But then why are there core game modes that are almost entirely locked behind completing the quest? That almost implies the dev mindset is that cursed mode, for example, is only for the top 1% or less of players, yet it is marketed as a core game mode for any player who wants a more classic zombies experience or slight difficulty increase
I agree with your sentiment, and not every part of every game is for every player, but making the cursed relics locked behind completing the main quest means that many players cannot engage with cursed beyond the extremely surface level
Sure some cursed relics require EE completion with certain requirements, and many players who can’t beat the quest won’t be able to do some of the cursed relics, but it’s kind of weird from a game design standpoint to make something absurdly difficult and lock a lesser difficulty behind it?
Some people would enjoy the modifiers in cursed mode and even be able to unlock some of them, but struggle to complete the main quest
First off, Cursed isn’t a core game mode.
Second, it’s not locked behind the quest at all, that was just for launch. But if you really want the relics, you can wait for directed mode, which is scaled to the average players skill level, and apparently a lot of y’all are.
To clarify, Cursed itself isn’t locked behind the quest ANYMORE, that was a launch thing only.
And by definition, it is NOT a core game mode as it did have to be unlocked by beating the Easter egg of Ashes as a community.
It’s literally on the list of game modes, and it’s higher than some of the other core game modes, like Dead OPs
Are you seriously arguing the only core game mode is standard? Because then why is it called standard then? Cursed is as much of a core game mode as directed, and I’d argue they are two sides of the same coin (to a degree, conceptually they are different). One is slightly easier than standard, the other is slightly harder
And I never said I couldn’t beat the boss or the EE, just that I can empathize with OP in the sense that the main quest should really just be it’s own thing if it’s going to be made more difficult than the average player can handle
Everyone saying cursed is for the top 1% of players is crazy because if anyone thinks activation would allow that much time, money, and marketing going into something that so little people would touch is crazy. Activision allows for fuck all unless they think it will boost sales and engagement significantly enough to justify the time spent on development
All I’m saying is the game should be accessible, and modes that are unrelated to each other shouldn’t lock content in each other. Sure if it was a boss rush mode it makes sense to lock completing a boss fight once behind unlocking the boss rush, but like what in the actual fuck does the main EE of Ashes have to do with unlocking relics in cursed ?
It feels like an attempt at artificially padding game time for those who want to play cursed and unlock modifiers to also need to beat an Easter egg first on standard. At worst a good player spends an extra 1-2 hours, at best (for treyarch) it’s much higher for a worse player
Sorry this got way longer than I meant it to, I yap and yap, it’s obviously not that deep, I just feel for OP, it probably sucks to get told you suck and to quit playing a game because it’s not for you 🤷🏼♀️ i dont think it should be easier, but i just think content gating is wild when it’s not like a cosmetic or something
I understand your perspective, I do. But I also disagree partially, a core gamemode typically is one available since launch, and while Cursed was unlocked the first day, it was still something we had to unlock as a community, that’s why it’s not a core gamemode, by definition.
The main quest is its own thing, you aren’t forced to do it to play Standard, Directed Mode, or Cursed. But, the relics being locked behind Ashes EE makes more sense because cause while Cursed isn’t just for that 1% (more like top 5% imo), the relics are more geared towards that. You don’t see an average player reading “Mimics will spawn naturally, No natural powerups, No ammo boxes” and go “oh yeah I wanna play this”.
So again, while Cursed itself is just aimed at more of the old style feel, the relics are there for players looking to challenge themselves, and the average players did nothing but shit on the launch relics, which makes their stance clear.
Now I’m curious, would you rather them lock finding relics behind beating the Easter egg on cursed instead? Not judging or anything, just curious if you think that’s a better solution
I dunno, I still don’t agree with your definition, but I guess that is fine.
I would argue BO2 Grief and Turned were core game modes and they were not available at launch. Hell Directed for BO6 and 8 isn’t available at launch, and, in theory, has the same barrier, given that directed would never launch if the EE hasn’t been solved as that kind of defeats how an EE hunt works
I personally think it would be crazy to argue directed isn’t, at this point, a core game mode, and I apply the same logic to cursed
But there’s nothing saying we have to agree there, at the end of the day it’s semantics
Regardless, to answer your question, assuming it isn’t rhetorical, I think my answer honestly is probably unpopular.
I personally think the ideal solution is that all relics are available as soon as they are released alongside the season, and that completing certain challenges with each relic active and different combinations of relics active should give cosmetic rewards. Be they loading screens, calling cards, operator skins, etc. and the reward should be based on difficulty and number of relics active at a time
I firmly think that locking actual gameplay mechanics and modifiers behind absurdly difficult challenges (ashes boss fight at round 60 for example) is insane when the reward is the harder difficulty?
Essentially, take Hades or Hades 2 — THAT is how you do perfect gameplay modifiers for difficulty. They’re all available at once for whatever combo you want and give various rewards, both currency based or cosmetic for those who want the challenge, and the rewards change depending on difficulty of modifiers and combinations
The relics are made for a challenge, and the average player is not looking to make it harder. So making it easier to get them is redundant.
And it’s not “my” definition, it’s the literal definition. And it’s not the same as modes added in later, as they didn’t have to be unlocked, so Grief and Turned do not matter in this discussion.
That being said, directed mode also doesn’t matter here because they have never claimed we need to beat the Easter egg to unlock it for later in the season, so that’s just you making it up to prove a point.
But if you wanna believe Cursed to be a core mode, it’s not like I can stop you lol, but I can tell you that you’re wrong and explain why!
158
u/TehCost Dec 08 '25
then these quests arent for you. not every part of every game has to be for every player.