Thinking this tears it for me. #RIPCOD

[Dillinger]

If you haven't seen the latest FU to the gaming community from Eric Hirschberg at Activision, here is a great read: (Credit Charlie Intel)

 

Microtransaction Engine 128

 

COD, and presumably other Activision games, will now be exclusively PAY to COMPETE, and if you are lucky you may win. 

 

The engine can specifically sort your gaming experience, going forward, thusly:

 

"in a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game (e.g., as determined from the player profile). The microtransaction engine may match the junior player with a player that is a highly skilled sniper in the game. In this manner, the junior player may be encouraged to make game-related purchases such as a rifle or other item used by the marquee player".

 

"In an implementation, when a player makes a game-related purchase, microtransaction engine 128 may encourage future purchases by matching the player (e.g., using matchmaking described herein) in a gameplay session that will utilize the game-related purchase. Doing so may enhance a level of enjoyment by the player for the game-related purchase, which may encourage future purchases. For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, microtransaction engine 128 may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase. This may encourage the player to make future purchases to achieve similar gameplay results.”

 

What they have done is leverage the BILLIONS of dollars made on in-game transactions, not on better gear, better servers or any real interest in giving you a competitive gameplay.  No, they spent YEARS developing a new game control algorithm to ensure you are going to get SLAPPED online until you open your wallet.  And once you have opened your wallet, the time window for the "advantage you just bought" will last no longer than the release of the next DLC weapons.

 

This has proven to me it's time to give up on Activision.  They are specifically weighting the experience so that you will continue to be placed against players with a much larger desire to spend money on a game than the average working player.  Streamers and "VIP Gamers" will delight as they rack up 100 kill lobbies, but the other 80% of the community is going to continue to get put at an unfair advantage, which should effectively kill off the CoD franchise and I suspect Destiny/FIFA will get hit as well.

 

I don't know how many have seen the news, it just released on Twitter via Charlie within the last 90 minutes, but I wanted to post my thoughts here for an open discussion. 

 

So, who's up for spending $1,000+ to be competitive on in-game content that can't be re-used?

[BOLDSHOTER]

Way for Activision to screw you big time, all they care about now is just the money not the actual game, a call of duty game might as well be a gambling casino now, they see how weak little kids are so they gonna strangle out that money till they are bone dry, and the game is dead, reason the franchise will die, unless activison will get their heads out of there ass and fix this issue, but they won't Greedy people.

[kevo]

I knew it had to be something. I notice in bo3 there were alot of weapons i really wanted. Most of the lobbies i got into people had those guns and i would use my keys and see if i could get it but no luck i just dont wanna spend my money on trying to get a weapon. Tbh it made me not wanna play the game anymore knowing i had to dump hundreds of dollars for one weapons whickh is crazy. I think they should let people buy the weapons like in cod ghosts that would make people happy. The only thing is dont over charge for a weapon make the price reasonable so people will be happy to buy more weapons as they are added. You want believe me when i say i dont even have any of the stocks camos that were in the supply drops for bo3 or hardly any of the attachment variants that came wit the release of the game 

[Buster]

"Legendary Nigerian knee pads" though.....

[ColonicBoom]

That's dirty. But not at all surprising.

 

If this is already in force then it would explain how, when a new gun drops, you quickly start bumping into people with them. And often.

 

I still won't spend money on 'in game currency', 'gamble supply drops', 'camo purchase' or any of that though. I'm not stupid enough.

 

I'm probably not going to buy DLC for CoD anymore unless I absolutely love a game, it's nearly always a waste of money.

The maps are usually terrible, if they ever come up in the playlist that is.

I don't like not being to disable the map packs or pick which player-base I'm going into either.

 

I'm still buying CoD though.

[Dillinger]

Diptor reached out to Condrey on Twitter and OF COURSE. Condrey got right back to him saying :

 

 

1) - This is where professional knee pads come in, Legendary as they are. SMH

 

2) - ACTIVISION was running in the HIGH 20% for profit off DLC in the late stages of 2014 and into the first part of 2015.  The same time frame this "side group" suddenly went out in the woods, all on their own, and developed an algorithm that will ENHANCE DLC profit margins.  Then they patented it, which was approved late yesterday.

 

3) Activision profits from DLC dropped to single 12% for AW before Black Ops 3 dropped.  After BO3, DLC profits returned to the low 20's, only to drop in the 4th quarter after IW launched, coming in at 12.56%.

 

No matter what anyone says, you don't design, test and request a PATENT for software like this assuming it's a whim and you intend to put it on the shelf.

 

I do believe that this may have been a dark project, paid for by Activision directly.  I don't believe for a minute it was not designed with studio input and that it can NOT be implemented with a hot patch.

[iAmMoDBoX]

Diptor reached out to Condrey on Twitter and OF COURSE. Condrey got right back to him saying :

 

 

1) - This is where professional knee pads come in, Legendary as they are. SMH

 

2) - ACTIVISION was running in the HIGH 20% for profit off DLC in the late stages of 2014 and into the first part of 2015.  The same time frame this "side group" suddenly went out in the woods, all on their own, and developed an algorithm that will ENHANCE DLC profit margins.  Then they patented it, which was approved late yesterday.

 

3) Activision profits from DLC dropped to single 12% for AW before Black Ops 3 dropped.  After BO3, DLC profits returned to the low 20's, only to drop in the 4th quarter after IW launched, coming in at 12.56%.

 

No matter what anyone says, you don't design, test and request a PATENT for software like this assuming it's a whim and you intend to put it on the shelf.

 

I do believe that this may have been a dark project, paid for by Activision directly.  I don't believe for a minute it was not designed with studio input and that it can NOT be implemented with a hot patch.

 

That's cause matchmaking is controlled by demonware IIRC, which is now owned by Activision. So no studio would have to know of it. All behind the scenes work.

[BIG__DOG]

good job i cancelled my pre-order of cod ww2    screw em!

[antithesis]

I don't play CoD, so I love it! Micro-transactions that affect everyone but me are awesome!!!1! </sarcasm>

 

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Activision has and always will be led by insipid, money-grabbing, ivory-backscratching cnuts. Given they invest more into analytics and brazen marketing subterfuge to empty our wallets than into their abysmal network code speaks volumes.

 

They don't give two dog shits about the customers who made them fat, rich and lazy, they care only for their investors who demand an even higher ROI.

 

Vote with your wallets. 

[Netduma Fraser]

Just to play devil's advocate for a second. They've said it hasn't been implemented in previous games and Condrey says it's not in WW2 so that is good news. The backlash if anything like this was implemented would be huge, I can't believe they would be so blinded that they would allow something like this. If they don't implement it then they've actually done the gaming industry a favour as it's patented so no other publisher/game company will be able to use a similar system...unless Activision licenses that tech of course... 

[RoyDavis77]

Activision had the last of my money with infinite warfare, they will not get a penny more, if this kind of stuff is going on in matchmaking, what else are they implementing that we are not aware of.

[BIG__DOG]

a similar method of pay to win and microtransactions are in the new star wars battlefront game which they are calling loot crates (pfft)......according to a vid by sim theres a court battle going on as all this seems to be targeting young people and vulnerable people to get them to part with their cash!

 

 

https://youtu.be/RCyn_hXzPc0

[fuzzy clam]

It's all pay to win as has been for awhile IMO.

 

I've never bought anything aside from DLC and won't be doing that again but no way in hell I'm jumping into that pool.

 

The way I look at it I get slapped in lobbies anyway but at least I'm doing it with a non modded controller and all my money in my wallet.

 

I'll still buy the game and play it but knowing that it's lopsided is always helpful...

[Dillinger]

I only found my way here because I was tired of getting beat by lag and technology.  Now I find out they are weighting the game experience across hundreds of thousands/millions of accounts?  That is some crooked shit.

 

I've already purchased WWII, so I am stuck with it and will play it.  But this revelation is something that should be widespread so everyone knows what they are getting into.  If you pick this game up as a newb now, there is no way you could ever have a decent experience for a weekend's worth of play, let alone keeping a player base around for 1,000 levels of advancement.

[iAmMoDBoX]

I only found my way here because I was tired of getting beat by lag and technology.  Now I find out they are weighting the game experience across hundreds of thousands/millions of accounts?  That is some crooked shit.

 

I've already purchased WWII, so I am stuck with it and will play it.  But this revelation is something that should be widespread so everyone knows what they are getting into.  If you pick this game up as a newb now, there is no way you could ever have a decent experience for a weekend's worth of play, let alone keeping a player base around for 1,000 levels of advancement.

 

Why are you stuck with it? You can always get a refund, it's just a preorder... Hell, I've returned games I had already played and were broken

[bagsta69]

It's all pay to win as has been for awhile IMO.

 

I've never bought anything aside from DLC and won't be doing that again but no way in hell I'm jumping into that pool.

 

The way I look at it I get slapped in lobbies anyway but at least I'm doing it with a non modded controller and all my money in my wallet.

 

I'll still buy the game and play it but knowing that it's lopsided is always helpful...

I cancelled my pre order, no issue. 1st time in years I won't be in line at midnight. feels kinda strange but for me it does nothing and all this rubbish you have pointed out is another nail in the coffin. As you said RIP COD, Im pretty sure the player base will continue to dwindle. I may be wrong but ANOTHER WW2 fps, just what we need. Im all for boots on the ground but the rest of it for me is just tired. Was totally underwhelmed by the beta but was blown away with the Star Wars beta and I hate battlefield. Just my 2 cents.

[ColonicBoom]

Much as it's sneaky and manipulative, they're really just trying to get people to spend more money rather than trying to rig who wins a game with this algorithm. But as I know 100% that I won't pay for gamble-crates, just like I haven't in every other game, I'm not concerned really.

 

Whilst it's scummy and underhanded, it's certainly not something that would make me cancel my pre-order or stop playing CoD. I think that would be a silly overreaction. If a game is crap or not fun, that's what will stop me playing that game.

 

If they go so far as to chuck in a bunch of OP weapons (that you have to gamble/pay for) and that then makes the game crap or not fun, that would be a problem. But I expect it will be so subtle that we won't even notice. And if I don't notice and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game then I don't really care.

 

And I'm planning on being the 'marquee' expert player they talk about anyway 

[iAmMoDBoX]

Much as it's sneaky and manipulative, they're really just trying to get people to spend more money rather than trying to rig who wins a game with this algorithm. But as I know 100% that I won't pay for gamble-crates, just like I haven't in every other game, I'm not concerned really.

 

Whilst it's scummy and underhanded, it's certainly not something that would make me cancel my pre-order or stop playing CoD. I think that would be a silly overreaction. If a game is crap or not fun, that's what will stop me playing that game.

 

If they go so far as to chuck in a bunch of OP weapons (that you have to gamble/pay for) and that then makes the game crap or not fun, that would be a problem. But I expect it will be so subtle that we won't even notice. And if I don't notice and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game then I don't really care.

 

And I'm planning on being the 'marquee' expert player they talk about anyway 

 

It's more so the fact that if this is what we know they're doing, what don't we know? For all we know they are rigging gun fights. If you played any cod since BO1 you could say you shot someone and your bullets didn't count. Is it rigged? Probably. But as a good player you notice your bullets don't count. As a bad player, you just got a lucky kill and feel like a total bad ass and now you're hooked on cod.

[ColonicBoom]

It's more so the fact that if this is what we know they're doing, what don't we know? For all we know they are rigging gun fights. If you played any cod since BO1 you could say you shot someone and your bullets didn't count. Is it rigged? Probably. But as a good player you notice your bullets don't count. As a bad player, you just got a lucky kill and feel like a total bad ass and now you're hooked on cod.

 

Good point. They probably are.

I watched that vid you posted (the long vid, like 30 mins), about the introduction of random into CoD, that vid's a good watch.

 

Still fun though so screw it, I'm still going for 'marquee' 

[iAmMoDBoX]

Good point. They probably are.

I watched that vid you posted (the long vid, like 30 mins), about the introduction of random into CoD, that vid's a good watch.

 

I know it screams conspiracy theory, but honestly it has to be true. When have any of the devs come forward and acknowledged having a lag problem? Never. But yet if you look through all their social media, the biggest complaint from people is lag lol

 

From a business standpoint it makes sense to keep all of your players happy by giving everyone a good game once in a while. Even special helmet wearing Timmy no thumbs who can't move and aim at the same time.

[ColonicBoom]

Even special helmet wearing Timmy no thumbs who can't move and aim at the same time.

 

I've told you before, don't call me that, it's deeply upsetting and I won't stand for it.

[iAmMoDBoX]

I've told you before, don't call me that, it's deeply upsetting and I won't stand for it.

 

Well I've been banned multiple times on Reddit for calling people that lol

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeague/comments/77oyel/heres_why_the_servers_suck/doo2nh9/

[Zennon]

For me on the whole there is only a game or so per 2h session that the ping comp gets wrong in cod titles I do well in the rest, for that reason i will carry on playing.

 

The stock guns are always better than the loot crate gun's, its just the algorithm making them look good to "junior" players by having a beast dominate using one, even though he or she would have using a stock gun anyhow.

 

Put this player in this lobby because he has a **** from loot but then balance the teams so there is two good players on each seems to be the way it goes for the most part.

[Dillinger]

Why are you stuck with it? You can always get a refund, it's just a preorder... Hell, I've returned games I had already played and were broken

 

Actually, I tried with the PS version.  Was told I could not get a refund on WWII, even before it dropped and during the first BETA.  Posted it on Twitter actually.  Took the whole thing to AmEx and let them deal with it.  Got my money back, but then PS banned my account. 

[iAmMoDBoX]

Actually, I tried with the PS version. Was told I could not get a refund on WWII, even before it dropped and during the first BETA. Posted it on Twitter actually. Took the whole thing to AmEx and let them deal with it. Got my money back, but then PS banned my account.

I've been refunded twice on X1 and multiple times on PS4 with each BO3 map pack. Bought it, maps sucked and I got the most try hard lobbies ever and I got them refunded and removed.