Free Exclusives = Isolating Loyal Players

Before I start, I personally have not been greatly affected by the developer's decisions to open many of the in-game exclusives up to the whole playerbase as I only have a few of them. However, I would argue there are so many flaws with making this decision, with many of their justifications seemingly contradicting each other. Although I believe it is a nice gesture to those joining the game who never had the chance to grab these exclusives and to those on console, it is a complete slap in the face for many of the loyal players who have gotten these exclusives.

As a company, their duty is to protect their customers from any scams or dubious schemes in relation to their own product. Of course it's not just on their part, there is also a responsibility of the customer their self. However, ultimately BHVR is in control of how their codes/products are distributed and I would argue that they have failed at trying to put a stop to these shady dealings. Their main reasoning behind this decision is to put an end to the "black market" of DBD. What vexes me is that they have done this THREE years after some of the release dates of the exclusives. Many of these codes no longer exist and the damage of scams has already been done. Why did they not simply release them around the introduction of the store? BHVR has been aware of these black markets for years yet are only choosing NOW to take some action. My answer: because their choice to do this is simply business and profit orientated. They are satisfying 60% - give or take - of the current active playerbase who will happily take free cosmetics. Yet, by doing this, they are enraging many of the loyal fans of the game who have earned or come by these cosmetics in one way or another (e.g. competitions - many of these codes were given to players who participated in art competitions, attending PAX, purchasing them etc.).

Additionally, I believe they are STILL failing to put a complete end to the DBD black market. I have the Bloodletting shirt which was obtainable through purchasing an item from the DBD store before a certain time period. I find that there is a certain hypocrisy with the developer's logic in not releasing this exclusive too. There are still codes for this shirt being sold on the black market. There will still be accounts sold so people can get their hands on legacy. There is still the potential to sell Hype Nea and Ohmwrecker Wraith cosmetics. You are still failing to prevent the immoral selling of these codes. The justification for keeping Bloodletting exclusive is that the player had to purchase something whereas, for example, Golden Feng was simply a free cosmetic code for those who attended PAX, used to draw players into their new game. In a hypothetical scenario, someone may have spent good money on going to PAX simply to visit the DBD stall and get the exclusive - just because it was a freebie for attending it, it does not mean the player did not spend a lot of money to get it.

On the other hand, event exclusives in the game are another topic of discussion. Although some of these events never made it to console, it does not justify why these are being released to everyone, especially on PC. I can understand for console players, even with the code exclusives, however, the PC version of the game embodies the history of DBD as a game and players (like myself) who have been there from the start and EARNED these cosmetics in what was advertised as a 'limited event' have been marginalised by the developers. They are simply dismissing something that was earned at a specific point in DBD history - they are effectively meaningless now. Many people use these cosmetics to demonstrate how long they have had their account and simply taking these away from them with no form of compensation is unjust to those who have stayed loyal and supported a team of developers that are now straying away from their original fans and focusing on their influx of new players.

My solution to this: give those with existing exclusives a slightly different version. This retains the exclusivity of the original yet still allows newer players to enjoy the general look of the cosmetic. The difference does not need to be enormous (think Legacy Championship Riven from LoL which was identical except for a crown). At the very least, make all the free exclusives common cosmetics while those who got them before their release get to keep them at ultra-rare rarity. The loyal players of this game need to be compensated in some shape or form. It does not need to be anything huge but simply dismissing the loyalty of certain fans and their cosmetics is shameful on BHVR's part. They should never have made the decision to make exclusives - that was a poor business decision and, unfortunately, it is the players most loyal to them that are now being affected because of their idiocy.

Side note: I don't know for sure if this is true but apparently all of the Rift's items will eventually be available next year. If this is not the case, then BHVR are still releasing exclusives to the game (e.g. the final reward of the premium Rift pass). Additionally, they recently released an exclusive on the Switch version of the game for The Trapper which is, again, hypocritical to their supposed aims of including ALL platforms.

TL;DR - BHVR have done their most loyal fans a disservice, are still failing to put an end to the DBD black market and show little care for those who have earned event exclusives.