I'm just... sick of the universal greed with video game companies.
I really don't know where to start. People know I'm bitter, angry, and depressed. It was today when I might have figured out why. When I was younger, I would spend my days and nights playing things like Diablo 2, Halo, StarCraft.. Blizzard and Bungie were simple, they made a whole entire game, they charged a fee, you get the whole entire game and all its content. There was no bonus edition. There was no preorder incentive. There wasn't dishonesty. Then, YEARS later, they came out with expansion packs because people wanted... just a little bit more. These were charged about half the price of the whole game. These expansions stuck to the same basic formula as their bases.
But now... I don't want anyone to think I miss the old days, because I don't. Given the choice, I'd want to be born in like, 2005 rather than 1993. Our technology is amazing, our social stance compared to 20 years ago is incomparable. I despise older games, deemed "retro" by the millennials, as there's no way an 8-bit game with 0 dialogue can beat even the simplest of today's RPGs. But this isn't about that nonsense.
I knew ever since my first day of playing League of Legends that Riot must make millions of dollars. I saw how every champion costs around 8$ and they each have skins that range from $5 to $18. I didn't mind, people could buy the skins of their own volition. I bought Assassin Master Yi with my starting RP, got some more RP, then bought Vandal Jax, and I believe Trundle. I returned all three within a day, expecting my refunds to return after some long waiting period. They never did. Then came a day where a skin I had recently purchased had gone on sale the day after.. I contacted Riot and they actually refunded the difference, I was pretty happy. While I'm on this topic I may as well describe my joy with Elder Scrolls Online. I had bought into the summer sale madness and purchased the Imperial Edition of the game for $24, (having to pay extra just so I can play my favorite race). Zenimax had recently abolished their subscription requirement, and I was eager to play. They even gave "loyal" subscribers rewards as a thanks, I guess for helping them start up their moneymaking.
Then everything looked like it was going downhill at once. Riot Games comes out with more and more expensive skins, Pulsefire Ezreal was on sale for 75% off the first day/few days? Spirit Guard Udyr was 50% off, then DJ Sona was 25% off. This apparently kicked off a trend of extremely expensive skins. Every patch that comes out, a batch of 1350 skins are introduced. Chroma Packs, being unable to be purchased with IP, despite the begs and pleas of the community. These packs are 590 each, and despite people asking to buy them cheaper at individual prices, Riot refuses. Riot also implemented skin sale schedules, in which the repeatedly stated that refunds for skins would no longer be available, thanks to the warning in advance. If I recall correctly, Riot said something about lifetime RP rewards long ago, which were never implemented. In the early stages of League of Legends, they gave out a plethora of skins for free or for ludicrously low prices. Now the thought of such is just that, a thought.
Zenimax, developers of Elder Scrolls Online, just came out with a DLC, Imperial City. This content costs a whopping $25 and only allows access to two dungeons and a killing field where players do nothing but gank and wait to loot other players. With this content, they released two new motifs, essentially styles for crafting weapons and armor. One motif, the "Xivkyn" set, is split into 15 chapters before you can learn to make the entire set, something familiar to the community already, however the difference was that these chapters could ONLY be found within the confines of the DLC zone. And the other motif, Glass, is much, much worse. Glass motifs are divided into 15 chapters, with each chapter requiring 10 fragments to make, yes, 150 fragments in total, even better, the chapter you get is totally random. What does this have to do with greed? They're releasing purchasable versions of these motifs in their game store, for 50$ each. Fifty dollars. For styles. With this update, they also nerfed every physical build in the game extremely hard, making grinding just that much harder.
Of course, these two developers aren't the only ones I have issues with. Even Blizzard is starting to turn, with expansions costing as much as full games (StarCraft is understandable here). Halo has plummeted completely, with the title of the game being sold to every advertiser who'd be willing to pay a couple of cents. Activision relies on in game purchases and micro transactions. Rockstar has come out with about 20 DLCs for free, so they may be exempt from the rest. Although I know they did nerf money earnings, forcing players to buy their in game cash if players want to experience new content in a timely fashion.
You might ask, "if you don't like it don't play." I wish it were that easy, I really do. I've spent a thousand dollars on this game alone. I've spent days playing this game and Elder Scrolls. Why? It's all I have for fun. My best memories are linked to video games. A group of friends all sharing a common interest, laughing, making even better memories... The moneylust of "big gaming companies" is truly crushing to me. Greed is tied to evil, and what this is doing to me is essentially making me believe that no matter where there is good, there is always more evil. I kind of don't want to say it, but so anyone who got this far can understand how big a deal this is to me, I've thought of honestly giving up, not wanting to be surrounded by corruption. Seeing money corrupt the only thing in the world that brings me happiness- games.
