Thread: A Loot Box Rant

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  1. #1

    A Loot Box Rant

    Generally I hear people say "Oh its just cosmetic", but I feel character customization should actually be considered not just a throw away system in a game to milk money from, but as an important part of the enjoyment of, particularly, multiplayer games. Does it ruin the gameplay for me - no. But I would be far more invested in this game if the customization system actually felt somewhat fair.

    So I got like ~5 boxes so far during the Halloween event. I saw 2 legendary coins pop up. One was a halloween skin from LAST year, and one was legendary currency.

    To me this is kinda BS. The new skins are 3000. So not all legendary drops are created equal. If you get the legendary currency - 500C - that's doesn't really feel legendary at all. And if you get a skin from last year - valued at 1000C - it just feels like a missed opportunity to receive a new 3000C legendary.

    That's shitty as fuck.

    Not to mention duplicates don't give you the full value of the item that dropped. What that makes me do is just hoard currency until the VERY last day of the event and buy whatever I still want then, because hey if I buy the 3000C new Zarya skin, but then get it later, I only get 300C for it.

    What is this fucking system?

    I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on the OW loot box system and see if they feel the same or differently.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by ro9ue View Post
    Generally I hear people say "Oh its just cosmetic", but I feel character customization should actually be considered not just a throw away system in a game to milk money from, but as an important part of the enjoyment of, particularly, multiplayer games. Does it ruin the gameplay for me - no. But I would be far more invested in this game if the customization system actually felt somewhat fair.

    So I got like ~5 boxes so far during the Halloween event. I saw 2 legendary coins pop up. One was a halloween skin from LAST year, and one was legendary currency.

    To me this is kinda BS. The new skins are 3000. So not all legendary drops are created equal. If you get the legendary currency - 500C - that's doesn't really feel legendary at all. And if you get a skin from last year - valued at 1000C - it just feels like a missed opportunity to receive a new 3000C legendary.

    That's shitty as fuck.

    Not to mention duplicates don't give you the full value of the item that dropped. What that makes me do is just hoard currency until the VERY last day of the event and buy whatever I still want then, because hey if I buy the 3000C new Zarya skin, but then get it later, I only get 300C for it.

    What is this fucking system?

    I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on the OW loot box system and see if they feel the same or differently.
    It's an RNG casino, chance of having a really nice cosmetic or a duplicate of some voiceline you hate.
    I understand they GameStop you on the duplicate credits you earn, but if it gave you full value then it just means you don't buy what you want in a matter of days-weeks.
    I went a whole year without Skullyatta because I didn't have the currency to buy it and was unlucky with loot boxes, but it's the way it goes.
    My big gripe is that Blizz stated each box should have 1 new thing in it every time, but so far I've found that to mean "1 new item, but it can be a duplicate of a new (read: current events) item."

  3. #3
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    It's all cosmetic.


    If you make the skins super simple to obtain it removes the entire coolness factor of having them. It's not like they're truly gated or removed; you always have a shot of getting them next year. If everyone is running around with pumpkin reaper or dragon symmetra easy as they please the skin isn't very cool anymore. Call it hipster-y, but that's the way it is.



    I'm level 600~ and have had no problem buying everything I want from every event with credits if I didn't receive it through the course of normal play. And I've never bought a lootbox.

    But frankly, think of it this way:

    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  4. #4
    High Overlord Ambereldus's Avatar
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    You're thinking about the the price of those legendaries wrong.

    Each of the new legendary skins is priced at 1000, just like any other. You can confirm this by comparing them to an "old" event legendary and how their price is inline with any other skin. The difference comes from the fact that new event legendaries have a 200% markup, presumably to maintain their exclusivity for a year.

    Do I like that system? Not really, I feel super limited by RNG, and 3000C hasn't exactly been easy for me to come by. However, I think the markup serves its purpose of being a credit sink for the people who "need it nao!", even though I'm in love with that McCree skin.

    In general? Loot boxes are hit-or-miss, I'm torn on the issue, but I don't hate the implementation. I'd probably appreciate a more reliable way to obtain credits.

  5. #5
    if you just resist the urge, save your gold - someday ... eventually, you will have a skin like Lifeguard Mcree and golden flare gun - thanking yourself for holding off on some lame haloween skin!

  6. #6
    Free Food!?!?! Tziva's Avatar
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    Yeah, I dunno. I'm more worried about running out of things to get in loot boxes than having difficulty getting what I do want. Granted, I've bought a few boxes at a few holidays (although not a ton) but I'm getting a lot of boxes every week just from leveling and arcade wins. Once they drastically reduced the amount of dupes, I very quickly sped through all the remaining rares and uncommons I didn't have, leaving me with a lot of gold to buy the remaining epics and legednaries I don't have. It's always been more about self restraint not to just buy all the things I want (with gold) outright so I have something to look forward to in future loot boxes.

    The duplicate reduction change was awesome and probably the best change they could have made for that.

    So, yeah, maybe I'm not the best person to talk to.


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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Tziva View Post
    Yeah, I dunno. I'm more worried about running out of things to get in loot boxes than having difficulty getting what I do want. Granted, I've bought a few boxes at a few holidays (although not a ton) but I'm getting a lot of boxes every week just from leveling and arcade wins. Once they drastically reduced the amount of dupes, I very quickly sped through all the remaining rares and uncommons I didn't have, leaving me with a lot of gold to buy the remaining epics and legednaries I don't have. It's always been more about self restraint not to just buy all the things I want (with gold) outright so I have something to look forward to in future loot boxes.

    The duplicate reduction change was awesome and probably the best change they could have made for that.

    So, yeah, maybe I'm not the best person to talk to.
    Nothing against you but yeah "I play 24/7 and never hat Lootbox Issues" is the wrong person to speak with. ;P

    I play on and off (around 5 Matches per day) and allways have trouble on getting the good stuff. I buy a 20 (+4) pack each holiday and still have trouble getting coins or skins.

    I know i know, cosmetic. Fine and dandy but a steady stream of coins would be appreciated.
    Like 50 every lootbox or so?

    Cause a year is a hell of a lot of time to wait for the skin you want so bad.
    Last edited by Zatachi; 2017-10-20 at 02:13 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ro9ue View Post
    Generally I hear people say "Oh its just cosmetic", but I feel character customization should actually be considered not just a throw away system in a game to milk money from, but as an important part of the enjoyment of, particularly, multiplayer games. Does it ruin the gameplay for me - no. But I would be far more invested in this game if the customization system actually felt somewhat fair.

    So I got like ~5 boxes so far during the Halloween event. I saw 2 legendary coins pop up. One was a halloween skin from LAST year, and one was legendary currency.

    To me this is kinda BS. The new skins are 3000. So not all legendary drops are created equal. If you get the legendary currency - 500C - that's doesn't really feel legendary at all. And if you get a skin from last year - valued at 1000C - it just feels like a missed opportunity to receive a new 3000C legendary.

    That's shitty as fuck.

    Not to mention duplicates don't give you the full value of the item that dropped. What that makes me do is just hoard currency until the VERY last day of the event and buy whatever I still want then, because hey if I buy the 3000C new Zarya skin, but then get it later, I only get 300C for it.

    What is this fucking system?

    I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on the OW loot box system and see if they feel the same or differently.
    5 boxes and you got legendary coins twice and an old Halloween legendary?

    That's pretty good luck.

    I farm out around 80 boxes each event and I rarely get everything I want but at least I'm not spending money.

  9. #9
    Making assumptions much, Zatachi?

    I've played since the game release and I've far from played 24/7 as you think Tziva has, now I can't speak for their levels, but I've nearly hit lvl 850 by now and I've played approximately 650 hours according to statistics which averages roughly one and a half hour per day since the game released. I have bought boxes each event, yes, but not more than 20-30 of them. As it stands now - barring Doomfist and to a degree Orisa - I'm very close to completion of items for all heroes. I have bought some skins for coins but not super many and I'm currently sitting on approx 24k coins.

    So that's my game "credentials" thus far.

    That said, I do agree that 3k for a skin is a lot to gather and then spend, and yes, it's annoying that you have to wait another year if you miss an event to get something you want. However, you get those legendaries at the non-markup price the year after, effectively saving you 2k coins so it isn't entirely without benefits.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    "Only cosmetic" has never made much sense to me. I understand that there's a part of community (me included) who only care about mechanics and gameplay, for me the loot boxes do not affect my experience. I also know a lot of people who do enjoy skins and that's why they are in the game, they add to the experience of many. So why is it okay that their "perfect" experience to cost more? At its core it is an exploitation of those people. I would be annoyed if characters or weapons or whatever would be behind paywall and/or a huge slot machine. I feel for you who enjoy customizing your characters and skins.

  11. #11
    I havent encountered this issue. But that may because I play more. I have been playing since beta, and am level 1141 so I have received a lot of loot boxes. I had most items before the reduced dupes change went live, so I very quickly was back to getting all duplicates. Since im only getting dupes, I get a lot of gold. According to my item tracker i need 2475 coins to buy the rest of the items from this Halloween event which is no prob as i am almost at 13k. All this too say theres seems to he a hours per week that puts you ahead of this issue making the lootboxes something to look forward to and not an eventual disappointment (by not getting what you want).
    “What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing
    hell for people who asked such questions?” - Stephen Hawking


  12. #12
    All the lootbox system has done for me is ensure I never spend a penny beyond the box price. I guess it's working out for Bliz, but I can't help but point out that Riot has been making money hand over fist for a long time without even charging up front, and they don't force you to gamble to make your characters look cool.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Nah nah, see... I live by one simple creed: You might catch more flies with honey, but to catch honeys you gotta be fly.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by oplawlz View Post
    All the lootbox system has done for me is ensure I never spend a penny beyond the box price. I guess it's working out for Bliz, but I can't help but point out that Riot has been making money hand over fist for a long time without even charging up front, and they don't force you to gamble to make your characters look cool.
    I'd much prefer just paying outright for a skin like Riot's system. They did recently introduce a loot box as well, but they still let you buy the skin outright. I feel like this is a great balance. If I just want a specific skin, I can give $X. If I want to just buy a few loot boxes and see what I get, I can do that as well. Riot's doing it properly imo.

  14. #14
    Titan Orby's Avatar
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    I just wish the duplicates would reward more points. At least 1/4 or 1/2 of the initial cost. :P
    I love Warcraft, I dislike WoW

    Unsubbed since January 2021, now a Warcraft fan from a distance

  15. #15
    Free Food!?!?! Tziva's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zatachi View Post
    Nothing against you but yeah "I play 24/7 and never hat Lootbox Issues" is the wrong person to speak with. ;P
    I definitely don't play 24/7. Most weeks I probably play a few hours max, and usually I try to get in at least 3 arcade wins for a loot box. Some weeks that means 9 wins for three boxes + xp boxses, but also there's plenty of weeks where I haven't played any games at all.

    According to my user profile I have 307 hours of games played since the game came out, which obviously means I like the game and have put time into it but I don't think is really abnormally much.


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  16. #16
    I mean you don't get a dupe until you have all the rare/epic/legendaries from the event in the first place, so what does it matter?

  17. #17
    Free Food!?!?! Tziva's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zyky View Post
    I mean you don't get a dupe until you have all the rare/epic/legendaries from the event in the first place, so what does it matter?
    You don't have to have all of them before you start getting dupes. They drastically reduced the chance but didn't remove it. I started getting dupes again once I had around 80-90% of a rarity type.


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  18. #18
    If "cosmetic" is very important to you and too expensive, you want to think twice before buy the game.

    "cosmetic" items are meaningless to me.
    However, I can understand this "I bought the game at full price, why the content is locked behind a pay wall."

    Be careful, game companies are crazy about this "get rich quick" micro transaction business.
    It is hard to find an AAA games don't do that.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by ro9ue View Post
    Generally I hear people say "Oh its just cosmetic", but I feel character customization should actually be considered not just a throw away system in a game to milk money from, but as an important part of the enjoyment of, particularly, multiplayer games. Does it ruin the gameplay for me - no. But I would be far more invested in this game if the customization system actually felt somewhat fair.

    -snip-

    What is this fucking system?

    I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on the OW loot box system and see if they feel the same or differently.
    Do you watch Jim Sterling? I think you'd like the things he talks about.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tool
    If "cosmetic" is very important to you and too expensive, you want to think twice before buy the game.
    That's exactly the issue. They bought the game. Activision-Blizzard has more money than most gods. I'm sick of people trying (poorly) to justify why Blizzard can't survive without screwing their players and trying to double charge by every means necessary.
    Last edited by Xenryusho; 2017-10-21 at 07:59 AM.

  20. #20
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xenogear3 View Post
    If "cosmetic" is very important to you and too expensive, you want to think twice before buy the game.

    "cosmetic" items are meaningless to me.
    However, I can understand this "I bought the game at full price, why the content is locked behind a pay wall."

    Be careful, game companies are crazy about this "get rich quick" micro transaction business.
    It is hard to find an AAA games don't do that.
    Well technically the content isn't locked behind a paywall. There's nothing in overwatch you have to buy to unlock (exempting special promotions things like the origins edition or blizzcon skins)
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

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