This month’s prizemap is 202 prize bulbs, only 2 less than the last one, but get this, the minimum bulbs needed to get the final prize is now 139 bulbs, 19 more than last months which was 120 for shogun corn.Popcap is now INCREASING the grind, and if you don’t unlock him costs a ridiculous 500k coins (though 500k most people probably have by now due to Popcap refusing to add more cosmetics to the prize-o-matic.Which leads to the next point, where are the map cosmetics people may have missed? What happens to them? How are you supposed to obtain them if you missed them? And let us not forget how slow Popcap is dripping content, one month is usually just a handful of overpriced cosmetics and maybe one or two gameplay related things (upgrade, map, or character). The grind gives an artificial feel for how much new content there actually is.Popcap removed 100s of variants AND torchwood and hover goat for this? I wouldn’t be surprised if Wizard and Berry Brigade are the only post launch new characters seeing this subpar rate of content flow.Popcap refuses to fix the underlying problems and continues to adopt this f2p tier grind mindset in a game that costs 40 dollars.

@GutmanSca I think these two have some pretty valid complaints here. Remember to keep in mind how time can be subjective to a person. Playing a significant amount every day just isn't plausible for a lot of players, maybe to some this grind really isn't easy as you would think. Personally, its very off putting. I've played daily now with 50 bulbs stocked prior to this month's prizemap and I'm still really not close at all to getting the wizard. I haven't done any exploits, but its starting to feel like I would be better off boring myself to death grinding ai or whatever. I mean, even Overwatch releases their new characters free to everyone. People who may have returned to try out the brand new character might just be scared off again because they have to trudge through the prizemap.And rainbow stars are still given out... very sparingly. I haven't done the math, but I can't imagine its all that possible to get a legendary skin in a plausible amount of time. Every single new skin has been sent to Rux instead of the reward-o-tron. Which.... uses the game's main currency and reward, so I'd argue.... these things actually do affect gameplay. I should also add that all of these tactics they are using to monetize the game are very clearly preying on the FOMO. Purchase some bulbs to play wizard right now... or grind for an entire month. Buy rainbow stars for this skin before it switches out of Rux's inventory... or spend like an entire year saving up rainbow stars..And while GW 2's balance isn't all that great, gameplay wise its a much more smooth and polished shooter. BFN is pretty clunky and uncomfortable. Meaning... BFN's monetization is much more egregious than GW 2's, yet its gameplay is far less polished. Icky stuff. Can't blame these guys for complaining.

I think you're forgetting some of us have jobs and personal lives. We can't all be teenagers/young men that can afford to spend hours on end on a single game.

Really testing my loyalty, I've cut back to just playing most days for daily challenges and most of character challenges if I could be bothered. New characters should just be unlocked like overeatxh did when introducing them. Now I log in get bunch of can't connect to ea server blah blah, finanly get in check challengers OK go to switch char get invisible bug, close game out log back, OK 15 kills with certain char goes giddy park 14 kills *disconnect host has left* log back in 0/15 kills. Really testing my patience.

To be honest, I was fine with the prize maps when it was all costumes and hats and such. Last month putting the upgrade in the pass and now a new character I think is a bad idea, even though I went and unlocked them. Paladins have a battle pass system where you unlock skins, grave markers etc. and the new one just started. It's a bug-ridden mess, but new characters are never put in the battle pass, just skins and other cosmetic stuff. Now the game's model is different, it's F2P or you can buy the pack that means you always get champions when they're released, or you can use gold (coins basically) or their crystals (the RL money currency) to grab new champions. It works pretty well and since you can play that game for free, it makes sense there, not so much in BfN. BfN has an upfront cost so I feel characters should be immediately available to everyone and not in the prize map. As a live service game I know it's expected that people will spend money to support ongoing development (and some of us do), but the monetization of the game is a jumble; it feels like partly a B2P game and a F2P game at the same time. The legendary upgrades are a great idea and I love that the Shogun Guard doesn't feel OP, just an option, but 300 rainbow stars for new/returning players vs. just playing through February is not going to help call people to return to the game if they've left for awhile, and new players will feel they have to burn through a lot of cash to catch up, that's going to turn a lot of people off.You can earn rainbow stars in game, and the weekly challenges have been much better the last few weeks than they first were, but at 60 a week + 150 from the map that's a 390 in 4 weeks. You can buy 1 upgrade with that but let's say 5 upgrades are added by the end of the year and someone gets the game for Xmas, that's 1500 rainbow stars to catch up. That's bad optics and can be very frustrating. BfN, like both GW games, needs a large playerbase to survive and thrive. I really don't want such high barriers to entry like this. 500k coins for the wizard next month sounds decent to most of us as we sit on millions of coins that don't do anything but daunting to a new player. I personally like the idea of the timers for spawning bots and pots instead of stickers as it means we can't single-handedly flood a point with outhouse zombies. I also like that when I buy capsules I'm not getting thousands of self-revives and team retries that I'll use a tiny fraction of. But with the lack of sticker packs and the very limited amount of items in the reward-o-tron, coins feel pointless. And while I love the free roam regions, they're possibly my favorite part of the game, these regional currencies are also currently pointless once you 100% everything. This makes the Rux store all the more grating as a lot of the stuff he sells should be in reward-o-tron and it would give us a use for all these coins and/or regional currencies.On top of that, the grand master ranks don't feel like they much of a point. No new upgrades, 1k coins per level, and increasing your rank plate number (while the plate doesn't change) all feel pointless. Why not add the legendary upgrades to these ranks or give players some more useful reward for these ranks?One of many reasons I uninstalled Overwatch was their garbage loot box system. A full price game with an obnoxious gamble crate system was bogus and unlike the sticker packs in GW1 and 2, you could, and did, get a lot of repeats that give you a pittance of a currency that you couldn't even use on some time limited items, that game was huge into FOMO. Don't do that here. We need some substantial changes to BfN's currency, prize map, and character/upgrade system that makes the game more welcoming to new people, and more friendly to people's time. We need both long term players like me to stick around, and for people that want to play very casually to feel like they can login and not miss characters and other crucial things, just some costumes and other extra stuff that won't hurt their chance to compete.

@GutmanSca Yes, it is. The grinding is boring and long, no game should EVER have a constant grind to trudge through, any good game will have no grind at all or a small grind for something that doesn't matter much. Sometimes people don't have all the time in the world to play a buggy mess like this and just want to finish the prize map by grinding for bulbs, often times using methods that won't last a week because Popcap cares more about the game's MTX than its actual flaws, there's been numerous examples of Popcap patching out methods to level up or get bulbs, which is something they didn't do in GW2. If you found a method to level up in GW2 you could use it for months or years without it being patched. And microtransactions are still a huge part of the game, want that cool skin from rux before it's gone forever? Buy some rainbow stars, bud. Want a cool unique upgrade for Kernel Corn? 300 stars, pay up. It's disgusting and relies on FOMO way too much, you could argue GW2 did that and I'd agree, but it's worse in BFN. And then there's the GW2 balancing thing, GW2 IS balanced to some extent, you can get top of the post-match leaderboards in GW2 just by playing really well, I've gotten decent games as bad characters numerous times. Stop trying to defend BFN's awful MTX, polish, and gameplay.

Is this a joke, Popcap? | EA Forums

18 Replies

Sammichu
6 years ago
@ScreenhogRSnail BFN is a shining example of EA games unfortunately, annoying pesky MTX (microtransactions), long and boring grind, etc, and posting here will do nothing because popcap doesn't check these forums, the only time I've seen shaun laker or someone on the bfn/gw2 team post here was that quick update regarding gw2's online modes. If Berry Brigade and Mini Garg turn out to be arse, I'm probably just gonna stick to only GW2 since that game right now has much more polish and balance than BFN.
GutmanSca
6 years ago
@ScreenhogRSnail Man, I have a BUNCH of compromises daily, and I was able to get Wizard in two days without glitches or paying money. Stop complaining about an easy thing you can do in a week of little dedication, when you have a full month to do it.
@Sammichu No, this game is NOT an example for what you said, the grinding can be done only be playing online, or playing anything you want easily, microtransactions are getting more and more a "no reason to buy* because of more rainbow stars peer week, and the fact that 99% of the game's buyable content is not gameplay changer.
If you think GW2 is anywhere more balanced than BfN, I don't know what you drinked, but Im fine with only water or orange juice, just saying.
brady3176
6 years ago
@GutmanSca I think these two have some pretty valid complaints here. Remember to keep in mind how time can be subjective to a person. Playing a significant amount every day just isn't plausible for a lot of players, maybe to some this grind really isn't easy as you would think. Personally, its very off putting. I've played daily now with 50 bulbs stocked prior to this month's prizemap and I'm still really not close at all to getting the wizard. I haven't done any exploits, but its starting to feel like I would be better off boring myself to death grinding ai or whatever. I mean, even Overwatch releases their new characters free to everyone. People who may have returned to try out the brand new character might just be scared off again because they have to trudge through the prizemap.

And rainbow stars are still given out... very sparingly. I haven't done the math, but I can't imagine its all that possible to get a legendary skin in a plausible amount of time. Every single new skin has been sent to Rux instead of the reward-o-tron. Which.... uses the game's main currency and reward, so I'd argue.... these things actually do affect gameplay. I should also add that all of these tactics they are using to monetize the game are very clearly preying on the FOMO. Purchase some bulbs to play wizard right now... or grind for an entire month. Buy rainbow stars for this skin before it switches out of Rux's inventory... or spend like an entire year saving up rainbow stars..

And while GW 2's balance isn't all that great, gameplay wise its a much more smooth and polished shooter. BFN is pretty clunky and uncomfortable. Meaning... BFN's monetization is much more egregious than GW 2's, yet its gameplay is far less polished. Icky stuff. Can't blame these guys for complaining.
Sammichu
6 years ago
@GutmanSca Yes, it is. The grinding is boring and long, no game should EVER have a constant grind to trudge through, any good game will have no grind at all or a small grind for something that doesn't matter much. Sometimes people don't have all the time in the world to play a buggy mess like this and just want to finish the prize map by grinding for bulbs, often times using methods that won't last a week because Popcap cares more about the game's MTX than its actual flaws, there's been numerous examples of Popcap patching out methods to level up or get bulbs, which is something they didn't do in GW2. If you found a method to level up in GW2 you could use it for months or years without it being patched. And microtransactions are still a huge part of the game, want that cool skin from rux before it's gone forever? Buy some rainbow stars, bud. Want a cool unique upgrade for Kernel Corn? 300 stars, pay up. It's disgusting and relies on FOMO way too much, you could argue GW2 did that and I'd agree, but it's worse in BFN. And then there's the GW2 balancing thing, GW2 IS balanced to some extent, you can get top of the post-match leaderboards in GW2 just by playing really well, I've gotten decent games as bad characters numerous times. Stop trying to defend BFN's awful MTX, polish, and gameplay.
TrumpTheGreat69
6 years ago
I think you're forgetting some of us have jobs and personal lives. We can't all be teenagers/young men that can afford to spend hours on end on a single game.
shurikeninja
6 years ago
@TrumpTheGreat69 Well the point that a lot are missing is that you're not meant to get it on the first day if you've got a life. The map is designed to be completed over a month, but it can be completed in a lot less time.

I understand that we're all desperate to get Wizard and that can be uncomfortable but to complain so much because of it is just.. back in my day there was a little thing called Garden Warfare. Those times of treacherous grind and lootbox tomfoolery are merely forgotten dreams now.
stukapooka
Legend
6 years ago
This game is just too grindy ive had to use 50 saved over bulbs and deadbeard glitch to get a third of it done, the content is paper thin because popcap released the game in an awful state that besides the pve areas, gutted everything loved from gw1 and 2 such as custom matches, solo and private ops, and variants for a broken upgrade system.
stukapooka
Legend
6 years ago
@Sammichu Gw2's balance isnt perfect but I don't feel like I lost just because I picked an inferior character in the meta and wanna smash my controller into a wall like I do with bfn and i'd rather fight teams of electro peas and toxic brainz than teams of spacestaions and snapdragons.
brady3176
6 years ago
@shurikeninjaI'm sorry, but I hate this argument. Every person I see who says something like this always fails to consider how subjective time is. Its inconsiderate to just assume someone could dedicate such a steady amount of their time each and every month to just BFN. For pete's sake this a game, not a job. Ideally, nothing about it should be unfun or slow for the sake of being unfun.. and slow! Games should be fun! What a novel concept! 🤒
You're right though. The prizemap is designed to be completed in a month, and they do this by purposely slowing you down with useless filler. Its a slow and unrewarding experience that has no respect for your time. This is intentional design meant to pressure you into just buying your way through the map. Compare BFN's prizemaps and rainbow stars to the so called "treacherous grind" of GW.. and there is quite a big difference. You are ignoring the fact that GW1/2, for the most part, had no time limits on their unlockables. On top of that you are constantly rewarded from playing and aren't ever really purposely dragged down. Its not like that one variant or customization is going to disappear forever next month. Neither will you spend your 75k hard earned coins on a character pack and unlock one single chat message. Don't get me wrong, I really hate some aspects of GW1/2's monetization ( I have always hated Rux and I always will! ) , but it is absolutely silly to even try and compare it to the horror that BFN's monetization is.
stukapooka
Legend
6 years ago
@brady3176 Heck torchwood and hovergoat could also be earned without playing the event portal through regualr stars due to the seagull, meanwhile bfn has no alternatives to earning any other forms of currency from one another except buying bulbs with rainbow stars which can be bought with real money. Also without plumbing gig or the deadbeard glitch most players will earn about 5 bulbs a day and thats including the daily challenges.