I was hoping to get a glimpse of them last night, but was only killed by the, let’s face it, boring, Natascha. The farmer in this vid shows off the Sandvich, Natascha, and the Killing Boxing Gloves of Doom. Or whatever they’re called:
I’ll admit something here. I’m really unhappy with the unlocking system. I don’t believe I should have to play X number of hours in order to unlock new weapons, regardless of how easy or hard the achievements are to get. So I downloaded a nifty little hack that unlocked all the achievements automatically and played around with the new items. They really aren’t very good. Natascha NEEDS a kritzkrieg to be effective and the KGB are just a muck-around weapon. I feel sorry for the people who get the weapons legitimately because they’re grinding achievements which will ultimately disappoint them. Not happy with this one, valve. Just my 2c.
The argument was valid for the Medic update only, once valve changed the system it’s no longer a grind. Now it can only be considered grinding if you’re playing to get the unlockables for a class that you wouldn’t normally play, in which case, why do you want the unlockables? It still won’t be your preferred class, gone and forgotten again.
Feel sorry for me. I’ve unlocked the first 2 by “grinding” for 3 hours, tops, and being pretty valuable for my team at the same time.
Well, either way, I still think it’s an exploitative business plan, to make people play more of the game in order for them to be able to enjoy it to the fullest. Sure, 3 hours might not be much, but it’s 3 hours you may have spent elsewhere had it not been for Valve’s design. In any case, as long as you had fun, it doens’t matter.
You’ve gone from just not liking it to attributing it to exploitation, do you even know what that word means? A horrible, but more accurate assessment of the term than you used might be tjat my mother exploited me as a kid for making me do chores around the house for no pay or reward. But in your sense it doesn’t even compute. Valve gains nothing by us continuing to play their game, and certainly gains less than that zero gained prior to the update by having us earn the upgrades.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not disputing your opinion and whether it’s correct or not, just your expression of it.
Well put it this way… Valve gains as much from people playing their game for as long as possible as MMO companies do. The longer people play, the more likely it is for OTHER people to buy the game and play as well. If a game has no staying power (i.e. imagine TF2 with no updates, it would have gotten older - faster) then people stop playing it earlier and thus profits drop because nobody else wants to play a game that already has a tiny playerbase. So I heartfully disagree that Valve gains nothing when people continue to play their game. I believe it’s an integral part of their business plan.
Oh come on, apples to apples. You can’t compare a subscription based game that absolutely has to have a steady stream of new content to satisfy the rabid that will finish everything that’s thrown at them to a one time purchase game where anything additional is icing on the cake. Here, the rabid like you and I and others that would come to this site and others like it would have continued to play regardless.
Secondly, yeah, marketing 101. People being seen using your product is generally more valuable than the paid marketing. Seeing someone at the park drinking a Pepsi in a Nike shirt, that’s the effect, not someone playing a game in the privacy of their own home.
Their marketing isn’t the content, it’s what goes with it. The free weekends, guest passes, half price purchase weekends and ‘meet the’ videos. They’re all pretty effective. Where good marketing ends and where you say it crosses into exploitation, I don’t care to understand. You just keep cheating and you won’t have to worry about it.
August 20th, 2008 - 1:40 pm
ooh I’ll have to play to-night
August 20th, 2008 - 6:20 pm
I’ll admit something here. I’m really unhappy with the unlocking system. I don’t believe I should have to play X number of hours in order to unlock new weapons, regardless of how easy or hard the achievements are to get. So I downloaded a nifty little hack that unlocked all the achievements automatically and played around with the new items. They really aren’t very good. Natascha NEEDS a kritzkrieg to be effective and the KGB are just a muck-around weapon. I feel sorry for the people who get the weapons legitimately because they’re grinding achievements which will ultimately disappoint them. Not happy with this one, valve. Just my 2c.
August 20th, 2008 - 7:09 pm
Stoop 4 president!
August 21st, 2008 - 7:25 am
Stoop for CRY MORE!
The argument was valid for the Medic update only, once valve changed the system it’s no longer a grind. Now it can only be considered grinding if you’re playing to get the unlockables for a class that you wouldn’t normally play, in which case, why do you want the unlockables? It still won’t be your preferred class, gone and forgotten again.
Feel sorry for me. I’ve unlocked the first 2 by “grinding” for 3 hours, tops, and being pretty valuable for my team at the same time.
August 21st, 2008 - 12:54 pm
FNF HEARTS L AKIRA
August 21st, 2008 - 11:50 pm
Well, either way, I still think it’s an exploitative business plan, to make people play more of the game in order for them to be able to enjoy it to the fullest. Sure, 3 hours might not be much, but it’s 3 hours you may have spent elsewhere had it not been for Valve’s design. In any case, as long as you had fun, it doens’t matter.
August 23rd, 2008 - 6:13 am
You’ve gone from just not liking it to attributing it to exploitation, do you even know what that word means? A horrible, but more accurate assessment of the term than you used might be tjat my mother exploited me as a kid for making me do chores around the house for no pay or reward. But in your sense it doesn’t even compute. Valve gains nothing by us continuing to play their game, and certainly gains less than that zero gained prior to the update by having us earn the upgrades.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not disputing your opinion and whether it’s correct or not, just your expression of it.
August 23rd, 2008 - 9:36 am
Well put it this way… Valve gains as much from people playing their game for as long as possible as MMO companies do. The longer people play, the more likely it is for OTHER people to buy the game and play as well. If a game has no staying power (i.e. imagine TF2 with no updates, it would have gotten older - faster) then people stop playing it earlier and thus profits drop because nobody else wants to play a game that already has a tiny playerbase. So I heartfully disagree that Valve gains nothing when people continue to play their game. I believe it’s an integral part of their business plan.
August 24th, 2008 - 8:27 am
Oh come on, apples to apples. You can’t compare a subscription based game that absolutely has to have a steady stream of new content to satisfy the rabid that will finish everything that’s thrown at them to a one time purchase game where anything additional is icing on the cake. Here, the rabid like you and I and others that would come to this site and others like it would have continued to play regardless.
Secondly, yeah, marketing 101. People being seen using your product is generally more valuable than the paid marketing. Seeing someone at the park drinking a Pepsi in a Nike shirt, that’s the effect, not someone playing a game in the privacy of their own home.
Their marketing isn’t the content, it’s what goes with it. The free weekends, guest passes, half price purchase weekends and ‘meet the’ videos. They’re all pretty effective. Where good marketing ends and where you say it crosses into exploitation, I don’t care to understand. You just keep cheating and you won’t have to worry about it.
August 24th, 2008 - 7:38 pm
I guess we agree to disagree