Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Will Sell Loot Boxes as Microtransactions

ffronw

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Oct 24, 2013
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Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Will Sell Loot Boxes as Microtransactions

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1421/1421206.jpgWarner Bros. has announced that Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has an in-game store and loot boxes.

Many gamers have been looking excitedly forward to the release of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to 2014's Shadow of Mordor. While the game has looked promising so far, it;s likely that today's news may put a bit of a damper on some of that excitement, as Warner Bros. has announced that the single-player adventure game will feature an in-game store and loot boxes.

The announcement was made in a forum post [https://community.wbgames.com/t5/Official-Announcements/Introducing-the-Market/m-p/1611183] by Monolith community manager Jared, who explained that players will be able to buy Loot Chests, War Chests, XP Boosts and Bundles. These items can be purchased with a new in-game currency called "Mirian." You can acquire Mirian by defeating Treasure Orcs, destroying gear, or finding stashes throughout the game.

There is also a higher-level of all of those items that can be purchased using Gold. You can only acquire Gold by having it awarded in small amounts at specific in-game milestones, having it awarded for participating in community challenges, or by purchasing it with real money.

The post says that none of the content that is available for purchase is exclusive, and that "No content in the game is gated by Gold. All content can be acquired naturally through normal gameplay." The post later says, "Everything a player can buy with Gold can also be earned in the game over time for free, but Gold gives players the option to acquire these items faster. No Gold purchases are necessary to enjoy the complete game experience."

There's no word yet on what buying Gold will cost, or how much gold or Mirian it will take to purchase any of these in-game items, but Community Manager Jared did make a follow-up post to explain that you aren't required to even use the market if you don't want to.

"The game is balanced so you can play the game without using the Market, he wrote. "As you play the game you'll have excess Mirian, this gives you an option to use that excess Mirian if you like. Or you can let that Mirian build up as high as you want.

"Getting an orc from a war chest is the same as dominating one in game. So if you want a legendary orc in game, you can go find one or you can go through the market.

"It's there as an option for players. Feel free to play as you decide!"

As you can imagine, there have been a wide range of reactions, from questions about how the system will work and if you can share your orc soldiers with friends so they can buy an identical one, to outrage that a fully-single-player game has loot boxes. Implementation will likely have a lot to do with how this is received, so we'll have to wait for more details. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the forums!

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kenu12345

Seeker of Ancient Knowledge
Aug 3, 2011
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No, god no. This sort of shit needs to die out and it needs to die out now. Guess I ain't getting this
 

Battenberg

Browncoat
Aug 16, 2012
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Smooth move WB. Wonder how much this will cost them in lost game sales. Hopefully more than the micro transactions make for them because that's the only way these greedy publishers will stop this consumer unfriendly practice.
 

Saelune

Trump put kids in cages!
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Mar 8, 2011
8,411
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"Getting an orc from a war chest..."?

Is this going to be like those shitty hero card phone games? Got to shell out cash for that 5 Star Grumblebutt, cause those 2 and 3 star ones just arent cutting it..


Fuck you WB.
 

Zydrate

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Apr 1, 2009
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I mean, I'm still getting the game. Probably won't use this function though.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

Bound to escape
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Jul 15, 2013
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This is so much more immersive. Stealthing around a wartorn medieval fantasy wasteland occupied by angry orc armies with vicious creatures, looking for world building clues and help when "Beeep!!! Extra rare purple loot chest with randomised loot for sale! Opening up storefront on your dashboard now, get that credit-card ready, you feisty undead warrior of Tolkien land! Just think of how much more feisty you could be with our randomised items! We have sexy new bras to outfit Shelob with! We have experience points for you to cut corners with! We have the best trousers...Bessssssssst on sale now, 50% off...Replace those tattered garments and you might get a chance at some of that ARACHNID ACTION later tonight! [small]Bessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst![/small]"
 

Erttheking

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And fuck off. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck right the hell off. You just got downgraded to me waiting for two price drops and a Steam Summer sale before I buy this.
 

Vinsin

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Aug 12, 2011
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Was going to preorder this in the next couple weeks. Get my preorder in a month before release because the first one was actually pretty solid, a little disappointing (imo) but solid enough to be worthwhile especially if it the new one was updated in every facet to be more immersive / complex or at least more polished I'd have really looked forward to it.

With this news though, yeah screw them. I'm not buying the game until it's $1-10 and use cheat engine or something similar to hack in lootboxes in reasonable intervals if they're needed. Sorry, if your game doesn't require massive servers hosting huge multiplayer interactions or akin to Overwatch where post-purchase income is needed to keep things going (even then, it's debatable), you don't need lootboxes, screw you and your game.

Feel sorry for the developers though, you know they probably cared about the game a ton and know how this is going to look, but those awesome suits decided they needed it in the game so here it is! It works elsewhere so surely it'd work here right!
 

Darth Rosenberg

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Oct 25, 2011
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kenu12345 said:
No, god no. This sort of shit needs to die out and it needs to die out now. Guess I ain't getting this
erttheking said:
And fuck off. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck right the hell off. You just got downgraded to me waiting for two price drops and a Steam Summer sale before I buy this.
To be fair to the corporate overlords: if nothing is gated - and provided the progression system isn't weighted towards pissing people off enough to cave and toss money at the game - then isn't this just an option for those without the time to bother to put the hours in?

I know the incentive for these kinds of systems is, by and large, pure greed... but a side-effect of that avarice is greater player choice.

I've no interest in the game or the series, but if I did get it I just wouldn't waste money. No one's forcing anyone to hand over cash.
 

MCerberus

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Jun 26, 2013
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Last two things I've heard about this game:

Loot boxes
Big-titted spider lady will act like a mom to you

I'm disgusted at the kind of sexual fetishes... publishers have for this gatcha crap.
 

Tanis

The Last Albino
Aug 30, 2010
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Hey look which game I'm waiting to by till the GOTY Edition comes out?

THIS GAME!

Made the SAME decision with Injustice 2 pulling that shit.
 

Erttheking

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Darth Rosenberg said:
kenu12345 said:
No, god no. This sort of shit needs to die out and it needs to die out now. Guess I ain't getting this
erttheking said:
And fuck off. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck right the hell off. You just got downgraded to me waiting for two price drops and a Steam Summer sale before I buy this.
To be fair to the corporate overlords: if nothing is gated - and provided the progression system isn't weighted towards pissing people off enough to cave and toss money at the game - then isn't this just an option for those without the time to bother to put the hours in?

I know the incentive for these kinds of systems is, by and large, pure greed... but a side-effect of that avarice is greater player choice.

I've no interest in the game or the series, but if I did get it I just wouldn't waste money. No one's forcing anyone to hand over cash.
Except here's the thing. If the progrssion system isn't geared towards pissing people off. Thats a big effing if. Why wouldn't they? Publishers want people to spend money, they don't put microtransactions in full price games because they don't want people to spend money. They won't force me to spend my money. But they will try to pressure me. My resolve will be put to the test if I play the game. And that makes games less fun for me. Stagnated progress is an endurance test, it sure as hell is in overwatch. Even if you pass it, you had to go through it. And I don't want that in a full priced game.
 

Aerosteam

Get out while you still can
Sep 22, 2011
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Is there going to be anything stopping me from using Cheat Engine?
 

Darth Rosenberg

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erttheking said:
Publishers want people to spend money, they don't put microtransactions in full price games because they don't want people to spend money. They won't force me to spend my money. But they will try to pressure me. My resolve will be put to the test if I play the game. And that makes games less fun for me. Stagnated progress is an endurance test, it sure as hell is in overwatch. Even if you pass it, you had to go through it. And I don't want that in a full priced game.
That's fair enough for you, and arguably any paid alternative theoretically creates a perceived or subconscious pressure, i.e. knowing there's a shortcut could make some feel the rank progression's slower even if it really isn't by design.

Still, it sounds entirely optional, it's not gating content, and it certainly does provide people pressured for time an opportunity to enjoy more of their product as opposed to less. I can't say I'm for micros, but I can't really be against them if they're implemented like this, and have that objective bonus for those simply wanting to reduce the amount of time they need to invest.
 

Vinsin

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Aug 12, 2011
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Darth Rosenberg said:
There never is a valid reason for lootboxes in singleplayer based games.

Personally I don't care if it's design has you wanting to buy lootboxes or not. They don't belong either way. If someone doesn't have the 'time' to invest in getting better at the game naturally through progression then there should be easier difficulty settings! That or outright creative, interesting and immersive ways to progress and get further in the game without as big a time investment in place of lootboxes if for whatever reason the developers felt "Oh my god this might take to long for some people... let's add an easy mode for this bit if people need it." Not lootboxes.

Lootboxes are NEVER the answer in a single player / non dedicated server based game. Ever.. ever... ever! Especially not a single player game asking for $60.

You want lootboxes in Middle Earth? Charge $5 for the game at launch and rely on those lootboxes for the remaining $60 if your game happens to even be -worth- that. Do that and I really love your game I just might buy the lootboxes not because I need them, but because, eh, developers did a damn epic job and I want to support that.
 

Erttheking

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Darth Rosenberg said:
erttheking said:
Publishers want people to spend money, they don't put microtransactions in full price games because they don't want people to spend money. They won't force me to spend my money. But they will try to pressure me. My resolve will be put to the test if I play the game. And that makes games less fun for me. Stagnated progress is an endurance test, it sure as hell is in overwatch. Even if you pass it, you had to go through it. And I don't want that in a full priced game.
That's fair enough for you, and arguably any paid alternative theoretically creates a perceived or subconscious pressure, i.e. knowing there's a shortcut could make some feel the rank progression's slower even if it really isn't by design.

Still, it sounds entirely optional, it's not gating content, and it certainly does provide people pressured for time an opportunity to enjoy more of their product as opposed to less. I can't say I'm for micros, but I can't really be against them if they're implemented like this, and have that objective bonus for those simply wanting to reduce the amount of time they need to invest.
They aren't though. I can't opt out of the game having microstransactions. And if people are pressed for time they could just type commands into the terminal to get more stuff. But this will probably be like the microtransactions in two worlds two and disable that terminal. WB doesn't give a shit about player convienence, and this is a horrible way to get it. If it wanted to help players, it'd put in cheat codes or steam workshop. WB doesn't want to help gamers. It wants to bleed them dry. It's fine if people don't care about microtransactions but for the love of god, don't act like they're the publisher doing anyone a favor, because only they benefit from it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hF27cuomwp8
 
Feb 26, 2014
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Meh. I was going to wait for the reviews anyway. If it turns out that the game is horribly affected by the microtransactions, I'll just buy the game used as a nice fuck you to WB.
 

MHR

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Apr 3, 2010
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This was known for a while now.

I'm actually excited for this, and no, not because I'm actually going to buy into that crap. Paying for the stuff you work for in the game is the dumbest thing. Especially when the game is easy, a large point of the game is that you highjack followers in the wild for free, and the game is fucking singleplayer in the first place.

But because they offer all this stuff for free if you grind for it, it gives me something to grind for which means slightly more purpose to killing loads and loads and loads and loads of friggin' orcs.

I'm very skeptical of the intelligence and/or taste of anyone that actually pays real money for this crap though. You can run around and kill orcs (you know, the entire point of the game) and get the same exact stuff. You're supposed to shape and get invested in your minions, not buy them off-the-rack, and the exp/money boosters are so dumb I shouldn't have to say anything.

Also, there's a mormon ad banner at the bottom of the screen here? I'm in stitches.