This December, Rocket League from Psyonix will see an update in which they remove all of their crates and keys entirely, in exchange for a new vanity item mechanic called Blueprints.
What in the world is a blueprint?
At the end of each game of Rocket League, you will have a chance for an item called a ‘blueprint‘ to drop. This blueprint will be specific to an item such as a wheel skin, car, paint job etc.. These items can have special attributes like Painted, Certified, and Special Editions.
Once you have that blueprint, you will then be able to use a new premium currency creatively titled credits.
How is this at all different to Loot crates?
The ongoing issue with loot crates is undisputable similarities to styles of gambling. The previous model Psyonix used was having a crate randomly drop, for which you can use a paid-for key to open, and the chance of getting the item you wanted was totally random. Not having any control over which item your money was going towards.
The new blueprint model of doing thing re-positions the random factor of it, to sit before any money is exchanged. As you play you will get blueprints, and then you will be able to see exactly what you are paying for.
Is this a positive change?
The solution Psyonix have put in place is definitely an improvement to the gambling style approach of the majority of loot boxes. If you see someone with a particularly rare skin, yes, they paid money for it, but they also likely had it as a rare drop as a result of playing the game.
Microtransactions will forever be a highly debated topic, but if a small number of people are going to pay for cosmetic items so that some of my favourite games continue to release great (and in Rocket Leagues case, free) content then I’ll be much happier knowing they aren’t pissing away money on keys, whilst having no idea what that money will get them.
From the looks of things, you will also still be able to get random item drops at the end of each game.
What else is in the update?
It’s not just the blueprint change coming in December, they are also introducing a new Item Shop, in which you can just directly purchase items. This isn’t really anything dramatically new because you can already buy lots of cars directly with cash in Rocket League, they will just be adding a wider range of cosmetic items to it. This includes the long-awaited painted White Dominus.
Summary:
- New drop called blueprints
- New item store
- New currency called credits
- Conversion of keys to credits
- Conversion of crates to blueprints
- Some new, yet to be revealed items
Crate and Key conversions
Once the update goes live, any existing keys will be converted into credits, and any existing crates will be converted into blueprints from that series (presumably with the same RNG as the crate itself?).
Psyonix have summarised this new approach in the following statement:
We believe our new Blueprint system will give players more transparency in what they are purchasing. Of course, we will have much more to share about Blueprints and our new Item Shop as we get closer to release before the end of the year.
https://www.rocketleague.com/news/blueprints-and-final-crate-revealed/
What do you think?
