Shadow of War to lose Microtransactions

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

This is weird. Does anyone else think this is weird? Is... is it still April 1st somewhere? First Battlefront 2(4) ditches the lootbox microtransactions now Shadow of War ditches the concept entirely. According to Kotaku (Link below) on May 8 players will no loner be able to buy gold and any unused currency will be converted to items and on July 17 the gold, chests, and Marketplace will be completely removed.

The core promise of the Nemesis System is the ability to build relationships with your personal allies and enemies in a dynamic open world. While purchasing Orcs in the Market is more immediate and provides additional player options, we have come to realize that providing this choice risked undermining the heart of our game, the Nemesis System.

It allows you to miss out on the awesome player stories you would have otherwise created, and it compromises those same stories even if you don?t buy anything. Simply being aware that they are available for purchase reduces the immersion in the world and takes away from the challenge of building your personal army and your fortresses.

In order to fully restore the core promise of the Nemesis System, we?ll be permanently removing Gold, War Chests and the Market from Shadow of War.

So, cool. They're getting rid of the microtransactions. Severely late and probably just to sell their DLC, but hey, the Marketplace is going bye bye. What's particularly irritating about this, though, is the mention of the "promise of the Nemesis System". Really? Allowing players to buy Uruk, completely bypassing the nemesis system in its entirety, is a problem you just noticed? Months after release? Fuck. Off. Shadow of War is probably one of the worst offenders of microtransactions. Someone could possibly make a case for microtransactions in multiplayer games. I'd disagree, but, whatever. Singleplayer games, though? No.

The update also comes with some changes to the endgame content.

Monolith confirmed that the Shadow Wars element of Shadow of War's campaign would be updated. "This portion of the game will be improved with new narrative elements and streamlined for a more cohesive experience," Monolith wrote, adding that more updates to the Nemesis system, skill tree, gear and progression would be detailed in the coming weeks and months.

Sources: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/04/shadow-of-war-is-removing-its-marketplace-gold-and-war-chests/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/shadow-of-war-is-removing-some-microtransactions/1100-6457870/

 

[Erttheking]

Good. I'm not sure I want to buy it still, considering that loot boxes was just one of the boxes of bullshit and slime ball AAA company moves they ticked off, (and a hundred bucks for all of the content currently out is too rich for my blood from a company that I felt really defiled the original) but good. The game has now been bumped up from never by ever, to consider getting the GOTY edition on a Steam sale.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Too little too late.

 

[RobertEHouse]

It really is not strange, if you look at it from a business stance. The game might be no longer making enough in sales in micro-transactions for the store system to be in place. Considering Warner Brothers is always trying to maximize profits and minimize loss this would be highly likely the real reason. They might be taking the system assets which ran the whole store down in order to free them up for something else more "profitable" in the future.

As for the game , First was fun until it became repetitive and lost interest. Shadow had my interest until WB opened up about the micro-transactions. Needless to say this game i still see no interest in ever playing even with the shops removal.

 

[stroopwafel]

Well, you can't blame the developers for lootboxes, that's a publisher decision. But it's good that after so many months the game is finally brought back to how it was probably always meant to be played before publisher greed. If anything all the bad press about the lootboxes most likely really didn't do the game's sales any favors. Now that lootboxes are gone more people will probably consider picking it up at a sale and WB probably figured the game having a long tail earns them more than a dried up lootbox system. Obviously not sincere, but still good they saw the error of it's ways. Hopefully this also means they think twice about shoving lootboxes in their future games.

 

[sXeth]

Well, you can't blame the developers for lootboxes, that's a publisher decision.

Destiny would disagree with that one (mostly, Bungie decided to put the boxes in because their goofy engine didn't let them make DLCs on time for their Activision contract, so kind of a half/half)

I guess the real question with Shadow of War is well, okay, you pulled out the lootboxes. But they were pretty baked in, so what are they doing to fix that gap in the game's design. The second quote mentions some stuff, but nothing overly concrete.

 

[laggyteabag]

I mean, good on them for removing microtransactions, because this industry could really do with a shakeup like that, but it just sounds like a PR decision to me.

"Hey, we are removing microtransactions in our game!" for a game that has been out for months already, and has already had the big boom of players. I doubt that they will be losing much income as a result of this choice, and it just looks good on them for removing them.

Overall though, the game will be better for it. I just don't trust the corporate fake smile, behind this choice.

I guess the real question with Shadow of War is well, okay, you pulled out the lootboxes. But they were pretty baked in, so what are they doing to fix that gap in the game's design. The second quote mentions some stuff, but nothing overly concrete.

You think so? I never saw the store as being a big part of the game. At no point did I ever feel at a disadvantage for not using it.

If it was something like Battlefront 2 2017 or Overwatch, then sure, because the lootboxes were literally the progression system, but here, the game played exactly as it did in the first game, just with the store tacked on.

 

[sXeth]

I guess the real question with Shadow of War is well, okay, you pulled out the lootboxes. But they were pretty baked in, so what are they doing to fix that gap in the game's design. The second quote mentions some stuff, but nothing overly concrete.

You think so? I never saw the store as being a big part of the game. At no point did I ever feel at a disadvantage for not using it.

If it was something like Battlefront 2 2017 or Overwatch, then sure, because the lootboxes were literally the progression system, but here, the game played exactly as it did in the first game, just with the store tacked on.

Admittedly, I haven't kept up with Shadow of War since it fell like a comet off the radar with its silly idea to begin with. And I didn't end up buying it since I still had the sour taste from the ending of the last one. So can't speak as to any sort of adjusted state of the game that may have occurred post-release (such as EA's walkback effort on Need for Speed, or GTA Online's 3-4 year turnaround on their initial murder of ingame money accumulation when they introduced Shark Cards) But there was a distinct amount of reporting back about the latter part of the game being a complete slog without the loot boxes that carried into several weeks after release. Given that the second quote mentions the endgame Shadow Wars needing a rework, even the developers seem to have that sentiment.


Acceptable grind is of course, a difficult thing to really nail down, and certainly a personal preference. I play Monster Hunter pretty regularly, but there's folks in the game and on reddit that are literally triple my Hunter Rank, and grinding out 2% drops to make builds, drops that only come from defeating the top tier of tempered monsters already, so its kind of dubious that they actually need the build at all.

RNG of course, adds the whole concept of variale grind, where the 1 person coasting through is probably matched by 4 or more getting fed up. Battle Chasers (which was one of my top games last year) was another one that really obnoxious grinding potential. I managed to luck my way through that (and it has lootboxe-style random rewards, although there's no real money buying stuff in it), but can see where the host of people complaining probably tripped into things. I seemingly hit the jackpot on Fortnite (the co-op tower defense version) getting stuff I enjoyed using too, but again, some folks were throwing hundreds of dollars at it and not getting that same experience (Fortunately, since the christmas update and ongoing, there's been additional ways to get items without spending money, and additional control of what you do get).

 

[Mcgeezaks]

 

[CaitSeith]

This could be really good or really bad. Either they feel that the Battlefield 2 controversy has made lootboxes unpopular enough to affect sales; or they are preparing themselves for an upcoming new legislation that moderates games with lootboxes.

 

[sXeth]

This could be really good or really bad. Either they feel that the Battlefield 2 controversy has made lootboxes unpopular enough to affect sales; or they are preparing themselves for an upcoming new legislation that moderates games with lootboxes.

Occam's Razor - They made their sales, and now's an oppurtune time to try and cash in on winning back holdouts or just generally try and net some goodwill and leave the final impression of "Oh yeah, they got rid of the problem" rather then "Oh yeah, they shoved this obtrusive junk in the series and murdered it".

Unless they're dropping the GOTY (or whatever) edition soon, its way too late for the adjustment to be correlated to sales projections.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yeah I saw Jim Sterling's video on this this morning. As I said in the comments on it, either they're incredibly stupid or they think we are. If it's the latter then I'm insulted. I'm just glad I never played this game or it's predecessor otherwise I'd be much more pissed off. Instead I'm just pissed off on principle.

 

[American Tanker]

... Either they're incredibly stupid or they think we are.

They KNOW normies are fucking retarded and will eat this shit up.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

... Either they're incredibly stupid or they think we are.

They KNOW normies are fucking retarded and will eat this shit up.

I know. And they're right too.

 

[Tanis]

Gives me another reason to wait for the GOTY edition of the game.

Games like these I usually wait for, anyways, no point in toss 60-100+USD on game when I can wait a year or two for the complete version for 40/60USD.

 

[Avnger]

... Either they're incredibly stupid or they think we are.

They KNOW normies are fucking retarded and will eat this shit up.

You're a normie, I'm a normie, everyone's a fucking normie. Stop othering groups of people to make yourself feel superior. Hardcore "gamers," casual gamers, and normie gamers all bought into Shadow of War and showed they don't care about microtransactions and lootboxes.

 

[Callate]

So... What happens to the content that you had to purchase before? Are they just going to plonk it all down in the game, are you going to have to find in-game ways to earn it, is it going to be permanently put out of reach?

I'll note with added cynicism that they announced you will be able to buy gold until May 8, which I think falls less on the side of "fair warning" and possibly more on the side of "here's how to engineer one last gold rush."

I can't hate them for doing the right thing, even if it's perhaps for the wrong reason, but until the trend moves away from putting in-game purchases in in the first place, I'm not exactly going to strew rose petals at their feet, either.

And for the umpteenth time, I wonder why anybody is allowing themselves to be baited into buying AAA games at launch.

 

[sXeth]

So... What happens to the content that you had to purchase before? Are they just going to plonk it all down in the game, are you going to have to find in-game ways to earn it, is it going to be permanently put out of reach?

I'll note with added cynicism that they announced you will be able to buy gold until May 8, which I think falls less on the side of "fair warning" and possibly more on the side of "here's how to engineer one last gold rush."

I can't hate them for doing the right thing, even if it's perhaps for the wrong reason, but until the trend moves away from putting in-game purchases in in the first place, I'm not exactly going to strew rose petals at their feet, either.

And for the umpteenth time, I wonder why anybody is allowing themselves to be baited into buying AAA games at launch.

I assume you just get to keep your super loot orcs for as long as they survive. Unless its in the second bit about retooling Shadow Wars, they didn't say varying orc tiers wouldn't exist, just that you'd have to pick them up ingame.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Got to admit, I'm considering it an acceptable purchase for the future after seeing this news. Not yet though.

 

[Drathnoxis]

They should have to give back all the money to everyone who has purchased loot boxes up to this point.