Middle Earth: Shadow of War
- Thread starter Interslicery
- Start date
Super Mario
IT'S A ME!
- AKA
- Jesse McCree. I feel like a New Man
Bruh why didnt shelob seduce Sam if she can assume a human guise? Samwise would have easily fell if she did what she was doing in this new game.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Their tribute to Michael Forgey – their executive producer who passed away from cancer is pretty damn awesome & touching, and their trailer even features music that he wrote in the album he finished before he passed away, and a big portion of the DLC goes directly to support his family.* A bunch of the folks on the stream came in and preordered the DLC on PC/Xbox, and the DLC will be available on PS4 at launch.
* It costs $1.50 to have the DLC available in the store, and it's $5.00, so all of the money that's actually made from the DLC is going directly to his family.
Here's the whole stream:
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* It costs $1.50 to have the DLC available in the store, and it's $5.00, so all of the money that's actually made from the DLC is going directly to his family.
Here's the whole stream:
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X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Video Description said:
Basically a bunch of cynical places looking for more publicity did a bunch of articles piggybacking off of the "greedy WB microtransactions" angle, and prevented them from taking all of the profits from the DLC and donating them to his family.
Pretty fucking disappointed in gaming sites and whatnot for fucking this up, especially like Kotaku where their article about what MIGHT be shady was some 6 paragraphs of fear mongering, and their follow-up is a two sentence footnote that doesn't even include the reasons why, or the donation link to the family. So essentially, Kotaku and other places were profiting from ad revenue in the same way they were accusing WB of doing from this DLC, but at least WB was always gonna donate their profits to his family. Don't see the gaming sites stepping up to do that with all the traffic and hits they got from their outrage articles...
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Interslicery
.....
It showed up at my door on Friday (yay Amazon), and I played about 4 hours before having to leave the Provence for thanksgiving.
It's pretty good. It takes a bit to unlock branding (I haven't got it yet, mainly doing story missions with a few branching off for collectables).
If you liked her first, this is a more fleshed out version of that so far. One complaint tho, is the combat feels more... I dunno, weak? Like, you don't have the same feel when hitting someone as you did before. I also think the textures could have had another run over, but you can see that in the trailers.
It's pretty good. It takes a bit to unlock branding (I haven't got it yet, mainly doing story missions with a few branching off for collectables).
If you liked her first, this is a more fleshed out version of that so far. One complaint tho, is the combat feels more... I dunno, weak? Like, you don't have the same feel when hitting someone as you did before. I also think the textures could have had another run over, but you can see that in the trailers.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Ah, ok. Good ta know. I'll definitely grind through to get Branding again. I also think that the Combat might feel weaker initially because of the SHITTON of crazy customization options you get for it eventually, but that's a much-appreciated heads up.
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X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
A really good and long post about all of the Loot Box In-Game Currency mechanics: https://kotaku.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-shadow-of-wars-controversia-1819293793
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Kermitu Kleric Katie
KULT OF KERMITU
A really good and long post about all of the Loot Box In-Game Currency mechanics: https://kotaku.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-shadow-of-wars-controversia-1819293793
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I wish people would stop trying to justify or defend microtransactions in paid games. It's fucking disgusting and needs to stop. Loot boxes are perhaps the worst of it, by adding preying on those with gambling addictions into the mix. Shadow of War in general seems to be filled with disgusting displays of corporate greed IMO.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
See, this is the whole reason I posted the article...
While most games' loot boxes (see Overwatch) require a lot of grinding to get and have VERY random loot (ranging from anything standard to Legendary), the ones in Shadow of War are only really random in the properties that the Orcs come with – which is already also true of any Orc you encounter out in the world.
• Every Silver one gives you an Epic Orc and Consumable.
• Every Gold one gives you one Legendary & two Epic Orcs.
• Every Mythril one gives you four Legendary Orcs & one Legendary training order.
If this was like the normal Loot Box model, you'd have to buy sets of Loot Boxes, and they'd all come with 4-5 totally random things in them, and that plays on gambling addictions and stuff – but this really isn't like that at all in its implementation.
It's closer to something where there's some amount of grinding and getting Orcs out in the world that can be offset by the in-game currency to make it a bit less of a grind. Additionally, if you REALLY don't want to grind ANY of that, you can buy in-game currency to unlock them and melt them into gear and things to marginally make your playthrough easier (although the Easy, Normal, Hard difficulty settings already do that). All of which is much closer to doing something like paying to unlock the Crypt in Mortal Kombat X. It's basically just fast tracking through grind, but something that's not actively incentivized in the game unless you're REALLY short on time and have money to exchange for that (which I definitely did in MKX, because I cba to spend hours playing a game that I basically just have to mess around with with a couple friends).
Plus, (as the article stated) there's PLENTY of in-game currency you get by just going through the main game to have plenty to easily obtain lots of these without ever spending real money. They're really just there to help you quickly bolster up fortresses for the later game when you've got some fortresses with low-level orcs. It's easier to get specific things you want by playing the game and going after the types of Orcs you want and helping bolster them through the Nemesis System than hoping loot boxes have them. Insofar as I can tell, the Market is basically high-level canon fodder to backfill.
I honestly get why people hate in-game monetization, but there's a reason you have to look at how it's being implemented when you want to criticize it – which is why I included that article in the first place.
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Kermitu Kleric Katie
KULT OF KERMITU
I'm sorry, but there is no excuse for microtransactions in games you pay for, particularly ones made by major developers who don't need the extra cash microtransactions bring them. Our Lord and Savior Jim Fucking Sterling, Son has plenty of excellent videos covering this topic. Here's a couple recent and relevant ones. The first is about microtransactions in general and how to do a free to play economy right, as well as dabbling a bit in why these kinds of economies don't belong in paid games in general, while the second is more Shadow of War specific.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCr0iZjXIRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igjXK1IAM9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCr0iZjXIRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igjXK1IAM9I
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Katie, before continuing and being a broken record – did you read the Kotaku article I posted? Because with everything you keep saying, it seems like you haven't even been willing to look at the argument from the other side and are determined that this must be the most evil thing that's ever happened to games in the history of time, and this is the most egregious example ever.
His Shadow of War Eurogamer-specific video was released at the end of September before the game was in anyone's hands, and pretty much everything that your Lord and Perpetually Pessimistically Obnoxious as Fuck Savour Jim Sterling attempts to talk about in his video was covered and refuted in that Kotaku article I linked initially that actually looks at how they WERE IMPLEMENTED WHEN PLAYING THE GAME.
As a case-in-point, to how that video's content was already addressed, let me just break down what he goes over:
• 3 mins in – I want to know what impact lootboxes have ON THE GAME since the game was balanced on its own (this is covered in the article I posted).
• 6 minutes in – Comparisons to Destiny & Overwatch (which I already explained why the design here is fundamentally different).
• 7 minutes in – Wants to know if there is a player choice and debates that that thing actually exists for anyone. (Something I already addressed with my comparison to MKX where, yes it IS absolutely a choice that has valid use cases, that I have been grateful for in other games in the past. It's not a devaluing gameplay, and I also already made comments on this compared to difficulty settings as well).
• 10 minutes in – Gambling comparisons. (Ones that I already addressed, and more speculation about how the game is presented that is – ONCE AGAIN – already covered in the original article that I linked).
• 11 mins – more going on about implementation, and talking about microtransactions as being stuff that used to be included in the games without them (ALL OF THE STUFF IN SHADOW OF WAR IS INCLUDED WITHOUT THEM... as covered in that article).
• 14 mins – basically just bitching and making hyperbolic claims that this is worse than anything before, despite the fact that absolutely none of the evidence of how this is ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE GAME BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE PLAYED IT support that shite whatsoever, and ending with the classic threat to jack off his own ego. Maybe just go read the article.
As it's probably clear, I think that Jim Sterling is generally an intolerable cunt, but I still went through that video.
Please at least do me the courtesy of actually reading about what the REALITY of the situation from someone who played the game is rather than linking back to supporting evidence by pessimists bitching about how it MIGHT be (especially because Kotaku was also HEAVILY critical of the microtransactions over and over in multiple articles prior to this).
I'm not the white knight of micro transactions. I generally find them obnoxious. Hell, I even hate the fact that basically ALL loot systems, mechanics, and mobile game design is based off of the psychology that leads to gambling addiction, and that's WHY it's become such a successful model.
What I am interested in is looking at this and judging it by what it's actually done in the game that I own and play and how it's impacted my and others playing experience, and you can't do that with a viewpoint of, "I wish people would stop trying to justify or defend microtransactions in paid games. It's fucking disgusting and needs to stop."
I wish people would understand that not all microtransactions are built off of gambling mechanics, and that occasionally presenting an option for paying to jump through some grindy content that's just as naturally obtainable in-game isn't literally satan fisting the asshole of the gaming population.
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His Shadow of War Eurogamer-specific video was released at the end of September before the game was in anyone's hands, and pretty much everything that your Lord and Perpetually Pessimistically Obnoxious as Fuck Savour Jim Sterling attempts to talk about in his video was covered and refuted in that Kotaku article I linked initially that actually looks at how they WERE IMPLEMENTED WHEN PLAYING THE GAME.
As a case-in-point, to how that video's content was already addressed, let me just break down what he goes over:
• 3 mins in – I want to know what impact lootboxes have ON THE GAME since the game was balanced on its own (this is covered in the article I posted).
• 6 minutes in – Comparisons to Destiny & Overwatch (which I already explained why the design here is fundamentally different).
• 7 minutes in – Wants to know if there is a player choice and debates that that thing actually exists for anyone. (Something I already addressed with my comparison to MKX where, yes it IS absolutely a choice that has valid use cases, that I have been grateful for in other games in the past. It's not a devaluing gameplay, and I also already made comments on this compared to difficulty settings as well).
• 10 minutes in – Gambling comparisons. (Ones that I already addressed, and more speculation about how the game is presented that is – ONCE AGAIN – already covered in the original article that I linked).
• 11 mins – more going on about implementation, and talking about microtransactions as being stuff that used to be included in the games without them (ALL OF THE STUFF IN SHADOW OF WAR IS INCLUDED WITHOUT THEM... as covered in that article).
• 14 mins – basically just bitching and making hyperbolic claims that this is worse than anything before, despite the fact that absolutely none of the evidence of how this is ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED IN THE GAME BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE PLAYED IT support that shite whatsoever, and ending with the classic threat to jack off his own ego. Maybe just go read the article.
As it's probably clear, I think that Jim Sterling is generally an intolerable cunt, but I still went through that video.
Please at least do me the courtesy of actually reading about what the REALITY of the situation from someone who played the game is rather than linking back to supporting evidence by pessimists bitching about how it MIGHT be (especially because Kotaku was also HEAVILY critical of the microtransactions over and over in multiple articles prior to this).
I'm not the white knight of micro transactions. I generally find them obnoxious. Hell, I even hate the fact that basically ALL loot systems, mechanics, and mobile game design is based off of the psychology that leads to gambling addiction, and that's WHY it's become such a successful model.
What I am interested in is looking at this and judging it by what it's actually done in the game that I own and play and how it's impacted my and others playing experience, and you can't do that with a viewpoint of, "I wish people would stop trying to justify or defend microtransactions in paid games. It's fucking disgusting and needs to stop."
I wish people would understand that not all microtransactions are built off of gambling mechanics, and that occasionally presenting an option for paying to jump through some grindy content that's just as naturally obtainable in-game isn't literally satan fisting the asshole of the gaming population.
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Joe
I KEEP MY IDEALS
- AKA
- Joe, Arcana
My problem here is that the grindy content is being sold to you by the same group offering you paid options to skip through it. Gambling element aside (I generally don't have an issue with that part), this is what's shitty to me. Full-priced games having paid options to make it easier/faster/cut out gameplay is awful.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
I kind of understand it, but my two experiences with it are Mortal Kombat X & Shadow of War (and Overwatch, but that's different because of reasons).
In MKX, I'm generally shit at 2D fighting games, but I love them. Don't ask me why. I don't really understand it. (It's anothe reason why I loved the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games, because I didn't feel totally shit at them as a fighting game). Despite that, the Krypt as a thing to unlock art, skins, etc. etc. is a long-standing classic Mortal Kombat thing. It existed before Micro transactions. There was a paid DLC to just unlock it all, and comparing what I make an hour to the time it'd take me to bumble my way through to get everything, it was an easy thing for me, because I just wanted to look at all the art and shit, and I appreciate that the game is awesome, even if it's not something I'm great at.
For Shadow of War, the system is clearly an extension of Mirian and the existing way that you get Orcs, but it's also designed to help augment the fact that there're >9000 more orcs to manage with the fortresses and all the other things, and since Orcs always broke down into runes (which is now gear because of the combat changes), it's also just taking something familiar (loot boxes), and making it fit into how the Shadow of War stuff works to help augment it as an in-game shortcut, that also has an option to buy it.
I kicked absolute ass at Shadow of War, so it's never something that's even crossed my mind as something to give myself a boost at playing the game. I will probably use the Market with the in-game currency, because that's how it's designed, and there's no reason not to just see if I happen to randomly get a rad Orc or something from it.
My friend is just starting out in Shadow of Mordor, and is having an incredibly hard time with it (my girlfriend really struggled with the combat mechanics as well). Having the in-game market is gonna be helpful (in addition to an easier difficulty) to help the two of them also enjoy Shadow of War. Even for them, I doubt they'd use the IRL currency versions of it, but they could if they wanted, and – like me with MKX, it might feel like a better way to get in and start getting the most out of the things they want to do in the game.
With both of those things, there's never any feeling that you HAVE to do that. I could've spent a bunch of hours getting everything in the Krypt in MKX, but since I had the option not to, I took it and actually played MORE than I would've if I'd sorta just been stuck where I was at, but I also don't want the game changed, because for the people who're into those games, that's just a part of the experience and there's nothing inherently wrong with it (and I think that most of those people actually dislike that the paid unlock exists, because it's feeling like you earned something with money, not effort).
That stuff used to be done with cheat codes.
Remember those days?
The issue is that with something that simple to use, it's hard not to just turn on all the cheat codes just because, and stomp your way through the game. I was guilty of doing that a lot with stuff that I couldn't be bothered with – especially in older RTS games, and I never really appreciated the game mechanics, because I never had to.
This is where I get into what I don't want paid stuff in games to be.
• Do I want the gambling loot box thing (see Overwatch)? No. I generally find annoying and wish that it would go away in favour of a more user-friendly system that's less based off of addictive things. (Will that happen? Nah, it's WAY too fucking successful for that, but I wish it would nonetheless).
• Do I ever want games to include things that are annoying to deal with that you can pay your way past that incentivizes it? No. That's what a shitton of F2P mobile games do – that end up being crazy expensive for most people, which is why mobile games make so much money. I find it hella annoying, again because it focuses on exploiting things with addictive personalities.
• Do I appreciate things that'll let you unlock some content you'd get anyway? Yeah. I honestly do. If they're less accessible than cheat codes, people won't just skip through the game and fuck around, because it's designed to be an experience. If you can streamline that experience a bit for some people with something the game already gives you if you play it normally? That's just about the only thing that I'm cool with (let alone would and have used in a limited scope).
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Joe
I KEEP MY IDEALS
- AKA
- Joe, Arcana
To each their own honestly. I understand there are instances where people will be glad of such a feature and use it.
For me though it represents something terrible in gaming. A monetary replacement for things like cheat codes in games we're already paying £49.99 for. My issue isn't with lootboxes but rather with paid features that help you complete games you've paid for. Purely cosmetic stuff is -mostly- fine.
I loved Shadow of Mordor but I'm voting with my wallet on this one.
For me though it represents something terrible in gaming. A monetary replacement for things like cheat codes in games we're already paying £49.99 for. My issue isn't with lootboxes but rather with paid features that help you complete games you've paid for. Purely cosmetic stuff is -mostly- fine.
I loved Shadow of Mordor but I'm voting with my wallet on this one.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
Can I get away with not reading the Kotaku article if I say I also haven't watched the Jim Sterling videos? lol
So the argument here for why it's not bad is that of "I paid 60$ so I can gain the ability to pay more money to not play the game" ? Why not remove the "grind" instead and place them as rewards behind content that isn't just the samey openworld slog that all openworld games are these days instead?
The problem with systems like this is that it walks down a very two way street. I can't prove they didn't make the grind tedious to make you want to buy loot boxes, the same you can't prove that the grind isn't tedious enough to justify the purchase.
Do I subscribe to the reddit and /r/games cult of all loot boxes are bad mania? Heck no I got like -300 downvotes racked up so far defending Overwatch from those idiots. I don't particularly care about the ethics of whether or not it's gambling and how it may be perfectly designed to fuck with people who are prone to addictive personality traits and gambling.
I'm more worried about the ethics about the pieces of paper in my wallet.
I will now invoke the slippery slope argument, which in itself is a slippery slope and ultimately useless and redundant.
It's a slippery slope yo.
Today Horse Armor is a meme. 10 year ago? It was bull shit. Now we get to deal with ON DISC DLC, sectioned off piece meal content for a quick buck. Season passes in single player games, games that release with less than 1gb of content on disc and a 6gb update on day 1 (THPS5) and so on.
The game industry is the classic "give them an inch".
We started off with hats in TF2. "Well atleast it's just cosmetics in a free game!?"
Then we got crates and keys in CS:GO "Well it is a really cheap game and you can sell your skins!"
Loot boxes in Overwatch "Well yes it's a 40-60$ game but all the expansion content is free!"
Now we got loot boxes in a 60$ single player game.
This exists. They are forever hunting whales and looking to push that line an inch forward in every single game and not just in games people forget about. The big games that were gonna sell millions anyway like Battlefront 2 and LotR.
I already generally pay well over 60$ on games I want to completely enjoy (DLC etc.) I think it's pretty ridiculous to gate content behind "Grinds" or behind a microtransaction.
And before it comes up , no , "Games are still 60$ but their cost has gone up" is not a valid argument.
So the argument here for why it's not bad is that of "I paid 60$ so I can gain the ability to pay more money to not play the game" ? Why not remove the "grind" instead and place them as rewards behind content that isn't just the samey openworld slog that all openworld games are these days instead?
The problem with systems like this is that it walks down a very two way street. I can't prove they didn't make the grind tedious to make you want to buy loot boxes, the same you can't prove that the grind isn't tedious enough to justify the purchase.
Do I subscribe to the reddit and /r/games cult of all loot boxes are bad mania? Heck no I got like -300 downvotes racked up so far defending Overwatch from those idiots. I don't particularly care about the ethics of whether or not it's gambling and how it may be perfectly designed to fuck with people who are prone to addictive personality traits and gambling.
I'm more worried about the ethics about the pieces of paper in my wallet.
I will now invoke the slippery slope argument, which in itself is a slippery slope and ultimately useless and redundant.
It's a slippery slope yo.
Today Horse Armor is a meme. 10 year ago? It was bull shit. Now we get to deal with ON DISC DLC, sectioned off piece meal content for a quick buck. Season passes in single player games, games that release with less than 1gb of content on disc and a 6gb update on day 1 (THPS5) and so on.
The game industry is the classic "give them an inch".
We started off with hats in TF2. "Well atleast it's just cosmetics in a free game!?"
Then we got crates and keys in CS:GO "Well it is a really cheap game and you can sell your skins!"
Loot boxes in Overwatch "Well yes it's a 40-60$ game but all the expansion content is free!"
Now we got loot boxes in a 60$ single player game.
This exists. They are forever hunting whales and looking to push that line an inch forward in every single game and not just in games people forget about. The big games that were gonna sell millions anyway like Battlefront 2 and LotR.
I already generally pay well over 60$ on games I want to completely enjoy (DLC etc.) I think it's pretty ridiculous to gate content behind "Grinds" or behind a microtransaction.
And before it comes up , no , "Games are still 60$ but their cost has gone up" is not a valid argument.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
I was going to edit this into my last post but seeing as there is a new post now and it's on the last page I figure i'll put it here.
As I said X I haven't seen the videos or the article, but I have read your posts. I generally agree with a lot of your stances on stuff so I will take your word for it that the situation isn't as bad as many outlets and Social Media will have us believe.
How ever I want to present a question still.
Isn't it fair to say there is a definite sense of escalation regarding these tactics in the games industry today? At what point do we, should we, stop defending things like this in games and start saying "Hey I'm not comfortable with this"?
I haven't played this game. I also haven't played Battlefront 2 but Reddit right now would have me believe Battlefront 2 is taking it even further. If that's true how ridiculous is the next game on the horizon regarding finding ways to monetize games even further?
As I said X I haven't seen the videos or the article, but I have read your posts. I generally agree with a lot of your stances on stuff so I will take your word for it that the situation isn't as bad as many outlets and Social Media will have us believe.
How ever I want to present a question still.
Isn't it fair to say there is a definite sense of escalation regarding these tactics in the games industry today? At what point do we, should we, stop defending things like this in games and start saying "Hey I'm not comfortable with this"?
I haven't played this game. I also haven't played Battlefront 2 but Reddit right now would have me believe Battlefront 2 is taking it even further. If that's true how ridiculous is the next game on the horizon regarding finding ways to monetize games even further?
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
I think that this is one where that article REALLY needs to be read.
The "grind" is just a part of the game in exactly the same way it was there in Shadow of Mordor. There's just more of it because you're commanding massive armies now. The proof is in the pudding here, which is why I'd really recommend reading that article, because it's VERY MUCH DEMONSTRATIVE that the game is absolutely not balanced to make more grind (which was a big fear people had, and they'd specifically stated that they balanced the game without that system in multiple interviews).
Here're the very last two sentences of the article:
Kotaku said:
The whole article REALLY drives in everything that the devs said, which is that this is 100% an optional thing for people to use if you really want to, but nothing in the game incentivizes you to do so. It's mildly helpful even when using the mountains of in-game currency you get.
Especially if you feel like this is something you should vote with your wallet over – I'd honestly read this article before making that consideration, because the whole thing is just blown fucking MASSIVELY out of proportion for what it is.
Not sure why you feel that way (especially since they're working directly with us on the FFVII translation series), but I suppose that doesn't matter.
I generally don't like them or io9 as much as I used to, even though they're the most easy news aggregates for shit that I want to see, I generally think that they've become more pessimistic over the last few years. That being said, it doesn't make the factual content from the article any less valid for this discussion, so
Ever since reviews of Shadow of War hit, talk of loot boxes and microtransactions have been heavy with panic and rife with misinformation. Are the best orcs behind a paywall? Is the design of the game predatory enough that it’s going to make people feel pressured to drop extra cash on a $60 game? And what’s this about the “real ending” being a microtransactions bonanza?
Part of the confusion is that Shadow of War is a complicated game—60 hours later, I’m still learning new things in it—and its loot boxes are similarly convoluted. There are a few types of main loot chests, some of which have subcategories, and three types of currencies. I’ve tried or earned most of these currencies and chests while playing the game for 60 hours and counting. I have a good sense of how loot boxes fit into the picture. It’s not necessarily as bad as some may fear, but even 60 hours with the game isn’t enough for me to bottom line that for sure.
Before we dive in, it’s important to know some big-picture stuff about how Shadow of War works. The game revolves around randomized orcs that you enslave to build multiple armies. You use these orcs as your bodyguard or to defend regions of the map. You need decent orcs to make progress in the game and, if you’re not careful, your orcs can permanently die. Through the course of the game, you will kill, recruit, and replace dozens upon dozens of orcs. All of these orcs can come in a few flavors. “Epic” orcs are great to get, and “Legendary” orcs are even better. Those rarity classifications affect the number and types of advanced skills an orc can have, such as greatly increased health counts, or high poison proficiency. All types of orcs can be found in the wild, and in my particular game, I’ve had no shortage of Legendary orcs to recruit and command.
Additionally, Talion, the main character, can also equip a bevy of gear, such as swords and bows. This equipment is also constantly cycled as you find better stuff and it too can be Epic or even Legendary. While both orcs and gear can be earned by playing the game, you can also save some time and buy them from loot chests instead.
There are four types of main loot chests, some of which have subcategories, and three types of currencies. Let’s start with the currencies.
Mirian is an abundant currency that you mainly earn by playing the game. You can equip gem runes that increase Mirian drops, equip gear that increases the likelihood of Mirian drops, destroy gear for Mirian, and hunt down Treasure Orcs for Mirian. Mirian can also be used for in-game perks, such as castle upgrades.
Gold coins can be obtained a number of ways, including with real-world money. We don’t know how much they’ll cost just yet, as Shadow of War’s online store only lists the season pass right now.
I’ve never once felt like any part of Shadow of War would be easier by buying orcs or better gear.
During the pre-release period while I’ve been playing the game, the main method of earning coins has been from in-game daily challenges. Every day, Shadow of War tasks you with doing four different things, each with its own reward. Daily challenges run the gamut from “kill a certain number of enemies” to “go to this map and do this very specific thing.” Usually, doing all of the daily quests takes around 15-30 minutes. In my time with the game, the rewards for the daily quests have varied. Early on, I only got one daily 50 gold coin quest and multiple Mirian quests. Lately, that’s moved up to two 50 gold coin quests, and more recently, three daily 50 gold coin quests. It’s unclear if the number of gold coin quests you get on a daily basis are randomized, or if Monolith, the developers, have upped the number of gold coin quests you get behind the scenes. We reached out to the Shadow of War’s creators about this but haven’t heard back yet.
Then there are “Spoils of War,” which are points you earn by completing online activities. While the game doesn’t consider this a currency, playing the multiplayer earns you points which in turn unlock chests, so functionally speaking, they fulfills the same purpose.
So, what do you buy with all this digital money? In my experience, War Chests are probably what you’ll deal with most of all, because they contain orcs. There are three main types of War Chests which can be bought with different currencies.
Silver chests, which cost 1.5k Mirian, drop two orcs (at least one epic) and one consumable (things like timed boosts). Silver War Chests are the easiest type of chest to buy, because you are constantly swimming in Mirian. Nearly every battle grants you Mirian, and you’re going to sell the vast majority of your gear for Mirian. I have more Mirian than I know what to do with right now. I could buy dozens of orcs if I wanted to, but I’ve had a good experience using the orcs I’ve naturally encountered throughout the game.
Gold chests cost 200 gold coins, and for that price, you’ll get three orcs (one legendary and two epic), along with two consumables. Mithril chests, which cost 600 gold coins, give you four legendary orcs and one legendary training order (these allow you to do things like move units across maps). I’ve bought a few gold chests out of curiosity, not necessity. To the game’s credit, I could theoretically earn a gold chest almost daily, free of charge, but formidable orcs are abundant enough that I often forgot about challenges in the first place.
Then there are literal Loot Chests, which dole out gear. Silver loot chests give you two gear pieces, one of which will be rare, for 750 Mirian. I have bought exactly one of these, just for the purposes of this article, but otherwise, the game constantly gifts you new gear just by killing orcs. And boy, will you slaughter a ton of orcs in this game. You can also threaten orcs for higher-quality gear. Heck, you can let orcs kill you so that they gain levels and thus drop better gear. There’s not much incentive to buy Loot Chests.
Gold Loot chests, meanwhile, give you three gear pieces (one legendary and two epic) for 150 gold coins. Mythril loot chests grant you four legendary gear pieces, and a single two-hour XP boost for 400 coins. I am never left wanting better gear in my game, though: if anything, I am constantly destroying legendary and epic gear, either because it has lower stats, or because the skill bonuses they grant don’t fit my playstyle. I never saw a reason to spend money on gear that might not even be what I’m looking for.
Beyond that, there are special bundles that package a handful of the aforementioned chests, and themed chests that cost around 240-260 gold coins. You can also purchase things like XP boosts for 100 gold coins, though there’s little reason to do so. In my game, Talion has gotten to such a high level that I have like 10 skill points lying around. There’s nothing to spend my levels on. Why would I want more XP?
According to the Market where all of this is stored, there is a sale of some sort every Friday, though I don’t know if stuff that costs Gold is ever discounted.
Yes, this is all confusing, but you may also notice that most of this is entirely skippable.
Okay. Those are just the single-player chests and currencies, but Shadow of War also includes multiplayer chests. You can earn Vendetta Loot chests by killing orcs that have bested other players. Conquest Loot chests, meanwhile, are attained by conquering other player’s fortresses. Doing either activity nets you “Spoils of War,” and if you accrue enough of these points, you’ll get a Spoils of War chest. So far, I’ve only gotten one Spoils of War chest, but it seemed the equivalent to if not better than what’s inside of a golden War Chest, except I didn’t have to spend any money. The Loot Chests were just OK, but again, I was never hurting for gear.
Yes, this is all confusing, but you may also notice that most of this is entirely skippable. In all the time I’ve put into Shadow of War, not once have I felt the need to buy any orcs or gear. In the main game, whatever you find in the wild is sufficient to beat it. During the post-game, which is titled the Shadow Wars, Shadow of War starts to show its teeth. The gist of it is that, by now, all the castles you’ve commandeered will be under constant attack. You have to stop Sauron’s forces from gaining a foothold once more by finding strong orc leaders and upgrading your castle. For your troubles, you’ll get a bonus ending.
Reports have floated around that it would take dozens of hours to get the real ending of Shadow of War, and worse, that the game is designed to be so grindy, players have a reason to drop cash on powerful orcs. The narrative is that Shadow of War’s post-game has been designed differently than the rest of the experience. It’s actually simpler than that. Shadow of War’s endgame is constructed exactly like the main game, which is already a bit repetitive. And as I mentioned in my review, the bulk of the Shadow of War experience is extremely similar Shadow of Mordor, the first game. Shadow Wars doesn’t illuminate much about the evils of microtransactions and how they can change and ruin a game, as much as it reveals something about the already existing experience.
To defend a castle, you need to appoint high-level orcs as warchiefs. The problem is that the base game is easy enough that you never have to worry about which warchiefs you use. Anything will do. You don’t even have to care much about your warchiefs dying in the process. By the time you get to the final bonus act of the game, you find out your forces are severely under-leveled and lacking in combat prowess. It’s the equivalent of doing the bare minimum in a JRPG and then being surprised that the final boss kicks your ass. Shadow of War lets you coast, only to put up its arms as if to ask you, oh, you want a real challenge? Let’s go.
My first hours in the final act of Shadow of War were rough. My shitty orcs didn’t cut it. I had to seek out better orcs, and I had to level them up. I had to think about who I was appointing at the top, what proficiencies they had, and how the orcs meshed with one another. I had to think about the best upgrades to complement all of it. And more critically, I had to think about which orcs were attacking me, and how I would best take them on. This can be time-consuming at first, but learning how to play the damn game has sped the process up considerably.
Crucially, I’ve never once felt like any part of this would be easier by buying orcs or better gear. Randomized orcs won’t necessarily be at your level or have the specific skills you need for a given castle siege. As an example: if a gold chest gives me a legendary orc who is terrified of fire, that orc is going to be useless in a fight where the enemy is packing a flamethrower. Since you can’t control what a gold chest will drop, it hardly seems worth it. The few gold chests I earned also only gave me orcs at or below my level, whereas in-game orcs could be higher level, and thus more useful in the long run. There is no substitute for scouting orcs first-hand and raising them to be exactly how you want them. I have acquired a couple of golden chests, but only because the game is generous with its daily challenge gold. These paid orcs were not better than my other orcs. Actually, many of them have gone unused. The bulk of my orc forces are home-grown.
I have no idea if the ending will be worth it, but playing through this much of the endgame has given me a better appreciation of castle sieges.
I’ve yet to run out of orcs, even as Shadow of War asks me to defend the same castles over and over again against increasingly stronger enemies. I have such a surplus of orcs that, if I am ever unlucky enough to lose a Warchief during a siege, I have a small but capable army ready to take its place. Until that happens, I’m happy to appoint all of my war chiefs a few bodyguards each.
If you make the mistake of not leveling up your orcs along the way, going through the Shadow Wars will take about a weekend. If you make sure to keep your warchiefs strong as go through the game, I’d reckon it would take somewhere around 8-10 hours. So far, I’ve put in about 15 hours into the post-game and am like 72% of the way through it this portion of the game. At least seven of those hours were me messing around with sidequests, or butting my head against a wall when confronted with a formidable orc attack. I’m certain that the last remaining percentages will go by much quicker. I’d compare all this to getting raid-ready in Destiny 2, getting good enough to beat the secret bosses in Bloodborne, or getting the real ending in Persona 4: tough, a little annoying, somewhat time-intensive, yet do-able. I have no idea if the ending will be worth it, but at the very least, playing through this much of the endgame has given me a better appreciation of the castle siege mechanics.
I plan to get the bonus ending in the coming days, and will report back in more detail about the undertaking. But for those of you wondering if this game is going to make you feel like you have to spend more than $60 to see all of it has to offer, don’t worry. You can spend money if you want to, but I’m not sure why you would.
Part of the confusion is that Shadow of War is a complicated game—60 hours later, I’m still learning new things in it—and its loot boxes are similarly convoluted. There are a few types of main loot chests, some of which have subcategories, and three types of currencies. I’ve tried or earned most of these currencies and chests while playing the game for 60 hours and counting. I have a good sense of how loot boxes fit into the picture. It’s not necessarily as bad as some may fear, but even 60 hours with the game isn’t enough for me to bottom line that for sure.
Before we dive in, it’s important to know some big-picture stuff about how Shadow of War works. The game revolves around randomized orcs that you enslave to build multiple armies. You use these orcs as your bodyguard or to defend regions of the map. You need decent orcs to make progress in the game and, if you’re not careful, your orcs can permanently die. Through the course of the game, you will kill, recruit, and replace dozens upon dozens of orcs. All of these orcs can come in a few flavors. “Epic” orcs are great to get, and “Legendary” orcs are even better. Those rarity classifications affect the number and types of advanced skills an orc can have, such as greatly increased health counts, or high poison proficiency. All types of orcs can be found in the wild, and in my particular game, I’ve had no shortage of Legendary orcs to recruit and command.
Additionally, Talion, the main character, can also equip a bevy of gear, such as swords and bows. This equipment is also constantly cycled as you find better stuff and it too can be Epic or even Legendary. While both orcs and gear can be earned by playing the game, you can also save some time and buy them from loot chests instead.
There are four types of main loot chests, some of which have subcategories, and three types of currencies. Let’s start with the currencies.
Mirian is an abundant currency that you mainly earn by playing the game. You can equip gem runes that increase Mirian drops, equip gear that increases the likelihood of Mirian drops, destroy gear for Mirian, and hunt down Treasure Orcs for Mirian. Mirian can also be used for in-game perks, such as castle upgrades.
Gold coins can be obtained a number of ways, including with real-world money. We don’t know how much they’ll cost just yet, as Shadow of War’s online store only lists the season pass right now.
I’ve never once felt like any part of Shadow of War would be easier by buying orcs or better gear.
During the pre-release period while I’ve been playing the game, the main method of earning coins has been from in-game daily challenges. Every day, Shadow of War tasks you with doing four different things, each with its own reward. Daily challenges run the gamut from “kill a certain number of enemies” to “go to this map and do this very specific thing.” Usually, doing all of the daily quests takes around 15-30 minutes. In my time with the game, the rewards for the daily quests have varied. Early on, I only got one daily 50 gold coin quest and multiple Mirian quests. Lately, that’s moved up to two 50 gold coin quests, and more recently, three daily 50 gold coin quests. It’s unclear if the number of gold coin quests you get on a daily basis are randomized, or if Monolith, the developers, have upped the number of gold coin quests you get behind the scenes. We reached out to the Shadow of War’s creators about this but haven’t heard back yet.
Then there are “Spoils of War,” which are points you earn by completing online activities. While the game doesn’t consider this a currency, playing the multiplayer earns you points which in turn unlock chests, so functionally speaking, they fulfills the same purpose.
So, what do you buy with all this digital money? In my experience, War Chests are probably what you’ll deal with most of all, because they contain orcs. There are three main types of War Chests which can be bought with different currencies.
Silver chests, which cost 1.5k Mirian, drop two orcs (at least one epic) and one consumable (things like timed boosts). Silver War Chests are the easiest type of chest to buy, because you are constantly swimming in Mirian. Nearly every battle grants you Mirian, and you’re going to sell the vast majority of your gear for Mirian. I have more Mirian than I know what to do with right now. I could buy dozens of orcs if I wanted to, but I’ve had a good experience using the orcs I’ve naturally encountered throughout the game.
Gold chests cost 200 gold coins, and for that price, you’ll get three orcs (one legendary and two epic), along with two consumables. Mithril chests, which cost 600 gold coins, give you four legendary orcs and one legendary training order (these allow you to do things like move units across maps). I’ve bought a few gold chests out of curiosity, not necessity. To the game’s credit, I could theoretically earn a gold chest almost daily, free of charge, but formidable orcs are abundant enough that I often forgot about challenges in the first place.
Then there are literal Loot Chests, which dole out gear. Silver loot chests give you two gear pieces, one of which will be rare, for 750 Mirian. I have bought exactly one of these, just for the purposes of this article, but otherwise, the game constantly gifts you new gear just by killing orcs. And boy, will you slaughter a ton of orcs in this game. You can also threaten orcs for higher-quality gear. Heck, you can let orcs kill you so that they gain levels and thus drop better gear. There’s not much incentive to buy Loot Chests.
Gold Loot chests, meanwhile, give you three gear pieces (one legendary and two epic) for 150 gold coins. Mythril loot chests grant you four legendary gear pieces, and a single two-hour XP boost for 400 coins. I am never left wanting better gear in my game, though: if anything, I am constantly destroying legendary and epic gear, either because it has lower stats, or because the skill bonuses they grant don’t fit my playstyle. I never saw a reason to spend money on gear that might not even be what I’m looking for.
Beyond that, there are special bundles that package a handful of the aforementioned chests, and themed chests that cost around 240-260 gold coins. You can also purchase things like XP boosts for 100 gold coins, though there’s little reason to do so. In my game, Talion has gotten to such a high level that I have like 10 skill points lying around. There’s nothing to spend my levels on. Why would I want more XP?
According to the Market where all of this is stored, there is a sale of some sort every Friday, though I don’t know if stuff that costs Gold is ever discounted.
Yes, this is all confusing, but you may also notice that most of this is entirely skippable.
Okay. Those are just the single-player chests and currencies, but Shadow of War also includes multiplayer chests. You can earn Vendetta Loot chests by killing orcs that have bested other players. Conquest Loot chests, meanwhile, are attained by conquering other player’s fortresses. Doing either activity nets you “Spoils of War,” and if you accrue enough of these points, you’ll get a Spoils of War chest. So far, I’ve only gotten one Spoils of War chest, but it seemed the equivalent to if not better than what’s inside of a golden War Chest, except I didn’t have to spend any money. The Loot Chests were just OK, but again, I was never hurting for gear.
Yes, this is all confusing, but you may also notice that most of this is entirely skippable. In all the time I’ve put into Shadow of War, not once have I felt the need to buy any orcs or gear. In the main game, whatever you find in the wild is sufficient to beat it. During the post-game, which is titled the Shadow Wars, Shadow of War starts to show its teeth. The gist of it is that, by now, all the castles you’ve commandeered will be under constant attack. You have to stop Sauron’s forces from gaining a foothold once more by finding strong orc leaders and upgrading your castle. For your troubles, you’ll get a bonus ending.
Reports have floated around that it would take dozens of hours to get the real ending of Shadow of War, and worse, that the game is designed to be so grindy, players have a reason to drop cash on powerful orcs. The narrative is that Shadow of War’s post-game has been designed differently than the rest of the experience. It’s actually simpler than that. Shadow of War’s endgame is constructed exactly like the main game, which is already a bit repetitive. And as I mentioned in my review, the bulk of the Shadow of War experience is extremely similar Shadow of Mordor, the first game. Shadow Wars doesn’t illuminate much about the evils of microtransactions and how they can change and ruin a game, as much as it reveals something about the already existing experience.
To defend a castle, you need to appoint high-level orcs as warchiefs. The problem is that the base game is easy enough that you never have to worry about which warchiefs you use. Anything will do. You don’t even have to care much about your warchiefs dying in the process. By the time you get to the final bonus act of the game, you find out your forces are severely under-leveled and lacking in combat prowess. It’s the equivalent of doing the bare minimum in a JRPG and then being surprised that the final boss kicks your ass. Shadow of War lets you coast, only to put up its arms as if to ask you, oh, you want a real challenge? Let’s go.
My first hours in the final act of Shadow of War were rough. My shitty orcs didn’t cut it. I had to seek out better orcs, and I had to level them up. I had to think about who I was appointing at the top, what proficiencies they had, and how the orcs meshed with one another. I had to think about the best upgrades to complement all of it. And more critically, I had to think about which orcs were attacking me, and how I would best take them on. This can be time-consuming at first, but learning how to play the damn game has sped the process up considerably.
Crucially, I’ve never once felt like any part of this would be easier by buying orcs or better gear. Randomized orcs won’t necessarily be at your level or have the specific skills you need for a given castle siege. As an example: if a gold chest gives me a legendary orc who is terrified of fire, that orc is going to be useless in a fight where the enemy is packing a flamethrower. Since you can’t control what a gold chest will drop, it hardly seems worth it. The few gold chests I earned also only gave me orcs at or below my level, whereas in-game orcs could be higher level, and thus more useful in the long run. There is no substitute for scouting orcs first-hand and raising them to be exactly how you want them. I have acquired a couple of golden chests, but only because the game is generous with its daily challenge gold. These paid orcs were not better than my other orcs. Actually, many of them have gone unused. The bulk of my orc forces are home-grown.
I have no idea if the ending will be worth it, but playing through this much of the endgame has given me a better appreciation of castle sieges.
I’ve yet to run out of orcs, even as Shadow of War asks me to defend the same castles over and over again against increasingly stronger enemies. I have such a surplus of orcs that, if I am ever unlucky enough to lose a Warchief during a siege, I have a small but capable army ready to take its place. Until that happens, I’m happy to appoint all of my war chiefs a few bodyguards each.
If you make the mistake of not leveling up your orcs along the way, going through the Shadow Wars will take about a weekend. If you make sure to keep your warchiefs strong as go through the game, I’d reckon it would take somewhere around 8-10 hours. So far, I’ve put in about 15 hours into the post-game and am like 72% of the way through it this portion of the game. At least seven of those hours were me messing around with sidequests, or butting my head against a wall when confronted with a formidable orc attack. I’m certain that the last remaining percentages will go by much quicker. I’d compare all this to getting raid-ready in Destiny 2, getting good enough to beat the secret bosses in Bloodborne, or getting the real ending in Persona 4: tough, a little annoying, somewhat time-intensive, yet do-able. I have no idea if the ending will be worth it, but at the very least, playing through this much of the endgame has given me a better appreciation of the castle siege mechanics.
I plan to get the bonus ending in the coming days, and will report back in more detail about the undertaking. But for those of you wondering if this game is going to make you feel like you have to spend more than $60 to see all of it has to offer, don’t worry. You can spend money if you want to, but I’m not sure why you would.
Seriously. Please. Fucking. Read. This. I can't overstate how utterly impossible it is to have a conversation about this subject without looking at an account of how it's actually handled in the game itself, and how utterly miniscule of a tiny thing it is in the whole game.
EDIT: @Gabe – To your final point in the post just above this. We absolutely SHOULD stand up about that shit. There ARE shitty microtransactions encroaching in games, and I actively loathe a good number of them. BUT there's a difference between seeing that there is ANY form of microtransaction and screaming and refusing to look at anything else in the game like a rage-blinded pissbaby (which seems to've been most of the loud internet's reaction), and waiting for the game to be released, and actually judging whether or not it's something egregious by seeing some people look at how it's actually implemented in the game (especially because it's a fractionally sized, totally ignorable part of this one, moreso than basically any other paid DLC in recent memory).
There's a HUGE difference between paid on-disc DLC, gambling-designed forced additional grind, and the MKX pay to just unlock the Krypt. You CAN have problems with all of them, but don't broad stoke them and treat them like they're all the same thing, because they're not.
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Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
Just finished reading he article and coupled with your take on it , it doesn't seem that bad.
I can sympathize (empathize?) with your position on this coming in as a Destiny 2 player who also had the microtransaction system completely overblown by people on reddit (interestingly enough Jim Sterling defended D2's). Trying to convince friends that the internet got it completely wrong and to convince them to buy it on PC when it launches was especially difficult thanks to the likes of Angry Joe, Reddit and other outlets almost borderline making shit up.
You're right that it is rather sensationalist of me to basically paint all microtransactions with broad strokes like that. It is just pretty scary for my wallet lol, I'm looking at easily over 100$ for Destiny 2 on just the PS4 version, I can't think of the last time I honestly actually just ended up paying only 60$ for a video game.
Very few games these days come out as a complete package at the 60$ price point and to see publishers (I don't think Devs them selves really are out to do this them selves) push for more ways to look for cash it gets scary.
Especially when it can be easy for them to obfuscate just how much the "grind" curves to incentivize a purchase , or as Joe pointed out the clear conflict of interest here
I can sympathize (empathize?) with your position on this coming in as a Destiny 2 player who also had the microtransaction system completely overblown by people on reddit (interestingly enough Jim Sterling defended D2's). Trying to convince friends that the internet got it completely wrong and to convince them to buy it on PC when it launches was especially difficult thanks to the likes of Angry Joe, Reddit and other outlets almost borderline making shit up.
You're right that it is rather sensationalist of me to basically paint all microtransactions with broad strokes like that. It is just pretty scary for my wallet lol, I'm looking at easily over 100$ for Destiny 2 on just the PS4 version, I can't think of the last time I honestly actually just ended up paying only 60$ for a video game.
Very few games these days come out as a complete package at the 60$ price point and to see publishers (I don't think Devs them selves really are out to do this them selves) push for more ways to look for cash it gets scary.
Especially when it can be easy for them to obfuscate just how much the "grind" curves to incentivize a purchase , or as Joe pointed out the clear conflict of interest here
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Oh, I totally am with you on that. Looking at the cost of a game vs. what the eventual Game of the Year version is gonna have an cost can be SUPER offputting (see hito wanting to know if/when there'll be a GotY version of FFXV). That kind of cost can be a shitty barrier of entry, but I think it's also interesting to looking at how some of those things came into place, and how any version of them can be kinda shitty, or totally fine.
DLC originally came about to combat the used games industry screwing over the dev teams making FAR less money than they would've with successful games, because that DLC cash goes back to the developers rather than the POS stores, and it incentivizes you to keep the game, rather than pass it on.
That led to two different things: Shitty practices like paid on-disc DLC where they're basically extorting you for things that they are literally just putting behind a paywall. For other teams, it let them connect with their audiences and give them more cool things that they wanted to share that wouldn't've happened in the initial development time, and are often only possible FROM successful initial sales funding the extra dev time.
There can also be SUPER frustrating shit like Asura's Wrath's True Ending DLC which is something that ALWAYS should have been on the disc, but wasn't – because of reasons (maybe dev, maybe deadline, it's impossible to tell) – and was generally a negative thing despite being completely and utterly worth the money, because it was utterly fucking amazing.
Look Boxes also initially came in two flavours. The totally cosmetic, and the pay to win. The issues with those are pretty straightforward and pretty much grew out of MMO raids and mobile gaming with the Basic, Standard, Epic, Legendary, colour system and all that. Either one presents some issues, especially to people who are completionists feeling that need to constantly gamble on more and more things because they CAN.
This is where I'd point out that there's also a split in both DLC and Loot Boxes. Some of them are there (like in mobile games) to incentivize you to skip shitty game design to win more easily. Whereas others it's supplementary, or meant to be assistive if you're having a hard time, and want to move past it onto something, but it's not an issue with the game itself.
As examples for this, I'd point at most F2P mobile games with artificial time limitations and shit, and the MKX Unlock the Krypt DLC & SoW's Market. The former are FULL of shitty and unnecessarily grindy game mechanics, whereas the second, I'll speak more to in a moment.
That's absolutely apparent, as it's fundamentally seen as a conflict of interest. To which, I'd point at the Eurogamer interview with their design director Bob Roberts (that Jim Sterling shit all over), and pull out the most important point from the interviewer:
It dominates the conversation, especially before people have had a good chance to see how it works themselves.
That's the biggest issue is that, especially with Shadow of War running weekly 45 min streams on every little aspect of the game, and talking a lot about what was going on, it was especially annoying, because everyone who watched those streams wasn't bothered by it when they were familiar with everything else that the game had, how it was designed, and had been following everything about how it played – evident by the fact that basically no one who's a regular EVER bitches about the microtransactions in the Twitch Chat, and they were open with questions during the stream to assuage those fears that then websites picked up and blew out of proportion.
To quote Bob Robers in that same interview: We're working our tails off to make this massive game and as a designer - the design director - I focus on balancing it. We do a ton of playtesting and make sure it is tuned to a setting where people can enjoy it. We kept all of the loot boxes and the economy of real world money turned off in playtesting so we know we are balancing around an experience which is rewarding without any of that stuff.
That was all stuff they'd said multiple times, and as someone who regularly watched their streams, it was overwhelmingly apparent for someone familiar with the massive scope of everything else in the game how and why that worked how it did, and that if you're putting that in and someone WANTS to pay for it, you can obviously let them. BUT for everyone else it was just, "Shadow of War is charging real world money for in-game equipment in Loot Boxes – Internet Furious"
I understand there's a fear around microtransactions in general, but you can't judge a product before that product is released. Even if you're not the one buying it right away because of them – at the very least you have to be aware that, game reviewers are FROTHING at the opportunity to shit all over stuff like this when it's bad, because the bad stuff is poisonous to the industry as a whole.
...and Kotaku – who ran articles ALL about how they thought tons of Shadow of War related shit was shady, got shut down about their pessimistic speculation about the paid DLC for their Producer who died of cancer when the truth about how the donations worked came about – AND they did a whole article about how the microtransactions in the final product are damn well unnoticeable. If anyone was gunning to crucify this game for it, they would've been on it, but sometimes reality kicks that pessimistic stuff in the face and makes them eat their words.
I get the want to be against shitty paid DLC. I do too, but you have to let things get released to understand them first rather than raging on assumption. That's the main point of all this.
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