Shadow of War infested by writhing mass of microtransactions

[AJ_Radio]

14 hours ago, tpepper1985 said:

Just going to skip all these fall games for now, I have zero interest in supporting full priced games that include Microtransactions, especially if they are change game balance, or double dip with season passes. If it turns out you can Plat the games without buying in to the microtransactions within a reasonable time frame I will get them in a sale 1-2 years from now.

 

I still have to play Persona 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, Nier Automata, Nioh. Still plenty of AAA games around that do not feel the need to implement the casino lootbox system into thier game, I'm actually more interested to see how things will look next year ... We all know that EA / Activision / WB have hard ons for loot boxes but I'm wondering if it's going to be literally everywhere. Ubisoft and Bethesda have not really gone down that road yet but who knows maybe they will start introducing them too.

 

Elder Scrolls 6/Fallout 5 seem ripe for lootbox implementation since they are loot based games, apparently this years Assassin's Creed does not have them but if all your competitors are making loads of money with them it must be pretty tempting to add them in to your own games. 

 

The worst thing about all this is despite the huge backlash and nagative PR they are getting this year I doubt it's going to make any difference, it will not suprise me in the slightest if they make more money this year than they did last year due to the lootboxs. There are too many uninformed consumers who will buy these games having no idea that these systems are in them, and those consumers are the ones who will end up buying the microtransactions. Unless you visit gaming sites there's no way average joe knows that Battlefront 2 is pay2win, he probably doesn't even know what pay2win means. 

 

You're basically skipping games that have the slightest tendency to speed up a grinding process. 

 

The post above you says the impact of loot boxes clearly. It seems there is a large group of people out there who are quick to judge lootboxes as being all out bad. These sources I've seen complaining about Shadow of War are coming from dodgy places and popular Youtubers who bitch and complain about the most minor of lootboxes. I doubt these people have completed the game, let alone play enough of it for themselves to see how much of an impact the lootboxes have on the grinding process. 

 

Hell people jumped on this well before any of the people who got the game early played it. Yet these are the same individuals who look down on games that are very short. I haven't seen anything that really shows these lootboxes completely break the game, or have such an unfair advantage that the person who is rich is saving dozens of hours of gameplay over someone else who isn't so rich, or is playing the entire game legit. 

 

Lootboxes are a big controversy right now. I think it's stupid to outright skip games that might potentially be good. 

 

You are more than free to pick the games you want the most. I'm tired of hearing all the generalization people are making. Warner Bros is an easy target for criticism so it entirely makes sense. Most people are just making accusations on this. 

[TheSleepyBeauty]

Micro-transactions for a single-player game is like buying a condom and using it on yourself without a partner to have sex, It's pointless and a waste of money for the consumer. 

[Dreakon13]

I think microtransactions are exposing the real problem with AAA games these days... the exhausting amount of open world and RPG-lite games being churned out.

 

You all dug your own graves by demanding everything be 100+ hours of aimless wandering between quest markers, menu management and min/maxing to be worth it... just asking for games to wind up getting artificially extended past the point of comfort and these money-making speedup schemes to creep in.  Good luck adding microtransactions that matter to a nice 8-10 hour linear single player experience.

Edited October 13, 2017 by Dreakon13

[AJ_Radio]

3 hours ago, Dreakon13 said:

I think microtransactions are exposing the real problem with AAA games these days... the exhausting amount of open world and RPG-lite games being churned out.

 

You all dug your own graves by demanding everything be 100+ hours of aimless wandering between quest markers, menu management and min/maxing to be worth it... just asking for games to wind up getting artificially extended past the point of comfort and these money-making speedup schemes to creep in.  Good luck adding microtransactions that matter to a nice 8-10 hour linear single player experience.

 

These are the same people who bitch when a game is too short, but when they have to devote the time and effort to a game like Final Fantasy 13 or The Witcher 3, they complain they're too long, they take too much effort/skill, they take too much of a grind.

 

Hell I spent 1000+ hours on World of Warcraft and over 8000 hours on Runescape. I never once asked for a method to pay my way to faster levels and XP. That completely defeats the purpose of playing these games in the first place.

 

Jesus Christ. It's like there has to be that "defined line" that caters to these people. If it's too short and easy they complain. If it's too difficult and time consuming they complain.

 

Probably the only "REAL" reason these microtransactions were introduced in the first place was because these people didn't want to have to put up with the grinding and leveling up process that would take dozens, hundreds of hours to do. So these corporate companies introduce microtransactions as a way to pay their way to higher XP and rewards, instead of playing the games the way they were meant to be played all along.

 

Money has been a big reason for these companies motives to introduce the microtransactions, and they only make the game easier and shorter. I'm not saying people are forced to use microtransactions, I don't know of any video game or computer game that ever forced people to buy them except for maybe a couple. But they're there, and the people who are more privileged than the average guy will buy into them. 

 

You guys did this to yourselves.

[maniek515]

Making people grind for around 20 hours just to experience legit ending of the game is obviously a bitch move which encourages lootboxes. And devs explaining that these boxes are only the way for people to save their time... It's more like they're saying ''playing the game is waste of time but you can waste a little less time if you pay xxx $''. 

And of course, I don't give a crap what people spend their money on but more people buy these kind of things, the better chance this becomes a common practice. 

[C9Sasza]

3 hours ago, maniek515 said:

Making people grind for around 20 hours just to experience legit ending of the game is obviously a bitch move which encourages lootboxes. And devs explaining that these boxes are only the way for people to save their time... It's more like they're saying ''playing the game is waste of time but you can waste a little less time if you pay xxx $''. 

And of course, I don't give a crap what people spend their money on but more people buy these kind of things, the better chance this becomes a common practice. 

 

i think you never play this game, last chapter in this game is the shortest i finish it in 2h without buying lootboxes.I hate when people talk about when they have no idea what they are talking about

[DF007gamer]

4 hours ago, maniek515 said:

Making people grind for around 20 hours just to experience legit ending of the game is obviously a bitch move which encourages lootboxes. And devs explaining that these boxes are only the way for people to save their time... It's more like they're saying ''playing the game is waste of time but you can waste a little less time if you pay xxx $''. 

And of course, I don't give a crap what people spend their money on but more people buy these kind of things, the better chance this becomes a common practice. 

54 minutes ago, C9Sasza said:

 

i think you never play this game, last chapter in this game is the shortest i finish it in 2h without buying lootboxes.I hate when people talk about when they have no idea what they are talking about

 

Firstly well done on your plat. Secondly this is what the internet is "mostly" about these days. People bitch about things they've never experienced or games they've never played. 

 

[rasklo93]

On 6.8.2017 at 11:21 AM, HardXDXtraga said:

 

Doesn't it make sense though? If they have microtransactions it will affect the game, players who refuse to buy them because they already spent money buying the game will get a longer grind, otherwise there wouldn't be microtransactions.

If they don't make the game grindier even thought they have microtransactions props to them, you don't see that everyday

But those who bought the gold edistion just got extra captains and a sword. I bought it, but there is still alot of grind to me. I have even lost 2 of the captains that came with the preorder. If you don't want to waist money by buying ingame then don't. They are not forcing you and the extra gear don't push you that much. It is like a 3% boost on your gameplay that go down to 0 after a couple of hours. Don't hate a game just because you can buy extra thing ingame. CSGO have useless skins that don't do a thing, but still many people buy them because they want them. They don't do shit, but people buy because they want another colour on their gun. 

Singel player loot boxes are just for those you maybe want extra gear or those who like to waist money. You can get loot chest in Shadow Of War by doing online things like attacking other's forts or vendetas that give you swords and gear that is slightly better then what you find in the offline part. All gear i got from online is slightly worse then what i get from killing captains offline. 

[starcrunch061]

On 10/7/2017 at 3:08 PM, Paige-ID said:

Companies need a lot of money. Indie developers like CD Project Red do not. They don't have bonds maturing. They don't have giant amounts of 401k matching contributions. Insurance premiums. Etc. An indie developer sells 250k copies and it's a smash hit for them and their respective overhead. If Activision only sells 250k it's a financial loss/disaster. 

 

You're crazy if you think that publishers like EA are paying 401K matching contributions, or health insurance, to contracted developers. The whole point of the contractor model is to avoid that stuff.

 

This is a level of corporate shilling unlike anything I've ever read.

On 10/13/2017 at 2:56 PM, Dreakon13 said:

I think microtransactions are exposing the real problem with AAA games these days... the exhausting amount of open world and RPG-lite games being churned out.

 

You all dug your own graves by demanding everything be 100+ hours of aimless wandering between quest markers, menu management and min/maxing to be worth it... just asking for games to wind up getting artificially extended past the point of comfort and these money-making speedup schemes to creep in.  Good luck adding microtransactions that matter to a nice 8-10 hour linear single player experience.

 

Amen, brother. I love RPGs. But the whole, "Let's stuff this game with pointless grinding so people will think it's 100 hours when it's really just 25 good + 75 bad" is just nauseating. I cringe at the idea of microtransactions actually invading the RPGs that I love (and I know it's just around the corner).

[itachi-destroyer]

I almost cancelled my pre-order thanks to people saying stupid things about this game and his microtransactions  

 

I'm still in the second part of the game but I'm already level 40 and I have a good army and if I listen to the game I've just done 70% of the game so if you plan on buying the game don't hesitate. The game is a HUGE upgrade of the first game, the story is way better and you can do everything without having to use a single €/$ and the game doesn't even feel like a grind because IT ISN'T. 

 

Maybe people should play the game before talking sh*t about a fantastic game. The game also have daily challenges that give a lot of Gold pieces, I finished one yesterday that gave me 500 Gold pieces. You can buy a 100% exp multiplier (that lasts 2 hours) for 100 gold pieces...

 

I'm not a supporter of microtransactions but I feel like they are handled really well in this game. 

 

Finally, even if you are unable to play online and have the exp boosts, you can also boost the exp you receive by 30% with in game gems

[Lance_87]

I wonder where's TC now. "Duhhh cancel all preorders"

[melbye82]

12 hours ago, maniek515 said:

Making people grind for around 20 hours just to experience legit ending of the game is obviously a bitch move which encourages lootboxes. And devs explaining that these boxes are only the way for people to save their time... It's more like they're saying ''playing the game is waste of time but you can waste a little less time if you pay xxx $''. 

And of course, I don't give a crap what people spend their money on but more people buy these kind of things, the better chance this becomes a common practice. 

I finished Shadow Wars and i didn't grind for 20 hours. This whole ordeal has been severely blown up

[maniek515]

9 hours ago, C9Sasza said:

 

i think you never play this game, last chapter in this game is the shortest i finish it in 2h without buying lootboxes.I hate when people talk about when they have no idea what they are talking about

 

13 minutes ago, melbye82 said:

I finished Shadow Wars and i didn't grind for 20 hours. This whole ordeal has been severely blown up

 

8 hours ago, DF007gamer said:

 

Firstly well done on your plat. Secondly this is what the internet is "mostly" about these days. People bitch about things they've never experienced or games they've never played. 

 

 

True, I haven't played the game yet and I was relying on info spread around the web. 

If people who actually played it, tell me I'm wrong, I admit, I might have been misleaded. My bad, please don't shoot me ?

[Morfea]

Are the same ppl mad because they started make digital deluxe games too? Instead of using the microtransaction mid game it’s done from the start? They usually never give more than some starter items.

 

Just enjoy the game in your pace, and let others do as they want. Let them pay extra if they want, so the company get extra money to make more new games. Win-win for you if you don’t use the micro.

 

or just don’t buy and miss out on a great game, it’s not like the company cares of a loss of some ppl, and thoose who cancel won’t use mircos anyway. So who will lose in the end?

[AJ_Radio]

14 hours ago, itachi-destroyer said:

I almost cancelled my pre-order thanks to people saying stupid things about this game and his microtransactions  

 

I'm still in the second part of the game but I'm already level 40 and I have a good army and if I listen to the game I've just done 70% of the game so if you plan on buying the game don't hesitate. The game is a HUGE upgrade of the first game, the story is way better and you can do everything without having to use a single €/$ and the game doesn't even feel like a grind because IT ISN'T. 

 

Maybe people should play the game before talking sh*t about a fantastic game. The game also have daily challenges that give a lot of Gold pieces, I finished one yesterday that gave me 500 Gold pieces. You can buy a 100% exp multiplier (that lasts 2 hours) for 100 gold pieces...

 

I'm not a supporter of microtransactions but I feel like they are handled really well in this game. 

 

Finally, even if you are unable to play online and have the exp boosts, you can also boost the exp you receive by 30% with in game gems

 

Thank you.

 

People are quick to watch a Youtube video of some popular mega Youtuber or a website like IGN and then automatically form the conclusion that the microtransactions in Shadow of War break the game.

 

It's very sad that so many people out there don't do their research and just blindly accept whatever is trending. Most of those game reviewers barely touched the game, let alone play enough of it to beat the story and experience all of what it has to offer.

[FielVeredus]

Since I already plaitnum'ed it I guess I valid to tell my opinion more about this case.

 

The grind at the end game is REAL. it's really boring, tedious. You are not going to need lootbox to finished this because you can just recruit warchief that apparently invade you to be on your side to keep progressing power easily without have to babysit them (equip +5 lv gem is a must) but thing will start to get tedious when you are on late wave (Stage 7+) where orc are really overpowered you. (mean sometime you can't just recruit strong orc) and that is when thing get serious. because these defense mission is hard enough that i guess i can see some may consider buy some help just to get out of tight spot. On Stage 9 my orc RNG suck badly that the game decided to give me basically unbeatable invaders , waste 2 hours try to beat them but still lose so i let them win and take the fortress back later via tedious time wasted process (defeat warchief in quest 1 by 1 then conquest to beat overlord later).

 

It sounds horrible , and yes it is even not too hardcore like some JRPG game but still unpleasant to do and I considered not buying this game again if it eventually get some sequel after all because i am tired of repeating this kind of gameplay and that purely the fault of end game that make me feel boring and do the same growing tedious thing over and over. this went from 8.5/10 to 7/10 game for me after completed Act 4.

 

You can get free gold by daily quest, first one worth 500 gold then after that it is 50 gold onward. I strongly suggest buy Act 1 bundle ASAP and get yourself x5 100%xp and beat story mission until you run out of time. this should make end game easier because you can recruit high level orc easier.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by FielVeredus

[starcrunch061]

7 hours ago, FielVeredus said:

Since I already plaitnum'ed it I guess I valid to tell my opinion more about this case.

 

The grind at the end game is REAL. it's really boring, tedious. You are not going to need lootbox to finished this because you can just recruit warchief that apparently invade you to be on your side to keep progressing power easily without have to babysit them (equip +5 lv gem is a must) but thing will start to get tedious when you are on late wave (Stage 7+) where orc are really overpowered you. (mean sometime you can't just recruit strong orc) and that is when thing get serious. because these defense mission is hard enough that i guess i can see some may consider buy some help just to get out of tight spot. On Stage 9 my orc RNG suck badly that the game decided to give me basically unbeatable invaders , waste 2 hours try to beat them but still lose so i let them win and take the fortress back later via tedious time wasted process (defeat warchief in quest 1 by 1 then conquest to beat overlord later).

 

It sounds horrible , and yes it is even not too hardcore like some JRPG game but still unpleasant to do and I considered not buying this game again if it eventually get some sequel after all because i am tired of repeating this kind of gameplay and that purely the fault of end game that make me feel boring and do the same growing tedious thing over and over. this went from 8.5/10 to 7/10 game for me after completed Act 4.

 

You can get free gold by daily quest, first one worth 500 gold then after that it is 50 gold onward. I strongly suggest buy Act 1 bundle ASAP and get yourself x5 100%xp and beat story mission until you run out of time. this should make end game easier because you can recruit high level orc easier.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep it in mind. I had a feeling that, probably, there was some end-game grinding, but it wasn't like WKC or Star Ocean. People tend either to overiinflate or minimize the impact of everything on the internet.

 

Not too stoked for end-game grinding at all. One of the great things about Shadow of Mordor was its brisk pace. Nothing felt super extraneous, and the game hung together well. But I won't be buying this, anyway, and will instead wait for it to come to my local library, so it shouldn't matter that much.

 

One note: are these "daily quests" open to anyone playing the game, or do you need a new copy to get access to them?

[FielVeredus]

If you can access the game, you can access daily quest (internet connection required to get the quest but not sure if PS+ is the case or not) the game has 4 daily quest everyday which provide some interesting reward as well as community challenge/weekly quest that get some good item. if you see the condition is too time consume you can reset the condition, i guess one time per day.

 

Please note that , the daily quest will start at around mid-Act 2 not from start. the thing you can do from start is only community challenge.

Edited October 17, 2017 by FielVeredus

[C9Sasza]

12 hours ago, FielVeredus said:

Since I already plaitnum'ed it I guess I valid to tell my opinion more about this case.

 

The grind at the end game is REAL. it's really boring, tedious. You are not going to need lootbox to finished this because you can just recruit warchief that apparently invade you to be on your side to keep progressing power easily without have to babysit them (equip +5 lv gem is a must) but thing will start to get tedious when you are on late wave (Stage 7+) where orc are really overpowered you. (mean sometime you can't just recruit strong orc) and that is when thing get serious. because these defense mission is hard enough that i guess i can see some may consider buy some help just to get out of tight spot. On Stage 9 my orc RNG suck badly that the game decided to give me basically unbeatable invaders , waste 2 hours try to beat them but still lose so i let them win and take the fortress back later via tedious time wasted process (defeat warchief in quest 1 by 1 then conquest to beat overlord later).

 

It sounds horrible , and yes it is even not too hardcore like some JRPG game but still unpleasant to do and I considered not buying this game again if it eventually get some sequel after all because i am tired of repeating this kind of gameplay and that purely the fault of end game that make me feel boring and do the same growing tedious thing over and over. this went from 8.5/10 to 7/10 game for me after completed Act 4.

 

You can get free gold by daily quest, first one worth 500 gold then after that it is 50 gold onward. I strongly suggest buy Act 1 bundle ASAP and get yourself x5 100%xp and beat story mission until you run out of time. this should make end game easier because you can recruit high level orc easier.

 

 

 

i think you need to change hobby video games is not for you 

[Paige-ID]

On 10/16/2017 at 7:47 AM, starcrunch061 said:

 

You're crazy if you think that publishers like EA are paying 401K matching contributions, or health insurance, to contracted developers. The whole point of the contractor model is to avoid that stuff.

No, they would. I myself am a contracted employee and my company either has to offer qualified health benefits due to the Affordable Care Act , or face a tax penalty. (if over 50 full-time employees) A contract wouldn't automatically void 401k options with today's IRA roll-over methods, so it's not unlikely at all that they would offer this to contract employees.

Not to mention, not everyone at Warner Brothers is on contract. Warner Brothers is a huge company, so any failure under the umbrella ripples throughout the entire company of Time Warner. Or AT&T, if it goes through. Though they separate earnings in company sectors, in total the EPS of a company is a blanket figure. One sector failing would affect the projected profits of an entire quarter. Thousands of employees have company benefits that include either company shares, options, etc. All of these employees would be affected by a company failing. 

Then it goes further. Let's just assume AT&T acquires Time Warner successfully. AT&T has been known for a long time as a Dividend Aristocrat, meaning they are most likely part of your own 401k holdings as well. The more money they put in the development of software, and the less money it produces, the board will either cancel the making of software altogether, or stomach the loss for a while causing company deterioration. Your 401k will lose value in this (if not very little), but certainly more than a few micro transactions would've; especially given the optional nature of them.

 

tl;dr these large companies making money is a good thing for many people. If they can increase profits through a completely optional system then it should be encouraged, not chastised. More money = more games for us, better jobs for people, etc. Especially if a game learns how to properly balance it. In the last 7 days since its release, Shadow of War already has 120+ people with the Platinum. Did they all drown themselves in micro transactions? Or could it be that the optional nature of these transactions are exactly that? Optional.

[Eraezr]

What are the odds of the GOTY edition removing the microtransaction functionality?

[FielVeredus]

8 hours ago, C9Sasza said:

 

i think you need to change hobby video games is not for you 

 

Video games are my hobby and jobs that i do for living so i don't know what are you talking about.

 

I have play many grinding game while this game is not too bad it's just not really fun to do except to get the true ending / trophy. But the thing is microtransaction seems to effected this part of game design directly that it tried to trick people into spending by frustration. it's much bigger picture than just my opinion.

4 minutes ago, Eraezr said:

What are the odds of the GOTY edition removing the microtransaction functionality?

 

you can disable it when you first enter the game, do not accept the TOS.

[rdhight]

11 hours ago, Paige-ID said:

tl;dr these large companies making money is a good thing for many people. If they can increase profits through a completely optional system then it should be encouraged, not chastised. More money = more games for us, better jobs for people, etc.

 

I am not an enemy of companies making money. I am pro-business. But I want to live in a world where good gameplay is good business and where slow, over-grindy, intentionally frustrating gameplay is bad business. It's our choice as to which world we're going to live in. Don't you want good gameplay for us to be the correct business decision for employees and shareholders to make money? I sure do!

[starcrunch061]

13 hours ago, Paige-ID said:

Then it goes further. Let's just assume AT&T acquires Time Warner successfully. AT&T has been known for a long time as a Dividend Aristocrat, meaning they are most likely part of your own 401k holdings as well. The more money they put in the development of software, and the less money it produces, the board will either cancel the making of software altogether, or stomach the loss for a while causing company deterioration. Your 401k will lose value in this (if not very little), but certainly more than a few micro transactions would've; especially given the optional nature of them.

 

tl;dr these large companies making money is a good thing for many people. If they can increase profits through a completely optional system then it should be encouraged, not chastised. 

 

Man - your brand of "trickle down" economics is just nauseating to me. 

 

1 hour ago, rdhight said:

 

I am not an enemy of companies making money. I am pro-business. But I want to live in a world where good gameplay is good business and where slow, over-grindy, intentionally frustrating gameplay is bad business. It's our choice as to which world we're going to live in. Don't you want good gameplay for us to be the correct business decision for employees and shareholders to make money? I sure do!

 

Agreed. There is this strange conflation of "good business" and "microtransactions", and I just don't see it. I continue to think that microtransactions are not a sustainable system, and honestly, I am unconvinced that the revenue streams from them are even possible to scale to the level these companies hope.

 

[YemmytheFerret]

Easiest way to get epic/legendary orcs is to send weak orcs into the champion fight pits then after they lose recruit the new captian.  Easy peasy, no money spent.  I've been doing this since I got to level 40 (which seems to be base level for champion fight pits)