80 réponses à ce sujet

[cap and gown]

When I got ME3 I had never played an ME game before. I liked ME3 just fine though, but became rather angry when I found out there was a third ending I would not see unless I bought some DLC, or the previous games, or played MP. Initially, I didn't feel inclined to do any of those things. I still don't feel that should have been forced on me, even though I eventually ended up doing all of them.

 

My question is: why was BW so gung-ho on having people play MP? Did they really think once people tried it they would reap a micro-transaction bonanza? I mean, you don't have to spend a penny of real money to play MP, and in fact I never have. What gives?

[Mordokai]

Immersion in the game? There's supposedly a war going on across the galaxy and I guess they were hoping to show that with multiplayer. Take a hotspot and defend it or suffer the consequences. Lose too many valuable resources and you lose the war.

[Obadiah]

I don't think MP was necessary for Synthesis. It was necessary to get an EMS score high enough for the destroy breath scene.

[dreamgazer]

You could get Synthesis without MP. It was difficult to get the destroy breath scene, though, unless you played MP or had the Datapad app.  

 

I wouldn't say they forced MP directly, but they definitely encouraged the usage of external "products" (though the Datapad app was free for any of the many people who had Apple devices). 

[themikefest]

On a default ME3 playthrough  you could get synthesis ending.

 

To get the breath scene you needed multiplayer. Of course the extended cut lowered the number that was needed.

[MassivelyEffective0730]

You could get synthesis without playing MP. However, beyond the Datapad app (which is painfully slow to use), you more or less had to play MP to get High EMS Destroy. 

 

Of course, this was contradictory at the time for BW who claimed that MP wasn't necessary to the single-player and wouldn't have an effect on it; "You don't need to play multiplayer to get the best outcome" was the statement they made; granted, unless they were subtlely referring to the Datapad app (which I very highly doubt), they were referring to synthesis, as this was the time when they were rather direct that they considered synthesis to be the best ending.

[JasonShepard]

To check - the OP is saying that in vanilla ME3, with no import, DLC or MP, then Synthesis was impossible? That seems... odd. And I certainly hadn't heard it before.

 

I'm aware that the Destroy Breath Scene was impossible to attain in ME3 without MP until the first bit of DLC, the EC, came out (hooray for acronyms!). Although Dev comments at the time indicated that this was a mistake.

[dreamgazer]

You could also bump your assets just high enough with the Infiltrator game, too, if I recall correctly.

[CronoDragoon]

My question is: why was BW so gung-ho on having people play MP? Did they really think once people tried it they would reap a micro-transaction bonanza?

 

Well, considering MP's success they probably did. Most of a company's microtransaction profits come from a small population of individuals known as whales.

[AlexMBrennan]

My question is: why was BW so gung-ho on having people play MP?

Because it's cheap (look at how many hours the "farmers" have wasted on MP replaying the exact same level over and over again - imagine having to create unique campaign missions to keep people playing for the same length of time), and because it's monetized (if you get people hooked on MP, they are more likely to spend money on MP microtransactions than if they never touched the MP part)

 

The same applies to datapad app, which was essentially a prettified iOS Twitter client - you can make every player check your Twitter feeds a couple of times a day at next to zero cost

[KrrKs]

Well, considering MP's success they probably did. Most of a company's microtransaction profits come from a small population of individuals known as whales.

This.

 

Also it is EAs ( somewhat newer) policy that ALL games under any circumstances absolutely need an Multiplayer part! (and an cellphone/tablet game and who knows what else)

[cap and gown]

Because it's cheap (look at how many hours the "farmers" have wasted on MP replaying the exact same level over and over again - imagine having to create unique campaign missions to keep people playing for the same length of time), and because it's monetized (if you get people hooked on MP, they are more likely to spend money on MP microtransactions than if they never touched the MP part)

 

The same applies to datapad app, which was essentially a prettified iOS Twitter client - you can make every player check your Twitter feeds a couple of times a day at next to zero cost

 

"Farmers" seem to be the exact opposite of "whales" though. Farmers are trying to earn in-game credits to get higher level gear, while whales want to short-circuit the whole time spent in-game and get right to the high level guns/etc. So, having someone addicted to MP who then goes on to farm is not going to get you any earnings. (I've done some farming myself.)

 

My guess would be the BW was counting on whales. Still, it doesn't seem as though you would need to beat people over the head to try out MP. People who like that sort of thing would try it out regardless. Particularly the "whale" type who seems to be intent on becoming top dog.

[CronoDragoon]

My guess would be the BW was counting on whales. Still, it doesn't seem as though you would need to beat people over the head to try out MP. People who like that sort of thing would try it out regardless. Particularly the "whale" type who seems to be intent on becoming top dog.

 

Yes, it doesn't seem like requiring MP for High-EMS Destroy was targeted at whales. My guess was it was targeted at people who didn't think they wanted to do MP, but might end up liking it if given the incentive to give it a shot. Anecdotally I've seen a lot of those people, so mission....still accomplished I guess?

[dreamgazer]

Didn't know anything about the breath scene at this point, but the prospect of elevating the galaxy's "readiness" in the story (even though I figured it would be minimal at best) did nudge me towards trying the MP out during my first playthrough, despite not being an online gamer at all. Turns out, I had a great time with it for a while, though I predictably got bored with it and stuck with sporadically fiddling with the app until the EC.

[CronoDragoon]

MP is also great if you want some Mass Effect goodness without committing to a new playthrough. Over the past few weeks I've been playing it on and off. God the Widow is my jam.

[Excella Gionne]

It was pretty difficult to get endings especially Perfect Destroy. Synthesis was easy though. I never liked the "forced to play MP" just to raise GRR. And because MP changes how many endings you can get without modding assets, ME3's Low EMS endings are impossible for individuals who constantly promote and play ME3 MP.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

One play-through I had EMS of over 9000. Same crappy ending. People with EMS over 20000. Same crappy ending. If you played a ton of MP and promoted to get EMS 100000? Same crappy ending. You'd think the last one you could refuse and win.

[dreamgazer]

BioWare didn't think the promotion thing through very well, because ultimately the MP assets are really nothing more than a single infantry of foot soldiers that varies in size.

[ImaginaryMatter]

BioWare didn't think the promotion thing through very well, because ultimately the MP assets are really nothing more than a single infantry of foot soldiers that varies in size.

 

It does seem a little weird that a few N7s holding something called Fire Base Red contribute more to the war effort than the entirety of the Migrant Fleet.

[themikefest]

One play-through I had EMS of over 9000. Same crappy ending. People with EMS over 20000. Same crappy ending. If you played a ton of MP and promoted to get EMS 100000? Same crappy ending. You'd think the last one you could refuse and win.

Using your 20 000 number. Since you only need 3100 for the breath scene, I would imagine the other 16 900 are  playing cards and drinking beer.

 

 

 

 

[Iakus]

 

My question is: why was BW so gung-ho on having people play MP? Did they really think once people tried it they would reap a micro-transaction bonanza? I mean, you don't have to spend a penny of real money to play MP, and in fact I never have. What gives?

Simple answer?

 

$$$$$$

 

Sure, you can get by without it, but you're hamstringing yourself.  And spending real money on RNG crates, in theory, makes things easier with the chances for more consumables, better equipment, etc.

 

It's not exactly pay-to-win, since nothing (beyond the breath scene) was behind a pay wall.  But it does "encourage" you do do so.

[dreamgazer]

It does seem a little weird that a few N7s holding something called Fire Base Red contribute more to the war effort than the entirety of the Migrant Fleet.

You could make the argument that the asset scoring is dependent on how well they boost the galaxy's morale, in which case a handful of rock-star soldiers could contribute more than random ships or materials. But yeah, still borked.

[ImaginaryMatter]

You could make the argument that the asset scoring is dependent on how well they boost the galaxy's morale, in which case a handful of rock-star soldiers could contribute more than random ships or materials. But yeah, still borked.

 

I wish we could have brought them to the final battle. We all could have ran up to Harbinger and punched (Krogan charged) him into scrap metal.

[cap and gown]

Simple answer?

 

$$$$$$

 

Sure, you can get by without it, but you're hamstringing yourself.  And spending real money on RNG crates, in theory, makes things easier with the chances for more consumables, better equipment, etc.

 

It's not exactly pay-to-win, since nothing (beyond the breath scene) was behind a pay wall.  But it does "encourage" you do do so.

 

The problem with the RNG store is that it is NOT pay to win, at all, at all, at all. The poor odds of getting ANYTHING useful at all is why I would never spend a single penny there. And this is from someone who has all the story DLC, all the weapon DLC, and even one of the alternate appearance packs.

[AlanC9]

One play-through I had EMS of over 9000. Same crappy ending. People with EMS over 20000. Same crappy ending. If you played a ton of MP and promoted to get EMS 100000? Same crappy ending. You'd think the last one you could refuse and win.

Wait.... so you think that MP should have been even more important than it was?