Forum Discussion

Re: The Apex store is an absolute scam and I don't care about the prices.

I bought the Pathfinder ALGS bundle as I play him most often. I've spent hundreds on this game and completed a bunch of the battle passes. Like I said I don't mind spending money on the games I enjoy.

I would pay $500 outright for an heirloom. I have bought multiple "editions" as they have a dollar value and aren't locked behind proprietary prices. I don't care about the skins being expensive. I care that so much of the cosmetics are locked behind gambling. It doesn't reward the people who plays thousands of hours, it exploits those who are gambling addicts or have stupid amounts of disposable income. But I'm certainly not going to buy $500 worth of packs for the chance to win an heirloom because I'd have better luck winning actual money at a literal casino.

> As far as heirlooms are concerned, the devs have been VERY clear that you shouldn't expect to get one without opening up to 500 packs

I've opened well over 500 and haven't gotten one. I've watched streamers open hundreds on stream and get nothing. I understand how a slot machine works and that's the problem. It's a scam because instead of these awesome pieces of art being made available to the people who have been supporting this game since it's launch, it's locked behind a predatory gambling structure. It's a scam.

5 Replies

LaughingSharko
4 years ago
@crumpsly You're literally guaranteed to get one after opening 500 packs, so you're not being honest here.
crumpsly
4 years ago
I doubt that is enforced at all. I know for a fact I've opened at least 345 from purchased apex coins alone before season 3, + 20 for level 1-20, and another 165 from level 20-350 + however many from battle passes and flash events. That's why I don't buy them anymore and call them a scam lol.
LaughingSharko
4 years ago
@crumpsly What do you mean enforced? It's hardwired into the game, lol. You get legendary items every X number of packs, and the same with heirlooms. If you don't have one your math is obviously off.

Otherwise, you know what you can do? Contact customer service. You can show them your pack purchases and demand your free heirloom. So if you have the records on your account, go for it!
crumpsly
4 years ago
> If you don't have one your math is obviously off.
I bought the $100 apex coin pack at the start once each season in season 1, 2 and 3. You get enough coins for 115 packs from each. 115 x 3 is 345. I know I've opened at least 500. I have contacted customer service about it a couple time. Once in like season 4 and they told me there was nothing they could do. Once in season 9 because the few packs I had didn't work. The game would disconnect while opening, pack was gone and nothing added to my inventory. Again was told there was nothing that could be done.
But honestly that's beside the point, because this was never a post about me wanting an heirloom. It's a post about how the proprietary currency is a dishonest business model that exploits people as opposed to one that allows the people who support the game the most to be rewarded with their loyalty. Even if I had all the heirlooms it wouldn't change the fact that charging 1800 coins for something and not allowing you to buy 1800 coins is scummy. Imagine going to a store and trying to buy something for 5 dollars, but they tell you that you can only buy it with StoreBucks and you can only purchase a minimum of $20 of StoreBucks. Would you shop there?
I don't care if the * is expensive. Just let me buy it outright, instead of forcing me to play a slot machine.
LaughingSharko
4 years ago
@crumpsly https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Can-t-recieve-heirloom-shards-through-500-after-lock-ACE/m-p/10062900/highlight/true#M98409

This post may help with your pack calculations.

As for the other point, I think you'd have to rail against any free-to-play MMO if you want the option to pay exactly the dollar amount of each item. I'm not sure if it has to do with different platforms taking their cut or some payment processor requirements, but I've never seen any MMOs that allow you to purchase custom amounts of virtual currency.