For quite a while now, one of the most contentious points between Lord of the Rings Online’s community and the game itself has been the latter’s legendary item system. Unwieldy, grindy, and far too expensive to level, the system has been roundly criticized — a sentiment that the developers seemed to agree with, seeing as how a revamp of LIs is slated for some time next year.

With that revamp in sight, players right now are denouncing a recent $50 offering in the game store that offers enough items (star-lit crystals and scrolls of empowerment) to fully level a legendary item without any in-game effort whatsoever. The phrase “pay-to-win” has been put into play, especially considering that the community has been asking for a workaround strategy to the grind for the past year. Seeing the studio elect for a sale instead of a workaround or revamp is understandably upsetting.

“For just 4,995 LP we can now buy a boatload of scrolls and crystals for our LIs,” one forum poster said. “Those who suspected that the store would be the long-promised fix were absolutely right although maybe after they have pushed this in the store for six months they will come up with something else.”

“It’s extremely frustrating that the first thing they do about this subject is to offer an expensive box in store that doesn’t change anything about the mechanics,” another poster agreed.