Why so much hate again Cosmetic MTX in D4?

TBF DS44 I waited until some rando on the internet reviewed Elden Ring before buying it. Sometimes a rando can affect us more than our nearest and dearest. Than even ourselves.

So all else aside, I no longer believe that particular argument is very strong.

I can honestly say I cannot recall ever being enticed, influenced, or coerced into making a game purchase by someone I didn't actually know irl. I mean maybe indirectly? If my brother or buddy tells me about a game, or thinks I might enjoy it, I suppose I have to concede they might have heard about it from an internet "rando".

Perhaps that's just me, it's clear that the influence these "content creators" have is significant. I really cannot relate to people waiting for others telling them how they will enjoy something... it's just not logical unless they know me.

And I'm not talking about advertisement or recommendations. That happens all the time, even here in OT. For example, Cohh might be playing a game i've not heard much about, and I check it out. That's different from his chat being spammed with "should I buy this?" which blows my mind. The clear inference being that if he said yes, or no, they would do whichever...

Anyways not much surprises me anymore. I'm not sure I agree that its no longer a strong argument in as so much as it's just more of a reflection of the incredible amount of information we have access to now, the proliferation of internet & social media personalities, and how much mob mentality has gripped people in general.

I mean lets be real, you aint waiting for the IGN review, or a Jason Schreier tweet to help you decide on your D4 purchase. Right? .... RIGHT?

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DarthSki44 wrote:

I can honestly say I cannot recall ever being enticed, influenced, or coerced into making a game purchase by someone I didn't actually know irl. I mean maybe indirectly? If my brother or buddy tells me about a game, or thinks I might enjoy it, I suppose I have to concede they might have heard about it from an internet "rando".

Perhaps that's just me, it's clear that the influence these "content creators" have is significant. I really cannot relate to people waiting for others telling them how they will enjoy something... it's just not logical unless they know me.

And I'm not talking about advertisement or recommendations. That happens all the time, even here in OT. For example, Cohh might be playing a game i've not heard much about, and I check it out. That's different from his chat being spammed with "should I buy this?" which blows my mind. The clear inference being that if he said yes, or no, they would do whichever...

Anyways not much surprises me anymore. I'm not sure I agree that its no longer a strong argument in as so much as it's just more of a reflection of the incredible amount of information we have access to now, the proliferation of internet & social media personalities, and how much mob mentality has gripped people in general.

I mean lets be real, you aint waiting for the IGN review, or a Jason Schreier tweet to help you decide on your D4 purchase. Right? .... RIGHT?

SkillUp is just an incredibly good game assessor. The way he framed Elden Ring was almost academically rigorous and completely sold me, because until that point I simply couldn't comprehend GRRM x FromSoft not being a huge fucking gimmick.

The reason why I sometimes doubt people I know is...I know them. I know our tastes don't always align. I know we're friends *despite* our differences as much as *because* of them. And I know myself: my tastes are occasionally really bad. Like, really. And occasionally they're impossibly picky. That's just a different sort of bad.

Equally, I have a LOT of trouble trusting my nearest and dearest when it comes to my own stuff because of course they're biased. I actively seek strangers' opinions there, they who have no horse in the race so to speak. That's different than seeking their opinion on a third party product, certainly, but the well for me is already poisoned. Too many misses when it comes to recs from friends and family.

I mean everyone I know in real life...everyone...thinks Path of Exile is a complete pile of shit, if they even know of it. And that ranges from Souls junkies to much-beleaguered partners who turn a blind eye to the fact that I still post here at all. I will never think PoE is a complete pile of shit, but on the other hand I'm far more critical of it than they'd ever be because who's going to waste energy and emotions on a genuine pile of shit?

I'm a little envious that you place that much trust in the tastes of those close to you. I'm too aware of how individual we all are to allow that. That and those aforementioned horrible tastes of mine.

Cohh I kinda liked until CP2077 now I just can't stand the guy. :)

As for D4, I'll be waiting for both the IGN review and Schreier's take...but only because they'll drop roughly the same time as SkillUp's and, well, everyone else's take. That and I don't think error 37 was an anomaly so much as a given. I'd pre-order if I were THAT hyped about it, just to play the Early Access, but I'm just not. Got other things to do. To play. If the game is as good as they're saying, it'll be worth playing a week after release. Maybe even two. It'll be around for months if not years, and unless you're some sad-sack clout-chasing streamer, it isn't a race.

Oh I'm not really trying to besmirch, reviewers or writers, I'm merely indicating that for me personally they carry very little weight in terms of actionable behaviors.

SkillUp that you mention is quite good, I've followed him since his very early "The Divison" content, as it was a game my friends and I enjoyed thoroughly. Again his supplementary content was great. I just wouldnt have that content influencing purchasing decisons, nor have it impact my perception or enjoyment of a game. It just wouldnt happen that way for me

For Cohh, I respect the fact that he isnt really playing it up for the stream or the camera as it seems to me, and he is often willing to play some pretty niche games, that might not always get some attention. Do I agree with his assessments? Nah, not really, but I do appreciate the spotlighting he does, and the drama-free way in which he does it. It serves my purposes, and in the end I suppose that's the point?

For friends and family, I find your description here very interesting. Not so much that those folks dont always share in your interests, which makes total sense that there would be natural individualism and variance, but more so in the fact that they wouldnt be able to understand and relate to the things that you enjoy? I cant tell you how many times I've been steered into things from those in my close circles that were beyond their interest, and was merely a case of them seeing something and knowing straight out it would be in the wheelhouse of what I'd be interested in.

Whether it's a movie my Sister-in-law saw, or book my nephew wanted to recommend and get my thoughts on, to a game that my buddies and I (who have been gaming as a group since 1995), want to play together. I just value that input exponentially more so than what's available on the web.

But if it works for people (which clearly it does or some of those folks wouldnt have jobs as influencers), then I guess more power to them. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in derideing the generational differences, but it just bothers me in general. Again I wish we could just get back to players playing without qualifiers on the rationale for doing (or not doing) so.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

But if it works for people (which clearly it does or some of those folks wouldnt have jobs as influencers), then I guess more power to them. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in derideing the generational differences, but it just bothers me in general. Again I wish we could just get back to players playing without qualifiers on the rationale for doing (or not doing) so.

Nice to see youve chilled in the evening, might want to look at your posts of yesterday and notice how hot-headed you were. It was kinda amusing, but seriously, friendly advice(im being serious here, no sarcasm on the "friendly" part, real), you need to chill when it comes to blizzard, you really need. Im hardly the most present guy in the forum and even i took notice of the "guy with Zana avatar thats often reasonable but loses its marbles if you badmouth blizzard"

As for qualifiers of why we play or dont: Why not discuss? People talking about why they like stuff is hardly any diff from talking why they dont want to bother with something, its not a new trend at all, its food for small talk since language was invented

As for "influencers" or w/e... well, you called me someone who dont have an opinion of my own, but in truth, i dont follow any "influencer" or professional reviewer. I DO look at gamespot and the likes articles sometimes... but i just go straight to the botton rated ones because those are often pretty funny and i laugh at their jaws dropping from how bad stuff is or when they start poking ironicaly

TBH, i have no clue how videogame journalism even exists to this day given how much its openly bought, BUT users review IS a valuable and reliable source of good info IF you bother to read the text and not just glance at the score number. People talking their minds does tell VOLUMES about any sort of product not just games, if you bother to actually read

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feike wrote:

you need to chill when it comes to blizzard, you really need. Im hardly the most present guy in the forum and even i took notice of the "guy with Zana avatar thats often reasonable but loses its marbles if you badmouth blizzard

With respect, many of those anti-Blizzard takes are in fact, quite dumb, by almost any measure.

And the truth is many of those people talking poorly about Blizzard support them financially, and through statistical indicators. Basically people publically bash Blizzard because they think that's what they are supposed to do to be in the cool crowd, but then individually, privately, buy the products because they enjoy the games. It happens again and again. Objectively speaking, the Blizzard library of games is incredible, littered with some of the most successful games in the history of their genres. Let's not get twisted.

Not to mention, especially here in these forums, as Tencent imo, is amongst the most reprehensible corporations on the planet. I'd counter your arguement, with "you need to chill on the unconditional Tencent support"

Finally the point on players playing without qualifiers, I'm not really talking about feedback or criticism related to the games. That's fair. I'm talking about the moral high ground qualifiers, like "I wont play Blizz games because they treat women shiity", or "I dont care how they treat the employees as long as I enjoy the game". You dont have to actually say these things. Just do whatever you want and move on. There doesnt have to be discussion or disclosure on specifics because it accomplishes nothing, or worse, diverts it into non-related, often highly polarizing, sidebars.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

With respect, many of those anti-Blizzard takes are in fact, quite dumb, by almost any measure.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

And the truth is many of those people talking poorly about Blizzard support them financially, and through statistical indicators. Basically people publically bash Blizzard because they think that's what they are supposed to do to be in the cool crowd, but then individually, privately, buy the products because they enjoy the games. It happens again and again. Objectively speaking, the Blizzard library of games is incredible, littered with some of the most successful games in the history of their genres. Let's not get twisted.

Yes, I said myself i was once a fan, but as i said: freaking 10 years ago. Name ONE game since overwatch that they didnt botched or was just a reskin with bare-minimum effort

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DarthSki44 wrote:

Not to mention, especially here in these forums, as Tencent imo, is amongst the most reprehensible corporations on the planet. I'd counter your arguement, with "you need to chill on the unconditional Tencent support"

Please, quote where i expressed unconditional support for tencent or GGG or wathever blizzard-oposite company you can name [Removed By Support]

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DarthSki44 wrote:

Finally the point on players playing without qualifiers, I'm not really talking about feedback or criticism related to the games. That's fair.I'm talking about the moral high ground qualifiers, like "I wont play Blizz games because they treat women shiity", or "I dont care how they treat the employees as long as I enjoy the game". You dont have to actually say these things.

Its fair? Then please quote where i said anything about moral scandals or stuff not gameplay-related, please
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I know lots of companies have it, and i dont give a single solitary fuck. The problem with D3 monetarization is that they destroyed the core of the game to enable it, as i said before, im well aware they dont run a charity, but DONT RUIN THE PRODUCT

You want more examples?
I played hearthstone since launch, uninstalled a couple years back because the amount of meta dominance and the pressure to keep having full-leg decks was getting insufferable
Heroes of the storm is a game i loved, i dig the cooperation-focused that is a fresh air from dota's single player carry model, but they basically turned their back on the game and playerbase dwindled in response, queues takes forever and feels only the most toxic are left
Starcraft 2 was a game that was not good at launch but became super nice by legacy of the void(story is garbage, tho), i still have faith in the starcraft team, and i feel for them, because blizzard also turned their back on the game. Theres barely only the yearly balance patch, and lately, not even that. Game has grown stale and again, queues takes too long, cooperative have no innovations watsoever for years, even the map pool is hardly updated
One day, i decide to play again frozen throne and one of its many awesome custom maps made by the community and i have the reforged forced on my hd... okay, i give it a chance... discover the update is actually a DOWNGRADE: performance was never an issue, but now it have frame drops on rigs hundreds of times faster than ones i used to play the original, original version was notoriously stable, reforge crashes regularly, map editor was capped and a great many fan-favorite custom maps are no longer on the ladder pool
Bought the starcraft remake out of respect for the team: Basically exactly the same game from decades ago, with some visual improvments that are barely noticeable and some features that were already available on the modding comunity for forever. Wasnt a downgrade like reforged, tho, so theres that...
I admit my experience on wow is nowhere as vast, but i was among the considerable number of players that felt they were running out of ideas a while ago, story was also devolving into a very static setting where nothing of real importance really happens(no faction ever gets wiped, horde turning into clear-cut bad guys, every side still have unlimited troops no matter how many genocides or massive battles with "decisive" victories take place), so decided it was not worth the sub anymore long ago

So yeah, i kinda think i have some ground to say the blizzard library is a bit of a disaster atm

^

Looks like you need to chill yourself a bit my man lol.

Blizzard finances have been fine the last 10 years, I dont know what to tell you. I'm sorry you dont like their games anymore. Well sort of...because unless you are skipping D4, its seems to me you will be supporting Blizzard here shortly in 2023.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

^

Looks like you need to chill yourself a bit my man lol.

Blizzard finances have been fine the last 10 years, I dont know what to tell you. I'm sorry you dont like their games anymore. Well sort of...because unless you are skipping D4, its seems to me you will be supporting Blizzard here shortly in 2023.

[Removed By Support]

And im not even gonna bother adressing the finance statement, i dont want to repeat myself for a 3rd time. Just drop that eletronic arts is also doing perfectly fine, so are many parasitic mobile developers and leave at that

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I would actually love to be proven wrong, but honestly, i think the writting is on the wall they are reinventing themselves as a eastern-style developer but are hesitant to leave the western market. All i know is they better pick up the act or theyre gonna be booted to the east

Guy pops out of nowhere kicking front door and guns blazing

Makes a couple of replies containing a bunch of stones

Has his points deflected, and cornered, decides to play the upper ground detached card and the other one needs to chill

Internet arguing 101 i suppose

Ill just say you can be summoned with 2 plains

And nop, im super chill and no hard feelings. Kinda looking foward to how you will shield blizz honor in the event the game turn into a money grab. That post had tons of poison, but im a guy that enjoys spiting poison, criticising is fun
(cant say im completely chill tho... but thats because other ones and not you and its a whole other can of worms)