This year, seven major titles which explicitly use loot boxes as part of their in-game economies: Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Injustice 2, Lawbreakers, Forza Motorsport 7, For Honor, and the Star Wars Battlefront 2 beta. Let's not forget, too, that Destiny 2's Bright Engrams and FIFA 18's Card Packs are essentially the same gimmick wrapped up in passably different clothing. That's seven different genres, all strung up by a gambling-oriented system of microtransactions that, until a few years ago, was relegated to the realm of the free-to-play mobile market. So what's going on?
In short, it’s an inevitable evolution of a culture which has dominated the business of the AAA industry for years. After so many episodes of controversy surrounding overt pay-to-win mechanics and shamelessly overpriced microtransactions, the loot box is the publisher's way of dressing up monetisation in more palatable packaging.
Destiny 2's meta is ever-shifting, and a recent Exotic went from overlooked to must-have very fast.
Among the various things revealed in Destiny 2: Into the Light, I don't think any of them beat the speculation Pantheon received. The unexpected raid boss - IS
Whether it's entering a zen state during DPS or the rush of dopamine on its completion, Destiny 2's Raids excels in multiplayer teamwork.
The raids are one of the reasons I quit Destiny. You stand in a circle and shoot at a triangle on a wall, have to restart a half dozen times, and then hope the random reward blesses you. Then you realize you aren’t’ having fun but instead are doing a lot of work for nothing. Back when Destiny was at its peak population, trophy data showed that less than 5% of players ran the raid.
This is why i game by 1 rule :-
Free-to-play - i will spend real money on in game currency to support the creators if i like the game.
Cash purchase - I will not spend real money on in game boxes crates, whatever the game. If they want me to spend real money, make your game like the above, and stop milking consumers.
It's probably too late now but we can still try and vote with our wallets and pray this is just a phase, or at the very least doesn't get even worse.
well...I believe gamers are also to blame here as collectively we have taken to loot boxes like ducks to water. Gamers seem to embrace them regardless of how much we see people complaining about them. Companies would use this mechanic if gamers weren't buying into it. just my two cents.
I have to say, I continue(d) to play Overwatch and Injustice 2 because I was collecting loot boxes just to see what I could get next.
There's something special about getting one new item randomly after getting 10,000,000,000 duplicates.