Zombie James
Banned
Good piece by Scoops:
Lock me in a shower with Evilore if old.
In Shadow of War, loot boxes can either be found organically in the game or purchased through a new storefront called the Market. What's inside the boxes are not limited to cosmetics, however, and that's what riled up fans when the Market was announced in August. The boxes can contain gear (weapons and armor), XP boosts, and orc followers, who can become part of your personal army. The developers claimed the loot boxes were completely optional, and the game had been tuned so you can easily play without them.
Why, then, are they there?
Shadow of War is not a free-to-play game, it's $60. On the other hand, you don't have to buy the loot boxes, so what's the harm? Turns out, it's more complicated than that. GameSpot reviewer Justin Haywald played through the game without needing to pay for a single loot box, calling the Market "less predatory and more like a cluelessly unnecessary addition." (Also, weirdly, you can only get Epic-graded gear for free, while Legendary-graded gear is pay-only. What?)
Monolith hid the game's "true ending" behind completing the Shadow Wars mode. Kollar didn't feel any need to purchase a loot box in the campaign, but Shadow Wars was different. Here's how Kollar explains the dilemma for players, given that Shadow Wars requires you to acquire more and more powerful orcs, in order to defend the strongholds you're overseeing:
"When you run out of in-game money, you have two choices: Make a huge time investment by hunting down orcs in your game world and earning chests via vendetta missions, or spend some real money to get the more powerful orcs you need now. Does the game ever force you to spend money? No. I'm sure you can get to the end of Shadow Wars without spending a dime, as long as you're patient and persistent. But locking progress through this mode (and, again, toward the game's true ending) behind either spending more money or doing tons of tedious busywork feels at least greedy if not predatory."
Games are a business, and I'm guessing few players take issue with publishers trying to make money. The popularity of loot boxes in other games (look at Overwatch or DOTA 2) means there are legitimate reasons to think they have applications elsewhere. But in the same way crappy Season Passes prompted many to believe (often erroneously) developers were cynically holding content until after release, Forza Motorsport 7 and Shadow of War's financial experimentations are poisoning future attempts at the same idea, good or bad.
Lock me in a shower with Evilore if old.