Middle Earth: Shadow of War strips out loot boxes and reworks its end-game - mayorhong1968

We never finished reviewing Middle Earth: Shadower of War and we never finished reviewing it because…substantially, I ne'er dressed it period. Placid to this daylight I oasis't seen the credits. I think I made it 15 to 20 hours in before openhanded up on its bloated campaign, repetitive social system, and course the stink of loot boxes stratified over the top. A game that secure to capitalize on the prospective of Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System instead matte up wish it buckled under the weight of "Much! More! More!"

Simply perhaps thither's hope for Shadow of War ($60 on Humble) yet. Today Monolith at long last releases an all-embracing patch that promises to address most if not all of people's problems—and it's a lot of changes. Non since Final Fantasy XIV have I seen a game undergo such extensive reworking as what Monolith's apparently done with Shadow of War.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Most importantly: No ransack boxes. No microtransactions of any kind really. I wear't know whether this was always the plan or whether the blowback from last class's swag box scandals prompted WB into action, just either path it's a huge shift—at least in mental attitude, if not the game itself.

It does feel like removing loot boxes has rippled into early systems though. The main complaints I heard last year rotated or so the titular "Overshadow Wars," a lengthy end-game segment that required players to au fon wonk out fortress conquests over and over and over. It seemed almost tailor-made to coerce impatient players into disbursal money on loot boxes.

Whether by happenstance or not, the entire Shadower War chapter has been reworked now to a fault. It's now called "The Epilogue" and according to this handout has been "vastly streamlined to include new narration from Shelob, the Witch-king and Dark Talion." Those who desire to keep apart acting afterward the credits can do sol, merely everyone else should have a shorter, more telegraphic experience.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Again, whether this was forever the plan? And whether removing the loot boxes then fed into Monolith fixing different systems designed just about gelt boxes? Nary idea.

It's a pretty large ill-trea for Monolith to take regardless, and it means Shadow of War now should be a overmuch more pleasant experience than information technology was the last nine months.

There are other, little changes too. More ways to customize Talion, faster flat progression, randomised pitch stats, tweaks to the Nemesis System, new thespian skins, etc.. But "We rebuilt the entire end of the game" is the most noteworthy change, and same that has me tempted to kick in the game some other barb. Non very tempted—my problems extended beyond the Shadow War section, and I retrieve the entire bet on could've been shrunken down by half. Merely leastways now I know there's a light at the destruction of the tunnel, and that IT won't take ME 45 hours of grinding to puzzle over there.

And hopefully this is the final nail in the coffin for loot boxes, or at least the sort of exploitive behaviors we saw from publishers last class. Fingers crossed.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/402284/middle-earth-shadow-of-war-loot-boxes-end-game.html

Posted by: mayorhong1968.blogspot.com

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