Hi-Rez Draws Pay-To-Win Accusations From New Paladins Card System
As we alluded to briefly in the last F2P Cast, Paladins has changed up how players acquire and improve their cards -- which themselves improve the abilities their characters use in game. Troy gave it an A-bomb and it appears he's not the only one who's less than enamored with the new system, which is currently on the public test server.
As I only lightly dabbled in Paladins, over a year ago, I'll mostly crib from Kotaku's explanation of the old and new systems. In the current system, players have to obtain cards in packs or via crafting (the currency for which comes from trashing duplicates), which they then equip on their characters. Under the new system, called Cards Unbound, players receive base versions of all cards, and duplicates will instead "rank up" existing cards, making them more powerful.
The problem(s) seems to be that, under the old system, once you had a card, that was it -- no more progression/grinding necessary. Under the new system, you'll need multiples of the same card to achieve the best possible build in the game. That means you'll need to open more RNG packs, which you can earn in game, but are also (of course) available for purchase. Also, you can't craft cards any more.
Some are drawing direct lines between this system and Star Wars: Battlefront 2's Star Cards, which also rank up to improve characters' abilities, and you know where that road leads. At least the system is only in place for quick play and not competitive matches in Paladins, but it would seem to be a detriment to casual players who aren't interested in competitive.
The page announcing Cards Unbound says that Hi-Rez has "been listening to our players" who want "an epic experience that’s even more over-the-top than Paladins is today, unconstrained by the more cumbersome aspects of deckbuilding and point limits" in quick play while reducing grind and "having to unlock cards" in competitive play. We'll see if the backlash, which is all over the sub-Reddit, will make Hi-Rez listen to its players more.
And if you're a Paladins player, leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the changes in Cards Unbound!
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About the Author
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
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I have mixed emotions about this new direction.
But it's sad to hear the news about them moving onto P2W aspects... sad that companies now are moving toward more Loot Box oriented gameplay instead of progression and skill based gameplay.
The problem here is, that Casual games are a wreck, since people ignore any communication or teamplay. Obviously, since that's the only place to practice new champions for Ranked. Creating a hole that large between Casual and Ranked is a terribly bad idea.
Not to mention, that many paid real money just to use specific cards in Ranked. Now all that is obsolete, money well thrown out of the window.
Paladins is already struggling. The developers are following a few trending Reddit posts INSTEAD OF THEIR OWN F*CKING FORUMS. Come on, officials on the forum say, that ideas on the forum have potentially zero chance to get to the game.
Nothing good will come to this game, each time one thinks they learned something, the devs show, that not at all. I can't decide whether I should cry or laugh, the gameplay experience is down the drain and still falling. They are throwing away all their potential, and outright ruining the game.
Neither player feedback, nor statistics seem to have any effect on their path of "development".