Ghost Recon Wildlands Added Loot Crates And Surprise, They Kinda Suck

Earlier in the month, Ubisoft announced that the Extended Ops update to Ghost Recon: Wildlands would add 'Battle Crates' to the online open world shooter. Unsurprisingly, they've been with a wave of criticism from players.

Granted, Ubisoft promised these crates would offer cosmetic-only items like gun camos, wearables, and skins inspired by other Ubisoft games, each with varying levels of rarity. If someone wants to play Wildlands dressed as a character from Assassin's Creed then why not.

Unfortunately, after the update dropped yesterday, it seems the battle crates don't work as promised and more damningly, are hella expensive. Unlike Overwatch or Call of Duty or even Star Wars: Battlefront II, you can't earn crates through play or completion of objectives or even using common-tier credits. 

Instead, you can only purchase Battle Crates using Ubisoft store credits gained from spending real cash. Currently, 800 credits will set you back $3.49 and that will net you two Battle Crates at 400 credits each. For $13.99 you can get 3840 credits, which is just shy of the 4000 credits needed to get a bundle of ten. 

Okay, that seems unsurprisingly terrible. But what else is new? Well Ubisoft promised that duplicates would not be drawn from the crates. They stated: “There are no duplicates in the Battle Crate system. You will only get items you do not already own.” This promise is reiterated on the in-game store.

But players have complained on Reddit that they have been scoring duplicates of items they'd already secured from cosmetic packs in the store. A Ubisoft representative got in touch with Kotaku later in the day saying the issue with duplicates has been resolved, and that players should no longer receive duplicates. 

However, it's important to note that many of the items drawn from the crate system aren't exclusive to it and can be purchased from the store. Which means the singular reason to try your luck with the crates is the chance of Legendary character skins. 

Kotaku's S.E. Doster reports his luck with the system: "I opened a total of fourteen crates, which earned me only one Legendary Rainbow Six Siegeskin. And one crate contained the El Tio devil mask, a duplicate of an item that I already owned." He added that he didn't get much in the way of duplicates, but mostly because he hadn't purchased many cosmetics prior."

"Some crates had unique gun cosmetics, but many crates gave me ugly hats and lame face paint. All in all, I was disappointed. Even without the duplicate items issue, Wildlands’ current loot drop system doesn’t feel like a good gamble, especially for players who have previously purchased packs of in-game items."