Fallout 76 - DLC Free Because Microtransactions

[Silver]

@Screenrant Fallout 76 will be introducing cosmetic micotransactions while keeping the DLC free.

...

Documentary filmmakers NoClip released The Making of Fallout 76 and revealed some interesting details about what fans can expect. Remembered for overpriced DLC packages, Bethesda hopes to put the disastrous "Horse Armor" meme from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion behind it through Fallout 76's cosmetic microtransactions instead of a pay-to-win style of gameplay. Promising that content will be free for "years to come," Fallout 76's DLCs will be powered by microtransactions as a clever way to keep gamers coming back for more.

[...]

More information.

 

[Shagnak]

Sigh...

 

[Drithius]

Ie., third party modding not supported, Creation Club only. As foretold on Reddit

What a lovely testbed for TES6/Fallout 5 !

 

[rjshae]

I think I'll pass.

The issue I have with microtransactions is that it's difficult to judge what type of financial risk I'm accepting. I'd rather just play a flat fee up front, then I know how much I'd lose if the game is lame. With microtransactions, I never know how much it's going to cost me to be able to enjoy the game. So… no, not for me. If there were an absolute cap on the total payments, then yes I might be more willing to try it.

 

[you]

I have one thing to say about this game i will never play; pardon my language.

Spoiler

FUCK BETHESDA

 

[Wisdom]

DLCs will be powered by microtransactions as a clever way to keep gamers coming back for more.

Clever?
I don't think the writer knows what that word means.

 

[Zephyr]

If your life is so devoid of meaning that you would pay real money to get a pink mohawk hairdo in a video game, you need some serious therapy.

Does the acronym 'NFW' mean anything to you?

 

[Mosaic]

I'm physically incapable of opposing cosmetic microtransactions, they're the most fair to the game-play balance. But they also require a certain level of player commitment to the game itself so it's a fragile thing. Too little interest and the temptation to do evil (Pay2Win) creeps in.

Like a lot of you, I see this as an early death knell to the open mods experience we've enjoyed for many years. Not so much for Fallout 76 but as a precursor to the games we want to play going forward. If this is successful, ES6 may very well become an always-online in-house modding experience even though you can play it "solo."

If I'm being honest with myself, it's an almost certainty. There is hope out of this Pandora's box however, somebody somewhere will eventually want to make a "retro" Skyrim-esque experience, mods and all, and it could become a hit because of built up demand.

 

[Couchpotato]

What I predicted last week but they might allow mods on private servers at a later date. Anyhow this game is not for me so I wont comment that much on these threads.

 

[Carnifex]

Did anyone actually not see this coming? You are dead to me now, Bethesda, congrats on joining the Electronic Arts, Ubijunk, and Origin Platform in the realm of materials that no longer exist to me, save to be mocked. This is a black hole from which there is no escape.

 

[Pongo]

I don't think that whatever business model Bethesda use for this will necessarily apply to their next single player game. I reckon we'll still have mods. Todd Howard has also confirmed that third party mods will be available in Fallout 76 on private servers, although it will be only some time after launch.
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-will-have-mod-support-but-not-at-launch/

 

[Copper Coin]

Cosmetic microtransactions are fine. They don't affect gameplay and the extra income makes it more lucrative to support the game after release. Yes it's stupid, but it's not Bethesda's fault that a market exists for people willing to buy cosmetic items.

 

[Stingray]

Cosmetic microtransactions are fine. They don't affect gameplay and the extra income makes it more lucrative to support the game after release. Yes it's stupid, but it's not Bethesda's fault that a market exists for people willing to buy cosmetic items.

They aren't "fine". Assuming a multiplayer game (which is the case here, and is usually the case when micro-transactions are present), the game experience for players who refuse to partake in the micro-transactions is damaged to some extent when other players run around with stuff that they bought with RL money - cosmetic or not. The matter of degree is subjective - maybe you don't think the damage is enough to justify not having them. But a lot of people do.

 

[Copper Coin]

Fair enough, but personally I could care less about cosmetic items. If letting some teenager buy skins for his laser rifle means free content, then I'm not going to complain.

 

[six]

I always feel bad when I see people decked out with payed for cosmetics.
Sure I might get a free game out of it but it mostly comes out of the pockets of the mentally challenged.
Child labor is less disgusting imo as they at least get paid while being exploited.

 

[zahratustra]

I don't think that whatever business model Bethesda use for this will necessarily apply to their next single player game. I reckon we'll still have mods. Todd Howard has also confirmed that third party mods will be available in Fallout 76 on private servers, although it will be only some time after launch.

And serious modding for Fallout and the next TES would require fully functional Creation Kit. Without it all you get will be cosmetic/eyecandy mods.
How much you wonna bet that such a CK will be made available only to the Creative Club modders?

 

[purpleblob]

Cosmetic microtransactions are fine.

It's not. I plan to play TES6 just for the cosmetic reason

 

[wolfsrain]

Microtransactions, thanks, but no thanks. And if the third party mods will be in game or not, that is still something that we have to se...

 

[Ripper]

To me, micro-transactions are insidious, and it's like the slowly boiling frog effect. More games require an online connection, primarily so that they can control the experience, and charge for things that once would have been under our own control. It also creates an incentive for them to favour online multiplayer games, where the people are more accepting of microtransactions than they are in single-player products. We slowly come to accept it as the new normal, and people who complain get grief for being whiners, or behind the times.

Personally, I think people making a lot of bad noise about these practices is a good thing. When I see this behavior from publishers, I will rap them on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, and say, "No! Bad!"

 

[wolfsrain]

I am uncapable to accept the current business models, so i am a dinosaur. Not a MP gamer, so the appeal of MMO, co-op games for me is quite limited.