Designing the Fire and Ice Mystery Box

GG work GGG!

I'm not one to get lootboxes unless you are getting extremely good value for bringing randomness into the equation.

I am definitely interested in the macro hideout deco but at this point I am still purchasing specific things I want.

Before you continue down this path, please revamp the prices.. they are atrocious

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xenogias wrote:

Have to admit. I just came back this season after not playing for several years and when I saw loot boxes I was pretty saddened to see you guys had added loot boxes. In my opinion they are just as shady as Pay 2 win items in a cash shop. The whole point to loot boxes are to prey on people with gambling addictions. Frankly, they are the only reason I haven't bought any MTX since I got back. Don't get me wrong, I understand while you love what you do, you have to make money. I just personally feel loot boxes are a pretty crappy way to do it.

If you have a problem with mystery boxes, then just buy the item later at full price. It sounds like you've been jaded by other games (the fact that you called them "loot boxes" suggests this) that implement them in an undesirable way.

First off, mystery boxes give players a chance to obtain an MTX at below store price. Secondly, these items don't affect gameplay at all. How do you compare it to "pay 2 win" items in other games when you can literally spend thousands of dollars here and gain absolutely NO advantage over any other player in game (aside from stash tabs, maybe)?

Yes, GGG does need to make money. Mystery boxes appeal to those who want to try to grab a little extra value. I'll buy 10-20 boxes with whatever leftover points I have from a supporter pack purchase. I rarely get duplicates, but I'll usually score at least one of the big 300 point items every box rotation (wings, portals, cloaks). That's all I'm trying to get, as I'll probably end up buying whatever I don't have on sale once the items enter the shop (waiting for discounts on Chaos/Order box items right now).

Other games (I'm thinking Destiny 2 right now) have time limited loot boxes that their companies (Bungie) basically FORCE you to gamble if you're trying to get a specific item. THOSE are the shady practices. The ONLY way for you to get those items is by buying boxes and relying purely on RNG. GGG doesn't do that stuff, as they guarantee that the items will show up in the shop eventually. Anything that is time-limited immediately hits the shops for purchase, no gambling required (i.e. Yeti Mask, League-specific Brimmed Hats).

In the end, no one's forcing you to spend real money to play the game competitively with everyone else. Almost every MTX (aside from challenge rewards, event-limited items) can be bought without gambling. This is about as ethical as you can get when it comes to MTX in a game.

And for those complaining about duplicates... to be honest, they're getting a 70% discount on items but asking for 90%. If GGG made the Mystery Boxes feel like you're cheating the system (sell back unwanted MTX for 10 pts?), people would go bankrupt in minutes.

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

I wish you'd stay away from gambling, GGG. I used to be able to point to POE as a positive example of the free-to-play model, and I'm not comfortable doing that these days. The game is brilliant and it's been great to see it grow and be successful for you; 'mystery boxes' are the first instance where I just think you're doing the wrong thing.

Unfortunately, "free to play" is great for players, not so great for the developers. Where do you think they get the money for constantly pumping out content for us at this speed? Take a look at Diablo 3, which went from "buy to play + real money auction house" to "no fresh revenue". They're now in the "maintenance" part of the product cycle and just bleeding money just to keep servers online. The game is only where it is today BECAUSE mystery boxes appeal to so many people.

And keep in mind, in the end, the game still free to play. No one's forcing you to buy any MTX. Buying MTX doesn't give you any kind of in-game advantage. In fact, they allow you to earn some MTX doing challenges every league.

If you don't want to buy to play the game, don't want to pay a subscription, and balk at MTX purchases that don't affect gameplay, then how do you want GGG to make money to keep improving this game and giving us new leagues every few months?

imo this box is the worst one yet...

Can see why GGG love it though, now the whales have to buy more to get everything.

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XNtrysyti wrote:

If you don't want to buy to play the game, don't want to pay a subscription, and balk at MTX purchases that don't affect gameplay, then how do you want GGG to make money to keep improving this game and giving us new leagues every few months?

Please don't put words in my mouth. At no point have I said I don't want to buy to play the game (you can clearly see that I have paid GGG money - much more than I pay for most games, as it happens). I do not "balk at purchases that don't affect gameplay" - my post was specifically about mystery boxes, not about item transactions in general.

Love the new mtx and the box had some great stuff in it, but can you please not make duplicates of the gale/ decorations? 3 corpse piles in a row + 3 gales in a row feels pretty rough.

I beg you let us combine fire and ice footprints, characters effect, weapon effects :(

At this point you should redo all mtx for hideouts that are effects only on part of ho - like rain and other shit that is SMALL AF

This was my favorite Mystery Box so far, amazing job!

My only sadness was that one set of ice blocks is not very much to build with. With RNG, how many hundreds of dollars would anyone have to spend to create a useful structure with them? One set of ice blocks looks pretty silly in a H/O; I think these should be awarded in at least 3's.

While I didn't combine any MTXs (great feature though!), it did sound like there was a large sentiment of people wishing they could uncombine, which seems like a reasonable request.

Can't wait to see the next one!