A while back, I came across a Lord of the Rings Online discussion that leaped out at me because of its unusual turn. The players were complaining about the game’s lockboxes, not because they’re exploitative but because they’re mostly junk. And I don’t entirely disagree with the sentiment.
Normally, a lockbox loot table will have several desirable things in it; that’s what you’re supposed to be gambling for and chasing, after all. But in LOTRO’s case, it’s mostly stuff I don’t need. Most of the cosmetics and mounts and housing stuff are available in-game through normal play, which is a good thing since I don’t buy keys (free keys or bust for me). But the other gear in the boxes – the supposedly pay-to-win account-bound gear that people flipped tables over back when it was introduced – isn’t really worth it either. It’s not useless, as it scales to whatever your level is, but it’s also not worth real money when you can just get or make equivalent gear in the actual MMO you came to play.
It’s actually sort of weird to see a useless lockbox in an MMO, and as someone who doesn’t even like lockboxes, I shouldn’t be complaining. But I do think it makes a perfect discussion topic for Massively Overthinking, especially since I suspect most of us don’t buy them anyway. I’ve asked our writers to consider this: Which MMOs have the most desirable lockboxes, which have the least, and what kinds of items actually tempt you when perusing lootbox loot tables?
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna.bsky.social, blog): I have said before that I don’t buy lockboxes. I never have, and I don’t think there’s anything out there that could tempt me to break that now. And to be clear, I don’t really judge people who do give into them; it’s a whole tangled bundle of gambling addiction and a lack of statistical knowledge and excess disposable income and blah blah. But I do consider it an ethical lapse for the companies that sell lootboxes or lockbox keys or gacha pulls or whatever, same as selling mystery toys and random card packs is gross.
The main problem is selling chances at an item, not for charity raffle but for the enrichment of the company, with no oversight whatsoever that the loot tables are what the company says they are, which has allowed some studios to swindle players in addition to exploiting them. So there’s nothing you can put in a lockbox in a video game that would get me to look past that problem; anything big enough to even make me look twice would spell such doom for the game itself that I would likely stop playing anyway.
But I owe it to myself to actually try to answer the question; just because I wouldn’t buy keys doesn’t mean I can’t see that some lockboxes are better than others. LOTRO’s are definitely not worth the cost of entry. Guild Wars 2’s are rather mid, from what I’ve seen using the occasional freebie key; they depend so heavily on the quality of the current skins that I think the value of keys fluctuates from month to month.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes.bsky.social, blog): I’m going to be honest, I’m hard-pressed to think of any lockboxes that had desirable items in them. They’ve all been pretty unimpressive or uninteresting. Even the skins and stuff that came out of games like Overwatch weren’t really enough for me to care. So to that end I don’t think that any offerings would get me to actually spend money on them. I’m inoculated to the BS.
Colin Henry (@ChaosConstant): Like most of us on staff, I’m not a big fan of lockboxes and have rarely paid for them, but the least terrible lockbox-like thing that I’m actually OK with buying from time to time is Guild Wars 2’s mount licenses. You’re always guaranteed a mount skin you don’t have yet, from a list of 15, which you can preview before you buy. And since there are only 15 in each pack, the likelihood of getting any particular one you want goes up the more you buy, plus there’s an end to it, which feels a little less exploitative. I do kind of wish it didn’t give you skins for mounts you don’t own, but since the game has made skyscales and warclaws more accessible (and the latter actually useful to those of us who don’t play WvW), I don’t see that as as much of an issue these days. Also, there are select licenses, which cost three times one of the random licenses, but let you pick a particular mount from that set if you don’t feel like gambling.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): I guess I don’t think of lockboxes as “desirable” or “undesirable” because I’ve long since filtered any interest in them out of my mind. If someone wants to give me a free one, fine, I’ll treat it like any other piece of loot. But I’m not going to pay for one and thus don’t really care if any is more fair or bountiful than others. But to answer the question in good faith, I can’t think of a single MMO that really has amazing lockboxes. Free ones I’ve gotten from Elder Scrolls Online have given me some pretty interesting things, such as costumes and stances, but nothing life-changing.
Sam Kash (@samkash@mastodon.social): I’ve never felt the siren call to the lockbox game. I’d like to think I’m in the minority; the prevalence of the feature says I must be. And yet it seems like a lot of us here are of the same mind on it.
So I’ve never bought lockboxes or their keys. However, I have eyed with some jealousy these sweet weapon skins from the Guild Wars 2 boxes. But ArenaNet allows players to sell those skins in the auction house, so with enough coin, they are obtainable.
Perhaps the more interesting idea to me is what’s the best implementation of them. Since I’m such a basic boy, I don’t pay them much attention, but I would bet there are all sorts. I like that Guild Wars 2 allows players to trade the skins in lockboxes – it gives them more value, I think, plus it makes them something that I can be willing to look at even if I can’t buy into the chance to pull them. And the fact that you can get keys for free occasionally is nice too.
Tyler Edwards (blog): I don’t enjoy gambling, so I’ve never really been tempted by lockboxes. Even if they do have something I like, once something has a sufficiently low drop rate, it effectively ceases to exist for me, regardless of whether I have to pay money for it or not.
I’ve only paid real money for a lockbox once, in ESO. I had already gotten a bunch of freebie lockboxes that left me with almost enough of the pity currency for a cosmetic I wanted (can’t remember what), so I bought one more just to get me over the finish line. I actually got a jackpot of the currency and was able to buy a bunch more stuff than I originally intended, so that was lucky.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!
