Ooh I like the guitar slung over his shoulder. You can tell that he may be a businessman but he is also cool and hip and in touch with the gaming community

I understand that these things are thrown in because companies want to make money but some of the ideas are ridiculous.

It reminds me of a little comic: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/4/25/

I lke the fact that it should requires a certain amount of skill to unlock a badass weapon or attachment, etc., and make it where only the real skillfull can attain it. Something that's above my skill level and rquires me to get better if I want it. In other words make me reach! Damn it!

They want you to get it too GrayDragon, They want you to reach but they want you to use their patented "pay to use" step ladder.

:rofl:

Thats odd, when people see my 10th Prestige emblem, they ask if I boosted or hacked.

Well as a reward system the goal is to unlock everything, once the goal is finished then whats left to do? thats the casual gamers view point. and so far the only game ive seen get a good balance between fun gameplay and unlocks is cod4. I remember when i used to play timesplitters 2 & 3 all the time just because it was fun and still had a variety of weapons, its a shame that not too many games have taken that route in a long time. Good thing about Brink is that we can make new characters and we cant unlock everything in one character so it might even do a better balance of fun and unlocks than cod4 (atleast im hoping it does).

And that goes back to the topic...if people just want to buy all the weapons/equipment, why not let them? These people don't want to go through the unlocking process, they just want to be able to play the game for the game, not in an attempt to rank up.

If there is a Unlock All DLC im not going to play anymore because then you get everyong buying everything and then boom nomore challenges D:

you know some people just hate grinding.

personally, I dont like the unlock systems - but I know in the console age its something you have to put up with.

The reason I hate them is:
1) unless the game allows mods that unlock for custom servers, you will have an unequal footing among competitive teams in competitions. Several months down the road its less of a problem, but most games are make and break in the first 2 months of release.
2) Grinding. COD was horrible at this. If you wanted to get a certain achievement it forced you to do some really stupid things like jumping off buildings to your death etc. BF2 was another example of this.
3) People who buy the game late or just dont play as often are forced at an unfair advantage for many game play hours. If you really wanted to match skill, it should be equal for all players not those who just have been on longer.

I sincerely hope that for competition sake, there are tools to restrict weapons, class limitations (ie 2 lights / heavies per side etc.) and for unranked games - the ability to have all players have all unlocks.

From a pub perspective, the $10 unlock option is fine with me. If I like the game enough, I would take advantage of it just so I dont have to grind. If I wanted to grind, Id play WoW.

im indifferent about the idea for a couple reasons. i dont like the idea of those dlcs bc it pretty much makes a player that earned the weapon not mean as much and EA even threw in a camo for the players that bought it, but as you said its a game why not let players do what they want. The only way im completely ok with those types of dlc if theres something like camo for the guns or something on the gun that shows the player actually earned the gun instead of just buying it.

One aspect of Brink's leveling up and unlocking is pacing players and introducing them to different aspects. Like you don't have heavies off the bat because you have to level a bit on character and unlock it. Since you would have to level your character anyway to compete at the highest character level (20) you would unlock those things anyway. Eventually, if you plan on playing the game for long enough that you bought a copy to own and play for months, you would have done it a few times and saved the money.

Not to mention all you would pay for would be guns and character skins. You would still have to level up to 20 in order to get your maximum ability points and top skills. So you would still have to "grind" up to 20 to "unlock" your skills. So if you have to go through it anyway why would you pay to have just one part of it done for you?

Well it does throw off the game's balance......

how so? brink claims to be a very balance game and if its truely balanced a new player should be able to play with the highest lvl player easily. the only thing it throws off is the meaning of the work it takes to unlock the gun/equipment etc.

What about in a game like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, where a large number of players were at level 50 within 2 weeks after release.

If you can unlock things fast, it shouldn't be such a problem, imo. And the rank-based matchmaking should allow for a some competitive play even among lower-level players.

thats only partially true. But honestly, do you really expect to rank up all the way in 2 weeks? What about the players who put in maybe 5-10 hours a week because they have a life? For $10 to have a fair fight, its worth it to many people.

also for PC players, Ill set fire to any game that doesnt have a server browser. I cant stand matchmaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any PC player will do the same.

If you only play 5-10 hours a week why would you spend extra money on the game? In order to get the highest skills and abilities you will have to put in time in order to level up. The game match makes according to level so it will always be challenging for your current level. What exactly are you saving by paying that extra $10?

so that my 5-10 hours can be spent with my friends who spend 20 hours and not be at a disadvantage. Especially if you use the matchmaking ability, you would just bring everyone else down and make it so they cant use thier higher abilities.

I know for console players its hard to understand why grinding svcks, its been apart of every console game since COD4 came out. I came from a different era where skill vrs skill and not level vrs level was more fun.

The fact is, I just want to use the cool stuff - if you cant understand it thats fine. The option should be available.

I've been playing games the days of Quake, which was prior to the "grinding" games you're talking about.

I kept up-to-date pretty well until Unreal Tournament, then I started drinking and partying more than gaming.

I can appreciate both approaches, and I can appreciate the NEED for both approaches. Which is why I'm not saying something negative about a game having a grind, OR about the option to pay for an instant unlock. If such an option is provided, I won't take it, and I'll unlock things "properly" - and I'll probably act smug and elitist about that if/when I beat someone who DID buy their level, but it'll be in a good-natured manner, and I'll encourage them to practise more. I seem to be good at being an @*$ without actually offending people. Probably because I don't take myself seriously for long enough to convince anyone else to do so.

I lost who made the comment but it is a great point that if there was an unlock all dlc then it would render the team element of the game useless which of course the developers are not going to let happen. For example, "why help the dying team mate if I dont need XP?"

Yeah.

Other than, you know, that whole "XP is also your team's points" thing.

And that "highest XP = highest score = winner" thing.

But those aren't a big deal, right?

(more seriously, I think you're onto something with that one)

Therefore any DLC unlocks would most likely only be aesthetic (camo, face, clothes, etc.)

So...you pay 60 dollars for the game, then pay 10 dollars so you don't have to play it?

I second this, as do the dozens of my fellow gamers that I've personally spoken with. Edit: Also, this leads into the fact that we must have dedicated servers.


That might just be the most hilarious and most brutally honest response I've ever seen.

No JORRRG, you pay $10 so you can get the stuff now instead of a few hours later down the road.

I look at the pay to unlock all as a waste of money.. since all it takes is a little time to get them anyways... I don't really care if BRINK has it, just as long as it's only after a good amount of time has passed so nobody has an unfair advantage just because they forked over a few bucks. Give time for people to unlock them the correct way by actually playing before offering the service.