Rewards as Content

I don't typically post about content updates anymore. Maybe that's because I don't play the game anymore (if you think I play on the Xbox 360 you obviously don't read this blog enough). Maybe it's because I just don't care anymore. However, I spotted the update news for this week on the official forums and I felt obligated to write something about it.

The update itself is pretty minimal. In addition to a GAS update and Valentine's Day lobbies, GM Edward announced that the rewards from Absolute Zero would be arriving this week.

...That is, some of the rewards would be arriving this week. Specifically, the item rewards, PA experience boost, shop discounts, and casino bonus are slated to be added. The other rewards -- 3* Luck, synthesis boost, and grind boost -- will be coming at an as yet unannounced date.

Apparently the reward distribution news did not sit well with players, because within 20 posts Edward was right back in the forums trying to justify the decision. I can understand how Sega could spin this as a decision to "benefit the players" -- split up the rewards and the players have more time to enjoy them. That makes sense, and I don't think it's such a bad thing to do. If all the rewards were given together I bet you'd see somebody complain on the forums about having too many rewards to take advantage of in only a 2- or 3- week period.

However, if the next maintenance period comes and the remaining rewards are listed as the only content update, you can bet that the community will not be happy. Edward claims that this won't happen; whether it does anyway remains to be seen. I just don't think anybody (myself included) would put it past Sega to do such a thing to extend the life of the game another month.

In any event, the players in the forum thread raged for awhile before settling down and talking about the upcoming content. Hopefully Sega won't release the rest of the Absolute Zero rewards as a standalone update, because if that happens the player reaction will be quite different next time.