Question Has an update ruined a game for you?

[McStabStab]

I was listening to a Planet Money podcast about printers getting firmware updates that cause malfunctions with 3rd party ink cartridges in order to protect the company's ink sales. A point they drove home was that we're in a weird period of time where an item you once buy may have its attributes changed over time so that even though you've paid the initial cost, the item in your possession has the potential to turn into something else down the road.

They went into subscription models and all that, but I think this definitely applies to gaming. Fortnite famously had map and meta changes that pulled players away from the game. BFV had an infamous TTK patch that reduced the community. The Culling started off as a well loved battle royale but has since become a bad joke due to changes that no one seems to agree upon.

Did a game you love get a change that ruined it for you? What was the game, the update, and what would make you come back?

 

[Sarafan]

Did a game you love get a change that ruined it for you? What was the game, the update, and what would make you come back?

Hearthstone. I didn't like the update that divided the rank system into two separate ladders: the standard mode which includes only two or three most recent expansions and wild mode which includes all of the expansions. I know it's hard to balance the game when there's tons of expansion packs, but this was one of the reasons I stopped playing Hearthstone. Wild mode was totally unbalanced and standard mode required lots of cash to be competitive. So no more Hearthstone for me.

 

[Pifanjr]

The Hearthstone update that changed how quests and rewards work would have made me quit if I had wanted to play anything but the solo adventures I already bought.

 

[drunkpunk]

Oh man, the culling. What a great game that was until it suddenly wasn't. That's a prime example of a patch absolutely ruining a game, and a devs vision getting in the way of itself.

A lot of games have had updates that kind of ruined them for me, although it's kind of hard to bring another one to mind. Mostly live service games and MMOs, and early access titles.

 

[Zloth]

I remember an update to Skyrim (? or maybe Witcher 2?) changed how grass was rendered and completely mangled the 3D Vision implementation. It took the Shader Gods weeks to fix the issue. I can't remember any others outside of beta testing.

People who played Star Wars: Galaxies have a tale to tell, though....

 

[Johnway]

My biggest gripe recently is generally any game that keeps releasing DLC and your definitive edition, isn't definitive. "Live services" with season passes keep getting released and if you want to keep up you are forced to fork out more cash and it pisses me off no end. The Strategy (4x genre especially) has been a real turn off with total war series releasing small bits of DLC that you could probably live without but feels incomplete without it. Want to play as a faction that isn't there? Cough up money! want more useful units or items? Cough up money! (Gladius i'm looking at you).

 

[Pifanjr]

My biggest gripe recently is generally any game that keeps releasing DLC and your definitive edition, isn't definitive. "Live services" with season passes keep getting released and if you want to keep up you are forced to fork out more cash and it pisses me off no end. The Strategy (4x genre especially) has been a real turn off with total war series releasing small bits of DLC that you could probably live without but feels incomplete without it. Want to play as a faction that isn't there? Cough up money! want more useful units or items? Cough up money! (Gladius i'm looking at you).

Honestly, the option for Crusader Kings II to pay €5 a month for access to all DLC makes a lot of sense to me. All the expansions alone are €165 and it's another €100 for the music, portrait and unit packs. Even if you wait until it's all 50% off, a year long subscription is still cheaper.

It also helps that only one person has to own the DLC if you're playing the game in multiplayer.

 

[Johnway]

Honestly, the option for Crusader Kings II to pay €5 a month for access to all DLC makes a lot of sense to me. All the expansions alone are €165 and it's another €100 for the music, portrait and unit packs. Even if you wait until it's all 50% off, a year long subscription is still cheaper.

It also helps that only one person has to own the DLC if you're playing the game in multiplayer.

truth be told a good bit of this gripe is because i'm tight fisted. But that said paying over 100 for a single game is a bit steep and the various strategies employed is just trying to find ways to make people buy more expending the minimum amount of effort as possible. The biggest ones being MTX cosmetics. i'm surprised how many people don't think twice to fork out money for the stuff.

But back to the topic in hand it kinda depressing, I would LOVE to buy Total war Warhammer but all the DLC is such a turn off. They did have various versions like savage edition, old world edition etc but its just more segmentation. Warhammer 2 to play as other factions just feels like a cash grab FOMO. But yeah, Gladius... looking at some for the DLC like additional units is just horrible. I mean, omitting staple units from the boardgame is frankly unforgiveable. Take the Imperial guard, they don't even have Chimeras or shocktroops unless you fork out DLC?. Maybe it doesn't work as well for 4x, but come on that is BS!

 

[Zloth]

...releasing small bits of DLC that you could probably live without but feels incomplete without it.

Hey moderators, look over there! An elephant!! (Zloth dives after Johnway's throat) They're! Just! Extras! You! Don't! NEED! THEM!!! AAAAAARRRRGGHH!!!

Oh... uhh, sorry there Johnway. I got a little... triggered. You see, people used to always wander into the Dead or Alive forums complaining about the $1000+ worth of DLC and how, if they didn't get every single outfit for every single fighter, there game was (twitch) incomplete. This was made all the worse by all the free mods out there for adding literally hundreds of outfits to the game. But no... had to have EVERYTHING available or it wasn't the (spit) complete experience!

But seriously, I consider DLC to be bonus stuff. If the game actually is incomplete without the DLC then I just add the cost of the essentially-required DLC to the price of the game before buying, essentially making the DLC part of the game. For instance, BattleTech costs $40. However, if you've got a thing for the Vulcan and just can't imagine playing the game without it, then the cost is actually $60 because you're going to need to buy the Heavy Metal DLC. Never mind that it says "DLC on the end, it's part of the game as far as you're concerned.

 

[Johnway]

TLDR: general rule of thumb if DLC doesn't impact main game and could easily be standalone contained games, its optional and i can ignore. If it does impact main game or story interests me: get it. But doesn't explain the TW/ 4x stratgy game issue or the sometimes BS selling preexisting character roster in fighting games.

----------------------------

i think thats where i'm at as well. If a DLC does enrich a game then i have to get it as part of the main game. In most cases i usually wait for a sale or whoever is selling it cheaper (isthereanydeal.com etc) and snag the stuff i want.

The problems really begin when which ones are going to enrich a game and what is side tat. DLC costumes i ignore, exp/resource boosters and cheat codes can go to hell; if you can accomplish something by playing the game, either your game needs to be rebalanced or you're trying to fleece the rich and impatient. Extra weapon's DLC is questionable and i ignore them as well.

So... What will i consider? Additional story/features content that impacts the main game certainly. if its side tat like AssCreed's Syndicate jack the ripper DLC on hindsight i could easily ignore as it was its own contained area, neither the main game or DLC impacted each other and didn't really add much to the story. Hell, i would have said it could have been a standalone piece.

Now that i mention it, that's probably the main crux of of the DLC; does the DLC stand up on its own as a contained standalone experience? if it is, i say that i would probably ignore it. I had hoped to get Ghost recon wildlands Gold edition for all the DLC until someone told me that the DLC was seperate from the main world and their own contained stories and areas and was marginal (cosmetics) so i just got the standard version and kept with that. Same with Blood Dragon. AMAZING DLC but completely separate from FC3 and you could ignore it but as a self contained experience, well worth the purchase.

Of course i'm being a bit vague as there are other criteria's etc as to whether i would have to consider deeper. Frank west rising DLC isn't long or particularly great and i would have regretted buying it full price, but the story is compelling and certain added more to the story as i recently mentioned felt like the Overtime chapters of previous games. But as someone who doesn't play fighting games? again depends on the amount of content. if its cut the roster down to just 4 out of the original 15? Sod off i'm ignoring your game. if its all the classic ones + others to round off the roster? i can tolerate. So stuff like injustice 2 is ok and i'll let is slide with MK but only just.

But what about strategy games? v Crusader Kings constantly adds additional features all optional yet enriches a game significantly and i would have been compelled to get them. Thank god i don't. but for other games like Two point hospital etc? well... different story. i would like to get it, but all that DLC suggests additional content that might be good to have, but i want them all in one neat package so i wait... and wait... and wait...

TW is even worse. i want to get Warhammer 2 but all that DLC makes me pause. I get that i probably won't play all those factions, so i COULD save money and not buy them as i won't play them anyway. At most i'll play it 2 or 3 times and stop and yet... the option to have it there is enticing. But again i pause and wait. Who knows, maybe there will be a Warhammer collection and i bag the lot.

 

[DXCHASE]

I dont know if anyone here played Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, but that game is a whole book on new updates ruining the game. When it started as an alpha it was really good but the final release was nowhere near that and it was filled with bugs. Even the first initial... 4 or 5 patches just seem to bring up many other bugs, and then the long waits between the patches didnt help that.

 

[mainer]

I dont know if anyone here played Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, but that game is a whole book on new updates ruining the game. When it started as an alpha it was really good but the final release was nowhere near that and it was filled with bugs. Even the first initial... 4 or 5 patches just seem to bring up many other bugs, and then the long waits between the patches didnt help that.

Gods, I wanted to love that game, but I couldn't quite pull the trigger after it released and read all the complaints and bug reports. It's still on my Steam wishlist. A similar ARPG that updates without issue (mostly), is Grim Dawn.

Grim Dawn on Steam

Enter an apocalyptic fantasy world where humanity is on the brink of extinction, iron is valued above gold and trust is hard earned. This ARPG features complex character development, hundreds of unique items, crafting and quests with choice & consequence.

store.steampowered.com

The updates are massive in scope, and the 2 story DLCs (Ashes of Malmouth & Forgotten Gods) add much to the base game as well as being great expansions. It's been out since 2016 and they just recently released the 1.1.9.0 update.

Sorry, OP, I got a bit off your original topic.

 

[Frindis]

Warzone. With every new update, something gets broken, yet the microtransaction system has been working flawlessly. With the last two patches, I just decided to move on after getting fed up with a company that only cares about one thing: Themselves. Dishonorable mention also goes to DayBreak Game Company who made the fantastic idea to remove the survival part of H1Z1 completely and make it into the cesspool it is today. Oh and let us not forget Dean Halls's survival baby: Dayz, that basically patched itself to almost obliteration, but somehow actually managed to put all puzzle pieces in the shape puzzle box correctly and got it playable today.

 

[KingPSPC]

Casino Royale
A game that was supposed to be a battle royale parody with memes and gambling and bicycles for some reason turned into a lame knock off with nothing special about it.
Whatever they named it after the update CURSED? You got that right

 

[ZedClampet]

There's a survival game called Osiris: New Dawn. It came out in early access in 2016 and was really fun for about 6 months, and then the developers completely changed and broke the game with a couple of terrible updates. The user reviews went to mostly negative, which made the developers angry, and they quit working on the game for a few years.

Something happened last year. I'm not really clear what, but they started working on the game again. It's still a disaster compared to how it was when it launched into early access, but at least it's being worked on.

 

[flashn00b]

Killing Floor 2's Interstellar Insanity and Day of the Zed updates.

Impossible to mention one update without the other, because Tripwire/Saber felt that Berserker's a bit too powerful despite having the inherent downside of being a melee class in a game focused around ranged combat. However, the end result is such that Berserker's damage resistance has been neutered to the point where his tanking capabilities is more or less similar to the Survivalist, a jack of all trades but master of none, though the Survivalist has his own set of tools that I feel makes him about as good if not marginally better at tanking than the actual tank class.

Where the Halloween update comes in is the introduction of the Piranha Pistol, a dual-wieldable pistol weapon for the Berserker that allows him to shoot large groups of weaker enemies from afar as early as Wave 2, which is around the point where Berserker would otherwise struggle to perform his job as a tank due to relying solely on a melee weapon as his primary method of killing. In short, they nerfed the melee class one update just to turn him into a pay-to-win class the next.

 

[Johnway]

Since this thread has reappeared, i'm going to say Path of Exile. Every time someone comes up with a winning op build they nerf it to the ground or rebalance it in such a way its not as effective. But the recent update (i've come to call it the nerfdate) really took the biscuit. They made the monsters hardier, hit harder whilst at the same time introduced a whole load of nerfs like increasing the amount of MP cost of abilities AND making them less effective. it was like in an FPS game where they threw more monsters, with a lot more HP and do more damage and giving players weaker weapons AND less ammo.

mercifully they dialed it back but it was still Bs and the reasons weren't exactly compelling. "Early game was too easy! we wanted to bring back the difficulty in earlier updates! we could do ever increasing numbers on stats to increase difficulty but that's wrong! so lets make everything harder and less effective". They nerfed potion regeneration because they didn't like the fact people were pianoing through maps and whilst i didn't do it myself, it certain affected a lot of people and builds. IMO if you want to reduce one particular play style, make every play style actually viable instead!

We'll see how the next update will be like but a lot of people weren't happy. it was most apparent when the number of players dropped during the expedition league by nearly 50% in some stats.

 

[Only games]

Yes, it was in pes mobile. After updating it become not realistic

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I know this thread was resurrected from the dead (not by me), but I never saw it. There have been plenty of times when people have found exploits in games that made things easier or better, and the devs made an "update" just to patch out those exploits. Sucks when that happens.

 

[McStabStab]

I know this thread was resurrected from the dead (not by me), but I never saw it. There have been plenty of times when people have found exploits in games that made things easier or better, and the devs made an "update" just to patch out those exploits. Sucks when that happens.

I suppose it depends on the case. In COD Warzone they had a recurring exploit that would allow players to survive outside of the survivable area using an unlimited health stim glitch. Nothing was more frustrating than my friends and I wiping out everyone only to lose when the gas closes in all the way at the end of the match and see the death cam of two guys sitting across the map repeatedly injecting themselves with health stims.

Since I’m talking about Warzone, them moving from Verdansk to Caldera ruined the game for my friends and I. We understand that people were bored of the old map but the new map is definitely not as good in our view.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I suppose it depends on the case. In COD Warzone they had a recurring exploit that would allow players to survive outside of the survivable area using an unlimited health stim glitch. Nothing was more frustrating than my friends and I wiping out everyone only to lose when the gas closes in all the way at the end of the match and see the death cam of two guys sitting across the map repeatedly injecting themselves with health stims.

Since I’m talking about Warzone, them moving from Verdansk to Caldera ruined the game for my friends and I. We understand that people were bored of the old map but the new map is definitely not as good in our view.

Well, any time I talk about games, it's always from a single player perspective. I don't ever play multiplayer games. If I did, I would not like cheats and exploits happening in those, so I get where you're coming from.

 

[Johnway]

Well i guess an update on Path of Exile - i've pretty much stopped playing the game at all tbh. The constant changes by GGG have been resounding negative recently all the top streamers (and even affiliates) have been upset with it.

Lets dial back a bit GGG decided to implement Archnemesis mods to replace its old system a league or 2 back to Rare/elite enemies and its been a bit of a disaster. Monsters could have a combination of mods that effectively made them harder (tanking serious damage) then some of the bosses and/or such damage that they could one shot you. They're still working through the changes and so far there's no end of complaints about it.

The second (more concerning change) was the recent changes to gear crafting. It doesn't affect me too badly as a f2p i didn't engage in it too extensively, but for those who did, it was for the worse. Top reliable ways to craft top tier gear with currency like harvest have effectively been thrown out the window by GGG because it made people more or reach that power creep or just getting the perfect piece or make people lives easier isn't a good look.

Thirdly and this one is the biggie. lesser loot drops. less currency is being dropped, less rare items for harder monsters, kelandria is dropping absolute garbage at times and people are struggling to even do basic trading. To clarify i haven't been back in the leagues recently but its doesn't look good. POE was different to other games as it was quite liberal with its loot / currency so getting the perfect item wasn't as stressful as you could improve on imperfect items or trade them to someone who would like them. Now that you've nerfed drops and also currency to craft and nerfed crafting in general it seems like its been a step back. Oh and admitting a loot nerf and you didn't mention it seriously didn't go down well with players...

So thats me out of POE for a while maybe until POE2. although recent changes is a concern as the direction they want to go down doesn't bode well for it. I'll still play it, but what made POE good are behind us now. Shame.

 

[Sore But Whole]

The number of updates in general for GTA V have pushed me away from the game at the moment. I rely heavily on mods in GTA V (custom graphics, LSPDFR, etc.) and every update breaks the handful of required files until developers have time to update (sometimes weeks/months).

 

[ToxicOffender]

Just happened lately with RESIDENT EVIL 2 (the remake of course) while making my PS4-Controller not working any longer but worst thing was them chaning it to DX-12, which means currently no-more full-3d-support for playing it in VR with vorpX.