The introduction of a market system with loot chests / loot boxes in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, is causing some displeasure in the community.
Actually, the sequel to Shadow of Mordor did almost everything right. The mistakes of the first part ironed out, popular mechanics like the Nemesis System were expanded, the fan base has been supplied with impressive videos for months and the publication is longed for.
But with the announcement of booty boxes last weekend, the opinion of many players has turned a bit and the euphoria has been significantly dampened.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War - New market system with boxes
The new boxes that players can buy in the market contain various random items:
Loot Chests: Contain equipment such as weapons and armor of different quality for the main character Talion. Wearing and upgrading this equipment increases Talion's abilities. Loot chests can also contain XP boots that allow Talion to gain experience faster.
War Chests: Deliver you orc followers of various rarities to create a strong army. They also contain training orders with which you can level and adjust these orcs.
XP boosts: Talion levels faster thanks to the experience bonus.
Bundles / packages: In these, Loot Chests, War Chests and Boosts are available together for a better price.
To buy these boxes you need either Mirian or Gold. Mirian is a pure in-game currency that you get while playing. For example, slain by special Treasure Orcs, dismantle superfluous objects or find Mirian hiding places in the game.
Gold is the alternative currency one can use for Real money in the Playstation, Xbox or Steam Store. But there should also be small amounts for reaching certain milestones in the game or for participating in community challenges.
Opinions are now divided about this gold or the possibility of buying gaming advantages with real money. The developers emphasize that there is no content in the game that you could not achieve without gold, it just takes a little longer. Investing € accelerates the character development of Talion and the creation of your own orc army with which you ultimately have to conquer Mordor.
Lotto system via random loot in boxes
Systems like loot boxes have been known from other games for a long time, but there it is FreetoPlay games that finance themselves in this way. In the mobile sector in particular, there are tons of games with such models.
Shadow of War, on the other hand, is a Full price The game is paid for directly for all of its content and at 59.99 € for the standard version it is not exactly a bargain. Additionally are already paid DLCs, so extensions announced.
The fact that a box system is added to these costs is an imposition for many fans. The first decided to cancel their pre-orders in order to set an example against this trend. The corresponding Reddit thread had over 2000 posts in one day. One Another thread of the problem of such "lottery" systems discussed, is already in over 1300 articles.
It remains to be seen whether the developers and other publishers will be influenced by these negative reactions.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War will be released on October 10, 2017 for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
