some live service game: if you grind for 30 hours then you can unlock the fun part of the game!

me: *opening my steam wishlist* wow look at all these games that I could be playing that are fun right away

live service game: *voice fading into the distance* w-wait! if you spend $15 on the gold premium pack then you can skip the grind and go straight to-

me: *already installing something else*

@kasdeya I don't know if I've already recommended this to you, but "totally accurate battle simulator" has interesting progression. Essentially, you get exposed to more complex scenarios, more units, and more resources, but there's no grind gating your progression.

@Unampho oohh - interesting! I don’t know much at all about that game, but I might check it out. I always appreciate when progression is used in a positive way