4Game

So it seems that valve has this problem where if they put alot of effort into a cosmetic item like an arcana but the item doesn't sell well it results in wasted time and effort. So they are putting their best cosmetics behind a battlepass that people need to pay alotta money in order to access. This way cosmetic collectors in the game are strongly motivated to spend more and more often on the battlepass in order to avoid missing out on the exclusive cosmetics. But that leads to people late to the party or in a bad time for buying battlepasses when it comes and goes in a sad place because they wont be able to get those items unless they get a time machine to go back to when it was available.

Valve wants their money, and we losers want our digital dress-up outfits. So what can valve do to reconcile? I'd like to talk about the possibilities.

Re-release lootboxes: re-release old battlepass items in battlepass lootboxes or themed lootboxes with an increased price. Pretty much the same as what Paladins has going on.

Crafting materials: Buying into the battlepass or subscribing to Dota Plus gives you access to crafting materials you can use to craft old battlepass exclusive items. A simple way to do it in the battlepass is that if you get a rare set in one of the lootboxes it gives you a lootbox token that allows you to unlock a more common set from a previous battlepass exclusive lootbox, using multiple tokens allows you to craft more rare battlepass exclusive sets. Getting a battlepass Arcana gives you a bonus arcana token you can use to get any other arcana. These crafting tokens might be a lucrative item to sell on the market. I like this option for the freedom it gives to battlepass buying whales and also a potential to get a return on the cost of buying the battlepass, but if the crafting system becomes randomized that would be pure cancer.

Maximum greed option: Go with the popular method of having an exclusive premium item shop with a rotating gallery of sets and items for things that were only available in previous battlepasses, but make them painfully expensive. This motivates people to buy in to the battlepasses and maximizes profit from desperate losers like me. I really don't like this one but its preferable to absolutely nothing.