Completing The Finals Battle Pass takes a lot of time and energy, and players are feeling the burn.
The Finals enjoyed a hugely successful launch, with player numbers reaching 10 million in just 15 days, but as fun as some find the free-to-play shooter, for others, the grind to progress through the battle pass is all too much.
The Season 1 pass, which runs until March 12, has a total of 96 levels and grants players various cosmetic rewards and currency to spend in-game. But as players have discovered, it can take an hour or more to go up a single level, so at around 100 hours in total, it's a huge time sink.
Over on The Finals subreddit, players have been venting their frustration. "I don't see how this is sustainable for the game," says CBTNotTheGameKind. "Battle passes do not take this long in any of the big games anymore." As the player points out, to add insult to injury, the game's weekly challenges don't carry over, which they argue makes it "impossible to finish" unless you've got a heck of a lot of time on your hands. "I really hope the devs fix this in the next season because I can't see myself buying the pass again if it stays how it is," they add.
Also not a fan is kmach1ne, who describes battle passes that require 100 or more hours as "not realistic" and says they "can't become the norm". Instead, they, and others, think that The Finals should follow in the footsteps of the likes of Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Halo, which offer passes that are more manageable.
"As a community, we should really push for a Halo Infinite-type pass," says JMC_Drewolf. "You buy it, you get to work towards it at any time. If you have multiple battle passes that aren't completed, you can pick which one to go through."
Not all are opposed to the way things currently are, though, as more playtime means better value for money. "I'm happy with how it works," comments NatanKatreniok. "I wouldn't want to be done with the battle pass in the first month." BeastLordJ also says they "like how it works" and reminds those who aren't so keen that it's an optional part of the experience.
Battle pass owners aren't the only ones for which the grind is all too real, as recently, one top-ranked player fell asleep during a live stream while trying to maintain the top spot on The Finals leaderboard.
As for what's in store for Season 2, well, so far, that's anyone's guess, as the FPS isn't getting a content roadmap because developer Embark Studios, rather nobly, only wants to "make promises it can keep."
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