What do you want to be the LEAST monetized aspect in DA4?

Who said they are ditching DLC? They might not do DLC like they did it in days gone by but even Anthem will...unless they do end up cancelling the road map entirelly...will have DLC/ Expansions.

Anyways I went for Grenades. Everything else sounds acceptable to me based on what I have experienced with previous live service games. Granted there is always the potential for abuse in any system but I just don't see it as being a neccessity. Of course the other proviso on this is there is some sort of credits/ oricalcum/ in game currency that you can spend to get some of this stuff or just loot some of the stuff in game anyways.

Character creator- I could see them adding additional hairstyles or scars or tatoos after the game is launched especially based on player feedback, this could be more then acceptable as long as the CC is robust enough at launch.

Crafting materials- If there are enough of them that you could buy at once this might really let you 'skip to the end of the line' when crafting your own stuff. If like 25 lyrium can get you 300 tier 3 mats (or something like that) it could make the in game currency actually worth while to get.

Equipment/ Gear- Ditto. If there are legendary gear out there and you want to try and get it, the option is available to just buy it or a similar item pack.

Level/ XP- Not something I would go for, especially if the game stays kind of like DA 4...but I know how it might be helpful for some, may also be a way of getting around grind.

Mounts/ Pets- Perhaps not ideal but I could see this being one of those cosmetic only things that BioWare has talked about with their previous live service game. Also wouldn't effect me, it'd be annoying...but easily ignored.

Recipes schematics: This could be a way of getting around the RNG stuff in the game, if you want a schematic, you can try spending your in game currency (Or IRL currency) to get it.

Which brings me to Grenades: If they work anything like DA I this could get real annoying real fast. If you have to rely on live service to get them this could just be...no. Just no. Though I doubt they will do that.

None of this sounds like stuff I would NEED to play the game, so it's all fine to me.

But I don't think it'll end up looking anything like what you've described at all.

Honestly - I've never objected to shelling out extra $ for BioWare's traditional DLCs, including weapon and armor packs. Even though they never seem to go on sale - lol. I've played through the games enough to feel like I get my money's worth, and have purchased most of them on multiple platforms.

The problem with monetizing anything is that some people always end up feeling like content that "should" have been included in the base game was purposely cut so they could charge extra for it. That's especially true of followers (Shale, Sebastian, Zaeed, Kasumi, Javik).

With DAI, BioWare demonstrated a taste for locking players out of content with the RNG schematics and crafting materials, and that's not okay with me. They did finally release the golden nug to alleviate it - but with the push toward monetization, I have to wonder whether they'd start attaching mtxs to them going forward. Being nickle-and-dimed to death for piddly bits of content isn't something I'm willing to put up with; nor is buying packs of points or shards or whatever to purchase other items.

This may sound like bias on my part, but I'd prefer all the monetization schemes (outside of traditional DLCs) be aimed directly at MP. It is, after all, MP that requires them to continually operate and maintain the servers and introduce new kits, maps, balance adjustments, more stuff, and maintain records of your MP inventories and profiles. Aside from retrieving patches and purchasing and downloading DLCs, there's no reason why SP players should need to be connected at all.

I didn't vote in the poll, as none of it sounds good to me.

Not gonna happen. You're not going to get a steady stream of free new content, at least not anything meaningful or worthwhile. It has to be paid for somehow.

Even with AC:Odyssey, the additional story content comes primarily via the purchase of a season's pass. The rest is just ongoing, recycled daily and weekly missions that award currency that can be used in the mtx store.

And with a live service game, you will give up any possibility of enjoying mods. As someone who greatly enjoys mods and prefers to control my own game context (version), it's not worth it to me.

That's why I said everything else can be monetized to make up for it. Don't underestimate how much people are willing to pay for costumes for their characters, even in the SP campaign.

Anthem established a free content policy. I know that's not saying much, given that so far they haven't delivered on it, or even on a working base game, but still, the precedent is out there. How can they go from Anthem's offer of free story content forever, to ACO's season pass model? They'll be an uproar.

Maybe. We'll see. Frostbite is Frostbite, and blocking mods from replacing model and texture files is going to be hard to do technically. Not impossible, and I do agree with your point that if they are going to monetize costumes and hair styles, they had better make sure you can't do the same thing with a free mod. Or, hoping against hope, they could take an enlightened attitude and support free mods as a way to broaden the mtx market. Let the free mods be the loss leaders and co-opt the modders into making high quality versions for sale. History (Valve, Bethesda) argues against this, but one can always hope.

Ahahahahahahahahahaha.

Someone in this thread actually believes they are going to get free content in a game that does not have microtransactions selling you cosmetics and what not all the time in a single player game.



DLC is a far better compromise.

What is better?

Have absolutely everything -cosmetic- in the game locked behind a price of 20euro/dollar/whatever currency and get some free items every now and again.

Or have a DLC package of "Hey, pay a little extra money once, and you get this flaming sword and this ugly as fuck armour, along with the game soundtrack, if you pay even more you can also get a statue, a cool-looking map you can have on your wall"

Yeah, I'd rather have the latter and pay for a couple of expansions and then in turn be able to unlock "absolutely everything cosmetic" aside from that single flaming blade and ugly as fuck armour, by exploring, completing quests or do special dialogue challenges (aka: unlock by playing the game) than end up with goddamn microtransactions.

F#@! microtransaction, F#@! live service.



That said. It should be obvious I want non of it behind a paywall, I am, however, willing to compromise.

People who feel targetted believes that.

Also, I may or may not have read only parts of some posts.

I too get tired and hasty, especially on the subject of scandalous monetization schemes! 

My post shall remain up and unedited though!

I thought I was a pessimist.

Remember that Bioware is owned by EA.

If I am buying a AAA game with a full $60 price tag NONE of that should be "monetized". Large DLC and game packs added after launch I'm fine with in the mode of games like ME in the past. But if they try and "monetize" any or all of the kind of things in the poll right out of the gate then what the heck am I paying $60 for? If the game is free to play that's one thing, but I kinda doubt DA4 is going to be FTP.

Also games that call themselves "live services" or "GaaS" are just scams. Those terms are dev speak for "we are releasing a broken buggy piece of crap and we may or may not fix it at some point in the future, but give us all the $$$$$ NOW!!!" I won't touch any game following the GaaS model with a 10 foot pole.

A game which, if fairly priced, would have cost you $120?

My only red line is when companions are behind a paywall, I'm looking at you ME3. But out of these I don't want (but I do expect) CC to be monetised. As long as it isn't some made up currency you have to buy I'll be happy. I don't really mind spending a little money on non-essentials on occasion, but I hate when you have to buy currency to spend.