Comments on: Battlefield Heroes: When are Micro Transactions too far?

By: Gravecat

Gravecat — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:51:45 +0000

Well, I was going to comment on this early, and I’ve come back to do so now, but since HelloAndy cleared up the Burning Bullets thing, my opinion on the matter is somewhat idfferent now. :)

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of microtransactions at all, perhaps coloured by bad experience with Korean MMOs and other such crap in the past. I know it’s one of those tropes like episodic gaming that works great from a business point of view and I’m just bitterly opposed to change at times, but having to pay real-world money to get a gameplay advantage over other players just doesn’t quite sit right with me.

As it stands, though, being an upgrade that anyone can get simply by earning enough XP? Interesting concept, though I’m not sure it’s one I’d really support as the FPS model generally doesn’t fit comfortably with levelling. Compare, say, PlanetSide — where even a freshly-rolled rookie can contribute effectively to the fight — at least in that system, there’s less of a feeling of being underpowered and useless before levelling up to a certain point. Modern Warfare 1 and 2 are similar in that regard, I think.

But then, let’s face it: I’m biased about such things, and I’m not even going to try to pretend otherwise. ;)

By: HelloAndy

HelloAndy — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:08:32 +0000

The matchmaking should put you with players in your own level, but it doesnt stop people from joining their low-level friends. So it can happen that you meet opponents with more unlocked abilities than you, just like in Warcraft you mentioned. After you played a few hours you should be able to maximize your shield (gunners) which helps a lot. The game is quite balanced.

As a player I love the idea of playing games for free, and if I like them a lot also be able to pay small sums to enhance my game experience. If I dont like the game I can just move on to the next one until I find the right one, not losing any money at all.

By: Pika

Pika — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:52:36 +0000

Hello, HelloAndy! Anndd Fair enough!

I wasn’t aware anyone could have those unlocks, but all the same it did feel a little unfair that it was actually impossible for me to kill that guy one on one without obtaining some upgrade or other.

What’s your opinion on the rest of the article? How do you feel about Micro Transactions as a whole?

By: HelloAndy

HelloAndy — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:38:27 +0000

Hi! The ability you are referring to is called Burning Bullets, and is something anyone that plays the soldier class can spend Hero Points on. You get Hero Points by levelling up only. While you can buy better weapons for the in-game currencies, these do only offer very minor advantage (5 more rounds in clips that otherwise holds 40 rounds, then you can just reload since ammo is infinite)