Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Battle Pass Progression Is Suspiciously Slow

The longer you make people play your game, the more they'll notice the in-game advertisements for additional spending.

Marketing departments have zero concept of individual tolerance.

MTs incoming in 3...2...

Microtransactions are actually already in the game.

No real need to pay for the Battle Pass. I don't think there is anything interesting enough to pay money for it.

Give me free maps... that's all I want.

@LiamCroft Yeah, but added unnecessary grind makes people more inclined to buy them.

I still want to get the game cheap for the campaign; not interested in the online anyway. Just entered a Twitter competition for a free slightly damaged copy.

@Paranoimia I agree - I'm just saying that this isn't laying the groundwork for microtransactions. They're already there with a full in-game store.

On a related game pass note the Rocket League Battle Pass also seems to be taking longer to level up. Plus the whole currency thing is a ripoff. £8 used to get you 10 keys for 10 crates so 10 items. £8 currently gets 1100 points which is not even enough some most items. I think Epic (who now own Psyonix) and Activision have teamed up to Scrooge the gamers this xmas

Thank goodness there are plenty of other games out there to play that don't contain this kind of practice. If they did I think my gaming days would be over.

@BarefootBowser I mean technically you can buy COD points to buy battle pass ranks... so you might not be that far off unfortunately.

@YETi so you're boycotting the entire game because of "this practice"? You know you dont need to pay along with it, right? The game is still just as fun as it was before they released Season One.

I'm not an unlockable collector, so I'm not worried about maxing it out. I love the game, and I'm so happy with the new maps and the fact that even though I bought the pass, it makes no difference (other than cosmetic) when I play with my buddies who did not buy the pass.

Honestly, I bought the pass, because the Mara operator was something I wanted, and didn't mind shelling out for that and more. Give me stuff I want and not things I need to keep playing the full game, and I'm more likely to spend.

@tweakin_frostyz I'm not boycotting the game entirely because of this practice. I find the series pretty dull, boring and crap tbh, that's the main reason. I understand I dont need to pay along with it and won't.

@YETi so... if every game did this, your gaming days would be over.... why is that? (if not a simple boycott because of "this practice")

30-40 hour Battle Pass with Fortnite, and pushing 50-60 if you want all of the alternate skins. Good value for $10, especially since most of the skins are high quality IMHO, and not just lazy pallets swaps like in some other games.

Hated that game for a long time but I just got into it and now I’d highly recommend it, lol. Just don’t tell anyone IRL or they’ll ostracize you.

As for this game...I’m already burned out and I think I’ve only got like 12 hours into it, lol.

Was playing this afternoon 200 hours is way off. Its based on time spent in game matches I was doing over 1 per hour so less than half this quote. I haven't bought the battle pass so not fussed. Everyone can get the free guns and maps. And the guns are unlocked early on. So I'm happy. But as for the game I'm not enjoying as much as the more recent faster games. To much camping and hiding in corners with shot guns. Black ops 4 rightfully got a lot of criticism, but it moment to moment gun play was exceptional

"No season pass or paid maps this time". I knew they would do something else to squeeze more money the moment I heard that.

the store is way too much in your face and intrusive in the new interface, don't like the design at all.

@RogerRoger For me its the longer i play and dont achieve anything the bigger the chance is i move on. I rather have a mappack then a waste of my time.

@gingerfrog 100 hours wow thats not so much. If its a pass every month or so you have too spend 25 a week just to finish it. 😆

That is why i sold Overwatch and played Fortnite a few times only. It restricts me from doing what i want. Even MHW went from fun too being a chore in the end.

Games now feel like time wasting. Its not having fun i checking of a list. 😩

@keihtg Sounds boring to be fair i just dont want too play one game a year. 60 hours can you select what you want? How many passes are there 12 or so probably that racks up to a €120 a year.

@Flaming_Kaiser The cool thing about the Fortnite Battle Pass is that you earn just enough in-game money doing it that you can pay for the next season’s pass (3 seasons a year). So technically you can just buy the pass once and play forever! Personally I thought it was fun and didn’t feel like a grind, but to each their own. I rarely play one game for more than 40 hours, and so I’m probably gonna shelve this one soon, but I was mostly pleasantly surprised by how many nice skins you got and other stuff in lieu of the trash Ive seen in every single other battle pass. All for $10.

@Flaming_Kaiser With the Battle Pass, all the skins are preset. The only way you can pick a specific skin you want is to use the in-game money, and all of the nice skins are $12 basically. I used all of the free in-game money I got to buy one of these kinda skins (since I’m not planning to use it for next season’s pass), and I also picked up a $5 promo skin they have every once in a while which gives you a skin and $6 of in-game money. It’s definitely all kind of a rip-off, but it beats the $20 I spent on Overwatch getting lootboxes full of garbage I never used.

No point in buying the BP, since it's only cosmetics. And also, one famous Youtuber has calculated that you have to play 3 hours every single day(!) of the season to reach max. That's insane for most ordinary people with jobs and lives outside gaming and who might also have an interest in playing other games than COD in between.

Also: this is probably done on purpose to induce people into buying the tiers

@Flaming_Kaiser
Yeh more like 75 hours over 2 months, personally I didn't bother with the battle pass as I don't have that much time to invest. But on a positive the 2 weapons which are stat changing new weapons are both available really early on so even people who don't play often can unlock them easily. I know your not interested from your comment but for me it's the lesser of 2 evils I get every weapon every map and mode, but miss out on cosmetics that I'm not interested in so I'll not be spending any extra money but still have the full game. So it's definitely their best effort so far for the community that do play it.

@Flaming_Kaiser That's fair. If only marketing folk understood this.

@gingerfrog Ok thanks for the info. So its 75 levels in two months. That seems doable but for me its like a job i really dont like a game were i have too invest so much time.

And a big no no is weapons in these passes. That removes the excuse of not splitting the playerbase. I am not convinced that this is a step up from the mappacks.

I have not played after the update but it shows why you have no decent unlocks. Before the battlepass. Not even one special looking skin?

@keihtg I will always feel free to play is the biggest rippoff around €12 is insane for a skin looking good or not.

If you think about it its insane when people complain about €60 for a game. But nobody complains about skins for these insane amount of cash.

And i agree Overwatch is criminal i sold the game because i caught myself spending money on lootboxes. Because i only needed one more skin.

The amount of sprays are a insult its clearly put in too make you spend money by just letting you sniff the skins because you only need 1 more.

@Flaming_Kaiser I agree! Also, skins nowadays just feel like “oh you wasted money on that” or “oh you grinded for 200 hours to get that.” I like how in the latest COD they put more emphasis on skins that you unlock by actually doing something impressive in the game, like beating a certain co-op mission.

@Flaming_Kaiser With Overwatch, there was one Legendary Sombra skin I wanted for 1000 gold and I only ever got up to 450. Even then, that skin was basically just a lazy texture swap with some spikes on it, and yet it was STILL too much to ask for, lol.

@keihtg With COD you see they have nothing cool you can unlock for free its all behind a paywall its such a waste because the game is nice.

I will let the whales(Majority of MTX consumers) who have way too much money in their credit cards go do this while I play new maps, get bored, play another game, and then come back for new maps for free. We don't have to pay for maps anymore which is a positive aspect but some people just don't know how to control impulses to buy stuff.

Investors/shareholers know this
Activision knows this
Infinity ward knows this

@Flaming_Kaiser
Not sure if I miss read your reply, but the new wepons aren't in the paid for battle pass. They are also unlocked after about 5 hours and 10 hours and available to everyone. So I guess if consumers are playing under 2 hours a week they're not that into it anyway so probably don't care. Which must be better than map packs you literally had to pay for the same price as the game again. I'll get every map and gun for free. And if you are into cosmetics, you can buy the first Battle Pass, and by completing it you'll have earnt enough cod points to get the next battle pass for free. So still spending much less than buying map packs. As you only have to buy 1 to get all of them.

TO BUY ONE OPERATOR PACK (WITH SKINS AND A NEW OPERATOR NIKTO) IT WILL COST YOU 15 DOLLARS IN COD POINT JESUS CHRIST!

@keihtg But why not let me pay a set price or unlock it. We already payed a fullpriced game and the maps we get are just graphically update versions of old maps. I rather pay them too sell us new maps no old reskinned maps. And that nonsense of splitting the playerbase with maps is nonsense. A €9,99 amount of COD points for skins i just as annoying let alone that if you dont own the pass it still gets rubbed in your face with every levelup. 😢

And lets not forget the €15 COD skinspacks with a few crappy extra items is insulting. But thats me personally.

@keihtg Thats decent its free to play so not much on Fortnite then. I just hope not everything needs to get free to play.

@Flaming_Kaiser Yep! And one other thing I just thought of...of all those games we’ve been talking about, Fortnite is the only one where you can ACTUALLY SEE your own character and skin in-game, lol.

@keihtg I know but somehow it just annoys me that everything interesting is put behind the battlepass. To be honest i should have known if you look how barebone the customazation is. When you load in your game you see yourself. 😆

And 100 hours to max even in 2 months wow just wow.

@gingerfrog But i was looking at the pass there are quite a few blueprints locked behind the paywall. And still i feel a little annoyed that they clearly left everything so barebone to push the battlepass.

@Flaming_Kaiser
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, I'm just not into cosmetics and every blue print you can make the exact same gun with the attachments you unlock with the exact same stats, and you can make much better versions of all the guns. But to each the own. I appreciate your reasoning. Now if you said the actual game was awful this year because of the map design and the perks slowing down gameplay and rewarding camping then we'd be agreeing.
Edit. And I'm not saying I like the battle pass and I won't be buying it. Just that I seem to be getting more for my money this year as I get all the maps and guns and don't have to spend a penny more

@gingerfrog Yeah we totally disagree i really dig the gameplay. 😆👍

But we all have our own ideas. 😉 👍

@Rugga Downvote just for the whales comment. Im not a consumer im a customer. Really nice piece on the Jimquisiton about that. 😉

@keihtg You know whats even more funny with Overwatch if you get a duplicate for a legendary skin you get just as much points as a for a normal skin. When i had that the first time i was baffled. The skin is 1000 and you 100 or 200 i dont even know but damn i felt so cheated.. 😩 😔

@Flaming_Kaiser

I don't care

@Rugga Good for you. I still think you suck for that comment alone. 😉

@Flaming_Kaiser Still doesn't matter

@Rugga Chickensandwich.

@Flaming_Kaiser don't care

@Rugga Banana?