@PyreofKoL: I'm sure it will become available to purchase as additional DLC afterwards. Didn't Borderlands 2 offer the Mechromancer pack as a bonus and now that is available as separate DLC.
I would also expect these to be offered to the alternate platforms like Steam eventually so there is no reason to pre-order just for a cosmetic item.
@Jinzo_111887: I wasn't defending Epic store, but from the list of 'features' @uninspiredcup listed, not much in that list was groundbreaking must-have feature. Many have failed, or seen abuses of their systems to take advantage of the openess of the platform.
I was just pointing out that those feature lists are mostly mixed by the community as additional negative.
@R4gn4r0k's reply later actually highlighted some of the real differentiating features that Steam is way ahead of all other platforms. The workshop, friends and communities make it easy to join servers of friends or groups. So many steam sales over the years I have too much backlog to every find time to play, etc.
In an ideal scenario, games should follow GOG's principle, choose freely what way you want to play (ideally DRM-free) and opt-in to use a client of your choice. Unfortunately because of licensing costs, and companies paying for exclusivities and rights to publish, this is the state of gaming.
Hopefully the continued hate toward alternate clients pushes those companies which would eventually create boost to force others to keep innovating. As competing clients mature and get better that will force Valve to fix their quality issues.
@uninspiredcup: As a steam user since the Orange box (11 years), the only thing compelling to me in that list are the seldom useful steam guides people create (sometimes very useful) and the workshop for user generated content and mods.
Early Access, greenlight, reviews, have all been abused to the point that they aren't worth highlight as benefits. Music, video, broadcasts etc are just added bloat to the client in my opinion. There are many other competitor services (netflix/prime/hulu, spotify/pandora, twitch/youtube etc) which are better experiences.
Some Examples:
Small update to a game; review bomb and tons of negativity
Greenlight games; Discontinued by valve since the quality of the majority were poor and vote manipulation occured
Early Access; Excuse for lazy developers to rush an alpha release and keep it on early access for years (7daystodie, Rust, H1Z1 as examples that were/are stuck in development limbo for very long periods of time.
When Valve first started, there was just as much hate and limited features, so I would think the Epic store will only improve to compete with Steam, Origin, GOG Galaxy etc.
Would be a welcome change for more competition to force Valve to be quicker on updates, and compete with others (new AAA titles from Valve, long-overdue and rumored client UI overhaul etc).
@phoenix1289: Based so far on what Fallout 76 appears to be, it seems to focus more on mass multiple online, base buidling with a some quests.
I don't think 76 will be as rich in content as previous FO games based on the focus of a survival mulitplayer aspect (no full story). That's the impression I've gotten so far. So I don't think it took away all of Bethesda GW studios resources.
Starfield and ES6 likely have been worked on for a while now (concept, art, map design etc), they are probably planning to release on a next gen game engine and new consoles, so 2019-2021 for starfield and ES6. when they announced FO4 I never expected it to release same year, so its possible ES6 could release sooner than we think, but not before late 2019 likely.
Edit: When Bethesda teased Skyrim, all we got was a teaser video and that released a year later.
@Ultimate_Noob: Theres always a small chance these guys fail to properly disclose their earnings and get dinged for tax evasion. That would be some sweet karma .
@Sandpark: I believe Bell and Rogers (in Canada) both tried offering a la carte TV packages. Lots of people complained to the CRTC (commission that handles Canadian Radio and TV) that they were unfair and still didn't offer true freedom to pick and choose what you want (they essentially split some desired channels into different packs and forced you to get multiple packs). I don't see many companies letting the consumer get to pick and choose each channel they want since they need reasons to keep low demand channels funded.
In principle, a la carte seems like a good deal, but they way the companies structure, they purposely break particular channels into separate packages and won't offer you the choice due to various reasons (greed, getting rights from other companies etc).
As for streaming services, it looks now more and more broadcast and parent entertainment/distribution companies are making the same mistakes that forced a lot of cord cutters to begin with (limiting options and making it a convoluted mess of requiring multiple streaming services just to get what you want).
@lonesamurai1: No but it can be very misleading and may make people buy it considering the overall high reviews.
When the concept of the game sounds intriguing and the reviews are highly praised, many would likely assume its a good game and would buy it without much more research into games where as a mixed or poor reviewed game may raise more doubts and cause more to look up more videos/gameplay before making a decision.
The game in general is a love/hate type of game. Much better if played together with a group of friends than solo.
@lonesamurai1: The steam reviews for this game can be very misleading. Currently it has Mostly Positive and Very Positive Recent and Overall ratings.
The complaints about the toxic community who generally just kill off all new players can easily get buried by the flooding joke reviews that somehow get 90% + 'helpful' rating.
@Devil_wings00: I'm sure a classaction lawsuit could be filed.
For older laptop users, they could potentially brick their systems or become unresponsive with incompatible drivers (especially for casual users who don't understand how to do these things).
I really hate how they annoy you with the popups and even pre-schedule a time and date to upgrade that requires user acknowledgement/interference to decline. I refuse to upgrade my laptop knowing many of the older software is no longer supported from warranty and would likely have severe performance issues with lackluster driver support.
YoungCardinal's comments