Edit: TLDR? Your choice.
Firstly, good on you for being optimistic…
While some may see the glass half empty, someone has to see it half full, right?
As I’ve said before, I have put BB down for now, only because of the issues Australians are having with the game (matchmaking times, disconnects, lag, etc - there’s a thread on it)…
I preordered BB before its original February release date, because it’s a gearbox game, and I love everything to do with borderlands…
So that’s all it took to make me preorder it, I didn’t even know anything about it, didn’t care, haha…
Recieved an email about the beta being available, so I played it, and loved it, and didn’t regret my preorder made under no assumptions…
because, if I like a game, the way it looks, a particular franchise, or the companies that makes it…
I care not for reviews, I’ll make my own when I pay my money and put the discs in my console to play it…
I even started commenting on this forum when I played the beta, normally don’t care for this stuff, no regrets there either, lovely bunch of folks here…
Played BB pretty much non stop for 3 weeks from May release…
No regrets, happy and very much in love…
Other than it slowly getting worse in service and eventually, failing on me completely all of a sudden, Aussie player base pretty diminished…
(But, you are looking into this for Australians, right @JoeKGBX?)
While I currently can’t play the game to its full capacity…
I don’t let all the negativity get to me (anymore)…
It was getting to me, only because I found myself in that box, the disappointment box…
But, I don’t regret my purchase…
Because like everything in life, everything is a risk…
And every player is taking a risk when purchasing a game…
Will it, or won’t it be all we expect?
(Appreciation, over expectation!)
Most of the time, it’s not what we expected (good or bad)…
And not always because it’s good, or because it’s bad (okay, some are good, and some are awful…)…
But souly because we didn’t create it…
We don’t know all the processes, all the thought that goes into it, or where all that thought is constantly going…
But we ‘think we do’, and heck, we all like to think ‘we are right’…
As consumers, we are an entitled bunch…
Expecting if we fork out some cash…
Suddenly we have more power and brains than the people whom actually made or make the product…
“I payed this much money”, blah blah blah…
Hey, even I’ve barked such things on this forum (and probably will below, figures)…
We all want to recieve ‘what we paid for’…
But in this ‘throw our money at almost anything’ society, it’s a fine line between knowing, and assuming, what we are actually paying for…
Nothing is that transparent anymore, under the fine print, there more fine print…
Yes, BB needs some more work…
And maybe it would be nice if ALL gaming companies didn’t try to rush their games out the door because they need to constantly compete with each other, have set profit margins, deadlines, etc…
It would be nice if the companies themselves had a little pep talk amongst staff to remind one another about ‘why do we make games’, and didn’t insist on the answer being ‘money’…
(I’m sure, deep down, this isn’t the case… But gotta make those dollars)
I know ‘release dates’ push this too…
Screw it, don’t give anyone any (as if!), or just give an estimate, ‘Spring 2016’ for example, not a month and day that is too detailed to stick to…
Announce those finer details when it is ‘fully’ ready…
If a game takes longer than expected, then just keep the hype train before release going…
Rather than half selling a half made, under prepared, just gotta get it out the door game…
That consumerist are paying full price for, and only getting half their monies worth…
Give me back the days, where I paid $100 for a PlayStation game, recieved 2 discs of content (only because, games didn’t store the way they do now), sometimes even more discs, interchanged them, ‘GOT’ my monies worth in a complete package, and didn’t need any of this DLC shiz, haha… (Eek, showing my age here)
Basically, after this long butt rant…
My conclusion is…
We all just want what we paid for…
And everyone has a different view on what that is…
Some word it a little harsh, but we certainly can be blunt when it comes to money, haha…
But we can ‘choose’ how to spend our money…
We don’t need to buy these micro transaction thingies…
But getting the efficiency and full content we expected, at the very least, I think is all we mainly ask…
I paid $99.95 for BB (standard preorder disc)…
I bought a $70 PS+ subscription just to be able to play it (thankfully shares between accounts on the one console - couch co op)…
Then I’m expected to buy a season pass of $29.95 or individually buy content which I don’t know it’s individual prices yet…
and have to buy TWO season passes because of couch co-op, so round that up to $60 as things don’t share between everyone on the same console for some reason (they used to)…
And then theres this new micro/platinum stuff on top of that (once again, couch co op, so two of everything)…
Those dollars all add up…
But, I haven’t gotten to the season pass, and further transactions yet, times two, because of the issues mentioned above…
But still, even what I’ve paid thus far, is a lot, for what I ‘used’ to be able to get in a game (original PlayStation, or even ps2 days… Maybe even ps3 a little!)…
I’m glad devs/game companies are ‘sticking by their games’…
But please, ‘stick by your consumers’…
We all have heaps of praise to give, and it’s worth its weight in gold!
The gaming expos of the year are soon to begin (e3 I’m not really counting, as it’s mainly ‘new stuff’)…
Set up your booth gearbox at whatever one is available, pump out BB, convince more players to buy it, do all you can…
There’s no need to just stick to word of mouth, or social media… Even though that’s free…
Please wisely use the dollars that players are continuing to pump into BB…
And, make it work for Australians!
I want to play BB again and buy all these lovely things other players are buying, I too have money to invest… Please @JoeKGBX!
(Sorry, this was quite the ramble, and I had no idea where it was going, or would end up, haha)