BF3 Prenium

[MrSamHideki]

Why is there a premium version of BF3? I just want certain expansions. What do you guys think of E3?

[Bunjiweb]

I think the Battlefield Premium thing is an absolute rip-off - What happened to the days when developers would gift players new maps for keeping the game alive? I don't know if I wanna pay £40 for the map packs, if it was £20 I would consider it.

[ScottyW]

Theres a premium version because EA want the money while providing a discount on buying all the packages individually. The idea is more sales at a lower price = bigger gains then individually. E3 was mostly about sequels, but excited about what's to come.

[csgohan4]

The FPS are now taking a leaf out the MMO and ripping people off, saving the best stuff for those that pay for it. Only in this case you can't simply grind to get the map packs. It makes alot of gamers angry and raged and ultimately they will vote with their wallets. Hopefully that will make them change their minds, though I doubt they will, because money is what drives them, not brand loyalty

[ironleg1963]

I am on the fence about the premium pack. i like bf3 but hate origin. I have several games that I have purchased and they will not work with origin. EA has turned to making money over customer care or satisfaction. I got the shortcut bundle because I can`t fly the aircraft. the unlocks for everything did not unlock.
i will think about it for a few days

[csgohan4]

Yeah the jets took me ages to get all the unlocks. The worse is getting the IR flares, I died so many times just to get it, then it was plain sailing from there.

So I can understand EA for releasing content to help out players. But to hold back alot of the content for premium users is really what makes me frustrated having spent alot om a title already.

[MrSamHideki]

I think the Battlefield Premium thing is an absolute rip-off - What happened to the days when developers would gift players new maps for keeping the game alive? I don't know if I wanna pay £40 for the map packs, if it was £20 I would consider it.

Agreeable but they only do handouts when they messed up a certain game due to the game not delivering a good ending like ME3. I was amazed that Bioware let us have two downloads for free even though its a multilayer add-on. I would pay £20 but im hoping they release separate packages instead of ripping us off by releasing the game again with the title "premium". Unfortunately the good old days of free add-ons have passed due to the fact there's no money from it and certain gamers don't even appreciate it.

[Lowe]

Games companies and games are now serious business with large investment and uber budgets. Investors want a return, companies need to make a profit.

The days of large scale freebies have gone. This is how it'll be now.

[MrSamHideki]

I am on the fence about the premium pack. i like bf3 but hate origin. I have several games that I have purchased and they will not work with origin. EA has turned to making money over customer care or satisfaction. I got the shortcut bundle because I can`t fly the aircraft. the unlocks for everything did not unlock.
i will think about it for a few days

Do you hate just hate Origin as a software or is it something else? The short cuts are a good idea but kind of annoying because noobs will get a hold of a moderately good firearm and hack the game for there own amusement. Ever since ive started playing this game i have crashed every aircraft in a matter of seconds. The Jet is impossible, do you play wit a pad or M&K?

[csgohan4]

Mouse and keyboard is tough but not impossible.

Start with an Xbox 360 controller, it's simple and easier.

Check the guys at Elitegamerbros on youtube for tips on Flying jets

[Firejack]

Games companies and games are now serious business with large investment and uber budgets. Investors want a return, companies need to make a profit.

The days of large scale freebies have gone. This is how it'll be now.

We are in the golden age of large scale freebies.... Free-2-Play! This is the future of online multiplayer gaming and is completely revolutionizing the industry. No longer do you have to worry about being ripped off.



Game studios like Trion, Hirez, Steam, RED5 + all the Indie developers appearing give me great optimism for the future. Finally I think we are seeing the end of the big publishers with their big budgets, investers and shareholders. Just look at the way EA's share price has dropped


What we are seeing emerge out of the boom and now bust of the traditional players in gaming are more gamer focused companies. Up until now we've had games companies run by suits who were too old to play themselves. Now all the gamers are running these companies we finally have more realistic goals and expectations.

[csgohan4]

But how are the FTP games going to fund the developers? Paid In game content like FTP MMO now a days. Just like the free phone apps. In a way I don't mind as it' quite clear and reasonably transparent. However, when you've paid X amount for a game and then they turn round 6 months later to say there is paid content or stuff you can only get by paying, well that goes to show how a valued customer you are, walking wallets for them.

[GoNz0]

end of the day you can skip premium and buy each map pack as its released, yeh its a rip off but i expect it to half in price within weeks from 3rd party sellers.

[Firejack]

But how are the FTP games going to fund the developers? Paid In game content like FTP MMO now a days. Just like the free phone apps. In a way I don't mind as it' quite clear and reasonably transparent. However, when you've paid X amount for a game and then they turn round 6 months later to say there is paid content or stuff you can only get by paying, well that goes to show how a valued customer you are, walking wallets for them.

With traditional games you buy it then the development stops. There is no incentive to patch the game, fix or balance things. They have their money so who cares!

Its the other way around in Free-2-play. You get the game and don't pay a dam thing until its 100% to your liking. So there is one huge incentive and it really concentrates the minds of the development company to produce a top notch game they are proud of and people will want contribute towards by buying in game items, boosters, functionality packs.

Its a great model in my eyes. Returning some great results so far in my experience. Much better then BF3 Premium which is effectively like saying we'll get our customers to be our investors by putting up the development costs and in return we'll give them no share of the profits and no assurances one what content exactly we will deliver.

[kalniel]

But how are the FTP games going to fund the developers? Paid In game content like FTP MMO now a days. Just like the free phone apps. In a way I don't mind as it' quite clear and reasonably transparent. However, when you've paid X amount for a game and then they turn round 6 months later to say there is paid content or stuff you can only get by paying, well that goes to show how a valued customer you are, walking wallets for them.

Are they taking away stuff that you've paid for then? That wouldn't be right IMHO. If they're just charging for additional content then I've no problem with that. Always assess a game on what you get when you buy it, not what you might get in the future.

FTP is not a hugely dissimilar model in terms of funding than the traditional model - both require huge amounts of upfront funds from a publisher/other sources to pay for game development. Traditional model aims to pay of a chunk of that on release and then make royalties for devs once that's paid off. FTP is largely the same with a slightly longer term approach to pay off (but not compared to development time - which can even be less for FTP).

[Biscuit]

Are they taking away stuff that you've paid for then? That wouldn't be right IMHO. If they're just charging for additional content then I've no problem with that. Always assess a game on what you get when you buy it, not what you might get in the future.

FTP is not a hugely dissimilar model in terms of funding than the traditional model - both require huge amounts of upfront funds from a publisher/other sources to pay for game development. Traditional model aims to pay of a chunk of that on release and then make royalties for devs once that's paid off. FTP is largely the same with a slightly longer term approach to pay off (but not compared to development time - which can even be less for FTP).

They are not taking anything away necessarily no, but they are giving premium members the ability to jump to the front of the queue if a server is full and they have added a feature in the server config which can only allow premium subscribers in. Its selectable by the admin though.

FTP is kinda good and i think some of the companies are getting it right, but the problem is that it tends not to work unless you are a pretty hardcore gamer. Often in current models you're purchases only allow you to use the item for a limited period, if like me you only play for a few hours very now (except for the occasional long session) then its an expensive business playing.