Pay to Grind

(Call of Duty Warzone & Vanguard Season One Battle Pass. Property of Activision)

The mega-popular video game, Fortnite has set various records. One of those things is it popularized the Battle Pass system into the mainstream. Not for long, other companies begin to copy and try to imitate the success by implementing Battle Passes into almost every new game release. But what does Battle Pass offers?

The Battle Pass system sounds like a great idea. It is a challenge pack commonly containing 100 levels of rewards. As the player plays the game, they gain experience point (XP) and unlock each level, whether by completing challenges or normal play sessions. Simple to explain, yet once you dig a little deeper, problems emerge.

THE GOOD

Firstly, for roughly $10 (9.99), it’s a steal. You pay that for cosmetics that would have cost more if they were sold separately. For example, 2 weapon skins for Call of Duty Warzone would have cost 1100 CoD Points or $10 already if they were in a bundle. Sure, they might not be your cup of tea, but the Battle Pass still might have something that caught your eye like the Tier 90’s Ultra Skin. Do you know how much an Ultra Skin would cost in a bundle? Like 1,800 CoD Points or $18 (CoD Black Ops Cold War’s Angels & Demons Reactive Anime Bundle).

(Angels & Demons Reactive Anime Bundle. Image captured by me. Property of Activision)

In Legends of Runeterra, you can get about 5 guardians (in-game pets) along with other emblems and card backs for $10. Would I buy these things separately for $20+? Of course not.

Secondly, It gives the game a more “rewarding” feeling like you achieve something when playing normally. The level unlocks has a sound cue, like “yeah you finally unlock this thing, here’s a golden progression bar and a satisfying zoom sound!” It is a form of positive reinforcement. You do good tasks, the game rewards you. When you get all the way up to 100th level, it feels “completed”.

The final point is that it is certainly better than the loot box system. You know what you will get. No more paying until you get skins you want (looking at you, Overwatch).

THE BAD

Firstly, the bad boils down to how much time do you have to spend on a game? Let alone multiple games you might be invested in. How committed are you to these games? Can you plan when should you grind one game, then another game on a neat schedule? How much time are you willing to spend on games in one day? Can you afford to not grind one game in favor of another? Can you afford to miss out on exclusive items if you need to do something important in real life?

Secondly, the fun vs efficiency choice. Most of the time, the fastest way to level up a Battle Pass is to grind or exploit the game in a way that is not very fun. For example, CoD Warzone is intended to be a Battle Royale game, but the mode that offers the most XP is Plunder. In Plunder, you are guaranteed to get more XP because you can respawn, get contracts done, and farm money instead of being a sweaty gamer against 149 other sweaty people in a permadeath mode. If you ask me, I want to play Rebirth Resurgence because it offers the most engaging and fast matches, but look at how TINY the XP gain is compared to Plunder. Why should I spend 20 minutes playing Rebirth for 9,000 XP even when winning, if I could spend that same amount of time grinding Plunder without a care in the world, blasting Spotify, not killing anyone, just farm money, doesn’t have to win and get 30,000 XP for the $10 Battle Pass I paid for?

Thirdly, it manipulates the player. On Free Track you get petty things compared to the Premium Track. Other people who paid are getting more out of the Battle Pass. At some point, It stops giving you rewards for playing. The positive reinforcement loop of play-get rewards is cut off if you're not buying the Premium version. You crave the rewards, you want your playtime to reward something instead of looking at locked items behind the paywall. And once you bought it, it will certainly create pressure, a Sunk Cost Fallacy, that you have to finish it, otherwise you will waste $10. It becomes unclear whether you’re having fun or just playing to get your money’s worth.

(Call of Duty Warzone's Battle Pass. Image captured by me. Property of Activision)

Even once you completed the Battle Pass as a free player, you have avoided the alluring premium rewards until you finally reach the max level, the system still creates a “Foot in the door” and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) effect. The countdown timer is getting lower, maybe a day or hours left until the season ends. You start getting a tingling sensation in your brain that you worked so hard to reach Level 100, netting some free rewards already, why not just buy the pass and get all of these sweet cosmetics? They will be gone once the season ends, maybe forever.

Battle Pass can be an extension, but should not be the only progression system like in Halo Infinite. The game is pretty fun, but unrewarding because everything you do is tied to the Battle Pass. Do you want skins? New helmets? Better grind the Battle Pass by doing sometimes hard challenges that require a very specific playstyle and luck. Even though Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass never expires, I still think it is a bad way to use this system when looking at traditional progression in FPS like CoD or Battlefield, which give you unlockables just by playing normally. It is the same bad point I pointed out that temps you into buying the Premium version.

Lastly, the items included are mostly filler content like emblems or sprays people not gonna use. The 100 levels are not filled with meaningful, actually appealing items like character or weapon skins. You could argue when cutting the padding content out, $10 for a few items might not be worth it.

My Verdict

I'm not against hardcore 24/7 grinding. But pressuring people into grinding to get their $10 worths is not the way. It defeats the point of games, making it more like a job. The fun is sucked out, replaced with “how do I grind most effectively to meet the time limit”. I get it that the devs want both to sustain the player base by forcing players to grind, and the upfront money. Server maintenance and services are not cheap. But if they would follow Halo Infinite’s footsteps and make Battle Pass permanent, I think that would benefit both parties. Hardcore players can do their 24/7 grind, while average players can have their full-time job or school work and still be able to have their $10 worth. They might even play more because they are not forced to grind. As an extension to the normal progression system, I think Battle Passes are on the right track for rewarding players. But there have to be adjustments made to not make a game a second job. A game can either ask for money or time commitment, but shouldn't ask for both at the same time.