The Jimquisition: Shadow Of More Dollars

This week, Jim Sterling discusses the continued problem of microtransactions. This time in Shadow of War

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

I loved Shadow of Mordor so the sequel I will be buying it looks amazing.

All I will say like most games just ignore the Micro transactions. They exist not because people don't protest em they exist because people DO spend money on em.

Speak with your wallets and don't spend money on the micro transactions. If you know Shadow of mordor you'll know that you don't need anything the loot boxes offer to enjoy the game.

[Dark_Overlord]

The problem is 'the whales' as they're known are a small set of people who make up the vast majority of MT purchases, so whilst the majority ignore MT's, these idiots make companies so much money that it's still worth them putting them in :(

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Yep, I can't dispute that.

But I won't take the stance of outright not buying a game I want to play. I can only hope those who say they don't support these underhand tactics actually stick to their word and do not buy microtransactions.

Especially in a game like this, its so not needed.

Edit: People forget game companies/publishers care about making money they're not your family or friend. They provide goods/services at a cost and you have to decide what the value of the item is to yourself and if you want to purchase it.

[NapalmSanctuary]

The problem is when games are tuned to incentivize MT purchases (something that harms the quality of the games, themselves), which is just about every game Ive ever seen that has mts, outside of warframe.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

That isn't true,

I can name a couple like Destiny and Overwatch where microtransactions are purely cosmetic and offer no advantage in gameplay therefore its not an incentive unless you have the special snowflake syndrome.

[yeahright2]

That's a good stance to have, but I'd suggest one adjustment, and that's to wait on the reviews for one particular reason, how much of a grind did they make it without micro transactions vs how fun would said grind be?

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

We'll have to wait until the game arrives, but if Shadow of Mordor is any indication there is no grind, its purely based on your skill on how you handle orcs and generals in a fight. You need to discover their weaknesses and use it against them.

Gear has never been a requirement to achieve any of this, they're in the game as options. And from gameplay vids it looks exactly the same.

[freshslicepizza]

Visually the game looks stunning which is the main draw to a lot of people. I think I will wait for a deep sale on this one, this is a game that really highlights what's wrong with the AAA market. A game that looks like it's made for the masses (full of DLC, microtransactions and easy to play), a sequel and with most of the emphsasis on how it looks.

[NapalmSanctuary]

The problem here is that obviously isn't the case. These mts are things that clearly give the player an advantage in multiplayer and in the end game content. It effectively makes mp pay-to-win and I'm betting the end game content will be tuned to be particularly unfair and frustrating specifically to incentivize mt purchases (as is the case in most games where mts effect gameplay), where as without mts, it would definitely be tuned to maximize the quality of the experience.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

I play Shadow of Mordor from a singleplayer perspective, I have no interest in multiplayer in this type of game. So in Shadow of War once the story is over I'm done, therefore the MT can't draw me in.

And i Don't think its the type of game anyone should be focusing on multiplayer for. Its a singleplayer focused game. MP is tacked on.

I have my multiplayer games that I play strictly for multiplayer, one coming is Destiny 2.