“Unlike a themed Mystery Box, the Salvage Box contains microtransactions from all past boxes. It can yield most microtransactions introduced with a themed Mystery Box that weren’t specifically marked as exclusive to that box. The microtransactions from each new box will be added to the Salvage Box’s reward pool at the point that those microtransactions are added to the store (one month after their box goes off sale). For example, the Frontier microtransactions will become available one month from now, and the Carnival microtransactions in four. A Salvage Box costs 30 points and by default, contains any Common (non-exclusive) microtransaction introduced in a past box. The Salvage Box also lets you destroy your duplicate microtransactions to increase the chances of getting better results. Only microtransactions you have more than one of can be Salvaged. The more valuable the microtransaction, the more of an increase to the reward chances it grants.”
The player reaction wasn’t great, given the current state of lockboxes in the industry; most of the only positivity was for the fact that GGG was at least addressing duplicate items. So here’s the good news: Less than four hours after announcing and implementing the new system, GGG’s Chris Wilson canceled it outright, citing “intensely negative” feedback.
“Earlier today we released the Salvage Box, a mystery box that ramps up the value of its rewards if you destroy duplicate microtransactions,” he wrote. “Community feedback about this feature was intensely negative. We have removed this box from sale. Salvage Boxes that have already been purchased will continue to function until consumed.”
We’re going to assume here that the sort of clear thinking and fair play that’s won Path of Exile’s devs our studio of the year award (and propelled the studio to march at the vanguard of the transparent lockbox trend) prevailed in the end.
Sadly, this isn’t remotely the first time the MMO industry has seen this; SWTOR’s lockboxes-inside-lockboxes were legendary.
