Maybe you can be the first to listen to our calls… these high effort ETs should not be ETs. They are very different to when the ET system began in 2016 and were as simple as one new NPC walking around an otherwise unchanged map. The ET format is very bad for high effort content that changes a lot of the map. It does not encourage the player to try every elimination method, or listen to all the dialogue recorded and scripts programmed for the scenario, or just generally experience all the work your company has put into it.
My suggestion is to use the “Special Assignment” system, something only used once and briefly in HitmanTM 2. It’s what these ETs are but it does away with the ‘only complete once, high stakes fail’ thing. It can then come with some fun challenges which encourage replayability (which ET and ET Arcade do not), and players can take risks to experience different kill methods and scenarios without fear of any lockout (ETA) or permanent end (ET). The encouragement to buy the DLC version could be to probably shorten the free period, DLC owners are the only one who get the suits and items as currently, and then after the free period only DLC owners have the entitlement to keep playing the special assignment (As is currently with ETA); all without the weirdness of people having to wait 30 minutes (or 12 hours) for something they paid extra for
And just to see if I have any idea what I’m talking I’ll leave a little poll:
- Special Assignment
- Elusive Target + Arcade combo