Sure, there are a lot of things I could say, but it really boils down to a few major things.
Gearbox is losing against time.
Battleborn never seemed to have done anything right at the right time -going so far as the release date. Going against Overwatch actually isn’t the primary issue. The issue is that Battleborn, although a meatier game than Overwatch by a significant margin, wasn’t meaty enough based on what I just posted before. Battleborn needed to be a much, much better game from the get go, which I believe Gearbox could have done if they spent more time in the area that would have ensured a much bigger player base on Day 1, which is PvE.
By today, Gearbox does not have a good PvE crowd to rely on as a cushion. They don’t get to reap any rewards they didn’t invest in.
Because Battleborn was merely a very good game and not a very great game, Overwatch was able to do much more damage than it otherwise could have. Battleborn began struggling but it was still possible to minimize the damage. They went with a 55% discount, an attempt to bring in more players, in which I was a part of. What they failed to do, in my opinion, is to put work in keeping the players they already have on PvP and PvE.
At this point, Battleborn needed to be desperate to hold onto the community and player base they worked so hard to attract. Each and every one of them was earned by sweat and blood. However, I don’t think they held this mentality. At the 55% discount mark, Battleborn needed to permanently increase XP gains, credit gain, amount of drops per boss, and legendary drop rate chance. Players now can earn their credits and loot packs faster to keep them interested for a much longer duration. However, Gearbox was running the ship in a manner that the game was successful when it was clearly declining. It’s a very bad followthrough in an otherwise great discount sale.
Game continues to struggle through early June, with Alani very OP, balance patches are slow to implement, gear acquisition is slow since drop rates are crap, loot pack drop rates were also crap, credits were time consuming to farm, matchmaking was a disaster on the PvP front, PvE was also affected by the lower population… and what happens then…
Microtransactions.
Who the hell asked for this?
Maybe the better question is: Why are the people in charge still operating like the game is in a healthy state? Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Battleborn is not doing well.
The whole justification that a separate team did the marketplace function and blah blah blah, look, it’s not relevant to me whatsoever. The game is in turmoil, stop treating it like it isn’t. It makes you look both tone-deaf and insane. Anything implemented that would not revive the player base is pretty much irrelevant. Players don’t have others to play with consistently, and the publishers also have no one to milk.
Somewhere in between they permanently increased legendary drop chance. A good move, perhaps a bit late.
Then Lootpocalypse came sometime in late July, if I recall, and it was the best thing ever. Coincided with Humble Bundle, if I recall. This is probably the only thing Battleborn did right with flying colours.
In August, GBX decides to reward more XP for finishing matches and missions as a means to reduce quitting and surrendering. It’s not that it’s wrong, but it’s not the correct reward to boost. What GBX needed to boost is the acquisition of credits, the only tangible reward in the game.
Then XP boosters… which costs real money to get, which also doesn’t provide any incentives for people to come back.
Did I happen to forget that Battleborn was giving us more skins and taunts at a progressively more expensive price this entire time? The microtransactions were ever so diligent to arrive on time, and yet the fixes, patches, new campaigns and stuff that will improve the player base were nowhere to be seen or heard.
I know GBX is forced to be tight-lipped with a lot of their stuff, in which I understand, but the overall perception of it when the game is struggling is hardly ideal.
Pendles was released somewhere in there, but who cares. He didn’t do much to improve the player base.
Ernest was actually a very cool character, but with the player base at about 700 on PC at the time people’s enthusiasm were greatly dampened. But Hardcore Spotlight, UPR discount pack was good, it got some people playing again.
Battleplan September 1st 2016… no events… not even a band-aid solution to retain the player base… And DLC and other PvP modes are scheduled for October 13th 2016…
Now at 300ish players on Steam as of writing and we’re going to facing a 6 week of “Content-Less”, in the context of no new content, Battleborn.
I’m trying really hard to pray that Battleborn won’t look like a desolate graveyard by then.
How many of the things I have mentioned so far actually helped boost the player base? I only saw 2. 3 if you include Pendles.
In the span of 4 months, only 3 things managed to boost the population in a noticeable way. Is this why there are only 300 players on Steam?
What’s going to happen when Paladins, Lawbreakers, and Paragon come out in full swing? What about the other AAA titles coming this holiday season? What if some massive publisher discount comes again soon? How is Battleborn going to compete against all these outside factors?
Time had been very unkind to Battleborn indeed.
