Diaries From H1Z1: Let’s Talk Season 9 Rewards

It’s that time of year again.

It’s time to talk about H1Z1, because if it wasn’t for myself and MassivelyOP there’d be nobody left to mention this game’s existence, and if it wasn’t for me there’d be nobody who cared enough to give it a critical look in 2020. Least of all the player base. Season 9 has officially launched and for the low, low price of five dollars you can get your hands on the season pass for a dead game.

First things first we need to talk about my last article on H1Z1 because I will admit that I was kinda…pissed when I wrote it. As someone who has been a fan of Daybreak for twenty years it is truly disappointing to see how far the company has fallen and I say the things I do because I care. If I didn’t care I would ignore them like everyone else does and I wouldn’t be pitching their sequel that will probably not take any of my advice or ever release for that matter.

When I referenced Season 8 I said that I had never seen the game in such a bad technical state. The good news is that many of those problems appear to have been alleviated in the interim. I don’t think that Daybreak Game Company actually fixed the problems since that would require a budget higher than three interns splitting a shredded chicken mini-quesadilla from Taco Bell. Instead since I’m pretty certain that the problems were caused by a lot of people packed into small sections of the game that having no community left was the fix.

And let me be square, there is virtually no community left in this game. At peak hours you might get a 20-35% full battle match lobby. Stunningly the free for all is even worse, as most of my matches have kicked off with three people in the lobby (myself included). It colors my perception of the battle pass value since no matter what price you have to pay or what rewards are included it would still be for a dead game with slim traffic.

The positive side of this season’s pass is that it costs $5 and has 100 levels. Gone are the locked lootboxes of yore, Daybreak’s embarrassingly greedy attempt to cash in on what few players they had left by making them pay to unlock items in a pass they paid to unlock. You can pay $20 for the pass plus 25 levels, or $50 to unlock everything. I don’t know who would do that.

The rewards are fine, and in a game that had some prospect for a future I would even say that it’s a great deal. H1Z1 is not that game. I’d love for Daybreak to start caring about all of their properties like H1Z1 and actually put some effort into them, but for now it’s just a pipe dream. Still holding out hope for that H2Z2.

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