A nice, relaxing discussion about releasing Rift cosmetics to the store

Pasidon

In terms of vital discussions that dictate the fate of the game, hindering on factors around gameplay and balance, this probably won't be an important topic to most players. Before I start, I should probably point out that I'm perfectly aware of this not being a critical flaw for the game - but still a flaw nevertheless. Is releasing Rift cosmetics into the store good for the game's health? We'll need to answer a few questions before I can answer that.

1- Is the design of the Rift appealing?

Assuming that it has exclusive cosmetics, the current design of the Rift is appealing for players like me since it gives us something to work towards. There are a lot of players like me who have been playing this game for ages, and working for shards and bloodpoints isn't as motivating as it used to be. The Rift is a good alternative for that. I personally find less motivation to play the game when the Rift is down / when I'm at the end of the current one.

2- Is the design of the Rift fair?

In its current state, even if you get all of the challenges done, you still need to put in an extra 200-300 extra games to finish it - depending on the average emblem progress you make. For players that put hours upon hours of time daily into this game, that may seem trivial. And if you want the premium track, you need to spend some money - money that you will fully get back if you spend those hours upon hours to finish the Rift. There's also the factor that you can buy tiers with money. With all of that said, is it fair? If you haven't been spending extra time / money to complete it, I would say 100% yes. But...

3- is the design of the Rift fair if we weren't aware of what is and isn't exclusive?

If you're like me and you like exclusive stuff, then everything in those previous Rifts was appealing. The very first trailer for the Rifts teased that, when the Rifts end, all of that stuff will be gone "forever." For players like me, that's fine. It's fun to invest in stuff that people won't have years down the line, and it's fun to see stuff that I missed out on. But, as we've been seeing recently, most of the stuff in the Rifts isn't actually exclusive at all. I do feel like it was a bit falsely advertised, and with that said, I don't think that's fair to people who invested in Rifts to this point if they believed they would miss out on this content forever. Some people spent like 70 American dollars just to get all of that stuff. They literally could have bought all of those outfits for less. We really need to know what's not exclusive before we decide to put so much time / money into trying to earn it.

4- Is the design of the Rift appealing if these cosmetics are just going to come out to the store?

In that sense, for me, no. Why would I care about putting extra time and money in a Rift if I can just get these outfits in the store eventually? I can just get what I want for less time / money that way most likely. I'll just take what I get from the Rift and not buy the premium pass, saving my money for the pieces I liked. "But you get your money back if you finish the Rift." That's a big if considering how much grinding it takes. They're pretty much just early access cosmetic bundles at this rate, which is fine for some people I'm sure, but they were never really advertised that way. I wouldn't have spent extra time / money on Rift 1 for that cool Wraith and Trapper stuff if I knew I was just investing in an early access bundle.

For a bonus question:

5- Are exclusive cosmetics really a big deal to the Dead by Daylight community?

I can say without a doubt: yes. I've been a part of this community since 2016, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard people wish they could have those legacy outfits; pretty much the only official exclusive outfits left in the game currently. I don't think it's because people want to wear default outfits with a bit of bioluminescent fuzz on them, but because they're rare and exclusive. Personally, I really regret not pressing more of those prestige buttons back in 2016 to get those since I understand that appeal. I actually had the legacy weapon for Wraith, but I lost that when I lost my game's progress in 2017. Then in 2019, all of the exclusive event cosmetics were just given away to everyone, not making them as special (and sort of wasting my time in earning them all.) So, I'm at a point where I just don't have anything special to show for the 4 and a half years of playing the game. Exclusives are great trophies. They show our devotion to the game at the specific points of time we were there and playing it. "But what about Trinkets, Pasidon?" Eh. They're fine, but they're so static. You can barely even see them on survivors. They're fun to collect, but in game, they're just sort of odd and not entirely appealing to a lot of people. Why does that murderer have a birthday cake on his hook? I'll get back to you when I have the answer for that.

So, is releasing Rift cosmetics into the store good for the game's health? My answer is actually yes AND no. Cosmetics are a big part in how Behavior support financing the game, so it's only fair if they're not just making a bunch of limited time investments. Releasing SOME of those Rift cosmetics to the store makes sense. But I feel like we really need to know in advance which outfits are actually exclusive (if any of them will be) and which ones will come to the store. But it's looking like they're just releasing everything at this point. I personally have no interest in investing extra time / money in the Rift if that's not going to change, which is a shame since the Rift is such a great feature.

Exclusive cosmetics and how the Rift deals with them may seem like a minor, insignificant complaint, and it could very well be for some people, but it's a big deal for a lot of other people. I really hope we see a change around this before the next Rift comes out. Thanks for reading my massive, but relaxing, discussion.