When did Mortal Kombat Become a "Cosmetics" Game?

[NeoRaider]

Even since MK11 was released it was pretty clear to everyone how much the game is focused on grinding, unlocking stuff over time, and spending a lot of time on it to be able unlock cosmetics (skins, gear, consumables, augments, few currencies... etc.). But i honestly wasn't expect players to adapt and accept everything so fast.

As far as i remember MK was never about that. Even recent MK games like MKX were not focused so much on cosmetics. Did it happen after Injustice 2?

I don't remember how many times i read things like: "I am playing Kombat League just for skins.", "I spent millions and millions in the shrine and still didn't get what i want.", "I refreshed the Krypt few times and i am still missing a lot of stuff"... etc. And i can't help but wonder when did this all started? It looks like players are barely talking about the actual game and gameplay part of it. Focus is always on trying to unlock certain skin or gear.

Am i the only one noticing this? Do you think that this is an issue that will just become bigger in the future?

 

[RestEerie]

Even since MK11 was released it was pretty clear to everyone how much the game is focused on grinding, unlocking stuff over time, and spending a lot of time on it to be able unlock cosmetics (skins, gear, consumables, augments, few currencies... etc.). But i honestly wasn't expect players to adapt and accept everything so fast.

As far as i remember MK was nevet about that. Even recent MK games like MKX wasn't focused so much on cosmetics. Did it happen after Injustice 2?

I don't remember how many times i read things like: "I am playing Kombat League just for skins.", "I spent millions and millions in the shrine and still didn't get what i want.", "I refreshed the Krypt few times and i am still missing a lot of stuff"... etc. And i can't help but wonder when did this all started? It looks like players are barely talking about the actual game and gameplay part of it. Focus is always on trying to unlock certain skin or gear.

Am i the only one noticing this? Do you think that this is an issue that will just become bigger in the future?

Click to shrink...

people expected (and wanted) MK11 to be like that when injustice 2 happened...

 

[Deleted member 54320]

I'm almost certain you're not the only one noticing this.

 

[nsilvias]

i had to grind for coins in the 3d ps2 mk's so i could unlock characters and costumes.
so a long time ago

 

[rawhide]

When they debuted this system in Injustice 2 and people either loved it or were successfully able to ignore it.

 

[thepenguin55]

Recent games just amplified something that's been there since the PS2 games. The grind. It's been in these games for awhile but never has it been quite the abysmal chore that it was in MK11. It had the opposite of its intended effect on me in that it turned me off of the game causing me to stop playing far sooner than I previously would have

 

[Jawmuncher]

I dunno, but I hate how Fatalities are tied to the "kosmetic" aspect.
I shouldn't have to farm or use a AI player to get Fatality Trophies.

 

[Richter1887]

What's insane to me is the fact they have that "watch game plays itself" thing which gives you coins. Like how in the hell did that not make them think the game is becoming grindy as hell that we need some auto mode to prevent people from leaving.

It is not even fun to watch the AI...

 

[NeoRaider]

What's insane to me is the fact they have that "watch game plays itself" thing which gives you coins. Like how in the hell did that not make them think the game is becoming grindy as hell that we need some auto mode to prevent people from leaving.

It is not even fun to watch the AI...

Click to shrink...

Yup, imo. one of the worst things that happened to this franchise.

 

[KillLaCam]

Injustice 2. It's a huge reason that I lost interest with the game. Itd be fine if the cosmetics were actually unique and not too focused on RNG. Even dumber that fatalities and bruralities are included with the random stuff.

No way am I buying their next game if it's like this. I never imagined such an annoying system in a fighting game

 

[Riversands]

When they had finally realized the importance of money

 

[Laser Man]

Isn't that something that creeps into every bigger game these days? They know people will fall for it so they do it everywhere they can!

 

[MrH]

I spent 80% of my time AI farming cosmetics and 20% actually playing the game, I really don't like the direction they've taken with the series which is a shame because the game itself is fantastic.

 

[Iceternal]

Remember the time when you only had to finish arcade or story modes to unlock stuff ?

 

[timedesk]

I dunno, but I hate how Fatalities are tied to the "kosmetic" aspect.
I shouldn't have to farm or use a AI player to get Fatality Trophies.

Click to shrink...

I think they kind of fixed that in the most recent patch. If you use a fatality once it unlocks it in your move list now, so you only need to look it up once online to get it. I'm not sure if the same applies to brutalities, they might still require grinding character towers and the krypt.

In the old games you would play various modes to unlock skins, but the time investment was minuscule compared to what they have done with MK11. The timed towers in MKX mostly unlocked character car backgrounds and modifiers for random mode. This new design seems to be focused on retaining players, even if they're not actually engaging with the content.

It feels like a big misstep, and has hurt my enjoyment of the game overall. Where I enjoyed unlocking the entire Krypt in MKX, here it just feels hollow because it won't even award me half of the gear or skins in the game. I would play the weekly towers because the gimmicks were fun, especially on the holidays, in MK11 the towers are often too long and tedious. The expectation has shifted from wanting a casual player to play maybe once a week to wanting them to check in ever hour or so and it just makes the whole experience feel like a chore.

 

[Ishaan]

People like unlocking things. As the years have passed, constantly letting people unlocking stuff has become a reliable way to keep them engaged. That's all there is to it.

 

[Nateo]

Without this there wouldnt be as many people playing now.

 

[Sou Da]

Apparently all fighting games need to be successful now is an infinite carrot and stick or a strong IP.

 

[Bishop89]

ever since the krypt was implemented?
So deadly alliance, ps2..

 

[Deleted member 10737]

pretty much every game is now a cosmetics game. devs and publishers have realized they're a cheap and easy way to keep people engaged without having to add meaningful content. see crash racing for a recent example.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

After Injustice 2 I knew something like that would happen. WB being the greediest publisher out there, they would never leave that opportunity pass them by.

 

[Rommaz]

People love unlocking things and getting rewards. It keeps people playing.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

WB is one of the worst publishers for shit like this, so it's not really a surprise. It's a shame the games still review well despite this. A 65 metascore would soon change their minds if the reviews actually accounted for horrible grindy design like this.

 

[LossAversion]

It's incredibly stupid how cosmetics work in MK11. It's anti-fun and it isn't even set up to make WB any substantial amount of money.

The krypt becomes a joyless, horribly disguised slot machine and the towers couldn't be any less enjoyable. It literally becomes a grind that you don't even play through yourself because letting your AI do all of the work is more efficient. If you do actually try to play the towers, they just teach you bad habits that will screw you over in actual fights. The AI just reads your inputs so you have to play an entirely different game to work around that fact. The modifiers are nothing but hot garbage when they could have been quirky or interesting ways to change up the gameplay. There were just so many horrible design decisions when it comes to the PVE/Grind in MK11. They literally tied a currency to fatalities. I dare anyone that went all in on the grind to tell me that they weren't sick of every god damn fatality in the game after the first two weeks. You can't even perform most brutalities until you randomly acquire them. Like... yeah, just suck all of the fun out of the game for no apparent reason.

The stupidity of the grind would have been almost entirely alleviated if NRS would just let us spend our gold directly on whatever cosmetic items that we wanted. Make skins cost a million gold and gear cost five hundred thousand. Fuck, make them cost ten times that amount. At least people would actually have a carrot at the end of the stick to look forward to. The way it is now, you may never get that one skin or that one piece of gear that you want. Fun, right? Can't even pay real money for it unless it happens to appear in the daily cash shop. It's so transparent that WB just wants ALL of your time. You don't even have to be playing the game, just so long as your AI is running it in the background. You can only play MK11 and nothing else. And maybe after 6 months you'll randomly acquire that one mask you wanted. Like I said... anti-fun.

The game itself is mostly fantastic when you're actually playing it though. So I guess that's all that matters?

 

[microtransaction]

ever since the krypt was implemented?
So deadly alliance, ps2..

Click to shrink...

No, man, this is very different. This is twisting the early unlock system for something way more insidious. The initial concept for the krypt has been corrupted to fall in line with modern "gaming tendencies", extracting all the fun in the process, but maximizing player retention.

Everything in this game is aimed to waste the player's time. They introduce constant road blocks - maybe they will sell "experience accelerators" sometime down the line. They are pretty aware of their bullshit.

 

[Mediking]

For better and for worse... costumes are HUGE in games.

 

[Deleted member 10551]

I'm seeing MK and SF5 as the future of fighting games in terms of grinding, and I want no part of it. I'm glad I'm doing EVO this year, because it's the last thing I had left to do, so if things go in that direction I can now nope out.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Because everything has to be a grind nowadays to keep people "invested" and motivate them to spend money on MTX.

 

[newmoneytrash]

I mean the Krypt has been something since the Playstation 2

 

[Bishop89]

No, man, this is very different. This is twisting the early unlock system for something way more insidious. The initial concept for the krypt has been corrupted to fall in line with modern "gaming tendencies", extracting all the fun in the process, but maximizing player retention.

Everything in this game is aimed to waste the player's time. They introduce constant road blocks - maybe they will sell "experience accelerators" sometime down the line. They are pretty aware of their bullshit.

Click to shrink...

Ah, so it's super super grindy

 

[Irishmantis]

Remember the time when you only had to finish arcade or story modes to unlock stuff ?

Click to shrink...

In fairness you still unlock stuff by story mode and arcade like the old days

 

[sir_crocodile]

1992

 

[Adamska]

It's a game about fighting first and foremost. The cosmetics stuff helps reward the fighting, but the fighting is still the core.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Well, for one, I welcome this. I have a hard time with wanting to play a fighting game after I did the story mode and got the endings. I just don't see the point.
But Injustice 2 and MK11 got me to continue playing it, I enjoy the cosmetic part of the game. It gives me a goal to achieve.

 

[Zombegoast]

Um there's nothing wrong?

You're not paying real money like to you with other games that do.

 

[ProstatePuncher]

Its an incentive system designed to keep casuals playing because it gives them a milestone to unlock the next doodad. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in practice, just theory. People see requirements or the RNG and feel its just too much time spent on the chance to get something.

 

[Zombegoast]

Its an incentive system designed to keep casuals playing because it gives them a milestone to unlock the next doodad. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in practice, just theory. People see requirements or the RNG and feel its just too much time spent on the chance to get something.

Click to shrink...

The requirement is to complete a tower in ToT. They reduced the requirement for severed heads and increase the number of Koins earned. And the AI aren't difficulty but not very easy

Fighting games have these problems where the player count quickly dies off to the point where the only ones are playing are part of the FGC.

 

[Noisepurge]

Well, it's inherently a modern problem. It's "just" a fighting game where you 1v1 matches.
If there was nothing to strive for beyond practicing how to play, there would be SF5 style riots over lack of content and nothing to unlock.

There is a bunch of stuff to unlock now. But you can still just focus on training room and 1v1 matches. Win-Win.

 

[traB-pU-kciP]

That's and the cruch affecting NR are the main reasons why I haven't bought the game

 

[Sento]

At least this time there are some actual rewards for completing towers.

 

[Moara]

Shit is terrible and the Krypt would have completely turned me off on the game if I wasn't able to just cheat engine my way through it

 

[fepeinado]

Even since MK11 was released it was pretty clear to everyone how much the game is focused on grinding, unlocking stuff over time, and spending a lot of time on it to be able unlock cosmetics (skins, gear, consumables, augments, few currencies... etc.). But i honestly wasn't expect players to adapt and accept everything so fast.

As far as i remember MK was never about that. Even recent MK games like MKX were not focused so much on cosmetics. Did it happen after Injustice 2?

I don't remember how many times i read things like: "I am playing Kombat League just for skins.", "I spent millions and millions in the shrine and still didn't get what i want.", "I refreshed the Krypt few times and i am still missing a lot of stuff"... etc. And i can't help but wonder when did this all started? It looks like players are barely talking about the actual game and gameplay part of it. Focus is always on trying to unlock certain skin or gear.

Am i the only one noticing this? Do you think that this is an issue that will just become bigger in the future?

Click to shrink...

it's Kosmetics, actually

 

[Pancracio17]

Well, it may take away some focus away from the fighting, but it does keep players coming back and the game populated.

 

[ScaleboundGOTY]

It kept me playing for a long time and i got everything i wanted without paying a dime extra. Im fine with it. In fact i enjoyed it

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

Its an incentive system designed to keep casuals playing because it gives them a milestone to unlock the next doodad. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in practice, just theory. People see requirements or the RNG and feel its just too much time spent on the chance to get something.

Click to shrink...

Causals as a pejorative in 2019? Bro you're talking about mk11, hardly an obscure or hardcore title.

 

[dancingphlower]

Cosmetics is how companies get people to consistently engage with their game, it's no surprise that NRS incorporated that stuff into IJ2 and MK11.