Poll of the Day > Pokemon Unite

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Judgmenl
07/21/21 2:32:15 PM
#1:


I am downloading it right now.
Is anyone else playing?

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DirtBasedSoap
07/21/21 2:38:27 PM
#2:


looks very predatory as far as MTX goes so imma pass on this

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helIy
07/21/21 3:04:04 PM
#3:


it is extremely predatory in the mtx

it's legitimately pay to win. you can straight up buy items that give boosts so you can win.

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Judgmenl
07/21/21 4:04:41 PM
#4:


Yikes.
I'm going to stay away. This is not how you launch a game in 2021.

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Mead
07/21/21 4:07:25 PM
#5:


helIy posted...
it's legitimately pay to win. you can straight up buy items that give boosts so you can win.

that sounds very convenient

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ArvTheGreat
07/21/21 4:19:39 PM
#6:


they should have a trap if people wanna pay to win the automatically get banned from the game

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helIy
07/21/21 4:44:55 PM
#7:


why would they ban people who want to give them money

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Krazy_Kirby
07/23/21 1:29:11 AM
#8:


you can be the very best, like no one ever was....

as long as you have money.
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DocDelicious
07/23/21 1:46:41 AM
#9:


helIy posted...
it is extremely predatory in the mtx

it's legitimately pay to win. you can straight up buy items that give boosts so you can win.

No you can't. The currency used to buy Held Items can only be gotten by completing quests, and you get all the Battle Items from leveling up.

The only "advantage" you can pay for with real money is an energy boost that will fill your loot box meter faster. You can get the currency needed to upgrade Held Items from the loot boxes, but it still requires you to play the game to earn them.

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LeetCheet
07/23/21 2:29:53 AM
#10:


Pokemon Unite? More like Pokemon U-shite, am I right?
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funkyfritter
07/23/21 2:51:36 AM
#11:


DocDelicious posted...
No you can't. The currency used to buy Held Items can only be gotten by completing quests, and you get all the Battle Items from leveling up.

The only "advantage" you can pay for with real money is an energy boost that will fill your loot box meter faster. You can get the currency needed to upgrade Held Items from the loot boxes, but it still requires you to play the game to earn them.
https://gamewith.net/pokemon-unite/article/show/28964

This makes it sound like upgrading your held items is a bigger deal that unlocking them. It also depicts a pretty steep grind to max out an item, which would make things like boosters that dramatically speed up the process a significant advantage. It also sounds like buying the battlepass gives you more currency that directly impacts gameplay.

Really though, these days all you really need to check to figure out if a game has a predatory monetization model or not is how many different currencies they use. This game has 5 different forms of currency, resulting in a convoluted mess of unlock methods that does nothing except obfuscate the process enough to get players to spend more.

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 5:19:33 AM
#12:


I don't see how this game is P2W (yet).
Played for a few hours last night and enjoyed it greatly. Dropped $10 and got the Battle Pass and Gengar. The Speedsters are so satisfying to play and I think they're supposed to replace Gankers in othere MOBAs. Zeraora is also very satisfying to play as well.

I have like an 80% WR btw.

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Lynyrd_Skynyrd
07/23/21 6:44:22 AM
#13:


It's a fun little MOBA. Matches are only 10 minutes and you're playing literal children so you can feel like you're good at games. I like it
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Judgmenl
07/23/21 8:37:55 AM
#14:


Lynyrd_Skynyrd posted...
you're playing literal children so you can feel like you're good at games
This is the best part ^^

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helIy
07/23/21 9:50:52 AM
#15:


To preface, I am a free to play mobile game developer. Monetisation and strategy around this is my bread and butter. My job is to find the right balance between monetising your product and players enjoying it.

This game is WAY off that balance, like in a concerning and highly predatory way.

There are currently 5 monetisation strategies at play, which you usually only ever see a combination of 2 at a time in other games, specifically MOBA's. So you have:

- Cosmetics
- Battle Pass Levels
- Gacha Pull Increases
- Character purchases (standard faire in most mobas so no issue here, other than their cost being astronomical on a currency per hour basis)
- Actual gameplay boosting items (please don't argue on this point, those items are directly impacting gameplay and increasing your combat effectiveness substantially)

So what does this mean? Well you can play for a bit and enjoy it, as the game is extremely fun, but you will quickly realise that those items I mentioned above are tide turners. They increase your damage percentage, your movement speed, your healing output and received, passive healing tics and more. They are literal pay to win, and can be spent on with real money to increase their power.

The main issue here is that after the welcome campaign is done, the unlock process is glacial. You will spend months unlocking 1-2 characters at a time, as the feed of currency is very low, and even further, the feed of hard currency is non-existant. I have played 15 games so far and received 0 gems for any part of the experience, and enough soft currency to buy one character.

Yes I have unlocked a few characters through the Welcome and Launch campaign, but these are temporary acquisition tools to get you hooked, and not part of the games standard progression.

Be very cautious here, this game is not for children and should not be played without a an adult conscious of finances and how monetisation works on a baseline. I would HIGHLY suggest you do not support this game until they resolve their deeply predatory monetisation schemes. This is a very heavy step for Nintendo to take, as even their other Switch based MOBA (Arena of Valor) is not this heavily monetised, but ill admit it's not far off. It's quite sad they are putting the Pokemon brand on the front of such a terrifyingly brutal "game" such as this.

EDIT: I wanted to add too as it seems people are quite appreciative of this warning, that their strategy is seen in other eastern developed free to plays where the pay to win becomes the only option. Early on the game will be super fun and easy to play, but as people start levelling up their items and leaving you behind you will be blocked out of combat because your items are not strong enough and you will only have the option to spend real money regularly to compete. This is an awful tactic, and something that keeps trying to creep into games.
Regarding pay to win you can buy tickets with gems which are then spent on the stat boost items. This is called a 3 step currency and is designed to stop people being able to work out the cost of items easily. Its another tactic and a very common one. Its why gems come in bundles that are never equal to the gem cost of anything in-game. Its to deter people from working out value. Essentially it allows the seller to generate their own economy and manipulate it freely.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/oopfvl/please_be_very_mindful_of_the_predatory/

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TheSlinja
07/23/21 10:02:01 AM
#16:


doesnt suprise me pokemon masters was also grindy shit at launch, dont know if they ever adjusted it but I didnt stick around to find out

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 10:11:04 AM
#17:


helIy posted...
- Actual gameplay boosting items (please don't argue on this point, those items are directly impacting gameplay and increasing your combat effectiveness substantially)
They're not, but ok?


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helIy
07/23/21 10:19:21 AM
#18:


Judgmenl posted...
They're not, but ok?


Regarding pay to win you can buy tickets with gems which are then spent on the stat boost items. This is called a 3 step currency and is designed to stop people being able to work out the cost of items easily. Its another tactic and a very common one. Its why gems come in bundles that are never equal to the gem cost of anything in-game. Its to deter people from working out value. Essentially it allows the seller to generate their own economy and manipulate it freely.

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 10:30:29 AM
#19:


Like I said, how much have you played?
And why the hell would anyone convert gems to tickets. That's stupid.

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helIy
07/23/21 10:33:21 AM
#20:


of course it's stupid

but people are going to do it to win

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 10:45:48 AM
#21:


It doesn't even give you a substantial amount of power and the held items people are talking about aren't even the powerful ones.

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 11:18:48 AM
#22:


<img src="https://i.imgur.com/K0ky6MX.png">
I am only Beginner 3, but I am not seeing how this is pay to win yet.

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Sycophant
07/23/21 12:37:44 PM
#23:


Is progress shared between phone and switch? That irked me about pokemon quest that you had separate data
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TheSlinja
07/23/21 2:18:05 PM
#24:


Judgmenl posted...
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/K0ky6MX.png">
I am only Beginner 3, but I am not seeing how this is pay to win yet.
pay to win doesnt usually creep in at the very beginning, is this your first mobile game?

"im arena 4 at clash royal I dont see how this is pay to win yet"

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Judgmenl
07/23/21 2:25:02 PM
#25:


I don't get it. If you enjoy something for any number of hours, and then it stops being enjoying. Stop.

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TheSlinja
07/23/21 2:25:58 PM
#26:


???? okay? I dont think anyone said otherwise but go off I guess

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Sycophant
07/24/21 12:44:21 PM
#27:


Judgmenl posted...
I don't get it. If you enjoy something for any number of hours, and then it stops being enjoying. Stop.
Well I just downloaded, hopefully its fun. If not its free atleast
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LinkPizza
07/25/21 2:49:49 AM
#28:


Its pretty fun. I only played 2 battles so far. Won both. Me and someone playing the yellow launch bonus guy crushed it. I played Eldegoss. I like healers
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Sycophant
07/25/21 6:47:10 AM
#29:


LinkPizza posted...
Its pretty fun. I only played 2 battles so far. Won both. Me and someone playing the yellow launch bonus guy crushed it. I played Eldegoss. I like healers
Yeah I played Slowpoke/Slowbro and won my first match. I wish it was on pc though.
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Wanded
07/25/21 6:51:47 AM
#30:


i'm semi boycotting pokemon for their microtransactional behavior, they were always sketchy with how they spread pokemon across several games but back then they at least had the excuse of "it's so kids make friends"....now it's just "give us money lmao"

i'll buy pokemon games after several years when they're cheap and preferably second hand (wondered why the push for digital only?), plenty of other games to keep me busy, there is a limit to how much you can milk my nostalgia

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LinkPizza
07/25/21 1:22:37 PM
#31:


Sycophant posted...
Yeah I played Slowpoke/Slowbro and won my first match. I wish it was on pc though.

Im fine with Switch. My computers been slow, and I still have to get the USB ports fixed. So, I couldnt really play it on PC

Wanded posted...
i'm semi boycotting pokemon for their microtransactional behavior, they were always sketchy with how they spread pokemon across several games but back then they at least had the excuse of "it's so kids make friends"....now it's just "give us money lmao"

i'll buy pokemon games after several years when they're cheap and preferably second hand (wondered why the push for digital only?), plenty of other games to keep me busy, there is a limit to how much you can milk my nostalgia

This one is free (with the exception of paying for online), so it doesnt get any cheaper. Plus, they have some launch rewards, so youre getting less by waiting

And the push for digital is because they dont want people sharing or selling their games. Buying it digitally means you cant sell it to a store. Meaning other people cant buy it use. Meaning they have to buy the game at full price (or sale price). But they cant get a cheap copy for a much lower price.
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Lynyrd_Skynyrd
07/25/21 9:01:59 PM
#32:


My internet crashed right at the start of a game and I lost 8 fair play points. Literally I had to restart my modem from Comcast's site. Cool.
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Sycophant
07/25/21 9:04:13 PM
#33:


Lynyrd_Skynyrd posted...
My internet crashed right at the start of a game and I lost 8 fair play points. Literally I had to restart my modem from Comcast's site. Cool.
You can get the points back. Do not worry.
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BlackScythe0
07/25/21 10:10:21 PM
#34:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAv6s3W--dc

He says he spent 220 bucks.
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Sycophant
07/25/21 10:15:35 PM
#35:


^ roflmao he reminds me of Kramer on that karate episode of Seinfeld
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supergamer19
07/25/21 10:20:54 PM
#36:


I like the idea of held items like in the games, but I do not like that these permanent stat boosts can be leveled up to level 30 for about forty bucks each item.

The game is fun, but whenever I get blown out of the water in a match, it feels disingenuous.

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supergamer19
07/25/21 10:26:06 PM
#37:


BlackScythe0 posted...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAv6s3W--dc

He says he spent 220 bucks.

Yea this, 4 vs 1 and coming out on top multiple times lol

Sludge bomb and hex needs to be nerfed anyway.

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BlackScythe0
07/25/21 11:16:23 PM
#38:


supergamer19 posted...
Yea this, 4 vs 1 and coming out on top multiple times lol

Sludge bomb and hex needs to be nerfed anyway.

He also uses jigglypuff later on and just bitch slaps everything to death.
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adjl
07/25/21 11:38:10 PM
#39:


Judgmenl posted...
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/K0ky6MX.png">
I am only Beginner 3, but I am not seeing how this is pay to win yet.
Judgmenl posted...
Dropped $10 and got the Battle Pass and Gengar.


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supergamer19
07/26/21 12:10:58 AM
#40:


Lol I was thinking of pointing out the same thing. Posting a pic of his kills and everything loooooool

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ComradeSeraphim
07/26/21 6:04:06 AM
#41:


Never heard of it.

Oh no. I'm getting old, aren't I? :(

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LinkPizza
07/26/21 6:05:10 AM
#42:


ComradeSeraphim posted...
Never heard of it.

Oh no. I'm getting old, aren't I? :(

New Switch game. Thats all
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trodi_911
07/26/21 6:44:07 AM
#43:


supergamer19 posted...
Lol I was thinking of pointing out the same thing. Posting a pic of his kills and everything loooooool
To be fair, the game is extremely snowball-y with very little way of coming back if the winning team really pushes the advantage and is achievable without spending a dime.

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Lynyrd_Skynyrd
07/26/21 6:51:11 AM
#44:


I scored 50 points with literally 1 second left and the game didn't count it. We won by like 50 but I'd have been pissed if we lost because the game doesn't actually count every goal scored before the buzzer.
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BlackScythe0
07/26/21 1:50:49 PM
#45:


trodi_911 posted...
To be fair, the game is extremely snowball-y with very little way of coming back if the winning team really pushes the advantage and is achievable without spending a dime.

And if you spend the dimes you get to snowball easier.
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DDirtyDastard
07/26/21 1:55:57 PM
#46:


I grew bored of it pretty quick.
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adjl
07/26/21 2:08:48 PM
#47:


supergamer19 posted...
Lol I was thinking of pointing out the same thing. Posting a pic of his kills and everything loooooool

I mean, that's not to say that spending $10 is the only reason he's winning. Just that paying, then winning, then saying "I don't see how this is pay to win" isn't exactly the most reliable assessment of the free player experience, especially after so little time spent with the game.

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supergamer19
07/26/21 3:49:12 PM
#48:


adjl posted...
$10 is the only reason he's winning.

It kind of is, since that combo with Gengar is so busted, but you and Trodi make good points. I came across as douchey with my comment. Sorry TC.

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adjl
07/26/21 4:10:23 PM
#49:


supergamer19 posted...
It kind of is, since that combo with Gengar is so busted, but you and Trodi make good points. I came across as douchey with my comment. Sorry TC.

Nah, didn't seem douchey, at least no more so than me taking both quotes out of context to make the same point. I'm mostly just walking it back because there isn't actually enough information there to support the conclusion that the game is P2W. Just that his experience hasn't left him in a good place to conclude one way or the other.

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LinkPizza
07/26/21 9:00:17 PM
#50:


You can get Gengar without money, though
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