The satisfaction of opening an Overwatch lootbox to find a lucrative Legendary skin is part of what makes the experience so amazing.
Blizzard has monetised the process without forcing players to fork out real cash, with the downside being that you never quite know what the likelihood is of unlocking a Legendary skin.
You could just play the game, build up credits and unlock every skin without spending a cent, but that’s going to take you a long time. You’re looking at literally thousands of hours.
The loot box business model has worked wonders for the likes of Blizzard and Riot Games, not to mention countless mobile game studios, but China officials are clamping down on the process, demanding that gaming publishers reveal to players the probability of earning a desirable item.
Once fan has decided to take the issue into their own hands, creating a helpful Android app that simulates lootbox droprates.
“After reading about the new Chinese regulations that would force Blizzard to release their drop chances sometime next year I thought why not give it a shot now and make an almost perfectly accurate Lootbox simulation with all the information currently available,” the creator said on Reddit.
To create the app, the author said they watched “a lot of box openings from various streams”, and kept note of the rate at which each item dropped.
They also did some research about “Blizzard’s pity timers and so on”, and then started compiling the data into an app.
The app is simple to use: you can select either a basic lootbox, or themed ones, such as the lootboxes from the Halloween and Winter events.
My own personal research using this app showed that, after 200 simulated lootbox drops, I would land 21 Legendary skins, 54 Epics, 261 Rares, 472 Commons, and 4,400 credits. In total, I would need to have spent around $161 to unlock a similar rate of unlockables.
Check out the app on the Google Play store.
