A new free-to-play component of Secret World Legends popped up in the latest beta build of the PC game. Locked loot bags, called Agarthan Cache, which are unlocked via microtransactions have begun to drop in play spaces. The Inquisitr spoke with Funcom Game Director Romain Amiel about how these are intended to work.

The locked purple loot bags will drop as players go around the game world and kill various monsters. Opening them requires a cache key, which can be obtained one of two ways. Patron subscribers, which are not active yet, will receive one cache key for every day they log into the game. Keys can also be purchased via Aurum, The Secret World Legends‘ currency purchased with real-world cash.

The Problem

The fact that cache keys are tied to actual money led to complaints among beta testers that the locked loot bags are a pay-to-win mechanism, the bane of any free-to-play game. Additionally, opening some of the loot bags rewards players with items that cannot be used until a character achieves a higher level.

This leads to another contentious point about the amount of locked loot bags that drop in Secret World Legends. Players concerned about limited inventory space don’t want the bags, or the over-leveled items they reward, preventing them from being able to carry other loot.

The Intention

Amiel explained that the loot bags and cache key are meant to provide Secret World Legends players unique vanity rewards, like exclusive mounts, pets, and weapons with unique skins. The bags currently drop weapons and weapon-leveling items as well.

These all revolved a particular theme with the current one being the Agartha social space. The current theme for rewards will eventually be cycled out and new rewards based on a new theme will arrive.

Of course, things aren’t exactly working as planned though since Secret World Legends is in beta right now. For example, the rewards are not being properly adjusted to the current level. This results in situations like level 30 items being rewarded to a level 10 character.

Additionally, the locked loot bag drop rate is still being fine-tuned. Funcom is trying to figure out what the best drop rate should be so players are rewarded without being annoyed.

The drop rate is currently based on player usage. If a player uses a bag, then more will drop as monsters are killed. If a player does not use any of the purple bags, then they will drop at a much lower rate.

No Hoarding Necessary

Secret World Legends players have other options available than just opening the locked loot bag or letting them sit in their inventory. They can also be traded with vendors in Agartha in exchange for more Anima Shards.

These shards can then be used to purchase other in-game items or to upgrade weapons. Amiel says Funcom intentionally uses the locked loot bags as “vendor trash” just for this reason.

No Money Necessary Either

Purchasing a cache key will not necessarily require real-world money either. As previously covered, Secret World Legends has an auction house to allow players to trade Marks of Favour for Aurum. The Marks are earned in-game by completing missions and by selling weapons in the Auction House. So, a player who dedicates enough time can use Marks to purchase Aurum to then purchase a cache key.

“It’s a hard thing to balance,” Amiel explained via a Skype conversation. “I hope we can find a good middle ground where people are happy to find them when they need them, and then open them or trade them.

“The unique rewards you can get from them look really cool.”

[Featured Image by Funcom]