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And this is why I don't like lockboxes...
11-04-2012, 08:30 AM
So yeah. Glad this guy did the research on them.
Quote:So, I got some boxes and keys on Live, and proceeded to repeatedly copy characters onto the Test server and move their boxes/keys into the shared stash until I had 1000 keys and boxes. I opened them all. Counting every single item would be an enormous pain in the butt, so I'm just going to give the numbers for the loot that's actually desirable.
2782 Drifter Salvage (100% chance)
You will get, on average, 2.78 Drifter Salvage for every box you open (2, 3, 5, or 10 each)
45 3-Slot Gears (granted via a stack of openable boxes rather than directly) (4.5% chance)
On average, you will need to open 22.2 boxes (spend $20-22) to receive a 3-slot gear.
19 Transforms (1.9% chance)
19 4-Slot Gears (again, as a stack of boxes)
On average, you will need open 52.6 boxes (spend $45-53) to get one of each.
Know these numbers before deciding to buy keys. Cryptic is effectively charging $50 for a $11.50 Become device, a 4-slot item that is barely on-par with the easily-available Silver Champs gear, and a bunch of garbage that you've probably got too many stacks of already. Oh, right, and a few salvage bits so that you can buy the new (and price-boosted) stuff they've put in the Drifter shop.
It seems like the drop rate for the good stuff is much lower than it should be, considering the price. Are these drop rates working as intended?
(BTW - over in DCUO? They have lockboxes there too. But if you're a subscriber account, you just open them all for free. Only the Freemium and Premium players have to buy keys. And even the expendable buffs that drop from them are good. THAT is how you do a "Lockbox" correctly!)
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That sounds somewhat similar in overall effect to the lockboxes in STO - lots of stuff that no one's really all that interested in, not a great deal of anything people are interested in. (It's not clear if there's any staggeringly rare items here that effectively correspond to the lockbox ships in STO though.)
On the other hand, lockboxes are supposed to be entirely in addition to regular drops in that game, which I believe you suggested isn't the case here?
-Morgan.
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Re: DCUO and lockboxes - even free players can open some boxes. I've been playing a bit lately, and I currently have around 10 keys and have obtained (via drop) and opened two boxes. I'm not sure how keys are awarded to free players, but I got one character to 13, deleted it cause I wasn't happy with it, then got another to 11 and created a third. (Note: free players get two slots.) My suspicions are leaning to time based, because it seems to go up by two keys every day or two. Boxes themselves last for 30 days before they are auto-deleted. I've gotten a max level helmet (lost on character deletion - and I just realized that, could have saved it :/ ) and a pair of boots that my low level can use. No real idea how good the items are though due to low time in game.
Edit to add: I'm playing the PS3 version, not sure if/how it differs from PC version.
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In Champs and STO, you get the lockboxes as usual drops. Perhaps even more so. The trick is, if you want to open them, you have to buy keys from the store. So it's essentially a pseudo-asset, you can pay to actually use them or try and trade them off to someone lazy with lots of keys for something worthwhile, but for the most part they're gonna cost you if you want to get anything from them.
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Lockboxes are just a lazy-ass way to make money off of the client base. I mean, if they have anything really worthwhile, they'll show up in the C-store eventually, and anyone interested can buy it there. They troll out the lure of "early free stuff", and don't tell you how much you're actually paying for it.
It's the same marketing strategy behind any online social game. Micro-transactions work as a business model, because the average Joe won't think twice about charging their credit card for a couple bucks every time they see something they'd like. Thing is, over the course of a year, those transactions add up, until what you're paying is essentially full-price on a new game every year for the same old game.
I like the idea of DCUO providing free keys for subscribers. That shows that they understand the lockbox concept is only for casual gamers, but they don't want to alienate their regular subscribers with this concept, and so, provide them with a way around it. That shows they aren't trying to gouge the community. That little detail alone earned DCUO a lot of points in my book. I haven't loaded the game yet, so I don't know how it stacks with CoX or Champions, but it seems to be the least customizable of the three games, so far. Too bad, really. If it had a bit more customizability, it might be a better choice overall, especially with that "We're not gouging our customers" philosophy.
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*Is the lazy player who buys keys* Yeah I'm one of those players but I get more than enough of my own boxes that I don't need to buy them from someone  . At the very least the lock boxes do -not- take the place of regular loot instead have their own separate rolls for drops. Anywho much like CoH and super packs I've been able to stock our SG storage up with goodies for people to use so its not a complete waste to me.
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I will say that it's nice that in CO the bank can store things other than just enhancements for other players. Many is the time I wished I could put RECIPES and other types of gear in the legendary base other than basic salvage and the end result enhancements. Would've been nice if I could've gifted other things.
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Honorbridge Wrote:Re: DCUO and lockboxes - even free players can open some boxes. I've been playing a bit lately, and I currently have around 10 keys and have obtained (via drop) and opened two boxes. I'm not sure how keys are awarded to free players, but I got one character to 13, deleted it cause I wasn't happy with it, then got another to 11 and created a third. (Note: free players get two slots.) My suspicions are leaning to time based, because it seems to go up by two keys every day or two. Boxes themselves last for 30 days before they are auto-deleted. I've gotten a max level helmet (lost on character deletion - and I just realized that, could have saved it :/ ) and a pair of boots that my low level can use. No real idea how good the items are though due to low time in game.
Edit to add: I'm playing the PS3 version, not sure if/how it differs from PC version. I understand it's a pretty significant difference at times - mainly in the way the controls are set up. Although you CAN use a USB port controller on the PC version and then the difference is almost not there (specially on high end systems). But I think the PC engine is capable of higher rez graphics.
And the keys drop randomly? I never saw that. Might be pretty rare. But neat if they did allow it. I need to fire that up and update my client to check out new changes etc.
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I haven't seen a key drop myself, but somehow I'm getting more as time goes on. It might be something on the lines of one key a day maybe. At any rate, at the low level I'm at, I'm somehow getting more keys than boxes.
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Perhaps true in DCUO, but not in STO. I've yet to have a key drop there; I rather expect that said keys only drop in DCUO and not CO or STO.
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