Why I think the new obsidians are a gut punch to supporters who bought the previous versions

(arharr3) #1

So SD showed their new planned obsidian operative rerelease. While there have been changes with the loadouts and the visual design of the cards , these changes go exactly into the direction where they really shouldn’t go. When comparing the older versions with the newer ones it becomes obvious that there appears to be a pretty big misunderstanding from SDs side when it comes to these changes.
This is pretty obvious when comparing the original versions with the newer ones.

The old BL21 , when compared to the newer A31 , just looks worse. Out of the first three operatives it was the only one that was atleast viable when compared to other loadouts. However , when it comes to the best fletcher loadout the community (from what Ive read in the last two years I spent in this forum) usually goes for the BL32 or the A31. With the A31 being included now. What a coincidence.

While the old and newer stoker and phoenix are comparable , the new arty is one of the more obvious examples of what went wrong here.
The old B73 way more or less his weakest Br16 loadout. And the new version now suddenly boasts with the D43 his strongest Dreiss loadout.

This is what is usually referred to as powercreep. With the phantom and phoenix obsidians we were able to decide out of three cards we consider the best. Now SD releases an even better version and thus strongly tempts/forces me to spend money once again and let my other card , for which I spent real money, rot in my inventory.
This just pisses me off. There is a difference between making changes in loadouts to keep the exclusivity and releasing a straight upgrade to milk your customers once again.
Want me to buy the new aimee obsidian? Why would I if I know you are going to release a straight upgrades in a few months.
Not this way SD , not this way. I like Dirty Bomb and I have supported with purchases more then one time in the past. But if I know that Im being spit in my face this way I will reconsider my future choices regarding this.

(Jaso) #2

i’m totally agree!
cant get it why SD keep releasing there “limited” stuffs all over again

p.s i’m tired of these things… not gonna buy anything else

(arharr3) #3

Just to clarify this: my main complaint is that out of the four rereleased loadouts two are clearly better then the originals.
If you bought one of these at their initial sale you had to decide between using a loadout which is clearly better , and the rather meh ones which boast a really awesome skin.
But with the rereleases you can use both the best loadout AND the best skin.
This is the main reason why previous buyers are supposed to be tempted to spend money again for the same skin and its what I see as shady here.

(Press E) #4

As someone who bought the obsidians,
What do you really expect from a game in open beta? It’s understandable things are going to change, even if they were implied otherwise. Yeah, it sucks, especially if you spent money on something only to have it come out again later, but that’s why you can’t just buy everything for the sake of having it.
I get it, it’s an asshole thing to release an expensive card, then release a better one later, but it’s not like you were ripped off. You knew the card you were buying, and if you only bought the cards for the sake of having the cards and not because you actually liked them, that’s your problem.

I do get what you mean, but I’d hardly call it a “punch” or anything of the sort. It’s like buying a phone, then getting angry because a better one was released next month.

(Da_Mummy) #5

Just kinda sucks that the enthusiasts that bought all the original obsidians are no longer veterans that are recognised by those obsidians as older players. I originally got all the three obs for Phoenix and when some of my friends joined DB I became known as somebody owning cards that you can’t get anymore.
And since the new obsidian bundle will be available permanently every new player with a big enough wallet will be able to get those better versions of the old operatives.
I would have been a little happier if those cards were only available for let’s say a special week or something. Making them available all the time is kind of bitter sweet.

(Aazhyd) #6

It’s only power creep if you NEED to have these new ones. Which you don’t, because you could always get these loadouts, albeit with a different skin. It’s just cosmetics, people.

(arharr3) #7

@STARRYSOCK said:
As someone who bought the obsidians,
What do you really expect from a game in open beta? It’s understandable things are going to change, even if they were implied otherwise. Yeah, it sucks, especially if you spent money on something only to have it come out again later, but that’s why you can’t just buy everything for the sake of having it.
I get it, it’s an @$!# thing to release an expensive card, then release a better one later, but it’s not like you were ripped off. You knew the card you were buying, and if you only bought the cards for the sake of having the cards and not because you actually liked them, that’s your problem.

I do get what you mean, but I’d hardly call it a “punch” or anything of the sort. It’s like buying a phone, then getting angry because a better one was released next month.

Nobody forced SD when they made these “changes” (I wouldnt call a single changed symbol and a different loadout really different, since it still requires people to know what the originals are) to pick way stronger loadouts. They could have instead picked similar loadouts that would be on par, just like they managed to do with stoker and phoenix.
Picking the best implies they expect you to pay again.

(n-x) #8

You have to keep in mind, that we wont be able to just buy the new obsidian operatives. They are only available as part of the new “elite all merc pack”. Since the normal “all merc pack” is already $39.99 the one with the EO will be probably $10-20 more expensive.

So players who already have a few/all mercs would have to pay $40+x just to get the load out cards. Adding to this, that they probably only really want a few of them, this will be a high price to pay.

And for beginners, it will be a really high price to pay for a f2p game. Especially with the cheaper normal “all merc pack” in store. And the longer they wait, the more mercs they will unlock with in-game currency, the more unattractive those packs will become.

So, all in all I wouldnt fear that the game will be flooded with new EO and the exclusivity of the first generation wont be tarnished too badly.

(arharr3) #9

Just for those saying the obsidian operatives were never advertised as limited edition: please watch this video again.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=H4J6z6ORXdM

(TheStrangerous) #10

There was a name for this business practice, which I forgot.

Best known in teleshopping. Where if you order now, you’ll get one for free, or some other bundles, making excuse how it’s a limited offer. When in fact they have truckload of products behind their backs.

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(Teflon Love) #11

@arharr3 said:
This is the main reason why previous buyers are supposed to be tempted to spend money again for the same skin and its what I see as shady here.

It’s not going to be much of an issue if SD actually manages to separate skins and loadouts by the time the revised obsidian mercs are released. That way, owners of the existing weaker cards can change the loadout to a better one and don’t have to buy them again.

I guess we have to wait for one of the next videos before this clears up.

(arharr3) #12

@teflonlove said:

@arharr3 said:
This is the main reason why previous buyers are supposed to be tempted to spend money again for the same skin and its what I see as shady here.

It’s not going to be much of an issue if SD actually manages to separate skins and loadouts by the time the revised obsidian mercs are released. That way, owners of the existing weaker cards can change the loadout to a better one and don’t have to buy them again.

I guess we have to wait for one of the next videos before this clears up.

Yep , but so far SD is being SD which means bad communications. It has improved since the reddit AMAs became a thing (you see quite often posts from SD members on reddit) but they are really making it difficult for us to provide feedback.

(binderr) #13

I never thought we’d see more obsidian cards for same Merc in such short period either. Obsidian cards were supposed to limited and very rare meaning if they come out you wouldn’t see same merc obsidian again for very long time. But this is kind of pi$$ taking, especially for those who bought arty/phoenix/stoker/fletcher cards. I personally didn’t simply for fact that the loadout cards were just terrible (except fletchers) even if they were obsidian release.
Further more the new obsidians are packaged with all Merc pack so for a lot db player who have all Merc, there is no viable reason to spend ~40 buks when you only want obsidian cards. I hope SD offers those obsidian in a stand alone pack for us veterans to buy. B)

(arharr3) #14

@binderr said:
I never thought we’d see more obsidian cards for same Merc in such short period either. Obsidian cards were supposed to limited and very rare meaning if they come out you wouldn’t see same merc obsidian again for very long time. But this is kind of pi$$ taking, especially for those who bought arty/phoenix/stoker/fletcher cards. I personally didn’t simply for fact that the loadout cards were just terrible (except fletchers) even if they were obsidian release.
Further more the new obsidians are packaged with all Merc pack so for a lot db player who have all Merc, there is no viable reason to spend ~40 buks when you only want obsidian cards. I hope SD offers those obsidian in a stand alone pack for us veterans to buy. B)

They will , as it was confirmed on reddit.

(ImSploosh) #15

Off topic, buuuttttt, we need Execution back so we can actually show off our skins. :’(

(K1X455) #16

@ImSploosh said:
Off topic, buuuttttt, we need Execution back so we can actually show off our skins. :’(

Execution is for the hipsters

(TheStrangerous) #17

@ImSploosh said:
Off topic, buuuttttt, we need Execution back so we can actually show off our skins. :’(

Correction: We need modding and dedicated servers.

(Nail) #18

please get terminology correct, we have dedicated servers, the alternate is peer to peer.
What you mean is owned servers and we’ve been told that won’t happen

(l2c) #19

Well, with Aimee getting one loadout, it’s not far fetched to assume skins will be separate in some way from loadouts, making what loadout your Obsidian has irrelevant. They might be giving the re-issue Obsidians good loadouts, because in the end, it won’t really matter.
On the other hand, they might just want you to double-dip. Will just have to wait and see :<

(Da_Mummy) #20

@arharr3 said:
Just for those saying the obsidian operatives were never advertised as limited edition

Literally the first sentence in the announcement video for Phoenix: “Hitting the store this Wednesday is NEW and EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION obsidian operative look for Phoenix.”
Almost the same for the others.