Opening loot boxes in Overwatch can go two ways: either you get truly amazing stuff or you get a bunch of garbage. The latter of which seems to happen more often, and they infuriate players. The disappointment among them is clear, and some even suspect that loot boxes are rigged.
The developers, Blizzard, insists they're not rigged, and they've finally released official loot box odds to support their claim. Well, at least for players in China, that is.
A new law recently went into effect in China requiring games that offer random loot systems in exchange for money to reveal loot box odds. Blizzard has apparently abided by the new law, and it has now revealed loot box odds for Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone.
Overwatch Loot Box Drop Rates
The official statement is in Mandarin, but here's what it states:
• Every loot box contains one rare (blue) item.
• On average, players receive an Epic (purple) item every 5.5 loot boxes.
• Legendary (orange) items appears every 13.5 loot boxes.
There's still no telling whether these drop rates are also true for U.S. players or other regions.
It'll be interesting to see how other game developers will comply with the new law and, by extension, if countries will enact a similar one.
Hearthstone Card Pack Drop Rates
In the case of Hearthstone, drop rates for card packs are even slower, but the announcement is no surprise, and the information unveiled is probably no stranger to Hearthstone players, especially to those who have already been able to deduce drop rates over the years. Anyhow, here they are:
• Each card pack will contain at least one rare card.
• On average, Epic cards will appear every five packs.
• Legendary cards will appear every 20 packs.
There's one line, however, which is particularly interesting. It says that actual odds of getting better quality cards increases when players open more card packs. This seems to confirm a phenomenon called the "pity timer," in which the chances of getting a legendary card balloons the longer the player gets none. Though this has long been speculated, it's still nice for players to finally know the official drop rates. That said, there's still no way to be certain whether these drop rates are true for players outside of China, but because players' deductions look right, they ought to be true.
Anyhow, loot boxes as a concept are still a point of contention for many players. They're cheap, to be sure, but given the rate with which players can receive anything significant out of them, repeated loot box purchases seem like such a waste of money. At any rate, it looks like they're not going anytime soon, but it sure would help if they offer slightly more bang for your buck.
Thoughts about the official loot box drop rates in Overwatch? How about the drop rates for card packs in Hearthstone? As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!
