‘H1Z1’ Early Access And Pay2Win Debate: Fans React On Weapons In Paid Supply Drops, SOE Issues Refunds

IN PHOTO: Dale Newman (R) and Paul Martella are dressed as zombies as they take part in a zombie crawl during Halloween in Santa Monica, California October 31, 2013. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

The Early Access for "H1Z1" is already underway, but fans are now voicing out a lot of complaints about the game. What's interesting is that, instead of focusing on and testing the gaming mechanics and experience, fans are expressing anger at the developer for one particular feature: airdrops.

In the official "H1Z1" Reddit page, senior game designer Adam Clegg has posted an apology for appearing to have misinformed gamers before the Early Access. According to the developer, he has mentioned in an "H1Z1" live stream pre-Early Access that there will be no weapons that can be bought via the airdrops.

Clegg states that his personal apology revolves around how he had carelessly told fans that guns and ammo cannot be bought in "H1Z1." His reason for the mistake? The fact that he would need to talk very fast and make sure that the live stream is interesting to viewers.

"When I said you can't buy any guns or ammo, I completely disregarded the possibility of airdrops and meant that you can't buy a gun or ammo and have it go into your starting loadoat, or your loadout immiedately like you were buying a gun from the gun store," said Clegg.

Airdrops were first revealed last August, and Gameblogs reports that these are basically care packages that will provide some relief in the form of water and food. But these survival packs are not for free, as developer Sony Online Entertainment made it clear that players would need to purchase the feature.

This purchase feature is now what players are voicing out disappointment in. Following SOE CEO John Smedley's confirmation in the Airdrops announcement thread in Reddit, players were expecting that no weapons should be found in Airdrops. This will ensure that the game is not pay-to-win, as what free-to-play models are reportedly becoming.

Clegg also affirmed this in the same thread, as seen in the image here, as archived by one of the outraged players. "No Weapons from aidrdops," Clegg had said in the Reddit discussion. But a player has posted an image of an Airdrop that contained weapons during Early Access. Redditor Gravitasnotincluded has started a thread where fans are discussing just how three airdrops included weapons and ammo in them.

Because of the development, fans are now calling "H1Z1" a pay-to-win zombie game, so much so that they truly now feel misled by the developer. GameSpot reports that SOE has already issued an announcement for a refund. Smedley stated that the refunds can be requested by emailing to bwilcox@soe.com, and is redeemable until Monday. However, only players who have purchased the "H1Z1" Early Access as of Jan. 16 were allowed to get a refund.

Right now, SOE is still making tweaks for Airdrops, but it does not seem to have any plans to remove the weapons. Clegg had stated that the dev team loves the airdrops, and that its point of setting up a brawl among users has been showing its effects in Early Access. Airdrops rates and accuracy of dropping will be tweaked, so that they will not necessarily drop into the lap of those who made the purchase. Rather, the Airdrop can fall anywhere within the 700m radius of the person who bought the Airdrop, so the player can battle out its contents with other players and wildlife alike.