Ghost Recon Breakpoint's new mission is to fix the game
I don't believe in ghosts
Though I played and enjoyed Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands, I avoided Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint like it was Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Racist Uncle At A Party. The build-up to its release did not do a good job of making me want to wander tactically through some forests with a friend, and our review gave me little reason to overrule that.
A lot of people shared that apathy with me. Launch sales figures were "very disappointing," Ubisoft said, but they're at least setting out on a mission to fix it, and to create "a more radical and immersive version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint".
In a blog post that starts out with "Hello Ghosts", and set me off on a panic until I realised they weren't saying I was dead, the plan for "Moving Forward" is set out, addressing five key areas.
First is technical issues, which are decidedly non-radical. They've already started patching problems, but they still have plenty of issues to sort out. Come the end of November, they hope to have fixes for issues plaguing drone deployment, fire rate, NVGs blocking crosshairs and the mission completion notification pop-ups. They have more to work on, and are keeping a public list of what they're looking into here.
There's still more of the game to come. The first raid, called "Project Titan", should be with everyone in December, followed by "The Terminator Live Event", which is exactly what you think it is.
The in-game economy that caused so much strife by being expensive and snaking into every aspect of the game is being looked at. They were always going to be around, but the volume of it in Breakpoint felt very much like it was a free-to-play game, and it very much isn't. They have plans, though there's nothing concrete in Ubi's promises.
"We also heard the criticism regarding the in-game economy. That is why we are currently working to make adjustments according to players’ feedback in the next few weeks, making the experience for players more comfortable."
I think that deserves more explanation. As a very casual observer, at least until this post, all I knew about the game was that the MTX was OTT. This plan doesn't address any specifics.
AI team-mates are still in development. I'm bit surprised they weren't part of the game from the start, given they were talked about way back when the game was announced, and that Wildlands launched with a squad as well. But they're on the way, if you care?
A final shout on the blog speaks to how much they seem to have missed the boat. The survival elements aren't in-depth enough for people used to those sorts of games, and the military moments weren't as freeform as people anticipated. They weren't getting a "gritty and authentic military experience" that the Tom Clancy name still somehow evokes. The promises on this are still rather vague:
"We are working on a more radical and immersive version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint. We also want to let you tailor your experience to the way you want to enjoy the game, since freedom of choice has always been part of the Ghost Recon DNA."
It's good that they're making a public commitment to fixing the game, I just wish there was a little bit more substance to the promised fixes. I know they made good with Rainbow Six Siege, but I'll be surprised if Breakpoint still has a community by the time these fixes land.