I feel like this isn't discussed enough. I really like this game and am more than willing to buy EoD, I just don't like the idea of buying a higher tier of the game that gives me a competitive/progression advantage over other players.
Currently the benefits of buying EoD are the following:
- Fully upgraded stash in hideout (10×66). Second tier stash upgrade is required for certain hideout upgrades.
- Additional equipment and resources in stash. These include the 3×3 Gamma Container (which is still bigger than the Epsilon container gained from completing the punisher series quests), several different cases (worth millions of roubles), several additional weapons and armor to start out, a Grizzly first-aid kit to start out (which will provide a huge money-saving advantage with OoR healing), and additional weapon attachments, sights, and provisions.
- Initially good standing with all in-game traders. .20 rep towards all traders to start out, which is the difference of not having to do 3 or 4 quests per trader before you get them to max level.
- Unique In-game ID.
Basically every benefit EoD currently provides gives you a leg up on the competition. Obviously it doesn't give you permanent advantages when it comes to combat with other players, but most of this game comes down to money. Having a fully upgraded stash, a 3×3 secure container, and free .20 rep towards all traders makes it much easier to earn money in this game. Bigger stash and secure container leads to more loot, more loot leads to more money, more money leads to more gear, and more gear leads to competitive advantage over other players (Yoda would be proud of me).
I propose that instead of providing all of these benefits that make starting the game exponentially easier, deluxe editions of the game should provide things that are more cosmetic. Maybe that means we get to customize our PMCs' face, hair, more clothing options like I mentioned in the title, etc. This leads me to my next point, which is that clothing options locked behind achievement-type quests are fine but should be considered carefully.
Recently, BSG created a new Ragman quest that allows you to wear the Killa tracksuit if you kill him 100 times. This creates a few problems.
1.) Many players will (and they do) simply rush straight to the area where Killa spawns on Interchange to kill him. Before this quest was introduced, I frequently ran into Killa and he was an entity to be feared. Now I never worry about him because I know someone is always looking to kill him to get the 100-kill quest done.
2.) Quests that involve killing him or looting a unique item from him become that much harder to do because of high demand. This applies to all bosses. If a quest was introduced to allow PMCs to wear the police uniforms donned by Reshala's guards that required killing Reshala 100 times, the same problems would arise.
Instead, if BSG wants to allow players to use unique clothing worn by specific characters in-game through achievement-like tasks, they should minimally impact everyone else in the raid and should be more like what Jaeger's quests currently are.
tl;dr Deluxe editions of the game are basically pay to win and the incentives for buying them should be more cosmetic-based. Unlocking cosmetic items should be achievement-like quests like Jaeger that don't involve killing the boss 100 times.
