pwsm50 said:
Honestly, while the business practices are indeed shady and probably will not change (despite them saying they will be changing), I just enjoy the gameplay. I personally chose to only spend money on the packs that will allow me to keep playing, such as the energy packs, but that is where I find the worth.
It's hard for me to find mobile games I get enjoyment from, so I've been sticking with Raid after about a month and a half of playing. Once I reach the point that I feel I have nothing left to achieve, however, I'll probably end up quitting and not coming back. Admittedly, the chances on legendary pulls does seem low, but at the same time, it keeps the legendary champs as something you see as... well... legendary. It should just be kept in mind that when money is being spent on shards, you are spending money on the CHANCES to get the legendaries. Nothing more. You also should not go to a casino and drop thousands of dollars on slot machines with the expectation you're going to walk away a millionaire.
Lootbox tactics are just that. A casino. Don't play this game without that expectation and I think you will get far more enjoyment out of it.
I wouldn't call it legendary, when some players open their first legendary within their first week of playing, whereas others open it 6 months later. And the main issue is that, while you are someone who is very aware of the predatory nature of the company, some of the playerbase is not. Say you have a younger person playing, who is not getting what they want in the game, because drop rates are designed to be awful. Then as they keep logging in, they continue to get bright flashing screens with every login about real money 'deals' that have images of champions they will most likely never open from the shards being sold. The second they press buy, they've been caught in it. This is worse than gambling. With gambling, you have to be a certain age to get in, and you have to go out of your way to get to a casino. With these 'games', you just download, and right away, the predatory marketing algorithms begin.
Everything in the game is carefully planned to create a vicious cycle where players go from being hopeful, being disappointed, being miserable, and so forth. There's a reason why RNG was implemented, and it's not to keep legendaries legendary or whatever other excuse the CMs come up with. It's to create a problem, where a player is disappointed in what they are getting from playing the game, and to then provide an answer, in real money offers that flash whenever you log in or run low on resources. It makes complete sense what the company is doing, but they're completely dishonest about it, and also just because it makes sense, doesn't make it right. Laws were enforced to keep the young audience away from casinos, and since the same thing likely cannot be enforced in a mobile game, I personally think it should be made illegal across the board to sell RNG for digital loot that will amount to nothing in due time. If games want to sell something, why not sell itemry that is set in stone, or sell gameplay modes, or just make people pay for the game itself? For Raid, it would never survive this way, because gameplay hasn't been updated since release, faction wars is long overdue, and all resources are being directed into champions that you will likely not get anytime soon unless you pay money.