Monetization has been a touchy subject ever since the game's First Expansions were released alongside Open Beta.
In its original design, Expansions were only obtainable by purchasing the Premium Prize Pass with real money. Otherwise, players would need to wait until the end of the Season (one month) in order to be able to purchase them with Gems (999 each, two available).
However as of April 2nd, The Bazaar has now officially launched with a fresh coat of paint. Season 1 brings forth a huge amount of new content, along with some excellent changes to its monetization.
Let's dive in and break down how the new system works!
Prize Pass and Expansions
No More Premium Pass
The Prize Pass is now 100% free!
Players can now unlock new Hero Expansions simply by playing the game, and without having to wait until the end of the Season.
Additionally, anyone who doesn't acquire the Expansions during a Season will automatically unlock them in the end. The 999 Gem after-Season paid option no longer applies.
The Subscription option remains available for those who want to progress faster (earns double XP), and you can also pay extra if you want to advance faster (15 Tier Skips for $10 USD).
Note: It's no longer possible to spend Gems to fast track the Prize Pass.
As for actually earning XP through playing, leveling up the Pass now feels far more achievable.
Each level has been rebalanced to 500 XP per tier, and Daily/Weekly Challenges have been reduced in difficulty to better fit the timeframe.
The Prize Pass now has 60 base tiers, with Expansions unlocking at tier 15/30, and Cosmetics at tier 45/60.
With the new structure, completing all your Daily Challenges and Weekly Challenges will unlock an Expansion in roughly two weeks. However, this doesn't account for the day/win bonus XP, meaning it's absolutely possible to grind it out faster.
However, while it's no longer possible to skip tiers via Gems, players who want to experience the new content sooner can directly purchase an Expansion for 3000 Gems.
Keep in mind, if you decide to unlock an Expansion this way, you will not receive any refund of your Gems once you reach the appropriate tiers (15/30). Regardless, this is a nice means of early access without any paywall.
Exclusive Cosmetics
A Shift Towards Cosmetics
As originally promised, The Bazaar has now leaned towards Cosmetics as its key form of monetization.
Players can now purchase exclusive, limited-time Cosmetics at the in-game shop ("The Bazaar" tab).
The Daily Special offers a random Cosmetic that is purchasable with Gems. The actual Cosmetic, purchase price, and number of editions available are variable between players.
Daily Special Cosmetics exist and rotate around the store until all editions are purchased.
If you're lucky (and fast) enough you may even obtain one of the first few editions! ;)
Weekly Specials work a bit differently. Instead of having a set edition count and rotating about, they will be made available for purchase for one full week. Afterwards, they are unavailable.
Unlike Daily Specials these are only purchasable with real money.
Hero Price Increase
One final thing worth mentioning is that Heroes have been increased from 2500 Gems to 3000 Gems.
The existing First and Second Hero Discounts still apply to whichever Heroes you choose, including the new Hero Mak.
Overall this is a pretty fair change, shifting the monetization towards Hero access and Cosmetics and away from Expansions, which directly influence the gameplay of existing Heroes (which players will often own).
Conclusion
Lastly, in terms of actual gameplay, Expansions are no longer toggle-able. Once an Expansion is unlocked, it is enabled for good, meaning players will always eventually be playing with the same pool of items.
This is a pretty key difference, as with more items, the pool becomes a lot more inconsistent. It's likely we'll reach a point where it's a lot harder to assemble specific builds.
We'll have to wait and see how this applies in the future, and whether or not other adjustments need to be made to keep things in a more controllable state. As for now, this is a fantastic change and we're stoked to dive in deeper!
