Games With Microtransactions... Thoughts?

There's a lot of cool games looking to be released. Anthem from EA, Black Ops 4, and numerous releases on Steam that the community is hyped for. I think it's worth discussing, though, whether microtransactions have a place within these games, or any games in general.

From what I've observed, these games (console, PC, even mobile) are making massive amounts of money from these microtransactions. The thing that's kind of stuck out to me is that when Mojang began enforcing the EULA for Minecraft and curbed microtransactions with game-changing content, the game's community didn't really change. Yeah, some servers went down, but in return players got more fair game content and had the option to choose whether they wanted to purchase cosmetic perks.

As a personal Example with Wynncraft, I kind of got discouraged back in 2014 when Wynncraft had game-changing ranks. By the time they changed their format, I had moved on and stopped playing. The things is, though, the server's survived till the middle of Q2 of 2018, and it doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon. I purchased VIP+ since I saw benefits in the cosmetics, and am happy to support the server. But back in 2014, I would never have paid for game-changing ranks because I felt like there was no point.

So what's everyone else's opinions about microtransactions in games? I generally hate them, but in a setting where they're an optional choice that DOESN'T affect gameplay, I think they are appropriately being used.

 

It depends. For example, stuff like Destiny 2's Eververse, which has loot boxes that can give you items that actually affect gameplay, even if it's not too big a buff, irks me because it feels like they actively incentivize buying loot boxes over gameplay.

However, stuff like Wynncraft's system doesn't irk me as much, because A. Most of the items in the store are cosmetic, and B. Most of the non-cosmetic stuff affects every player on a given server, and not just the buyer. Also, unlike Destiny's system, the Non-cosmetics aren't locked behind loot crates; you are guaranteed what you buy.

Also stuff like the Overwatch system don't irk me because they don't really give gameplay advantages

 

Microtransactions have a reason to exist in free-to-play games because the developers need money.
Microtransactions have no reason to exist in paid games because the developers are already making money from selling copies of the game.
If a developer needs to implement microtransactions into a paid game to make money, then that developer has done something seriously wrong.