In a post on the WB Games forums, Monolith Productions reveals plans for a series of free updates coming to Middle-earth: Shadow of War over the next few months. Arguably, the biggest change for the game is that gold and war chests, as well as the in-game market, are being removed completely from the game. Monolith admitted that being able to purchase orcs directly undermined the player’s immersion as well as one of the core mechanics, the Nemesis System. For a game that stresses the importance of players creating their own story and nemesis orcs, the Market enabled players to shortcut the Nemesis System, potentially missing out and taking away the challenge of building a unique orc army.
The other promised change is with Shadow Wars, the end game content players can join once the campaign has ended. Monolith is preparing to add more narrative elements while also streamlining gameplay for a better experience. Endless Siege will remain available and Monolith has also teased more gameplay improvements plus the addition of new content like character skins, skill tree additions, and more. These updates are planned to launch on July 17 and players have until May 8 to purchase additional gold. Any unused gold in player accounts will be transferred into in-game items.
While fans may never know what truly prompted these changes, never the less, it’s a big win for the community who felt this way when the marketplace and loot box reveal occurred last year. It’s possible that the mess Star Wars Battlefront 2 caused with its predatory system had a direct impact on Monolith’s game. Battlefront 2’s situation got so bad that EA had to gut the system completely while governments in places like Hawaii, Australia and the UK began investigations into these sorts of practices in video games. Needless to say, the negative backlash is clearly having an impact on games moving forward.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Monolith
