I'm really into the multiplayer in mass effect 3, especially as a fun activity to do while listening to podcasts. But I am a little concerned for my triple digit purchases if others don't get sucked into ME3 multiplayer. I want to start doing gold runs now but I need more higher level players to help-- any other high level ps3 multiplayers wanna join up? TheBago is my name on PSN

Money?  As in REAL money?

@SpaceInsomniac said:

Money? As in REAL money?

Yes and this duder has a problem. A problem EA loves and hoped would happen.

Triple... digit?

Mass Effect 3 would have worked better as a DOTA type game (monday night combat) than horde mod.

HM seems to just be very lazy imo.

But...even the most expensive pack only takes 2-3 games to unlock. Why would you do that? Shit. He's going to be a statistic in a marketing conference where they can point and say, "See, gamers love to spend money on RANDOM GAME ITEMS THAT EQUATE TO AN HOUR OF PLAY."

This is why I cringe when Jeff encourages people to vote with their wallet. His reasoning is completely valid, but a sucker is born every minute. If suckers have enough buying power, they can really fuck the rest of us over.

So instead of saying, "Vote with your wallet. If you like spending money on random easily-attainable items, please continue to do so." I'm going to say, "Stop it."

Hey, you can never have enough power efficiency modules...

@StrainedEyes said:

Triple... digit?

That seems like a lot of digits when the most expensive pack costs $2. Seriously, triple digits?

Oh God, I feel ill just contemplating the thing you just said.

I spent maybe $15 and it gets a number of Specter packs. I did it as a bit of a boost before I jumped into retail MP and got some classes I knew I wanted to use from playing the demo.

Sunday my progress and unlocks were all wiped from a bug. I haven't touched the MP since and hope I get some sort of refund. I'm definitely not spending any more money.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/9685812/1

I was going to buy a few, but my buddy bought a spectre pack and got a pistol. A PISTOL!!!  You'd figure there'd be a goddamn REAPER AIRSTRIKE or something in there, not a goddamn PISTOL!!!!

@N7 said:

I was going to buy a few, but my buddy bought a spectre pack and got a pistol. A PISTOL!!! You'd figure there'd be a goddamn REAPER AIRSTRIKE or something in there, not a goddamn PISTOL!!!!

If it's the Arc pistol that pistol is legitimately amazing. And I rarely ever use pistols in games.

And yeah, triple digits is a bit much for the multiplayer. I mean, if you're that into the multiplayer, just play it and unlock them.

I had $3 laying around so I bought a pack. Waste of money if you ask me.

I feel like people should not buy these things. I understand the allure of it but still... Fight against the Darks Side here, guys.

What the... why the... REALLY!?

You spent real money on the packs ... repeatedly? Your decision is yours to make, but I thought the progression towards buying each pack makes them more meaningful and exciting. Whatever floats your boat though, dude.

I'm never going to buy any, everybody should do this because if nobody buys it they will stop.

This is why we can't have nice things!

I feel dirty just being in this thread.

The honesty of this thread title is crossing into territory of insane, dark truths no one ever wanted to know, that someone out there, in the farthest reaches of the earth, is paying large amounts of money to BioWare and EA for the arbitrary slot machine they put into their game.

And you're probably not alone in this.

Man, video games!

For a Spectre pack, 60,000 credits takes about four Bronze games to earn, which takes about 60-90 minutes to do (assuming you don't lose any of those matches). Alternatively, they'll take $2 instead. It's up to the individual to make the value proposition.

I can understand dropping some cash on a few packs, just to unlock a few things quickly to get your feet wet. After a certain point though, you're defeating the purpose of playing. The multiplayer is shallow and slowly unlocking new toys is the only thing that keeps it interesting.

I just wish the packs weren't random... I'd rather take a little longer to unlock things, but be able to pick what I was unlocking. "Oh yay! My Carnifex(sp?) pistol is now level 6, that's helpful... to no one."

Yeah, I had a few bucks sitting in my XBL account, and I've been getting into the multiplayer the more I play it, but even the five dollars I spent I felt was a bad use of my money. I didn't get much that'll matter in the long run and, if anything, I only decreased the replay value by paying for some of the unlocks instead of earning them. Not doing that again. Though I do understand how addicting it can be when the shit is so cheap.

If you're good you can get 20k per Bronze match. That's enough for a Veteran pack. To tell you the truth, I don't really see the point of getting 1 Spectre pack instead of 3 Veteran ones anyway.

Holy...

I spent 5 minutes on the PC to give myself millions of credits.
Didn't even use them all, it's too much of a bother unlocking all those packs, I just buy an extra one now and again

Also as long as you even finish games its easy to get 15k+ for Bonze game, 30k+ for Silver, and anything above 60k for Gold.
 
@paulungasaid:

If you're good you can get 20k per Bronze match. That's enough for a Veteran pack. To tell you the truth, I don't really see the point of getting 1 Spectre pack instead of 3 Veteran ones anyway.

How the fuck did you spend over 100 dollars on that shit? I mean, I can see spending ten or fifteen if you've got money to blow and are curious, but triple fucking digits?

Everyone else is right. Please stop.

Keep bending over, they love it.

You just know those new consoles are going to have some fantastic systems built in for micro transactions.

@normalpants: Wow. We're losing the fight because of people buying this crap!

triple digits? My god. It turned out I had 1400 bioware points from somewhere that I have no idea where from, so i got the DLC and a few multiplayer packs with that. I could see myself maybe spending 5 odd more bucks at most if I keep playing it but ... triple digits? I spent 600 points and got the best rifle in the game. Triple digits are just wwoowww.

You are why gaming is now an industry largely based on gouging the consumer for everything they can. The devs that don't do this are in a minority.

Consider that your "triple digit" expenditures could have purchased two full games (or maybe many more if you're bargain hunting). You've made a big mistake.

I had 80 bioware points left over on PC so I bought a veteran pack. Those 80 points were literally not going to have any other use, so at least I found something to use them on.

I could kinda understand paying money for the multiplayer if A) it was a little better and B) you were spending it on a known quantity. The way the ME thing is built, though, there are so many guns, the statistical chance of unlocking your favorite is low (I haven't gotten mine yet, the Phaeton), and then you have to wait on that same event to happen again to get the weapon you wanted to be upgraded. The only reason I can see to spend money on it is that you'll get to play with the weapons you like before you get totally bored of the game, which is a really perverse sort of logic.

Considering the OP hasn't bothered to respond to anything in this thread, I doubt the validity of his claim.

On the bright side, never has getting a game specifically without an online pass seemed like such a good idea.

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

He's gotta be joking. No one would spend that much, right? Right?

@CptBedlam said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

Oh absolutely, but here we are.

Seems like a huge waste of money for a multiplayer that probably won't be active for long.

I would of considered spending money if you were guaranteed an item you wanted, trying to get a specific class or weapon is total luck and you can spend weeks playing without ever getting a certain weapon.

But this Lost Planet 2 style lottery system is total bollocks, just paying for a random chance at an item is pointless when you can just grind it out. EA seems to have dropped the ball on this, even if they had just let you purchase Weapon crates, or Class crates it would at least narrow down your chances.

I've spent plenty of money on F2P games but I don't feel it's worth it to buy a crate of pure luck, it's disappointing enough to grind 60k only to get a Shotgun, let alone paying real money for it to happen.

@CptBedlam said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

No, the point of videogames is to have fun, if spending money increases your fun with a game then I don't see the issue with it. It's just bad in this case because you are paying for a "chance" at an item. Really, it's loot lust plain and simple.

@Vorbis said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

No, the point of videogames is to have fun, if spending money increases your fun with a game then I don't see the issue with it.

That's even worse because certain parts of these games are designed to be not fun then just to make more money.

Actually here's a thought - surely this has to count as a form of gambling? Has EA checked with all the countries' respective laws whether this is a legal operation? It's the luck of the draw after all. I guess maybe it's not REAL gambling since there's no money payout though

@CptBedlam said:

@Vorbis said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

No, the point of videogames is to have fun, if spending money increases your fun with a game then I don't see the issue with it.

That's even worse because certain parts of these games are designed to be not fun then just to make more money.

The game is designed so you'll spend a lot of time with it, providing longevity is a good thing, but for those that "want it fast and want it now" they can pay their way for the best loot. It's exactly the same business model that a F2P MMO would use.

@normalpants: I seriously hope you are just kidding..three digits???? I don't get why you would buy anything for the game...especially when the multiplayer seems like a thing that won't have many players on it.

Triple digits you say? EA must looooove you

@Vorbis said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Vorbis said:

@CptBedlam said:

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

It's easy to say no to this kind of thing until you think about time spent vs cost. It takes like 90 minutes to essentially accrue what would cost $3. Is your time not worth more than $2/hour?

I'm not supporting it, just saying...

Isn't spending time with a game the whole point of playing videogames? Paying more for playing less sounds crazy. It's kinda sad what gaming has become.

No, the point of videogames is to have fun, if spending money increases your fun with a game then I don't see the issue with it.

That's even worse because certain parts of these games are designed to be not fun then just to make more money.

The game is designed so you'll spend a lot of time with it, providing longevity is a good thing, but for those that "want it fast and want it now" they can pay their way for the best loot. It's exactly the same business model that a F2P MMO would use.

It's a fucking disgusting business model. You can be sure that the tediousness and unfun nature of unlocking stuff in those games is on purpose for people who don't pay. Then the publisher comes in like "heyy...I'm just here to help you have fun ... pay two bucks and you don't have to spend all these tedious hours with the game". It's sad that people fall for this.

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

Mass Effect 3 would have worked better as a DOTA type game (monday night combat) than horde mod.

That could be pretty interesting, actually.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I mean sure it's your money and you can do what you want but what the fuck is wrong with you?