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Middle-earth: Shadow of War will have microtransactions, Loot Boxes

Middle-earth: Shadow of War will feature microtransactions and Loot Boxes, developer Monolith recently confirmed.

“Through the Market, players can purchase Loot Chests, War Chests, XP Boosts and Bundles (accessed only with an internet connection),” Community Specialist Steven ‘Jared’ Rabago wrote in a new blog post.

The three main options were broken down further as follows:

  • Loot Chests contain Gear (weapons and armor) of varying rarity. Equipping and upgrading these weapons and armor enhance Talion’s character abilities. Loot Chests can also contain XP Boosts that help level up Talion faster.
  • War Chests provide Orc followers of varying rarity to help forge a strong army. They can also contain Training Orders to level up and customize Orc followers.
  • XP Boosts are consumables that help level up Talion faster.

The items above can be purchased alone or in bundles using in-game Mirian, earned through progression, or via Gold purchased with microtransactions or earned “in small amounts at specific milestones” or “for participating in community challenges,” Rabago confirmed.

The post also clarifies that Gold “can be used to get high level Loot Chests, War Chests, Boosts and Bundles,” placing it at a higher importance than items purchased with Mirian.

“Gold does not give you an advantage over other players,” the post continues. “No content in the game is gated by Gold. All content can be acquired naturally through normal gameplay.”

What do you make of microtransactions and Loot Boxes in this single-player Lord of the Rings RPG? Users on Reddit certainly don’t appear to be thrilled with the change.

“I’m actually pretty okay with most microtransactions, but shoehorning it into a game like this is way past reasonable, for me at least,” wrote user thesircuddles. “There’s no universe where a single player LOTR style action RPG needs this.”

Middle-earth: Shadow of War heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 10 October. We recently previewed the game here.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.