Obviously Stalingrad had been the focus of discussion for the past several days. It’s something that people have gotten very heated over and there is a lot of arguments from both sides. In this post I want to share some observations I have on the new progression system and how there are some flaws within how it is currently set up.
The way the devs have explained stalingrad is essentially it’s a $30 DLC that has a free demo available. You aren’t meant to be able to get everything as a F2P. Regardless of the opinions on this model this is what the devs have chosen and it likely won’t change for Stalingrad.
However, as a Demo I think there are some real flaws within the current implementation.
As seen in the above image for progression around 40% of the levels are locked to the all access pass. I see 2 main problems with how this is currently set up
- Currently almost everything new and exciting is locked behind the full access pack. Currently the new stuff that F2P can get are the Mannlicher M93, Bf 109 E-7/U2, Panzer IV F2, Potez 633 for the German side. Then for the Soviets the Yak 7B, KV1, and A20G. I
I know there is more stuff like the Soviets getting as Breda but this content is also available in several other campaigns also. When I talk about new stuff I mean things unique to this campaign. It’s understandable that the full access pack needs shiny toys limited to it in order to entice people but I believe currently that f2p don’t have much to really look forward to trying out without buying the pass. A demo should show off exciting and new stuff for people to try out but this currently is not really done outside of a small roster that requires people to grind level 23 which is really far into it.
- F2P players have to grind levels that don’t offer anything for them.
This means as an example that the grind between level 23 and level 26 only would unlock a single new weapon for such a player. With how much later levels can take I think it’s to much of a grind and hurts this acting like a demo. I don’t believe many would want to grind 2-3 levels of XP requirements just to unlock a single thing. Not to mention many unlocks are stuff like the MP40 for the 5th time and this problem compounds with the issue stated in 1.
- The late game viability of F2P is to limited.
Although this is intended to be something people buy into I think there is a real concern that the campaign will suffer from a lack of players especially those that have powerful late game tools. In something like Normandy (my main campaign) there is usually a few people that have reached level 20 plus and their stronger weapons and squads counteract any high level enemies that other might brute force an objective. The options for a F2P that commits the time to grinding to the late game is very limited and I think will cause issues where more games end up being decided by maybe 1-2 players that ended up buying the pass and have a notable advantage in the late game.
So is there a way to fix these observed problem? I think to some extent yes and the answer lies in switching around some of the locked tiers.
I would suggest making the following levels free
Level 7 (T-34 and Panzer IV F2)
Level 21 (Thompson and Danuvia M39)
Level 25 Engineer II (AVT-40 and Mkb42H)
Then I would suggest locking the following the level behind the access pack
Level 14 Trooper II
Level 20 Flametroopers
Level 26 Sniper III
On top of that I would suggest trying to make it so every other level alternates between the access pass and a free to play (so a few levels might have need to be swapped but it would make it so there is not more than a 2 level gap for f2p players to unlock something).
I think this would tackle the issues I laid out above
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Players would have a good reason to keep playing this campaign as they get access to stuff like the T34 and Hungarian SMG which are unique. Unlocking the pass would still offer many things that would be appealing such as the PPSH and late version medium tanks.
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This problem isn’t outright fixed but is at least more manageable as there is no 3 level gap when unlocking stuff without the pass.
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The exact balance is open to discussion but I do think the additional firepower from those suggested level changes will make new players more capable to exert good power. However, access pack users should still have more power just not nearly as big of a gap as it currently seems.
Thank you if read all this and I hope maybe some problems with this new system can be addressed by the devs before it is to late because after thinking for a while I do actually think this new system could be a good model if done right. It could at least better than the super grindy and “micro” transaction heavy of the previous campaigns.