Battle Pass Fatigue is Ruining Gaming

Battle Pass Fatigue Is what happens when every game company designs the battle pass to monopolize your attention. It's extremely difficult to properly level a battlepass if you're playing them more than one game. I used to think these were the most consumer friendly changes to gaming monetization in the last decade but I'm slowly starting to get burnt out on the grind wall.
Twitter: / drift0r
TikTok: / drift0rtv
Twitch: / drift0r
Shorts channel: / @drift0rshorts61
Discord: / discord
Gamer Advantage Glasses: gameradvantage.com/?ref=drift0r
10% off w/ code "drift0r"
5% off Netduma R2 Router w/ code "DRFT"
netduma.com/​
Epic Games Support-a-Creator: "drift0r_thereal"

[@DamienWilkins1]

That's not boomeritis, thats you awakening to the fact that the creative, fun impact that games has on our lives is being quashed and taken advantage of by anti-consumer models made to milk every penny out of everyone.

[@jollygrapefruit786]

I'll never buy a battlepass in cos they're a total joke

[@TheErikjsm]

the alternative isnt better. ill take optional battlepasses over lootboxes any day. its all just cosmetics not like youre actually missing out.

[@KingNekro]

I've been saying that exact line since the BO1 days to describe not just battle passes, but in general people who purposely play a game in a manner that's either boring, chorelike, or extremely frustrating and just un-fun... just to boost their stats or acquire a reward. The idea of wasting hours upon hours of your life playing a game in a manner that isn't bringing you any excitement or sense of fun, just to get some kind of meaningless pixels, or to make their stats look better than they really are. For example, people who are so desperate to have a good KD that they'll camp in the far back of the map, laying on their tummy waiting for minutes at a time just for people to run by so they can shoot them in the back. 0 chance people actually find it fun doing that match after match just to get 5 kills 2 deaths in the entire match. Like nobody cares if you dropped a 2.5KD if that's what you have to do to get it. The game is playing you at that point lol. 🤣🤦‍♂ I also will never understand people who do long tedius camo grinds that make them rage and ruin their fun of the game for entire weeks or even months... just to get Dark Matter or some camo. Like damn, the camos are cool looking, but they're not going to change the game at the end of the day... are they really worth doing all of these bullshit challenges that you hate doing so much?

[@stryfetc1471]

​@TheErikjsm Which would be great if they weren't rigging it so the guns unlocked in BP did more damage

[@TheErikjsm]

@@stryfetc1471 cant change the way capitalism works

[@cefalopodo5717]

At this rate are we playing games or are we letting them play us?

[@izzuddinmnasir4884]

Oof thats a good one

[@KingNekro]

I've been saying that exact line since the BO1 days to describe not just battle passes, people who play a game in a manner that's either boring, chorelike, or extremely frustrating and just un-fun. The idea of wasting hours upon hours of your life playing a game in a manner that isn't bringing you any excitement or sense of fun, just to get some kind of meaningless pixels, or to make their stats look better than they really are. For example, people who are so desperate to have a good KD that they'll camp in the far back of the map, laying on their tummy waiting for minutes at a time just for people to run by so they can shoot them in the back. 0 chance people actually find it fun doing that match after match just to get 5 kills 2 deaths in the entire match. Like nobody cares if you dropped a 2.5KD if that's what you have to do to get it. The game is playing you at that point lol. 🤣🤦‍♂

[@RandomFandomOfficial]

I’ve pretty much always said that to friends. Games are playing you. They win when they get you to pay up.

[@KingNekro]

@@RandomFandomOfficial Agreed brother!

[@stupid90able]

I've always hated battle passes. Imagine paying to grind for content

[@Jigolopuff]

It was definitely cool at the start, gave us something to play for in Fortnite and you could earn next seasons battle pass

[@aelinstue9431]

Yes we would all want everything to be free but when you take into context that those people don't work for free battle pass still seems way better than buying packs. CoD actually does this well, I will go into most seasons not knowing how much I'll play and only when I've seen I've gotten pretty far thru it will I then pay to unlock all the paid content. Otherwise when I don't end up playing much then I didn't spend the cash and never felt I had to play.

[@reygamerz8041]

@@Jigolopuff it was cool for free games but then battle passes start to appear in paid games and that where the problem starts just like lootboxes era was

[@Jigolopuff]

@@reygamerz8041 Battle pass in a paid game makes no sense, its what ruined Diablo for me

[@Game4Lord]

@@JigolopuffBattle passes in any game don't make sense. They're nothing more than a publisher to peddle their sense of greed, and make a game less enjoyable for the player due to locking anything and everything behind a paywall.

[@IApproveTheBeef]

Every game seems to want to be the player's "main game". as someone who isn't loyal to any one game, the whole thing comes across as a strange scenario where I buy a game but get only half the content because I can't be bothered to play weekly.. or daily.. or hourly. games don't need to be a service if the gameplay is addicting on it's own. If anything, this is a side effect of lazy game creation. they've given us boring level up loops with real meaningful skins and interesting unlocks hidden behind paywalls. calling it a benefit is a mistake made by time whittling down memories of games coming out complete and selling us expansions rather than the opportunity to level up thanks for the video drift0r. I'm a long time fan. I don't know why I'm not subbed on this account but now I am. the reader of this comment should do the same as well

[@Drift0r]

Thank you for the support and I'm glad you agree

[@aelinstue9431]

Stupidest arguement ever, "only get half the content". You got all the content and this is extra. There are some very obvious cases of this happening with DLC or pre order only content but you're ridiculous if you're grouping battle passes into them. They don't have 5 or 6 seasons worth of that content already made.

[@reygamerz8041]

@@aelinstue9431 it depend on the games you played but most big games don't have enough content that the gamers paid for so they charged gamer more to grind the "dlc" content with a deadline that they have to constantly grind for get ther money worth it making gamers feel like the have to stay at one game to fully finish the battlepass

[@REEDFEEDZ]

Perfect explanation. Notice how all the games with expensive BP’s lacks in gameplay severely and have been for years. 2K, COD, Madden are prime examples. 2K is the best example of this, you buy the game, you create your player, since there’s no real way to earn VC, you’re forced to buy minimum $50 worth of VC to upgrade your player. That’s why I’ve stopped playing. There’s no incentive on simply playing because the game isn’t designed like that, you start at a 60 and if you don’t buy VC and play the career mode, you’ll soon realize how slow progression is and how boring the mode is in general. It will probably be the same way this year. Just lazy game design, and I believe it’s done on purpose.

[@IApproveTheBeef]

@@aelinstue9431 it wouldn't be youtube without a debate goon in the comments. I have a video planned with this topic partially in mind so I'll explain myself further in the next odd months

[@chennis134]

"Grinding more than a coffee shop barista" lol

[@theward0ctor974]

Deep rock galactic and helldiver's 2 are the only real good battle passes due to there being no FOMO by having non expiring battle passes. Deep rocks is completely free and helldiver's 2 can use ingame earnable credits. Those are the only 2 battle passes that are consumer friendly rn

[@Pepperham04]

Halo Infinite has that too, although tbf who tf plays Halo

[@QuellTheHeresy]

Halo also has battle passes forever but the content in them is laughably bad

[@Game4Lord]

Helldivers is terrible due to it requiring the install of kernel level anti-cheat software. It doesn't deserve to stand amongst Deep Rock when Deep Rock doesn't require such software to be installed, nor do most other co-op PvE titles.

[@Pepperham04]

@Game4Lord I'm not defending Helldiver's use of anticheat, but what does that have to do with battle passes?

[@dark_matter8420]

I wouldn't even call Helldivers 2 an actual "Battlepass". Because there is no distinction between premium and standard warbonds other than the 1000 super credit price. But you get super credits naturally as you play the game. And because they're all shared with your team every mission you play, it's not even that you have to actively seek them out either. Helldivers 2 uses much closer to an in-game, in-universe store. Much like what CoD: Black Ops 1 actually had, where you earn money through playing the game.

[@BayhouseLoans]

Battle passes are designed to keep you engaged. I refuse to pay to be manipulated.

[@christiankerns9403]

Battle passes would be literally fixed if they implemented like halo infinite where you keep all the battle passes that come out and can swap between them to unlock/finish them rather than the FOMO system we have in most games now

[@mercifuldeath]

I wouldn't mind battlepasses so much if they weren't timegated and so predatory. If you could grind any battlepass and purchase any battlepass, i wouldn't mind battlepasses. If anything, I'd prefer them. Another thing is how predatory battlepasses are becoming. Longer XP thresholds, playtime instead of XP, HEAVY XP scaling for later levels, and some games don't even let you recoup your initial investment. Fortnite, for example, started adding the "extra" V-bucks very deep into the pass and the prestige pass while also increasing XP requirements and nerfing XP challenges. What took reaching level 100 now requires level 140 with worse XP gains.

[@cinemapigeon4898]

I think the live service model and free to play gaming system coincided with rise of "SBMM" or more so "EOMM" where data and algorithms to curate the player's experience became super vital to extract the desired amount of revenue. We thought getting rid of paid map DLC was an awesome move however what replaced it was multiple steps back.

[@edgemclean]

My breaking point with Battle Passes was earlier this year, I would get home from work, and my thought was quickly shifting from "What game do I want to play?" to "What Battle Pass do I need to finish first?". It made me realize there were games that I was completely burnt out on, that I was only playing to finish the battle pass. So now I don't buy any, unless if I am able to complete the pass by naturally playing the game a lot, then I'll buy the pass to get all the unlocks I already earned. It has been a lot more enjoyable that way, I don't feel like I'm making the wrong decision by setting a game down for longer than a week, and fun is once again my focus.

[@nissevelli]

I’ve always done my best to ignore Battlepass stuff because I see the rewards as a bit arbitrary. “Get level 69 on the battle pass and you’ll get a 420 themed camo for this weapon!” It doesn’t require that the player does anything special with that weapon in particular, it’s just a mark that then player plays a lot. My favorite system of all of the Call of Duties was definitely the original MW2 where there were some pretty difficult call signs and emblems that required all sorts of zany antics to acquire.

[@Severe-Serenity]

This is why I only ever buy Battle Passes if I happen to play enough to finish them. I won't buy it beforehand because I don't want to be manipulated with FOMO and more often than not, they don't have much content I care about anyway. Traditional unlocks are much more fun and rewarding for me instead of just play X amount of hours per season.

[@MeesterCHRlS]

That’s how I do it. If I finish them I’ll pay for them but I don’t pay before hand

[@IagoVtr]

I returned to single player games or coop campaigns (which I think is a hidden gold) all of this just because of battle passes. I don’t want to ever return to free to play games. I feel overwhelmed.

[@DWalter.27]

Which is funny, because you're probably paying more by cranking through single player games. Their predatory practices literally drove your money out of their hands...

[@IagoVtr]

@@DWalter.27 well that’s true to at some extent. I don’t buy that much, and the ones I bought I actually enjoy more. It’s not about money, it’s about the overwhelming feeling.

[@ickybobclay26]

I’ve never been a fan of battle passes but the fact that they expire is such a joke. It’s the primary reason why I don’t buy them anymore.

[@QuellTheHeresy]

Stuff like destiny 2, division 2 ect having battle passes and microtransactions AND expansions/paid seasons is insane to me.

[@DevonVanNote]

Back in my day (I'm 29 lol) we earned stuff in-game. Those were the golden days.

[@realpandalol1841]

you hit this on the head. As someone who stays home and is able to grind without forcing doing much. i.e. i finish the cod battlepass in 2 weeks and it frees up the ability grind other games, HOWEVER the section speaking about the battle passes pretty much being bloated with stuff that literally NOBODY wants is my biggest issue. hiding overpowered weapons behind the need to grind and then grind those guns out to get the attachments (in the case of cod) is extremely annoying. I too am waiting for the next big thing to come and maybe make gaming centered around just having fun and not being thrown into a GRIND mentality

[@EonsHD]

The emphasis on daily logins was always the biggest annoyance for me. Where you are all but forced to play every single day to complete the pass. Missing a daily login/challenges would require hours and hours of grinding to make up.

[@themarcshark]

I hate the battle pass. I just jumped into Battlefield 2042 and I see SEASON 7 pop up and I feel like I missed out on hundreds of rewards and possible gameplay effecting things. I miss when all of my progress and unlocks were simply xp based things that didn't come and go. Let me start the journey whenever I want

[@toast9965]

The other issues than time commitment is you are not guaranteed to unlock everything you paid for and IMO all rewards are identical for all players so this makes them not unique.

[@Ace924]

Very good point. Every player gets every item in the exact same order and it just doesn't feel as special as doing an in game challenge or accomplishment

[@EmpReb]

The Warbond System in HellDivers 2 and Halo Infinite BS are the way to go. People are learning to just not even TRY your game if they feel like they can't even get a Battlepass done outside their main.... or at all. People might LOVE to grind Mutliple old Battlepass but now people have no reason to keep your game in the backburner for a time they might grind because it will get in the way of the MAIN game Battlepass. It's unhealth gaming is trying to get ALL of your TIME in pursuit of money. NO Money is unlimited resource, TIME IS THE FUCKEN MOST LIMIT RESOURCE. So People rightfully with the MONEY aren't wanting to even get a game if they know they DON"T HAVE THE TIME FOR THEM. Probably why so many have tier skips.

[@NicoPezzotti712]

That's also why every online-only game is dying too soon after release. Every game wants me to play only that game. Guess what? The time for doing that doesn't exist physically.

[@cefalopodo5717]

Battle pass FOMO killed destiny for me

[@naruhearts1]

Not that im defending them, because im not. But the D2 battle pass was the easiest to level up. Play some in the initial launch of a new season then wait till theres a couple weeks left and do the challenges in a couple days and youre like 90% there. No other game has that, fortnite has it some but it takes a bit longer.

[@OldRasputin]

All about going in fully default and destroying everyone

[@junior7209]

Saw the light several years ago, not paying for any battle passes anymore

[@CRAZYMUGMAN]

i don't hate battle passes, but i think they should be more like halos where you can still get the old ones if you want to.

[@Honeneko.]

I actually liked the supply drops a lot more. I liked how they did it in CoD WW2 where you could earn them. I've used CoD points to pay for the battle pass, but I don't use anything. I mostly buy it for the bonus BP XP to unlock the new weapons faster. I don't want to miss out on early iterations before they get patched or reworked. I don't play any other game. The rest of my time is spent working or catching seasonal Anime. ATM, I already got my unlocks, so it's not a big deal to miss out on the rest of the battle pass, aside from getting my points back. I wouldn't mind an extra 30 day extension or even 15 days that bleed into the next season, where you earn XP for both. In most cases, I complete the BP by grinding out double XP weekends.

[@Darkhalo314]

I never thought i'd say this, but I miss just buying DLC and playing it. I'm tired of the FOMO manipulative crap.

[@cthree0]

I think the point about most battle passes being terrible is pretty true. At this point if theres even one or two standout skins in any game that arent held back in the shop im genuinely surprised

[@CoreysHarmonyHub]

Hey I've never paid for battle pass or any micro transactions whatsoever. I'm old school and will never sell out to those money hungry leaches who wanna monetize ever little thing. Paying $70.00 for a game is too expensive to begin with but I still do it because I prefer physical games.

[@aelinstue9431]

Holy Jesus you are so out of sync with reality if you think $70 is a lot in 2024 you probably shouldn't be spending money on a PC or console either. I'm old school and remember spending more than $70 on SNES games and otherwise remember having paid mostly $60 for over 2 decades as if inflation doesn't exist for anyone and anything involved with making a game. You can choose not to pay $70 amd wait fot a deal but to say that is over paying is ridiculous.

[@QuellTheHeresy]

​@@aelinstue9431it's literally the other way round lmao, gaming companies (executives) are making gigantic profits from microtransactions and online services, releasing completely broken half baked embarrassments then expecting the customer to foot the bill by upping the price of games because they KNOW people will still buy them for $70 or subscribe to an online service, they always win in the end. You are absolutely delusional.

[@Game4Lord]

@@aelinstue9431My guy, $70 can mean the difference between people being able to survive or not. You don't know the value of a dollar.

[@Kuriketto]

​@@Game4Lord You think somebody struggling to survive over $70 is going to be debating buying a game? Really?

[@DWalter.27]

The only games I've ever spent real money on in-game stuff were free to play titles that I've played for over 1k hours already. And even then, I only spent as much as I would have if it was a normal "buy to play" game.

[@yourstillwithme]

Best way is to buy a battle pass at the END of a season, not the beginning. If you finished it, liked the content, decide to buy or not. if you bought it and didnt do much on it, youre out of luck but if you just play the game and have fun and found out you did a good amount of it, maybe its worth it? or maybe not? Give yourself the option. dont just auto buy it, but also dont disregard if you like the stuff.

[@cpnYarhar]

And that's why they all come with XP boosts, aka the free tier progression is nerfed

[@Adillnr1]

I noticed myself forcing myself to play a game that i didn't really feel like playing just to finish a battle pass i had bought. after this happened a few times in a row, i made the change of only buying battle passes after i've grinded most if not all of it. that way i don't have this pressure over my head that i need to play to finish it. And i also agree on this that yeah sure its "only" $10 usually, but you have to play maybe close to 100 hours to finish it so you are really paying with your time Also on the part about how often the actually goods skins i like, are in the store itself and not the battle pass...

[@mrmillz7841]

I think the problem boils down to when they first got introduced we grinded the bp cause we loved the game but now people play the game just to grind bp and devs are like oh you want to give your money and we just drip feed mid content why wouldn’t they keep doing it

[@jamesperrott1]

An easy solution to battle passes is simply get rid of the tier system and have you unlock “points” you can spend on individual items in a shop through a season (old stuff is all available at an increased price) Then you can pick a select amount of items of your choice, and ignore all the ones you don’t want, and don’t need to bother with filler trash like sprays Obviously you wouldn’t be able to get everything, or even half the stuff in a season so you can pay more if you want even more stuff, but you’d be free to choose what you want, and don’t need to grind to insane levels, if you want just one thing you can get that first I don’t see how this isn’t the easy solution and they’d still make plenty of money if the content available is good

[@BlacIyc]

BPs have always been a bad idea. my fear in the beginning was it will escalate and spread. look at us now... not to mention expensive cosmetics, rotating stores, and multiple currencies. its all so cancer

[@orangeondaxbox2768]

Still better than £15 DLCs plus camo add ons. At least the content is free. You can ignore the store and play the game fine. I do just that. Haven’t bought a battle pass for years.

[@ryanbowen9718]

Black ops 2 you payed $2.99 for the some of the coolest skins ever put into a call of duty. Paying $15 or whatever for dlc wasn’t bad either. So sad we can’t go back to this since they make more money in other ways

[@calamelli209]

I'd rather not go back to paying for map packs, because that would split the player base and make connections worse as a result. I remember in older CoD games, my matchmaking would take longer and my connections would be worse when I had the DLC packs installed compared to when I only had the base maps, because the population of players who bought the DLC was smaller than the population who didn't.

[@WhoLetTheDogOut]

It's the fact that you already paid 60$ for the "full" game, and now have to pay another 15$ for a few maps and weapons. In BO3 it went all the way up to 100$ for the full game.

[@JaaySnipes]

Having booted up old mw3 2011 a couple days ago. I realized just how much advertising is being pushed on the games now. Always have to click through a screen telling you to buy the next game , buy the battle pass, buy this buy that. Its annoying

[@chrisxhart9415]

I completely agree. If this is something anyone truly believes in stop giving these companies money, stop playing their games. Put your money and attention towards studios that respect you as a player. There are more than you might think.

[@brownbagel.]

Another issue is games double- and triple-dipping in multiple monetization sources, like Rainbow 6 Siege where you have operators purchasable with both paid and in-game currency, paid cosmetics, alpha packs (loot boxes), battle passes and now a subscription too. It's so excessive, and in a paid game too.

[@erhnamdjinn14]

What i see as a plus in battlepasses is people forget before the mode was you pay 15$ for dlc content or $50 for the entire year of content like what bf used to do, it fractured the playerbase as the maps and weapons were tied in to those dlc, now all maps and weapons are free even to those who dont buy the pass.

[@sIayerz]

I've started to feel the same BP fatigue. Like you said, the issue really becomes apparent when you wanna play multiple games. When you buy a BP, you feel locked in to grind that game only. So it really just makes me not want to buy them at all. Unless I know I'll play enough to finish. Or wait to see if you finish it,then you can buy it at end of season.

[@Red-hw5ue]

I stopped playing fortnite because of this battle pass fatigue, I felt like a prisoner, playing it every day because of the FOMO of paying for a battle pass and not getting everything from it, not to mention the mental stress from it, nah bro I’m good.

[@cipherpac]

Got back into gaming in 2020 after 6 years not having a console, and played CoD almost exclusively until early this year. I actually loved the battlepass in CoD until they nerfed battlepass XP around season 5 of Vanguard. I wasn’t playing a ton. Maybe 4 hrs, 4-5 nights a week, and I was easily completing the BP every season. Once that XP nerf hit, I noticed I had to start playing significantly more if I wanted to progress the battlepass. I was Working from Home, so I started playing on my lunch hour (which I'd previously spent working out), and still came up like 4 ranks short. It was then that CoD started to feel like more of a job than a fun hobby, but I didn’t realize it for a while after that

[@LowkeyFish]

I really hope XDefiant doesn't lock weapons away in the future battle passes. They already locked an AR in preseason, and albeit that gun was trash and it was only like Lvl 5 in the BP, that could set bad precedent for the future.

[@coffee0093]

I hate the time investment needed for battle passes, even before season 5 of DRG it was stressful getting the time in to get what I wanted from the pass even if I didn't really feel like playing it. Thankfully they let you pick any season now. ROCK AND STONE

[@chennis134]

Tier skips is funny. Paying to not do what you paid to do

[@Lord.Angelic]

They should have a pool of items we the buyers can choose from to create our battle pass experience. Example: its 100 levels…25 could be weapon skins, 25 could be operator skins, 25 calling cards/ profile icons and 25 stickers or weapon charms or whatever. And the pool could be like you choose maybe 3 or 5 operators you like or use and pick skins (from the pool) to add to the pass. Rinse and repeat for the others and the computer generates where all the items fall in the pass. That way everyone is earning what they want and it doesnt feel worthless to only get a few things.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

Its all about FOMO. A battlepass shouldn’t be time limited. And the Battlepass itself shouldn’t be unavailable afterwards. If you want to get into any MP game, there will be a historical amount of skins you’ll never be able to get because they are artificially creating a weird skin economy. About how Battlepass skins are “too popular” at release. But if you use a max Battlepass skin almost a year later, now you are using a super rare skin!

[@toast9965]

I'm assuming that more time in game translates to higher potentially sales. If I could choose, I would lower the time comment to finish across the board. I get that it depends on the length of each season, but if it is 3 months than like 20-25 hours max. One thing that Halo Infinite, Minecraft Dungeons and Helldivers is that the passes are always available to play through no matter what.

[@alexlabs4858]

Just this past year Jagex tried to release “hero pass” on RuneScape 3, an already strained and shrinking community, and it was a sight to behold. They faced extreme backlash from the community, and ended up removing it from the game and apologizing. It was some interesting drama to be a part of.

[@DWalter.27]

I remember when you used to just pay $5 a month and they rolled out content like once a month. I had a RS membership for years... (I also played for thousands of hours)

[@elistoner9970]

@@DWalter.27they still update osrs consistently and the most microtransactions it has is bonds which is just another way of getting membership. Osrs is going strong til this day and its super old. Rs3 idk haven’t played since eoc

[@Visstnok]

I think it should at least be standard that when you've completed a BP, your progress starts counting towards the last uncompleted BP. No, not muh "choose your BP", but the next in line backwards. A lot of the FOMO would go away if people knew they _theoretically_ haven't missed out on anything; if something is 15 BPs and 3k hours back, you technically haven't missed out. This system keeps things rare, and it also eliminates the problem that you feel like you're "working for free" when you've completed the current BP.

[@WhyDo]

Recently we got Multiversus from Warner Bros... I thought it'd be fun to play this ridiculous Smash Bros type game with LeBron James and Bugs Bunny, but no, instead I witnessed the true horror of being forced to play a battle pass... in a genre that doesn't usually have battle passes. I can barely handle it in an FPS maybe, but having to deal with it in a Smash like game was just tragic. We are all cursed to experience the battlepass-ification of every single genre in real time And yes, it can never be a "normal" battle pass where you get some fun rewards over time... every game wants you to treat it like a full time job now

[@travis5141]

Have a great freaking day Drifty

[@Drift0r]

You too!

[@xander1934]

Tbh, I don't even unlock the "free" items in the cod store anymore. I don't use any of that cosmetic crap. I just play without ever looking at the battlepass, except for gun unlocks. I'm just tired of the pass spam as well. Like you said; it's shoved in your face whenever you boot up, finish games, or by pressing the wrong button in the armory :(

[@goaliepro1996]

Haven’t hopped on Helldivers in awhile, but that being said I can hop in anytime and purchase a warbond (or grind) and it stays in the game indefinitely. Instead of being on a time limit. I like that moto

[@cameronr9513]

Thank you for making a video about this. Its becoming a chore at this point with each game including their own battle pass. Some of them take quite a long time to progress, and when you see how little progression you get just for having "fun", it almost turns you off from playing. Uninstalled MWIII because the time it takes to earn a token in game without 2xp is a joke. I hope they find a better way to reward players instead of a time exclusive rewards. I know most will agree that unlockables that are earned through challenges should be available to everyone not just for a season

[@hamza-chaudhry]

I don't think that next innovation will happen since Battle Passes are nowhere near as disliked as Loot Boxes were, & there were also regulatory issues arising concerning Loot Boxes

[@langdondrewett2235]

Helldivers 2 warbonds are my favorite new iteration of this. Pay for the warbond that has content you like, with no time limit for completing it. It's beautiful. Plus more regularized, bite sized content drops.

[@Chrissy-H]

No time for any of this - when COD introduced them I bought the first couple of seasons then realised I just wanted to shoot people and not have to do challenges all the time. Now that I don't do them anymore, It actively detracts from my enjoyment of the game because all the players Im playing against have ridiculous skins and laser bullets, which detracts from the realism and immersion, and on top of that I constantly get popups asking me to buy the thing. Nope nope nope.

[@NorthEevee]

Honestly, the only type of battlepass I'm willing to buy are the non-expiring ones. For me, at this point any type of FOMO is a reason for me to actually miss out. There's no reason for a digital good to have an expiry date. It's not dairy. It's ones and zeros.

[@Kuriketto]

Not sure how it works for other passes, but COD's requiring only time spent in-game to progress is definitely a downside that's hard to ignore since it directly affects the quality of the experience. I've had plenty of games where some players do nothing but run around in circles in spawn while randomly firing.

[@thelurker5466]

the thing about battle passes for me is like its great usually about 10 bucks and if i grind enough then sure ill buy the pass, but then yeah like ytou said i go to another game and then i have the want to play both games but also want the battle pass in that other game, so it starts to be hard to put time into all games i like to complete them, so yeah i think well not just for that reason that battle passes do not need to be in every game.

[@kraknoix0075]

It's very similar to how every single site needs you to log on, create an account, 2fa, accept cookies, terms and conditions, etc...

[@HendoXL]

Halfway through the video so I don’t know if you mention this… but the constant challenges are also a big problem for making players not play the game as intended, dead by daylight is an example as some killers just walk around the whole map asking you to drop pallets so they can break them, there are a ton of other examples too

[@mudomudito]

I feel you. I used to play 3 games during the year: PUBG, COD, any other game with campaign. As a completionists, this kept me playing those games, I used to play an hour daily and it was exhausting. Now I only play COD since if you complete the pass, you'll have enough to buy the next one. But man, there's too many useless stickers, camos, etc. I only do it just because xD Since I got all camos, I'm fixing my K/D ratio.

[@kueller917]

Maybe I'm old too. I don't play any games with a battle pass (I don't game much anymore overall) and I can't bring myself to really care to. I don't like the idea of the game telling me how and how much I should be playing. When I do hop on a CoD or whatever I'm just there to point and shoot. What I worry here is inertia. It's hard to roll back changes once an industry has done them. Look at how no one likes the crunch culture of the industry but also a big title without pristine graphics and physics engines gets mocked, so the overworking continues. People are used to having opt-in subscription services with floods of "content". If a title in the same genre were to choose against this strategy it would be seen as a downgrade. And gaming communities are exceptionally knee jerk.

[@Latinblood59]

I noticed this last year with MWII. I haven’t bought a single battle pass for MWIII and I can just enjoy the game now versus feeling the need to have to complete the pass

[@calamelli209]

I don't know how many games do this because I don't play that many games with Battle Passes, but I like how CoD's BP gives you back more CoD points than you paid for the BP if you complete all 100 tiers. That way, buying the BP for one season basically gets you every future season as long as you keep playing, plus a few extra points to eventually save up for a store bundle. In that purely economic sense, it's very consumer-friendly. But I do agree with the negatives you said about FOMO and games trying to monopolize your playing time. It's far from a perfect system, but it's still the best system overall.

[@korcommander]

Halo infinite is probably the best system out there. There is no fomo, just choose the pass you want to work on. Too bad Microsoft turn up sbmm so high as to make the game unbearable to play.

[@donthabestican6982]

Yeah. With the JOB and running 3 passes. It became where I couldn't even get the $ back out of it for the next one when it was out.

[@Str82thegrave]

I think The Finals BP and character customization is great and doesn't offer too much "fluff". The Store is there if you want something unique but the skins in BP are cool and fun. But yes balancing multiple BPs for different games becomes "I need to do my daily challenges in each game before I go to sleep." Maybe bring back loot boxes that cannot be purchased with real money.

[@richiereeves4071]

The next revolutionary thing for gaming that will take away battle passes is going to be when they make you pay a monthly fee to use the game you're going to have to subscribe to the game in the future to be able to play it

[@alicefox7076]

You’re definitely right about the fatigue if you’re playing multiple, I now only get it for cod and fortnite, fortnite I play on average 3 hours per week and can usually complete it and cod isn’t too bad either.

[@connorray9801]

ive been feeling this since season 8 of fortnite years ago, every single game has a weird season thing i cant keep up with becauae of work

[@RageMagikarp]

I've been saying for a few years now the end goal of games is to monopolize your time. Maximum playtime is maximum investor money or IP sale money. That's why "games as a service" is such a big thing now. The games aren't designed to be fun, they're designed to dangle the right carrot on the right length stick so that you keep that hamster wheel spinning. Player enjoyment doesn't matter, or anything else that isn't direct revenue generation (microtransactions/sales) or playtime (which is just indirect revenue generation).

[@John-on8ld]

On the topic of skips, destiny 2 has "special bundle" that gives 10 tier skips that costs 1000 silver. The funny part about that is that a normal tier skip is 100 silver, therefor the "special" bundle is literally a trap. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[@Rainbowhawk1993]

Single Player Gamer to Multiplayer Gamer: “Wow, sucks to be you.”

[@thejackalswitch8406]

Helldivers 2 is a prime example of how every game battlepass system should be. they release "battlepasses" but you can buy them whenever and level them up at your leisure they never expire.

[@Spencebot42]

The battle pass / season system for online games has made me apathetic to purchasing any game after it's initial release because I know I have already missed tons of content that will never be seen again. Games like Fallout 76 are a perfect example as they have entire Fallout lore missions that came and went and can no longer be experienced. This greatly reduces any incentive or interest I may otherwise have had in a game.

[@augumon05]

Honestly, yes too many games jump onto the battle pass train for the "easy" cash, I would say they are actually a bit worse than the old dlc sort of bundles with new skins, guns, and maps for a moderate fee with the consumer knowing there will only be a few of these to get compared to constantly getting a battle pass every 1-3 months. Obviously this goes more towards basic multiplayer games like cod, as I don't want to touch any sort of simulator(sims, truck driver, farming) games with dlc, cause they go out the wazzoo with just how many they drop, and the sheer minimal content in those. You knew the dlc back then was usually to keep stuff moderately fresh till they came out with a next game, The Companies knew there was only so long you could keep a certain level of playerbase without bringing out an entire new thing to get people excited for. You can only add so much to an old soup before it's no longer able to be called soup, and then you need to restart the soup recipe from scratch or change certain ingredients in it to make it exciting to eat. I will say, there are a moderate amount of alright battle passes, even if many feel like grinds, then there are the bad ones where completing them doesn't even give enough of in game currency back to buy the next pass. Dauntless was one of these I played ( free monster hunter lite) where you still needed to put money into the game to have enough for the next battle pass, with them still offering tier skips even though you couldn't afford a second battle-pass season with the reward from the first one.

[@HectorsOasis]

You have a point and it's not your bommer-itis. The gaming industry continues to go down the subscription service. As a result, the art, the quality, even that magical feeling of booting up the game feels so far gone. It is frustrating bc i want to love these games, but i dont have the capacity to dunp money and time. Its nice to see you talk about it. It's reassuring.

[@cutthroat795]

I feel like I have remained relatively immune to the battlepass model. I played a lot of MW2019 to get the weapons but other than that… meh. I also feel like the cosmetic rewards don’t even feel special, when everyone else spams them out until the next one.

[@romelloellis1567]

This is why hell divers two has the best type of extra content. Carbondale stays forever and I can buy it whenever

[@nickbreaux2635]

I’ve always preferred the quarterly $15 dlc. Especially during trearch games. 4 MP maps and a zombie map. I felt that was well worth it considering they were usually high quality dlc’s.

[@detritiv0re144]

I'm fortunate that this sort of thing doesn't work on me at all. I wish games had a toggle to disable other players customisation and have everything at its default look.

[@naruhearts1]

Went through this last year, had 4 going, now i only have 1.

[@sknnyd2676]

It’s sad. I was over the moon for fall guys back when it released and only gave it up because I wanted to play with my friends and they play cod. And as you say cod players tend to only play cod. So now I only play cod

[@Mason_N.]

I honestly miss buying map packs... BECAUSE.. it ment they actually had to put some effort into making maps and zombies maps to make a profit. It just seems their was more put into a map pack dlc then a free season of call of duty....

[@jacobhoover280]

Yesss, FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!! If they want to keep doing battle passes allow them to never expire. Then when they drop a new Szn you get to choose which one you want to be earning for. Simple fix.

[@Macho_Man_Randy_Savage]

i got bored of battle passes pretty quick after they were shoved into cod mp and all the other player retention bs that comes with live service games. in a way it tipped me over the edge to break my addition from playing this game and i've been free of cod for a good few years now...and it's amazing not having to play this game anymore.

[@User-be5yj]

I spent money on battle passes and then stopped playing the game because I was just too bored to grind the game. Lost money because I didn’t want to miss out and only bought it because I thought it was cheap and I thought was going to lose miss out. Battle passes might be worse than loot boxes…

[@giggitygiggity2385]

Keep up the great work Driftor. Your new videos are awesome

[@ravagedcore131]

I have never not once paid for a battle pass

[@TheChosen0ne3100]

Talked about this the other day now you can’t play a game without it having a battle and then it takes up time if you play multiple games cuz now if you want good content not only do you have to buy it but put time into it they would make more money selling 3-4 dollar items instead of making bundles too just my input

[@youngphil8766]

Yo bro is not bedridden anymore lets go! How you doing man?

[@Dannyred1234]

I'm alright with battlepasses if they don't ever go away, or when you can farm the premium currency to buy the battlepasses. I've been playing so much helldivers 2 and it has such a good monetization model that makes me want to play. I dropped every game that makes FOMO an issue. I hope the direction companies take is making games not F2P and having this same monetization model as helldivers. I think this is a good compromise.

[@SalamenceFury]

Honestly I think it might be time for laws pertaining to battle passes. Because buying something should mean you get ALL of it, not just a part of it if you happen to not complete it. No battle passes should ever expire permanently locking items out of people's reach in the process.

[@Norlhey]

its funny you said this, i hop'd on mw3 yesterday after a couple of months i was someone running around with 2 models? (it was a dual shotgun, reminded me of the models from og mw3)... i go through the guns in the game i don't see it anywhere... i had to google what gun that was and saw the maze of fuckery i had to do to get it... and it made me not want to play the game again

[@borris542]

Ive always said this from the start how are we meant to have time to grind 3-4 different games at a time how people didn't see this from the start i dont know. the moment they released them i said thats cool but what happens when all the games i play all have quarterly battlepasses

[@CaseyHayesVocals]

Tired of live service games as a whole. Been playing a lot of single player games and that's gotten me back into gaming.