A new, welcoming trend in multiplayer shooter games is the scrapping of paid DLC maps. This practice splits the community that have the DLC and those that don’t, which indirectly shrinks the player base.
For Gears 5, Xbox’s cover-shooter will also be scrapping that practice. There will be no season passes. Maps will all be made free for everyone- both via online matchmaking or private matches through friend invites.
And unlike Gears Of War 4, there will be no Gear Packs- their loot box equivalent. However, there will be micro-transactions, despite the blog post not mentioning it by name. Though they emphasised that whatever is purchased through the store, using a premium currency called Iron, will be direct. As in, you know exactly what you’re paying for. And no pay-to-win items. But XP boosters are available.
Gears 5 will adopt the system the series original developers have pioneered through Fortnite- a battle pass. Called Tour Of Duty, these are daily challenges and seasonal medals that you accomplish through gameplay to earn content, including skins. You also get some drop of Iron from Tour Of Duty too.
Lastly, there is a random drop called Supply Drops, that does sound like a loot box. But the Supply Drops and its content cannot be purchased with real money. Hence, why we say no paid loot boxes.
It looks like developers The Coalition really wants to keep the Gears 5 people playing multiplayer but understands the room well. Everything announced here sounds nice- outside of Supply Drops since there is a mention that you can upgrade character skills with it.
We’ll soon find out if all these choices make for a better multiplayer experience as Gears 5 releases on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs on September 10th.
Source: Gears