Look I'm sure some of you are probably tired of the debate about these fucking things, but I feel like I really want to get some stuff off my chest about it.
Gamestop recently argued with people on their facebook page and insisted that the Lootboxes are completely optional. They said that there are plenty of lootboxes you can directly earn for free in game, except they also mentioned that there are some orcs that can ONLY be obtained from PAID lootboxes. They justified it as okay because the paid orcs are not necessarily better than free orcs (which is probably bullshit)
Any Orcs exclusive to paid lootboxes is simply content gating. Regardless of the power these orcs might have, they have effective locked content not only behind an additional pay wall, but also a RANDOM one. I get DLC orcs, or costumes, and extra content behind DLC purchases because the player can directly buy EXACTLY what they want.
The problem with locking exclusive orcs behind the lootbox paywall, is that if there is a badass orc that a player really wants for whatever reason, that player can't just buy the orc like they could with a flat DLC purchase. The only thing they can do is gamble on the orc. Buying lootboxes and hopping they get what they want. It's the same system that Gacha mobile games have used for years. Except gacha mobile games are free to play and don't require 60-100 dollars of intro purchasing.
Now if any and all orcs were capable of being unlocking through grinding lootboxes, then that would be at least passable. Because in theory it at least allows ALL players to have an equal chance to get any orc. But by locking some of the orcs behind only real money boxes, you gate your community and feed upon "whales" to make even more money.
And frankly this whole "Games cost more and more to make and thus need Microtransactions to support development costs" is bullshit and you at Gamestop KNOW this. There are tons of very high end AAA games that don't use MT's to "support" dev costs. The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV, Nioh, Dark Souls, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario + Rabids, all of these are games that had huge budgets and easily made their money back without having to resort to microtransactions to "doubledip" into player's wallets.
Microtransactions in full priced titles are simply a greedy business model. PERIOD.
Now I have absolutely no problem with Lootboxes as a concept. In fact, in theory I really like the idea. Hell Diablo 3 is basically a lootbox murder simulator in which every enemy can rain a prize upon you. It's when content is locked behind those boxes that I have the problem. Because it is content that you can potentially NEVER see even if you pay for it. Which I think is bullshit.
If Shadow of War or Battlefront want to have content in lootboxes, then there needs to be some other way to get that same content.
I think Marvel Heroes did something like this that was a good example of how to do it. You can buy lootboxes in Marvel Heroes and they are pretty damn cheap (and can be earned in game for free). In these boxes you have the chance of getting Heroes, and Hero skins, in addition to in-game boosts. However you can also directly buy the characters and skins you want to play. This can even be a way to help boost sales. Personally I got all jizz happy when I opened one of the free lootboxes in game and unlocked Rogue my favorite X-men character ever of all time ever. Immediately I went into the store and bought her skins for like 10 bucks or something. The character would have cost me 20 bucks alone so the fact that I won a character I really liked for free, gave me motivation to support the game to get the cosmetic skins I wanted.
But even if I didn't get the character i wanted in a reasonable number of lootboxes, I still had the option to skip the gambling entirely and buy the character I wanted outright. Not to mention Marvel Heroes is free to play so there isn't a 60+ dollar entry fee.
I think the Shadow of War approach is just wrong. Even though it seems to be more and more clear that you can beat the game without buying anything if you can put up with a little bit of a grind (which I don't really mind), I still don't like that a number of possible cool orcs are never within your grasp if you don't pay for lootboxes, but on top of that, even IF you DO pay for lootboxes you still are unlikely to see these orcs.
Another question is this. What happens to all the shit I bought from lootboxes, if I want to do a second playthrough? Am I fucked? Does that content carry over onto the game's "account" regardless of save file? I'm willing to bet that it is a one-and-done situation where if you start a new game, your new save with not have access to any of the cool orcs or whatever else you got from lootboxes you BOUGHT in the first save. Which to me suggests that the Lootbox economy activity limits replay ability of the game as it discourages anyone from wiping out progress they paid for.
Gamestop recently argued with people on their facebook page and insisted that the Lootboxes are completely optional. They said that there are plenty of lootboxes you can directly earn for free in game, except they also mentioned that there are some orcs that can ONLY be obtained from PAID lootboxes. They justified it as okay because the paid orcs are not necessarily better than free orcs (which is probably bullshit)
Any Orcs exclusive to paid lootboxes is simply content gating. Regardless of the power these orcs might have, they have effective locked content not only behind an additional pay wall, but also a RANDOM one. I get DLC orcs, or costumes, and extra content behind DLC purchases because the player can directly buy EXACTLY what they want.
The problem with locking exclusive orcs behind the lootbox paywall, is that if there is a badass orc that a player really wants for whatever reason, that player can't just buy the orc like they could with a flat DLC purchase. The only thing they can do is gamble on the orc. Buying lootboxes and hopping they get what they want. It's the same system that Gacha mobile games have used for years. Except gacha mobile games are free to play and don't require 60-100 dollars of intro purchasing.
Now if any and all orcs were capable of being unlocking through grinding lootboxes, then that would be at least passable. Because in theory it at least allows ALL players to have an equal chance to get any orc. But by locking some of the orcs behind only real money boxes, you gate your community and feed upon "whales" to make even more money.
And frankly this whole "Games cost more and more to make and thus need Microtransactions to support development costs" is bullshit and you at Gamestop KNOW this. There are tons of very high end AAA games that don't use MT's to "support" dev costs. The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV, Nioh, Dark Souls, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario + Rabids, all of these are games that had huge budgets and easily made their money back without having to resort to microtransactions to "doubledip" into player's wallets.
Microtransactions in full priced titles are simply a greedy business model. PERIOD.
Now I have absolutely no problem with Lootboxes as a concept. In fact, in theory I really like the idea. Hell Diablo 3 is basically a lootbox murder simulator in which every enemy can rain a prize upon you. It's when content is locked behind those boxes that I have the problem. Because it is content that you can potentially NEVER see even if you pay for it. Which I think is bullshit.
If Shadow of War or Battlefront want to have content in lootboxes, then there needs to be some other way to get that same content.
I think Marvel Heroes did something like this that was a good example of how to do it. You can buy lootboxes in Marvel Heroes and they are pretty damn cheap (and can be earned in game for free). In these boxes you have the chance of getting Heroes, and Hero skins, in addition to in-game boosts. However you can also directly buy the characters and skins you want to play. This can even be a way to help boost sales. Personally I got all jizz happy when I opened one of the free lootboxes in game and unlocked Rogue my favorite X-men character ever of all time ever. Immediately I went into the store and bought her skins for like 10 bucks or something. The character would have cost me 20 bucks alone so the fact that I won a character I really liked for free, gave me motivation to support the game to get the cosmetic skins I wanted.
But even if I didn't get the character i wanted in a reasonable number of lootboxes, I still had the option to skip the gambling entirely and buy the character I wanted outright. Not to mention Marvel Heroes is free to play so there isn't a 60+ dollar entry fee.
I think the Shadow of War approach is just wrong. Even though it seems to be more and more clear that you can beat the game without buying anything if you can put up with a little bit of a grind (which I don't really mind), I still don't like that a number of possible cool orcs are never within your grasp if you don't pay for lootboxes, but on top of that, even IF you DO pay for lootboxes you still are unlikely to see these orcs.
Another question is this. What happens to all the shit I bought from lootboxes, if I want to do a second playthrough? Am I fucked? Does that content carry over onto the game's "account" regardless of save file? I'm willing to bet that it is a one-and-done situation where if you start a new game, your new save with not have access to any of the cool orcs or whatever else you got from lootboxes you BOUGHT in the first save. Which to me suggests that the Lootbox economy activity limits replay ability of the game as it discourages anyone from wiping out progress they paid for.
