In an interview with GamesIndustry, id Software’s Hugo Martin revealed that Doom Eternal’s main focus is to increase player engagement. And while this may be a cool way to improve the game’s single-player experience, I am a bit worried about its MP mode. Oh, and let’s not forget that the game will feature micro-transactions.
As Martin told GamesIndustry:
“That was pretty much the primary goal of every decision we’ve made; how we get people engaged from beginning to end. Not even just the beginning of the level to the end of the level or the combat, but the entire game — that the third act of the single-player campaign is just as compelling if not more so than the first act was. It was challenging because people loved the last game so much. We really couldn’t use the same exact tricks as last time to engage the player. It’s like old hat to them at this point.”
Again, this is a good thing for the single-player campaign
Martin continued:
“We wanted to make sure the level design and the combat really gave you something to have to master. You master and conquer the levels just as much as you conquer the combat and encounters. And that’s what feels really empowering to the player, something that is earned. It’s very easy for us to make it, ‘Here’s a super powerful gun and some hallways; just walk down them and slaughter everything.’ That’s not a $60 game in my opinion. So I think engagement was our overriding theme for this game.”
Player engagement is something that most companies focus these days via different methods. One of them is via microtransactions and Doom Eternal will most likely feature them. From what we know, the microtransactions will offer “boosts” and/or “powerups”. There might also be cosmetics, though nothing is confirmed as of yet.
Perhaps what’s more worrying here is the reason why the game won’t feature the classic deathmatch mode. According to the developers, deathmatch discourages those that are not good in the game. And since the team wants to increase player engagement, it has come up with another way to keep them happy.
“So if we come up on each other [in a Doom 2016 multiplayer match] and all the game is relying on from a design perspective is aiming and shooting, well there are going to be people who aim and shoot better than you and there’s pretty much nothing you can do about that. That made death a frustrating experience because it meant you were just better than me. In this game, I can overcome your incredible twitch skills with teamwork and strategy, which gives me a chance. Then it allows the game to have what 2016 had none of: metas. There’s some real depth to this experience.”
Seriously, this is so wrong in so many levels. But hey, at least you now know why the game will not feature its classic deathmatch modes. Apparently, it’s more important to keep players happy and increase player engagement than to get good. In a competitive game. Now I wouldn’t really mind this if the game actually had its traditional MP modes alongside its Battle Mode.
id Software’s Marty Stratton stated in that same interview that id Software wants to lead, and not to follow. However, we’ve already seen this mode in other games. Sure thing, there might some tweaks and variations, but it’s nothing new. To be honest, id Software is not bringing anything new to the table with Battle Mode. So yeah, it appears that it’s not leading as its developers want to believe.
Doom Eternal releases on November 22nd.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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Nobody really cared about the competitive multiplayer in Doom 2016 so I understand why they ditched it for the sequel. Really, if you want id-style arena deathmatch, Quake Champions is readily available and has improved significantly since launch. It’s also F2P now.
too bad Quake Champions is a death valley, at least in Asian servers.
It’s dead because it’s sh*t and does nothing better to improve upon the mechanics of previous games.
Even UT4 which is unfinished and half baked is a better game than that trash, also free with microtransactions and no Overwatch Hero skill bullshit.
Bethesda turns to sh*t everything it touches.
Have you even played the new UT? You want to talk about not improving or offering anything better than the old games in a series and have the nerve to use the new UT as if it did anything different from Tournament 99′ and offered virtually anything we haven’t seen in the series?
Quake Champions might be un-original in the sense that it doesnt update much, but you seriously are kidding yourself if you think the new UT is a good comparison.
The new UT wasn’t even that good and barely embraced by the community, if it was we’d still have atleast a skeleton team making new content for it. Atleast Pro players embraced Quake Champions and drove the game forward and changed the game to make it better.
It’s bette than Champions because it’s not worse than previous games in terms of game mechanics.
I agree, leave the damn hero skills out of my Quake Arena please.
microtransactions wtf?
It’s basically the same thing that was offered in DMC V, powerups for the singleplayer that people can buy if they suck at the game to help them and apparently some form of DLC. The DLC is reportedly additional campaigns/episodes. What ever you want to call them.
what dlc?
Honestly they can do whatever they want with the multiplayer, as long as the campaign is as good or better than the first game. The only way I would be interested in any type of Doom multiplayer is if I could play the campaign co-op. No strings attached…just the full game with as many friends as the engine can handle and enemy count scaling to match it.
enjoy your 1-ups! sure looks like doom to me….
What’s the big deal with 1-Ups? It’s not like it was hard to save scum your way through the original Doom games anyway. God knows I abuse the quicksave liberally when I revisit it because of how many cheap traps and unavoidable damage there can be.
The more I see and hear about this game the worse it seems to get.
That is why i will be expecting the CPY/CODEX release, even if the game is a masterpierce after all this the price Bethesda is charging here, i could buy 2 AAA for the same price, so yeah i no thkz.
Mac/Worthabuy pretty much nailed it two months ago…
youtube(dot)com/watch?v=KYkBXXlS7eo
youtube(dot)com/watch?v=ZhM6tH0x3oE
I sure hope you’re proved to be right.
From everything I’ve read from people who’ve played the game and seen at the various demonstrations, Prashanna is correct. The games still hard, still offers the same gameplay loop, if not even more, and is far more difficult now which is fantastic.
Far higher enemy counts, significantly better enemy mixing, and you cant kill enemies as quickly by spamming certain weapons like how the Super Shotgun/Double Barrel with the two shot upgrade became your main weapon and get through it. Sort of forces you to adapt to what its throwing at you.
The only thing weird is the inclusion of MTX in the form of power ups for bad players, and if its anything like DMC V it will not effect the game beyond offering them to those who want them.
Which is silly to add into a Doom game, but realistically it was expected. Bethesda gonna Bethesda.
I’m not sure who this youtuber is since I don’t watch YouTube or follow anybody.
I just hope Doom doesn’t get butchered by that GaaS nonsense over time.
he has no idea wtf he is talking about at all on any game.
Cheers
looking at how denuvo in borderlands 3 constantly sends out information to make sure you got the original version, i dont think this version of denuvo will be cracked any time soon.
If i recall correctly i’m pretty sure that was a bug (i don´t care much about borderlands to keep track), and as far as i’m aware it didn’t happen in Code Vein so i think will be just a matter of time as usual.
You were gonna pirate it anyway. It could be.10 and you’d still find a reason to say it’s overpriced.
Yet somehow i have Doom 2016 on my Steam hummmm … So i guess i did intent to buy it after all. if the game its good and is at an reasonable price i will buy it.
Yep, Doom is seemingly being reduced to a dumbed down glorykill chaining-fest for filthy casuals. See the two videos I linked in reply to Vergil. They may as well just make it a mobile game at this point with QTE swipe gestures to kill enemies.
Any word on whether they changed the arena design of WubDoom and made it more like OG Doom? (i.e. clearing the level of enemies while exploring instead of getting locked into arenas where enemies spawn in waves).
Watch some of the QuakeCon footage, there’s still arena fights but there’s way more demons just wandering around levels now and everything is more open.
Doom Eternal has everything Doom 2016 had, except it has more going on. More mechanics, more complexity. People who played it said it was hard.
Why would Doom Eternal be dumbed down from the first one in this sense ? There seems to be more going on in every aspect of the game.
What really sucks is the fact that Doom Eternal will have MTX
Have you seen Doom Eternal gameplay ?
What you’re saying just isn’t true.
I mean, if you’re talking strictly about multiplayer I get why some people might be upset, but this article has a clickbait title. The mode they’re making is very different from deathmatch, and Marty giving a reason as to why that’s the case. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s nice that they’re actually putting effort in to create an interesting multiplayer mode. It doesn’t have to be deathmatch to be good, and there’s zero indication that skill isn’t involved
You sound like idiot.
I agree with almost everything except the Halo part.
How does an old school deathmatch shooter not have a meta? Pros took the skills of learning the map, movement, and weapon spawns in Quake and turned it into an artform.
If they were just honest and said arena shooters are dead so they’re trying something different, it wouldn’t sit as badly as this statement.
AHAHHAHAHA!!!!! Deathmatch is too “problematic” in this day in age? anyone who buys this is a good goy.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Like my mate says @bubbob:disqus You INSANE BRO . You MAD bro . WTF Am I reading? No buy bro. LMAOOO
What the hell are you trying to say here?
Who knows but I’m evidently living in his head rent-free.
NURSE!
https://steamcommunity(dot)com/groups/NocturianArk
You ARE insane, you narcissistic, luciferian jap, living in Australia with no friends.
No offense to the Japanese of course.
I knew you tried to copy it . That is an old account I used for trolling . I have friends . you fuaking moron .
Also that is outdated information . Why don’t you let me update it and then you see how you view it . And no . I am a very deep, in-depth, dark honest, Luciferian, Huntress Owl, that only seeks truth and Results, I like Japan, not anime . Let me update it for you and then we can talk about it .
I hope you are ready for this talk, don’t back out now . You fauked up . You couldn’t realize it was a new, old account? That the info on there was outdated?
Why don’t we talk about that first?
HEY, you thought that was my main account, I am happy you linked my group too, you fuaking moron . LMAO . Pls keep doing that . Clearly you wouldn’t fit in there .
Here /NSRKosmosIX . That is my MAIN ACCOUNT .
You know I was saving for later to edit that group, you really pissed me the fuak off .
Wait until I am done with this rewrite, I will personally link you, mate, I had to insult you, you messed up, you didn’t connect the dots man, be more open minded . Don’t just post next time mate .
“Oh, and let’s not forget that the game will feature micro-transactions.”
Nah, it won’t “feature” MT’s, it will be plagued with them. Wording, bud.
“Player engagement” AKA Microtransactions. This is Bad news for this game.
“Player engagement” AKA Microtransactions. This is Bad news for this game.
It seem the game will be a mess worse than the mediocre 2016 prequel.
I just hope for a better singleplayer campaign and I think this is exactly what we get. But no idea how good/bad multiplayer will turn out with these news.
doom was mediocre? what is good according to you?
Painkiller was a better game, at least it didn’t pretend it didn’t lock you in arenas and the shotgun was actually good and useful.
I didn’t like the 2016 design as well.
Go to room A – rip out the heart, kill everything arena style. Move on
Go to room B – rip out the heart.. you know the rest.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53c5e877cdfa5c613add4f56d434eae3e7a57856ce5855f4bf01d09701b17eed.png
Here we go again! At least is not “Esport”. I’ll take dumb down for the casuals over f*king Esport crap.
I couldn’t care less about MP, just bring awesome SP.
Wait what, you gotta be joking right ?
This… sounds wrong. All they needed to do to make Doom Eternal a better game than its predecessor is to reduce the arena based gameplay to a minimum and bring back something that was missing: monsters roaming the levels. Not just teleporting to surprise the player, let the player ambush an enemy too. Bring more Doom to Doom that way.
Unfortunately, I believe they will reduce the number of areas that become locked until the player deals with all demons, but not eliminate it completely. The “keep the player engaged through the whole game” thing will most likely mean all kinds of powerups. Except for microtransactions, we will be given numerous upgrades to the weapons, armor and stuff. It wasn’t necessary in the original Doom and other shooters of the time and they still managed to keep the player engaged and interested to finish the game. Give us a good reason to fight, interesting mini bosses and bosses, great looking areas and it will be all well.
Unfortunately, I kepp forgetting this “nu-Doom” has nothing to do with “old school” first person shooters. It’s a modern game in every aspect.
There was a time when id Software wanted to do a Quake reboot, the original one, without the Strogg. While I know it would most likely look amazing, I’m currently not a fan of the idea because I don’t want another game I grew up with to be butchered 😛
Interesting design choice.
I am really dense. So what are they saying? Are they saying that player engdgament means microtransactions, and that some people arnt good so microtransactions makes the game for fun? But there is no death match? So what? Like the Halo 5 thing where its two teams, but one team is also fighting NPC enemies, Warzone I think it was called.
Also before we give up on this game before we see the final product. The one thing keeping me hopeful is that we are getting SP DLC this time around and not MP dlc. That was my biggest disappoint with Doom 2016. MP DLC planned from the get go and we never got an SP expansion. They reversed that this time around. So lets hope its just some shoehorned MP that wont really detract from the SP half of the game. I am trying to stay positive about this…
The hell is metas? Also this is what you get when you decide to release your game on Nintendo Switch – imagine a PC M+KB player playing against a Nintendo Switch player with a controller, the latter would get killed in a split second.
Thanks for making the game more accessible to casuals, id! First the acid-looking UI, then uniquitous powerups (1UP – WTF is this? An 8bit game on Dendy console) and now the absence of Classic deathmatch. Guess I won’t be buying this game. P.S. I don’t really care about multiplayer in a Doom game but what they’ve done with the game since QuakeCon 2018 seems progressively more casual with each new bit of info.
It isn’t dumbed down. It’s more complex. That’s the point of the game mode, to be more than just a simple deathmatch. Nothing wrong with that.
This is dumb clickbait BS title is all.
> How is it more complex if every change they make it
makes the game easier for casualf*gs like you?
It isn’t easier, it’s harder. There’s more going on. Bigger playspaces, more traversal mechanics, more enemy types, more interactions. They’re doubling down on things like chainsaw for ammo, flamethrower for armour etc. Somehow, this makes it easier and more casual ? Are you okay ? Did you even watch the gameplay ? I genuinely cannot understand how you came to this conclusion.
> Atrocious HUD with useless information that gets shoved in your face,
It isn’t useless information. The reason they went all colourful is because, unlike the first game, you NEED more information. That’s how hectic it is. The 2018 Quakecon PC footage confirms that.
I’m not a fan of the colours either, but that’s because of immersion. It has NOTHING to do with what you’re talking about.
>the AI looks
braindead in every single one of the gameplay videos of the game
The AI looks fine in the videos. Besides, I trust id with AI after playing Doom 2016.
>the platform sections are just a dumb gimmick that doesn’t belong to this game.
Speak for yourself. I think they’re cool, as long as there are gorgeous visuals to back it up (which in many cases is true from what I’ve seen). The vast majority of Doom 2016 fans are very happy with what they’ve seen so far.
This guy gets it. Doom 2016’s multiplayer was the real dumbed down casual sh*t (two weapon limit in Doom! lol) and a lot of people hated the DM because of that. Now they aren’t going to repeat this, and people call it “dumbed down casual sh*t”. wtf?
Not sure I buy it, I was never a big DM player back in the day, but having DM didn’t stop me ignoring it for the single player. for DM i kinda prefer Unreal Tournament anyway.
Still rocking UT2k4 with Ballistic weapons 2.5 (excusively with Desert Eagle, LK-05, Spas-12, AK and a couple of revolvers).
That’s just plain wrong. I know that the gamejournos hate the expression “get good” but yes, you can learn to “get good” in a multiplayer game like Doom 2016. It’s not the case for nuBattlefront 2 for example where the gameplay is tied not to the skill but to the Star Cards crap so each encounter is never fair.
Those lootboxes will surely increase my engagement.
With one word “Microtransactions”, this game went from “immediate day one purchase” to “wait and see the reviews, maybe even wait for a sale” for me. I’m just glad I didn’t preorder.
Add mtx to anything, and the hype for it plummets like crazy.
Then pay much more for video games, because price of games is so ridiculously low, it has 12 years of inflation catch up to do. Increased audience didn’t even made up for increased requirements for technology and man power. Right now games should be around 200 USD a pop.
I’m sure it will be absolutely terrible, probably will be the worst game in the series hands down.
“Doom was never a competititive game, PvP was always an afterthought.”
DM and multiplayer were implemented since launch
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU
Where is it stated that the game will feature MTX for well anything? There will be cosmetic skins and some of those will be behind a paywall (you don’t need those!) but nobody has confirmed that there will be MTX for “powerups and boosts.” Is the author assuming this? Fake news?
DOOM became a huge thing due to a numerous LAN parties back in the 90s. It popularized Deathmatch pretty much.
John, what’s the issue with micro-transactions in the multiplayer mode? If you can get the worthless costumes for free by grinding, then I don’t see the big deal.
Old-school DM is the fu**in core of hardcore FPS pleasure! WTF?!!