the battle bay inconvenience store ... a lawsuit waiting to happen?

First off, my intention is not to bash battle bay. i find this game addicting in spite of what i perceive to be flaws in matchmaking(which i will not go into since it will be off topic). the thing i want to point out is battle bay's inconvenience store. i have upgraded my epic repair pulse to level 10 and need a duplicate to further upgrade it. now here comes the problem and my frustration .. there is no sure way to get it. not even if i spend 100 more dollars, i will not be assured of the purchase that i need. now please bear with me. i thought about this for a while and asked myself, what if this kind of ridiculous purchasing system were used by a convenience store near where i live?

lets say for example i need a gallon of vanilla ice cream. i go to the store and ask the clerk for the thing i want to buy. he would tell me, oh no sir, you cannot purchase a gallon of vanilla ice cream now because you already purchased that item last week. but don't worry, we will sell you a special epic box that may or may not contain the thing you want to buy. furthermore, you can buy smaller boxes that have lesser chances to contain the item you want to buy but they are cheaper.
ok i'll try buying the epic box ... it contains tissues, candles, matches, dog food, a can of tuna and a small pillow. none of the things i need. the clerk will say, aww tough luck but if you buy another one, you might get what you need. hey those candles and matches would be useful if ever power goes out. you're lucky. that canned tuna tastes really good, be thankful its the rare kind.

would this be acceptable for you guys? would you even consider this ethical? the more i think about it, the more surprised i am that no one oven thought of a lawsuit to this kind of service. is this kind of treatment to a paying customer is really acceptable? at least sell us the item we need, i mean we are paying cold hard cash, at least give us the goods we want.

 

i dont so in a week .. you still have to upgrade the crew and farm parts/materials for upgrades. also the big spenders have already done it but not every one of them is at the top league.

 

Agree with this post, there is no way to get the weapon you want even if you pay for it. Even paying $500 doesn't guarantee you anything! Im still waiting for my epic duplicates.

The AntiSnipe what you are not getting is that this is not about the game but more about the rights as a consumer.

However I don't think battle bay breaches law under any section by using the business model they have currently adopted (RNG System).

 

A lawsuit wouldn't stand a chance. The only thing you could try to do is classify it as gambling and then argue that it violates gambling laws. Which fails because you are purchasing digital goods without resale value. Also keep in mind that you aren't spending real money on the random boxes, that's an important detail. You spend real money on the premium currency (pearls), and you then choose to spend pearls on a random box.

Btw, are you not aware that random boxes purchasable for premium currency are present in most online games nowadays?

 

honestly, most if not all purchases at other online games left me satisfied with the purchase, random boxes or not. its only the battle bay inconvenince store epic crates that cost so much and left me more frustrated than anything else.

 

Whether you were satisfied or not does not say anything about the system. It just tells whether you were lucky to get a good random outcome or not. There are people who buy one box in Battle Bay and get exactly what they wanted, and without doubt there were people in those other games you played that purchased 10 times your amount of boxes and still didn't get what they wanted. That's how these things work. Some people are super lucky, some totally not, some in between, and when you ask those people how they feel about the system you'll get a different answer from each.

Bottom line: if you can't deal with not getting what you want, don't purchase the box. If you still buy it, you supported the system and have, in my opinion, no right to complain.

 

i bought, i got burned. now im complaining and bringing forth this issue in the hopes that the devs would realize the unreasableness of the crate system and item purchases. i wont buy again unless it would be straightened out by the devs.

 

Strongly agree that the current RNG system is a vast downgrade to the previous shop system [Items on display in the shop -- Buy if you want, dont buy if you dont want].

Heck I even bought 6k pearls under the old system so I could slowly spend them when desired items appeared in my shop --- Then they changed it to RNG only & my purchased pearls went into a random luck of the draw box.
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Freemiums have to strike a fine balance between being bareable for people who invest mainly time, but also luring the people who primarily spend money -- As Battle Bay is atm, it's (imo) screwed to heavily in favour of large spenders (& the people fortunate enough to have played under the old system where you could actually progress) and against low spenders (i.e. constant pearl farmer on will not get you anywhere) and f2p-players.

But its rather simple - Aslong as enough people pay up & buy into the current model then nothing will change.

Or put in another way:
Old system = I happily bought some pearls as I had control of what they would get me - No problem paying for that.
New system = I've bought Pearl Diver a few times, but wonder why I bother after every purchase. Should stop doing it I guess

 

I like this thread, however i think we need to concentrate all discussions over the RNG shop system into one thread. Not claiming fame or anything, but constructive discussion is really more effective if under one stove.

 

AGREED!!! I'VE MENTIONED THIS IN THE OLD FORUM JUST BEFORE BATTLEBAY WENT GLOBAL... I THINK THEY DON'T HAVE ANYBODY ON THEIR TEAM THAT SPECIALIZES IN MARKETING... SELLING ITEMS FOR "A CHANCE" TO GET SOMETHING IS A DEFINITE FORMULA FOR INEVITABLE FAILURE...

 

As well, instead of a lawsuit. Just get a refund, all these apps have a satisfactory system through Apple iTunes or Google Play. If you're seriously not happy, contact customer support and ask for a refund, no lawsuits required.

 

RNG-ISH ITEMS SHOULD BE SOLD FOR IN-GAME CURRENCY THAT CAN BE GRINDED/EARNED WITHIN THE RULES OF THE GAME... BUT IF THEY ARE SELLING STUFF FOR REAL WORLD MONEY... IT SHOULD BE SOMETHING DEFINITE.

 

Atleast unlocking purchase of similar type of items from the store would do the job. This game has started to feel like a scam now tbh! I'll just give it a month now and see where this game goes.

 

Lol... selling a chance to get something is about the best thing a game can do, from a marketing point of view.

 

Definitely a short lived strategy! More than half of the users are extremely unsatisfied those who are not are soon going to show up on this forum just like me :/ but I also believe there is no point crying about it cause our opinions are never going to be taken into account. If something was to change it would have happened long time back. Just give poor feedback about this game on the app store and move on!

 

There's numerous games out there that use this "inconvenience store" method. Just don't purchase any in-app purchases and you won't have to worry about it.

 

They might have an inconvenience store but they also offer "other avenues" that lead to some sort of progress. Also considering the purchasing power parity of different countiees not everyone can afford to let go off $150. If you make the game global you should also make the thinking global!

 

The whole idea of monetization like this is that they don't target "everyone". They count on the fact that the big spenders will bring in more money now, than "everyone" combined would bring in with a more reasonable system. Because sadly, that's always the case. There are people that spend crazy amounts of money on games, and the most profitable thing to do as a developer is to provide those people with a reason to spend a lot. I can tell you that that's what the 3900 pearl box is for.

 

I bought some kind of $5 special early on, and after that bought the $10 subscription where I get the bonus without watching ads. So $15 so far which I don't think is a crazy amount of money. And I am almost to my first 3900 box just by diligently saving my pearls.