[NaotaKenichi]

After some matches today I had a thought, I rarely get matches for anything but Hanging by a Thread and the Mission of the Week.

Now I have purchased every available campaign, but I usually hit quickplay to get into the fastest matches. On chance that I do select a specific mission, I wait a very long time to find four other players doing the same.

I have to wonder if the current mission unlocking system is hurting the game. Unlocking missions drain from currency you need for other things, and its not like that drain is going to increase sales of premium currency. Why would someone spend roughly 5 dollars worth of premium currency to unlock one mission for 2.5 hours, when you can spend 10 dollars to unlock four missions permanently and unlock an exclusive character. Not to mention that actively seeking out a payed mission means a smaller base of player to match up with, meaning longer match times, meaning less matches per hour than a free match.

I'd say that maybe the free to play model is hurting the game, but this really doesn't have anything to do with monetization or microtransactions. The missions could be locked permanently without purchasing the expansion, or they could be unlocked permanently at a higher premium than in the bundle. I don't really get why its such a high price for such a short time. If you really wanted to pursue a free to play model, you could have just charged a small amount of gold (200-500) for a single match.

I don't regret purchasing the campaigns, I like being able to play any mission whenever I want, its like a single player game. But my ability to profit from these missions is still dependent on three other people spending their hard earned gold or cash like I did. Would it be considered pay to win if a paying player could get gold and experience from offline missions, because its a little off putting to have purchased these maps without really being able play them.

[Lumireaver]

I've got to say, I only played the game for the first time yesterday. I immediately got my brother to download it because good co-op PvE is hard to come by these days. Super sad to hear I came just a few days after I could have gotten a lot of free content.

After playing the two available missions, my brother and I are basically done. We've got a lot appreciation for the world building and art of the game, and we both appreciate that their *is* a free-to-play model, but the grind is too steep. So NaotaKenichi's got real concerns, but maybe Mercury Steam doesn't mind?

It would be neat if players who purchased the expansions could freely invite anyone without those tickets. That would motivate me to either buy the game or encourage my brother to do so. On top of the license to host their associated campaigns, some other reward could be attached to the purchase to incentivise buying it. Like a skin or whatever?