S
@aaronjw76 Adding one of the specialty packs to programs isn't exactly a seismic shift. Just remove one of the icons/banners/stadium sounds from the reward path and replace it with a pack.
Of course you actually need to put out programs for this to happen, but still.
@JohnWick2DDA said in Even the content creators/streamers are turning on the game. Yikes:
but obviously SDS is going a different direction.
Filling content gaps with overpriced packs doesn't sound like a winner to me but what do I know?
Better question is why there already feels like there's nothing being released other than packs 3 weeks into the cycle.
@romeischillin Yeah, they used to be in the xp reward path(s). I don't think anyone is complaining about using past favorite cards, they're complaining about how they're obtained.
@CDNMoneyMaker93 No argument there.
The packs will probably be in programs or conquest at some point, when they are outdated and largely useless outside of binder fodder.
@CDNMoneyMaker93 Gotta disagree there. The entire game is a lazy, phoned-in monetization pit. The 'content' this year is primarily packs, with token programs thrown in (with worse cards than are in the packs).
@CDNMoneyMaker93 Corporate greed. The story of our times.
Well that was expected but it still sucks.
Is it too tinfoil hat-ish to think that the real reason for a strict xp cap is to keep complaints about lack of content down?
I really hope it's a weekly wonders sort of program. Based on nothing more than it being on Wednesday.
(it'll probably be packs)
@briankoke Pretty good summary and you didn't even touch on the technical side. Server outages in early access, attempted patch that blew up everything, and unlinking accounts making it appear that all progress was nuked. All done with little communication on their part.
Pretty impressive for a game that changes very little year to year.
'24 is definitely an overcorrection. There were tons of complaints about the content last year. My gripe with '23 wasn't the amount of programs, it was that so many of them sucked. Mexico City was awful, Father's Day was somehow even worse, etc. So now this year's game has few programs and a metric ****ton of packs which are unavailable anywhere but the shop. Yes, they will probably be in programs or elsewhere in the near future. At that point they will be outdated and strictly collection fodder (welcome back to '23's content woo!).
I prefer a power creep to high diamonds at launch. Always have, always will. But to me a power creep is not starting over every season. That's just SDS trying to recreate launch excitement (read - stub sales) every 3 months. The old innings format was so much more enjoyable and you didn't have to wait all cycle to get the 99s. The best of the best were at season's end, sure, but I remember 99s being the bosses fairly early in the innings progression in '19 at least.
The million stub voucher says 'discovered by....' in game so at least one person has.
But yes, that pack is essentially giving away nothing so expect to see lots of them this year.
Storylines are the best thing they do IMO. Especially now that the rest of DD is....lacking.
@DEF266 It was one of the most popular programs since 2019. Why 2019? That's the year they took POTM away from packs and made it all earnable in the program.
Whoever it was that was wondering why they weren't hyping the program today?
Now you know.
Anxiously waiting to hear why SDS is right to start charging 30K for Topps Now/Monthly Awards cards.
At this rate the collection is going to be 75% cards from packs.
I don't mind the lower overall cards, but the poster above touched on a big nit I have. Progress on the xp path is so slow that you need to have better rewards than icons or stadium sounds along the way. Absolutely no one is fired up about things like that.
Regarding '21, that was a good power creep early on IMO. They blew it all up though when the ASG cards were released as they were far too good not to use so lineup diversity was over at that point.
@Dolenz I agree that early 99s last year ruined any sense of progession or team-building. I also like a power creep model, but this feels less like that and more like SDS gatekeeping everything, and doing so in a very heavy-handed manner.
@go4stros25 said in How long are jelly beans in packs?:
Baseball fans, or the show fans, aren't like madden and 2k fans.
Except for the subset of players that will never acknowledge that SDS has changed (not for the better).
A lot of the changes this year are not subtle, they are very much "Because F*** You, that's why". Slashing gameplay xp in half and then capping it? That's about as blatant as it gets.
I can't remember which streamer it was, but he said that there seems to be less input lag with XBox controllers compared to the PS5.