as someone that put 45 hours into that first week to get that visor I can clearly say.. it is a grind and a half. I also looked into all the season 1 rewards and only 26 or so are unlocked for free, and a lot of "xp boosters" and 'challenge swaps' - which, are kinda strange to get for free.<br><br>Reason on that oddness/free feeling is - most of the free stuff, isn't that great.  The 'shiny desirable' content is in the paid only tier - predatory system in place to sell sell sell.  (I personally find no use in the boosters, as they are timed and start ticking down even while you search for players in a game)<br><br>Both these items benefit PAID players more, especially if the 'free rewards" aren't anything you look forward too. Ranking to 100, just to get the 26 free items, spending some 8 weeks of 40 hours a week doing... isn't worth it.  sure the XP boosters can be min/maxed to make that faster, but then what?  Your still left at the end of season, or weeks before it if you used boosters, at rank 100, without any satisfying reward.  You have to pay for the satisfying rewards.<br><br>While some may see this as normal, I see it as highly predatory, because it isn't giving anything to players for playing, but only rewarding those who pay, and pay frequently.  Those who play many hours - actually don't get credits (to buy other cosmetics) unlike in other games.  Challenges only yield XP, and not that much of it at that. (level 16 playing free after that 45 hours) So nothing feels satisfying, especially as one of the main repeat sources of xp is simply "complete a match" doesn't matter if you win or lose, if you captured the flag or protected your own, or held the oddball or killed enemy team with the ball in hand - nothing matters except "did you stay in the whole game?" - which even that is broken, because I (and others) crash to desktop so freaking often. (I have actually been auto-banned from crashing and "quitting" games so often, even in BTB and Quickplay, not Ranked matches)<br><br>The system is aimed at halo fans- but only specifically the nostalgia feelings and the wallet contents. "buy those things" vs "enjoy this new game"