Never is it acceptable to try to even defend microtransations in a paid for retail game, Have you perchance managed to grind for one of the 20Million Cr cars yet? Do that tell me how long it takes and if it was even remotely fun then try to defend the stupidly inflated prices, As I stated before PD have done microtransactions before and that was one of the few ways people could get the overpriced cars that have been added to GT:Sport recently.
So, I wrote the article on
how much it costs to buy the mega-expensive cars in GT Sport. I've yet to buy either, but then again, I've only run the PSL/X-Bow combo maybe five times. Obviously, it's not really my goal.
When I was a teenager, I endlessly re-ran events in GT3 to be able to buy/win all the cars I wanted. GT4 (and on, until Sport) skewed the "how much is my time worth" argument, because B-Spec could just take care of it for me. But I also have vastly different set of priorities and responsibilities now compared to then. My time is worth more to me, and doing a repetitive task in-game is far less appealing. It's not worth enough to drop money on either...
For me. If someone else would rather throw a few dollars at the equation than spend potentially dozens of hours doing the same mind-numbing experience, more power to them. And more power to the developers that offer that option — without artificially skewing the in-game economy towards MTs, it must be said. Were GT6's MTs ridiculously over-priced when viewed from a dollar/credit angle? Yep, but the car prices had stayed level from GT5, and as mentioned above, there were ways to make credits roughly at the same rate as you could in GT4.
Of course, then you have people going into the deep end and using a blanket (and frankly, insulting) "cancer" term for any and all MT/loot box situations:
This. They are a cancer that should remain on freemium/mobile games and not on $60 titles. Have we all forgotten what happened with Star Wars Battlefront 2?
(that comment was at -683000 score before being 'hidden' by the mods)
I think, like others have suggested, that the ticket system will replace the current prize system.
This isn't Battlefront II at or around launch. That's a whole other kettle of fish — one I'll briefly break down. There were three in-game currencies: Credits, Crystals, and Crafting Parts. Credits were used to unlock heroes and buy loot boxes. Crystals accomplished the same, at a different rate, and outside of a handful of one-time achievements in-game, would be purchased with real money. Crafting parts create/update Star Cards (your player abilities). What made this whole system such a mess at launch:
- The Credit rate to unlock a single hero (of which there are over a dozen) could equal out to almost 40 hours.
- Crafting Parts were only awarded via loot boxes (outside of a handful of one-time achievements).
- Star Cards were randomly gifted via loot boxes.
This created the perfect storm of awfulness in terms of game progression. You couldn't avoid the loot boxes if you wanted to upgrade your characters at all. What's worse, buying Crystals wouldn't even guarantee you'd get what you wanted: all you'd be buying was a chance to spin the loot box roulette wheel, since they couldn't be transferred into crafting parts.
Contrast this with FM7 — a favourite target for some around here. You'll see folks all too eager to shout "OMG loot boxes" about the game... but they're completely avoidable for everything except cosmetics. There are no cars that are exclusively locked behind loot boxes (sorry, prize crates). I've seen a number of people deem the game "pay to win" because the Mod system (a series of cards you equip to earn more credits), but that displays a lack of understanding:
- You can play the entire game without touching the Mod system and still win.
- Mods are either in-race challenges you set for yourself ("Achieve 5 Great Passes", "Don't Go Off Track For One Lap") that result in extra post-race bonuses; handicaps ("No TCS/ASM", "Cockpit Cam Only") for the same sort of thing; or just straight-up bonuses ("Extra 1500 XP").
- Mods are only found within Prize Crates, which only cost in-game credits. Every single Mods-only crate will make back more than what it cost you, provided you satisfy the requirements when they're equipped.
- There are currently zero MTs in the game.
Does that sound overly complicated compared to the straight-forward "race and earn credits" approach of older CARPG games? Sure. But it's a spin on an existing mechanic we've seen time and time before in the racing genre; intentionally challenging yourself to reap more rewards.
GT Sport already does it, but in a less fussy, more direct way: you earn more credits in GT League when you use a less competitive car. GT4 did it with the A-Spec points: people would handicap themselves on the hunt for 200pts per race.
I've only recently explored the Mod system in FM7 in any detail, precisely because I didn't feel I understood it before. It's now an easy way to maximize my credits, which is handy in a game that has over 700 cars to buy. Case in point: I'll buy five 30,000 Prize Crates and get enough Mods to last me dozens of races. I'll make sure to equip them throughout a six-race series in the career, and in each event, I typically earn over double the credits I would without. With races set to Long (FM7 offers three career race length options), that means over 600,000 extra credits in one series alone (which probably takes about 90 minutes). And with many mods having three uses each, the 20 or so I bought at the beginning will last me another two series or so.
If you have real content behind time consuming gameplay and offer it to be bought via Micro Transactions you are imho doing it wrong.
Content like that is usually done added in order to earn money. In GTS we have events that require Garage cars, you can not compete without the car, that limits those that does not have the car. If you could buy the cars with real money it would in principle be MT structured about the game.
Define "real content".
I mean, PS1 and PS2 era GT games had plenty of in-game events that required specific cars. It's part of the game-like aspect of what, at the end of the day, is still a game: progression.
As a hypothetical, let's say GT Sport had MTs. As you point out, there are a handful of events in the single player (and in Sport Mode) that require garage cars. There's also the Circuit Experience section, which upon completion will gift you plenty of cars and millions of credits (enabling you to buy any of the Gr.4/3/B/1 cars needed for said events). When I wrote the
GTPlanet GT Sport review, I pointed out the entire section could be done in a handful of hours by a semi-competent racer.
But let's say I'm not one, and I'd rather spend a few dollars on some (hypothetical) MT car tickets. Are you now making the argument that the game is structured around them? It's admittedly a gray area: to some, seemingly
any implementation of MTs means the game is structured around them. But if that's the case, the only logical answer is to make absolutely every single car unlocked, for all players, from day one. If there's no progression, then everyone's on the same level, and it's "fair". It's also an excuse to use on of my favourite gifs...
IMO, that's what this whole MT fiasco boils down to: some folks angry that others end up with cars without "earning" them. It's a permutation of the same sort of elitism that has some wheel users looking down on pad players.
