I think in buying microtransactions we're setting up a precedent for future games that I don't think many of us are going to like.

Don't get me wrong, I think a free game that uses microtransactions as a way to support itself is much better than an annual subscription game like World of Warcraft. But microtransactions are evolving the more we allow them and support them to be seen in games. These micro transactions are never [i]not[/i] with the players, even if you don't spend money. They're in the game to get you to gamble, and it'd be crazy for developers then to just to put it in the backseat of the gaming experience. A lot of these microtransactions are aimed at cosmetics, which I've found interesting for a very long time now. If we wanted to have our character look different, in context with something like League of Legends, we could just find a way to put mods into the game. But then no one else gets to see it, and I think this buying of skins and costumes is more fueled by a narcissistic way of wanting people to see us a certain way.

In Hearthstone, there used to be Adventures you could buy. They allowed you to fight a lot of fun bosses and they gave you all the cards from that expansion. Blizzard has discarded that now for a larger focus on card expansions, where you need to buy packs in order to have a chance at getting some fun cards. Now the argument thrown at Battlefront 2 can be thrown at Hearthstone as these purchases give you an edge over other players, but I wanted to use it as an example that this focus on microtransactions is increasing. These expansions still have smaller, free Adventures that come out with it, but card packs are now the sole way of getting new cards.

I think I'm near the end of my microtransactions experience as they've drained so much money out of me. I now more often play games on older consoles just to get away from this, and occasionally buy DLC if it adds real content to a game (Sims 3, Dark Souls, etc). What's really depressing for me is that all the money I've put into microtransactions I could have used to expand my game collection. As a warning from someone whose lived through it for 6 years now, I would say avoid it! [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9RjDRLBWio]It may be exciting to pay for a lootbox and get that legendary skin, but one day you'll look back on these purchases and regret them.[/url]