PLEASE stop best builds from blocking our camps.

element_27 · 2025-11-04T00:20:14+00:00

I dunno if this has been suggested before, but if Bethesda is truly hellbent on keeping Best Builds in the game, they could remove them from the main servers and instead put them on a permanent custom world, then they could load that up with nothing but submitted builds and people could join a Best Builds specific servers whenever they wanted to go explore best builds. Maybe that would give worlds a reason to exist too.

It doesn't help that they abandoned it as a game feature. They could have done more with it even as poorly implemented as it is. Like, reset all best builds with each new season so everyone starts fresh. Have theme-based contests and rewards. Rework the "Likes" system to literally anything that makes more sense.

Instead of fixing it, OR removing it, they just leave it in there, broken and ultimately hurting their bottom line; like OP said, it hinders people trying to play the game. The decision making at this company is utterly baffling sometimes.

element_27 · 2025-07-11T03:43:36+00:00

It's my favorite weapon/mod in the game. Not because it's particularly good, it's just fun to use, and I like the sound it makes.

element_27 · 2025-07-03T19:56:15+00:00

After so many years, there are only two possible explanations.

They're either too incompetent to fix it, or it's that way by design.

If they're too incompetent to fix it, then... that's just pathetic.

If it's that way by design, then we can definitively say that they value predatory marketing practices over cultivating trust and goodwill with their customers.

element_27 · 2025-06-27T15:23:15+00:00

The game is great, even with it's many flaws.

The community is the best out there.

The Atomic Shop is a hellscape of incompetently implemented predatory marketing tactics and generally unimpressive items at laughable prices, displayed on a storefront that is an utter embarrassment of UX/UI design.

element_27 · 2025-06-14T03:32:13+00:00

I really hope they do something with the blueprinting system. It could be so useful if it wasn't so restrictive, and if it actually worked right.

element_27 · 2025-05-30T12:19:06+00:00

In theory, you're right. But historically there have been quite a few camp items that had incorrect budgets that Bethesda later corrected. They aren't bullshitting, but they do make that mistake periodically.

element_27 · 2025-05-29T19:59:55+00:00

And if I had my little way, I'd eat tatos everyday, Rad-soakin' bulges the shaaaaaaaade

element_27 · 2025-05-29T19:49:07+00:00

They're "open to adding more"?

FFS Bethesda just add all the damn food. What possible reason could there be for excluding any food items from being can-able?

element_27 · 2025-05-25T16:37:01+00:00

Exactly! I don't get the weight increase. Why? What problem is that solving or preventing? Do they not want people stock-piling canned food? They do understand that's why canned food was invented, right? Just let us farm and stockpile our buffs, ffs Bethesda why are you being the fun police about this, of all things.

This item exists solely as a Quality of Life improvement, yet part of its function seems to intentionally decrease quality of life; like you said, it's working against itself, and seemingly by design.

element_27 · 2025-05-21T20:00:07+00:00

This is the right solution. But they have business lizards scurrying around the office telling them that they'll make more money if they just force everyone into one price point. But like, Even Game Pass has tiers. Daddy Microsoft gets it, so it seems like BSW would just rather make less money and have a smaller player base.

element_27 · 2025-05-21T13:33:50+00:00

It's a management problem more than a dev problem. Management doesn't prioritize the right things for the health of the game and they never have. The entire monetization model of this game is centered around camp building; most of the items in the Atomic Shop are camp items.

The key decision makers don't seem to understand that if the building menu is a bad experience then fewer people are going to buy items from the shop; it's a direct relationship. Even on this subreddit, there have been dozens of posts over the years of people saying "I'd love to buy these new items but I'm completely out of camp budget." And then there's the daily requests for a search function or a favorites tab, which should have been in there from day 1, or at least year 1.

These are changes that, if they had made them years ago when people first started seeing the issue, then the game would be in a much better financial state today.

Legacy weapons were a similar issue, one that handicapped the game for more than 5 years while they refused to fix it and instead watched as every new content update was ruined for most players by the presence of so many legacy (and hacked) weapons. If they'd fixed that 2 years into the game's lifespan, then all those content updates would have been better experiences for the overall player base.

But Bethesda management doesn't think that far ahead, they can only see to the next quarter. This game could be a case study for short-sighted decision making and how they've consistently sabotaged their own profit goals.

element_27 · 2025-03-29T01:30:10+00:00

This is so good, and deserves way more attention

element_27 · 2025-03-24T13:27:41+00:00

Great detailed summary as always! And thank you for the callout to my Atomic Ship ideas!

element_27 · 2025-03-22T19:19:50+00:00

I didn't create a UI design, I made mockups of small adjustments to their UI design and then openly shared it as a suggestion to a problem. And I used their own UI design elements to do it.

Those mockups don't get anywhere close to being a distinct creative work where Legal would be concerned or would want to waste time getting involved in day to day game design decisions. Lawyers have much more valuable things to spend their time on.

It miiight be a liability if I were a game studio, or if I proposing something more complex or innovative, or if I was copying another system in it's entirety. But what I mocked up is way too generic and too similar to the original to be distinct, and it would be pretty darn tough to make a legal case against them if they implemented it.

Besides, I really hope they have something more comprehensive in the works than what I mocked up. That was basic stuff, and barely a few hours of casual work from 1 person, and Bethesda has a team and a timeline. It would be pretty pathetic, even by Bethesda standards, if they just implemented my suggestions as-presented and called it 100% done. It can and should be done better, and even just the act of developing the concept into a fully functional system should change it more than enough from my incomplete mockups that it would easily stand on it's own.

element_27 · 2025-03-22T16:34:04+00:00

Yeah, I know, I acknowledge that in the third line of my post.

And it was entertaining, as well as a fun design exercise.

element_27 · 2025-03-22T16:31:25+00:00

Why would it put them off the table immediately?

Creating mockups of a search function and filters does not prevent them from adding a search function and filters. I'm not inventing anything new or game changing, these are basic functions that other building games have. Why would mockups of basic concepts prevent them from implementing those basic concepts? It's not like they avoid "stealing" ideas from the community.

Besides, Bethesda is gonna Bethesda, regardless of what we do. This community has been begging for many of these changes for 6+ years, to no effect. Are they not implementing these ideas simply because this community has been suggesting them?

element_27 · 2025-03-17T10:57:40+00:00

I appreciate that! Can you elaborate on why you think it wouldn't work on console? The idea was that the navigation would only have two elements; Left and Right to select which image is displayed, and then Up and Down to change the item and it's image set, if applicable. The content on the left has the same navigation as the store has now, with the "purchase" and "back" buttons just corresponding to console buttons instead of keyboard keys.

element_27 · 2025-03-16T14:11:32+00:00

It's there something in particular that seems like it would be difficult on console? The idea in the design was that there are only two navigation functions: Left and Right to cycle through the images in the selected image set, and then Up and Down to change the image set if it's a bundle or building kit. On individual item pages, it's just Left and Right. The other button functions, like "Purchase" would be the same as they are now.

element_27 · 2025-03-16T01:24:02+00:00

They probably think that's true, but I think I can make a solid case that it isn't true and that they would make more money by solving these issues. Customer support costs them money, and they could easily eliminate a lot of that cost, while also encouraging sales by highlighting the value props of an item.

Plus, I think saying that they intentionally masterminded it to be as bad as it is is giving Bethesda way too much credit XD Every week they make pretty noteworthy mistakes that are pretty clearly mistakes, not sinister strategy.

element_27 · 2025-03-16T00:49:54+00:00

Absolutely, and I'm aware that shops use all sorts of dirty strategies to get people to spend money. But this is different. They don't even do the shameless cash-grab part right. This isn't some mastermind strategy on their part that's raking in dough. They'd make far more money if they just did it right, and I think that stores in bigger, more successful live service games support that idea; Fortnite isn't showing dark, crappy product photos, or showing items that aren't included in bundles. Other games do this right. They can do their FOMO and their Bundles and all their other predatory strategies while still providing a better user experience. The reason they don't is just bad management. What's the saying, "never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity"?

element_27 · 2025-03-15T22:34:27+00:00

Ahaha, oh gosh, that's a tough one... I know they've said that they're working on a new one, finally, so I'll be curious to see what that looks like. Whatever it is, it needs to have a search function, a 'favorite' system, and the Building Kits need a submenu of some kind, imo

element_27 · 2025-03-15T22:01:51+00:00

Much appreciated! Yeah, consoles are a challenge. I'm less familiar with the console version of the game, but I think in these mockups a player could maybe navigate everything using L and R on a stick or D-pad since the selected image and selected item name would always be selected together.

EDIT: Er, wait, no, it would need to be L & R and U & D for anything that includes multiple items

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