DLC plans + pay to unlock

[Esruck Cype]

It's not just an FGC thing. Esports in general now favors this. The long running games are all like this (most MOBAs, CS:GO, Starcraft, etc.) and most games with level/progression never really establishing that big a foothold.

I'd like it stay that way, which is why the whole gear stat thing I can't really see making it onto the competitive scene. Based on the early rumors, if chars have different abilities based on gear, maybe those abilities would all have to be tied to low-level base gear (say, level 5) so that you don't need to be OMG LVL 50 just to use a move, and the leveling up would only make the move have better properties that aren't ever factored into competition.

Makes so that players could potentially customize low-levels chars for different abilities, but not have to deal with that goddamn long grind

 

[God Confirm]

no.. you would have to pay for the gear unlock.. each console would have to buy the pack on the event systems, i guess.

jesus

 

[Jynks]

I'd like it stay that way, which is why the whole gear stat thing I can't really see making it onto the competitive scene. Based on the early rumors, if chars have different abilities based on gear, maybe those abilities would all have to be tied to low-level base gear (say, level 5) so that you don't need to be OMG LVL 50 just to use a move, and the leveling up would only make the move have better properties that aren't ever factored into competition.

Makes so that players could potentially customize low-levels chars for different abilities, but not have to deal with that goddamn long grind

yeah, and MU problems can be fixed... player style can be helped.. the gear system is so exciting and just awesome in every way... in theory. We will have to see exactly how it is implemented.

 

[MKF30]

I think NRS is smart enough to keep it simple. Two modes: "Whatever name where gear stats don't matter" and "whatever name where gear stats do matter" modes

For both modes, it'll be the expected modes for each (KOTH, Ranked, etc). For the "whatever name where gear stats do matter", players can set a gear threshold, so if they reeeeaallly want to go up against the scrubby Superman that dropped that $20 for early access to Legendary gear and is now top geared in the world, sure, go ahead, set that threshold to "All" and ready your TYM bitchfest thread. Everyone else defaults to "2 level threshold".

lol yeah pretty much something like that. as long as they do it with separate categories(which I'm sure they'll do one way or another) and not everything all bunched up, it'll be fine I'm sure.

But yeah I hear ya on the bitchfest TYM and probably elsewhere too with the gears thing, if people are bitching over it now a year before the game hits can only imagine once it hits lol

 

[Esruck Cype]

yeah, and MU problems can be fixed... player style can be helped.. the gear system is so exciting and just awesome in every way... in theory. We will have to see exactly how it is implemented.

This discussion, along with d3v of SRK Illuminati employ being apart, makes me miss Rising Thunder and its char moveset customization (RIP ZIB). I'm now wondering if NRS may be trying something similar with that.

The wait continues....

 

[aldazo]

I'm still not sure how that would work wth offline tourneys, unless the "unlock all" DLC isn't too expensive. And there's a LOT of time allotted.

The issue I could see is that not everyone with have the "all unlocked" code for training, so even if the tournaments include the option to choose whatever gear you want, there would be players without enough time invested (nor luck 'cause the gears come at random apparentely) to get the best geras for their mains before the tournaments. Now this "unlock all" would not be a DLC but a free temporary code from NRS to use in tournaments.

 

[d3v]

This discussion, along with d3v of SRK Illuminati employ being apart, makes me miss Rising Thunder and its char moveset customization (RIP ZIB). I'm now wondering if NRS may be trying something similar with that.

The wait continues....

Rising Thunder's customization wasn't tied to progression though and only had limited options, at least compared to Injustice 2. The latter brings me to another issue that Iron Galaxy's Keits brought up back when he was my boss at SRK - selection time.

http://shoryuken.com/2011/10/23/why-street-fighter-x-tekkens-gems-could-be-problematic-for-tournaments/

In Capcom vs SNK 2, you begin character selection by choosing from one of the six grooves. After that, you select one, two, or three characters. Finally, you choose the ratio of your characters. This is all handled pretty quickly; the player is required to make only five choices before a match begins. While we have no idea how gem selection will be handled in Street Fighter X Tekken, we have to assume a few things. First of all, players will need to choose a set of gems for both of their characters separately, as they do not share. Some screenshots show characters with three gem slots, while others show five. Assuming the best case scenario (three gems), and a menu that has 45 gems in it (there are probably a lot more than that), a player will need to make a minimum of six selections in a menu that has 45+ choices on it after choosing his two characters before a match can begin. Capcom has indicated that the game will ship with hundreds of gems, compounding the time issue.

That sounds pretty time consuming, especially when done hundreds of times over the course of a large double elimination tournament bracket. Think about the viewer watching the live stream from home, as well. As if sitting through button checks (which Capcom is almost guaranteed to get wrong again in SFxT) wasn’t enough, now spectators will need to watch both players select a set of gems before the fight. With a menu of gems potentially hundreds deep, even if you know exactly where your favorite gems are on the list, scrolling to them is going to take time. What if I lose the first match and want to counter-pick my opponent? Now he has to re-select all of his gems, and I have to select a new set for my new characters, and the viewer gets to sit there and watch me do it.

In the end, this isn’t like simply selecting a mode for your characters, like Last Blade’s Speed or Power. The depth this system is trying to bring to the table has a real cost; and that cost is time. I can only speak for myself here, but, when I play a fighting game, I want to fight my opponent. I don’t want to have to dig through menus to even begin. For this illustration, thus far, I have been assuming that gem selection will happen on or after the character select screen. Still, what if I am wrong, and gem selection can only happen in some crazy menu on the title screen? This will speed things up in online play (having gems pre-assigned) but make tournaments run even slower.

 

[Esruck Cype]

Rising Thunder's customization wasn't tied to progression though and only had limited options, at least compared to Injustice 2.

I'm thinking that the item-specific abilities would be limited in nature, and that they would be tied to a "base" level. Similar to how lots of FGs have chars you have to unlock by doing a basic task like beating Arcade/Story mode, all the base abilities would be unlocked in Inj2 by doing that. It's not (and hasn't) killed anyone to unlock stuff by doing an initial playthrough.

And I feel like the item-specific abilities would also be limited, with level progression only affecting the move's properties like damage/speed/recovery. So the level progression and the loot drop randomness wouldn't have any effect on the base level if and only if there is a base level of abilities for all chars that's easily attainable through the usual normal playthrough of an FG.

How future DLC factors into this, I don't even much know. Beat Arcade mode with the DLC char to get them to "base" level? Maybe?

And yes, Keits gets it (as he gets a lot of things). Even if, like I'm wishing, the gear thing basically ends up being RT-style loadouts for your char.... Imagine that in a tourney setting. In an NRS "hold up, let me check if my 34% combo still works before we start the match" tourney setting.... Holy crap, the delays. TOs would have to set a hard time limit on loadout selection, and NRS would have to be forward-thinking and have on-the-fly gear selection in Offline Versus mode and not tie it to presets that need to be accessed by another menu.

 

[KingKhrystopher]

Please. They make a friggin fortune on initial sales alone.
Dlc is just so the CEO can buy his daughter a pink labourghini for her sweet sixteenth.

And it doesn't have to take tons of time! They intentionally make it extensive to persuade you to take the easy option.

Can you really blame them? I know if MY ass owned these games, I'd be doing the exact same thing; milking as much money from my clients as possible. I'm greedy, sue me. I'm more than willing to pay for the gear if I don't feel like farming.

Inb4 "You're what wrong with video games today" and "Corporate evils"

 

[Jynks]

Inb4 "You're what wrong with video games today" and "Corporate evils"

Yeah not sure where this idea that games are supposed to be developed out of some kind of love for gaming... it is and always has been a business.

People will spend 100s of dollars on clothing or identical phones or w/e, they will go to a cafe or a pub and spend 20-50 bucks on a single round or w/e but balk at the idea of spending 20 bucks on a indie game that took one guy 3 years to make. Then expect them to support it for free for the next decade... it is so ridiculous an attitude that it is actually sickening.

 

[d3v]

Please. They make a friggin fortune on initial sales alone.
Dlc is just so the CEO can buy his daughter a pink labourghini for her sweet sixteenth.

Actualy, most AAA games these days need DLC just to recoup the initial investment. I doubt that NRS games are the exception to this.

 

[Compbros]

This is exactly what I have been complaining about.

Just greedy money-whores.

It has nothing to do with enabling people with less time to keep up.
They design it in such a way that grinding is monotonous and incompletable so you feel inclined to pay.

You had to grind quite a bit in MK9 to get everything and there was no option to unlock via pay. NRS games have always been grindy to give more single player content and replayabilitiy.