worthy of my time. You would need some "hero" skins which would come with the fashionable/historical attire and new voice acting. Instead of picking a sniper, you would get a choice between some silent focused personality and more chatty/brash american.
The behemoth looming are the battlegroups: don't get caught with your pants down when they ask for 15k for one, which would amount to 2-3 months of engagement.
The only reason I care about the mtx is the business model:
1. Relic provides value for the players
2. Players put more money into the game
3. Game gets more support
4. Relic provies more value etc.
But this shit ain't going to work out. Na-a, Relic broke the first promise of a good product, and now they are delivering the watered-piss with the mtx. |
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Bruh, these skins are like the junk you found in Division dumpsters, but with mobile-tier visuals.
And... while I have realistic expectations on Relic's short term capabilities, wishlist would include Seasons instead of random patch names with random updates/store items. Title seasons after the locations/events, debut:
• Map of the said location
• Cosmetics (at least some) from that event
• Battlegroups (could be 1-2 per season), perhaps something thematic if possible. If the Season takes place in Italy, debut something that participated in those battles. If it is an African map, release something for DAK.
• More inspiring challenges
• If the game ever grows into a healthy community, promote some experimental ruleset mode.
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1.) Player names added back
2.) An option to enable CoH 2 style unique player colors (player is always blue)
3.) A more intuitive assigned unique color system (no red/orange teammates, etc.)
Agreed on all points.
Though you cannot have everything, as in all at once. Either players are uniquely colored, or you will tell me "Green come here", and I will be... Green is playing top, I am Blue in our lane, I don't have this feature enabled  . At no point in like 2000 hours of 4vs4 I found async colored teammates bad.
But there is one thing that according to Modders was impossible to fix in CoH2: plane colors. It was a functional disadvantage to have no color-coded information whose planes were coming in, and being downed. You only knew friend or foe, but not enough when double call-ins happened and overlapped. |
It really does not matter if there are 100 or 100000 players online, when vast majority picks one side over another, you WILL wait regardless how you cope with it if you refuse to pick the underpopulated side.
Its like this since WoW battlegrounds.
I had two games in my CoH2 4vs4 history where the Allies players managed to sneak into the Axis matchmaking.
Good memories.
But this issue is not unique to CoH. It has some solutions, such as incentivizing players to queue up as the "lower" popularity role or side. CoH has nothing special to give as far as rewards go now, but if going by CoH2: it should give supply coins or whatever currency CoH3 is going to have. Whatever the threshold is for the "imbalance", it simply activates the queue-up incentives.
Relic just needs to modernize and adopt so many features/tricks/tools that are standard in gaming today, and they do make a difference when deployed.
+ I would welcome a "All Factions" queue-up. At some point you just want to play the game, late nights 4vs4, and then all factions go. Needs some tuning in the XP/Rankings to allow me to queue up as both Rank 10 USF and Rank 20 UKF for different MMR tiers, but it is all doable. This issue isn't going to solve itself out: the faster you deploy these features - the better the experience going to be. |
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Yes, I am advocating for removing of this unique colors because it adds nothing. While other games are going into the direction of allowing users to customize their UI colors from health bars to recticles, this game locks you into the dice roll UI (even if they fix it to have friendly and hostile colors to be on the opposite spectrums)
I think we are playing different games, where you prefer to have your UI recolored, and typing shit into chat is better than the system where the player receives a ping: sound + flashing + written warning that his unit is being killed.
You can write him an essay that his 2nd Panther tank is being flanked south of the middle VP while he is busy on the northern VP with the infantry micromanaging it, while I will ping once.
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It's a good idea in theory. Has nobody here ever played CSGO? The whole idea of this unique color system was so that it's easier to speak to teammates in a call. (I.E. Green, you need to move your tank or it's going to explode! Etc.) In CoH2, everyone is blue on their own screen, so you can't say things like this.
They fucked up with giving teammates red/purple colors though, completely agree.
This is not CSGO. You are not looking at 5 dots on the minimap.
The entire UI of health bars and capture points must is the priority over the "green" color assignment. The POV player's color must always be the same. This is why people have nicknames, so I can say "dono help me", and if the mental capacity of the average player isn't enough to read couple letters, then it is definitely not enough to always re-color the UI every round.
There might be some intermediate solution where another detail/attribute is assigned to work as the "green" callout, but it is at the bottom of the priority list.
+ there is ping that isn't in CSGO. I can click on your unit (with a functional ping system), and it will send you a command to attack or retreat or careful. No need to even engage in the text or voice coms.
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Making both 3vs3 and 4vs4 was a mistake. There will not be a playerbase for both queues, neither the map pool. Just... unsatisfactory matchmaking and map pool.
Halfway through the production someone should have said:
"Wait, we don't have resources to build enough maps for launch, and we already had some dead queues in CoH2 modes, perhaps we shouldn't launch with all modes"
Classic Kotaku 'quality'. Making up "misconceptions" that only idiots seriously claim, then declaring them as common to fake some novelty to the news and supporting all of this by a shitty text.
All developers are rich!
Making games is easy!
This shit looks unprofessional even for the most obnoxious buzzfeed listicles.
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Of course I understand the frustrations. But as an RTS enthusiast, I am willing to smile away the release challenges, given the above.
I am the RTS fan, I was excited for Warcraft III remake/remaster. Still am, just not for the Reforged versions, needs RE-REFORGED.
Coh3 base game with 4 factions and tech diversity bears already the core ingredients for the masterpiece it is about to become.
I have waited for CoH3 mainly to modernize itself. Matchmaking where people aren't making dummy teams every day, leaver penalty, reconnect functionality, moderation so people who grief get suspended, ability to avoid people like you have couple slots in Overwatch.
Not a single balance or technical change is relevant compared to these modern online tools. I was patient and forgiving in the CoH2 case, ok, surely they will tighten the social experience in CoH3... All these breach mechanics, battelgroup trees, side armor - small potatoes that do not solve my problems with CoH2 (I played only 4vs4)
It is a wild west, circa 2000s approach to meaningful online gaming. Getting a good round every 3rd or 4th 5-min queue match is simply not acceptable.
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Relic Entertainment
