Here we are again...

So, here we are again. Me having no recourse but to register my disgust with the latest "Our Players are just bags of money we need to punch hard enough to force them to cough up the goods" move from EA.

Now, i have said it before, but it bares repeating, because i do understand the need for the games creators to make money. "I have no problem with you making new game modes and locking them behind paywalls, that doesn't take away from the free-to-play experience, but adds more to the paid experience. That's fair. People who pay more towards the game SHOULD get more than those who don't. But it does really grind my gears when a game dev deliberately makes an update to the game to actively lock a previously free-to-play mechanic behind a pay-wall." This time, it's actually 2 things at the same time.

I will say, i have no problem with the new character unlock system and Colosseum. Again, it's an example of "Not taking away from the current game, while actively incentivising them people to pay for the new stuff." I mean, i'm sure that people are annoyed that they can't use new characters the way they could before, but at the same time, this is brand new characters that they couldn't use before anyway. But the incentivisation's aren't only in this system and that's where the problem lies.

I actually used to very much enjoy the Weekly Challenges. They were fun and i was sad to see them go. But i am very annoyed to see them having been revived and locked behind the pay-wall that is the new characters. Now, that wouldn't be so bad, if you didn't tie the Chapter Awards into having to beat them, which you can't do without spending real money on either the brand new currency, or buying the episode pass. Now, when it was just 1 chapter award, i was a bit annoyed... Now that it's 2 different chapter awards that i've been locked out of, because i don't have enough disposable income to throw at this game, that's really got my hackles up.

I suspect that this will mean nothing to the Devs, as player feedback usually tends to get filed straight into the Recycling, but all i ask is that, at least for the episodes going forward, can you either A) Make the first three Era Challenges of them actually beatable with Rank 15 characters (Because the game is pretty much hard coded to prevent you going above that without paying real money.) Or B) Don't lock the Episode Quest Chapter Awards behind beating 3 challenges. Especially don't lock 2 different Episode Quest Chapter Awards behind beating the 3 challenges that Free-To-Play players can never hope to defeat.

Pretty much, don't just go "Hey, guys, you know the chapter awards we used to give you can absolutely fully complete if you played the game at least an hour a day. Well, now if you want a chance at that, then you will have to start paying us, you tightwads."

I don't believe in getting loud and angry and nasty, so i have laid out my complaint and given a perfectly reasonable solution. In the meantime, i will be witholding my semi-regular payments to the game, because i suspect that money is the only thing EA will listen to.