There have been a few additions, mount whistles were added when Battlemounts were added to the game. Heroic combo/xp elixirs were added a few events after they were put in chests. Bounty pledges, auction house, and barbershop tokens were all added with their respective additions to the game. However, most players just spend all their plat straight on chests, because it's the biggest reward for the price in most cases.I wish that too. Even if they had the same fashion in both chests and the store except one was trade and the other was no trade. Anything would do actually lol, don't think anything been added to the store since time began apart from new chests every eventThat's an excellent point, and I agree that it's pretty obvious - people like loot boxes because there is an absolutely miniscule chance of getting the things they want, for a much cheaper price. The chance of getting something worth 3-4 million for the mere investment of 40-50k is extremely attractive. Sure, VR could put dragons or reindeer in the store for some random price - say 1000 or 1500 platinum. However, players would likely spend much less money that way, though it might balance out a little - more people would buy plat to get the new pets, but hardcore spenders would likely be spending less on average.that was interesting. I don't entirely agree with this bit
"Why do publishers include loot boxes?
At the end of the day, publishers are businesses, and they’re looking for a profit. And while EA and others are likely looking to make more money, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Video game prices have largely been flat since the late 1990’s. While publishers fund developers working on cutting edge graphics with innovative gameplay, full voice acting and motion capture and, in some cases, continuing to support the game for years after release, they haven’t been charging more for those games. Publishers may argue that this is a way to get a greater return on investment so they can continue making more expensive, innovative games"
If this was 100% correct then publishers could easily get rid of loot boxes and include everything on their ingame store to sell the items straight up and still give them the income loot boxes do. Personally I think the reason is more physiological to the player. Maybe the question should of been, Why do publishers include loot boxes instead of selling everything straight up?
If they were still no-trade, then that would also lean a lot farther into the P2W aspect - free players wouldn't have a chance to get the mounts/pets unless they bought plat.
Slightly off topic, but I wish VR would start releasing new platinum-exclusive cosmetics (tradeable or not, I don't really care). Not in chests, but direct purchasable - e.g. 100 platinum for a full set of red (new fash), 250 platinum for a full set of blue, 500 for a set of white, etc (or just remove the color rarity bit altogether, and just have a single set of fashion for a set price). Because it's fashion, it doesn't impact the game at all, which means that it doesn't introduce any unfairness issues, and I think players would like the chance to get a full set themselves, or try to buy it off someone else (though I think it would mostly remove the parts/pieces trading that goes on with existing fashion, where you can buy/sell individual pieces for cheaper than the full set would usually cost.
Let's say you are a newer player who has done some free plat offers, and you have 50 plat. you could use that on a chest, and (most likely) get some consumables or fashion (that could be useful, or worth something), and a small chance of getting something else that could really make you a lot of money. Or, you could get...2 super exp elixirs, or one super combo, or 5 sigils.
My point is that I think the premium shop in general really needs some updates if it's supposed to be taken seriously by most players. I could of course be wrong - I don't know if VR has any numbers as to what players buy with platinum, However, I feel that as it is, the majority of players who buy plat, really just get chests. In fact, on Sulis at least, it seems that so many players only buy chests (with no regard for other items) that books of alt and rebirth, as well as mount whistles, all sell for quite overpriced amounts. You can actually make more gold by buying/selling those than chests, just at a slightly slower pace, in smaller quantities.