I never opened a promo box in my life but i still easily managed to get promo weapons such as the mixmaster without struggling ._.
But i agree that the % are too low at times and i especially feel sorry for those players who open so many boxes and find nothing good inside them :/

"Also inb4 Fehzor"

*looks at first comment* O,o

So you were cool with boxes and their 1% items in the first place, but as long as they don't have a weapon/item inside that is not a costume? Strange, I thought box lovers liked their 1% rare and uber exclusive items, guess not...

game changer? only if you play lockdown I guess.

From where comes the silly thought that just because there is a new weapon or armor you absolutely NEED to get one? there are plenty of other guns that are good and you can play with and are pretty OP (like polaris) same way that you do not need to get the rare accesories that no one ever sees because they're all probably sitting in some merchant's inventory or they get collected by some rich people who just like sit all day long in their guild halls and collect expensive items.

Mixmaster, celestial shield and dreadful auras, gear halos, I see them all under the same shade of black, wasted content that barely anyone gets to use, does it suck for the players? yep, is it any different? nope.

Just think about it, if the mixmaster was a common item obtained from those boxes, would people complain? I doubt it, would it be a p2w item? definitely, but if people can get one of them in their inventories it's fine... rite?
Rare items are ok, non existant items just suck balls, specially if they are only obtainable after spending insane monies on boxes.

It's still entirely possible that the Mixmaster was using an unused gun mechanic that the artists pulled from the depths to use for the promo, rather than detracting from the update the devs are working on. None of us are working on the game so we have no idea how this stuff comes about.

anywho

I have a Mixmaster and I'm still pretty bummed that they're so limited. It creates incentive to buy boxes, which I understand is important, because games cost money to run and develop for, but Mixmaster shenanigans are that much rarer as a result. It's comparatively a fairly small game so there's not a ton in circulation, either.

Still holding on to faith that there's a nice fun update in the works with real, new content, so I'll be around as much as possible. Hopefully there will be Mixmaster reskins in the coming (non-box-related) updates, anyway. n_n b

@Addy

No no, that isn't how a development team works. Artists don't code things. They make models via 3d modeling software such as 3dmax or blender. Programmers write the actual behaviour of the item and bamn.

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/105468?page=1#comment-954219

@Aviri
By collecting items, I mean collecting interesting items that add to the game in a meaningful way. Cosmetics do not add to the game in any meaningful way, as they are exactly what they claim to be- cosmetic. Weapons and gear on the other hand are different, as they change the way you play the game, and make it more entertaining on a deeper level.

"[Aren't] the uber rare, desireable and unobtainable items from the boxes what makes people purchase them??"

Yes, but that doesn't mean that they have to lose sight of the project that they set out to create and start packaging everything inside of prize boxes.

But I do own a mixmaster, and I did afford to buy it... I even afforded to heat it, and you know for a fact that I talk about how much I hate that.

I needed to buy it so that Flowchart could not attack my character when I came here to talk about it.

I wish I had a Mixmaster, but I rejoined the Knights too late as the Gremlin Box was already out and the Gourmet Box was already expired.
Oh well, I guess if I actually want a taste of an actual update with weapons I better get to playing Cosplay Knights...
-holds my wallet and tosses out dollar bills at OOO-
Give me all your good lookin' costumes with a side order of P2W weapons please. Hold the free content.

Why are you the only one here who understands this.? I've been trying to say that for a long time. And let's get into this a bit deeper.

1st, the hammer. Great idea on more content and in a way to make in game sales on a free game. Kudos to OOO on that one.
~Too far. Too greedy. So over powered to sell as many as possible, OOO cut it's own throat and sales by having the other 3 people in the 4 person clockwork run kicking and refusing to invite/play with anyone owning them for fear of being knocked out of play in a clockworks run.

2nd, those promo boxes. They are an insult. Take it from the so called "rich/whales".
OOO used to get at least $25 a month almost every month from me until July of 2013. But in the over 2 years I was making purchases here, I rarely bought the box. 1%, that's an insult. Gaia's monthly thank you note with 100% rate and a choice of 2, that meant I bought 2 to keep for myself and 1 to sale for game cash. Now not just me, my son too. 6 of those things, every month, for years. At a 50% rate, Good chance I'd buy 2 but not 6. Want to yank harder and do 50%. I'll buy 4 very rarely if you make the thing so F'n cool I REALLY want it but you have to work really hard to make me want it because I'm not buying 4 for crap. 1%, I flip you the bird and never buy any. I am not stupid.

3rd, the pay wall...the pay to win.
OOO's listened to all the trolls who wanted to play everything for free and to those who already proved they have NO intent to pay. To accommodate and cater to them while trying to choke money out of them, the pay to win wall came and grind your heart out almost as if it was punishment or something for wanting to play for free. Ya, it was backed off a bit. Now you just need to play in higher areas then your gear will allow to get those orbs. (btw, YAY!!! I found my first orb yesterday thought it was only simple.) I did the math. Again, flips the bird, I would rather lose what I already paid for and start over stopping at 4* than to pay the real cost they want now.

This is an online game. I'm not paying those insanely high prices for a piece of costume clothing that has no game value and isn't tangible or salable on Ebay.

And those trolls, if I ran a swimming pool, waterfront, water park or health and safety class like this game is run, people would have died and I would have been sued. Okay so people won't die. Maybe I respect your game and company more than you do. You can ignore just how much a gamer's game means to them but you can ignore that this is your bread and butter. No food, no clothing, no shelter...you DIE. Are you sure this is just a bit of code? Start over? Will your reputation survive? Trolls are easy. Those that are customers are easily handled by good rules and TOS and proper enforcement. Those on the inside including self, don't play your game as a personal game and never allow staff to. They won't troll the forum with alts trying to get the upper hand in development for something they want in their personal game AND that may not necessarily be in the best interest of the game as a whole. And please, not saying you do, don't post on the forum with an alter-ego and believe that what you posted is what the community wants.

So what did I spend all that money on?
CE and elevator passes. Ce to covert to coin and to craft. All mist was crafted into 2*'s and sold for the little extra coinage. A benefit of the pass. The grind then provided the rest of my needs. All of us "whales" were doing it. Often friends, guildies or noobs got those 2*'s from us for free. The question that people should be asking is, "Where are all the 'whales' spending there money now" and "Why did they leave".

If you have a good game and get too greedy or smug, do crappy things to like make crappy grinding and pay to win/finish, you end up with a crappy game. It's pretty simple. If you do good, you get good. If you do bad, you get bad. More paid content with not so over-powered rewards could be made. More content, EASY, prestige missions that expand a story sideways instead of onward, deeper into cradle. A side story within a story that doesn't change the main storyline, gremlin escapades and trojan tea parties. Copy Gaia and do a monthly thank you gift, 100% rate. Super cool promo boxes at 50 or 25%. What else could you make and sale not overpriced in game. Shoes maybe? Or it could be a crappy grind fest that isn't really fun or finish-able. I'll run out into the gamers world and let everyone know what I think. Rate the game on Steam etc. If you want my money, work for it. Make something I want to buy. Don't try to scam me.

For all of you who ask why do I keep coming back.
This game was an absolute gem. It still can be if they want it to be. I know they are super freaking intelligent. I keep hoping they'll figure it out.

(I know. You don't have to send the warning again.)

@Iamnoone there there buddy, let your emotions flow freely.

I agree with all what you said. To me, SK feels like an ex-gf(that's how I found out how it feels). I try to forget it but end up coming back and it's no better with my desire to make an SK based game. Ever since I started on the path to game-making, I stopped hoping SK would become better(I still want it to get better) and started focusing on how my game would be.

Currently, I am making progress in UV mapping(damn straight pain in the ass).

@Fehzor :

I'm late to reply but my theory for the Mixmaster is that it was ALREADY coded, just unused, and an artist used that to apply their new skin to.

I've never had that problem with my (or my friends) hammer (s)
sounds more like an overreaction than a real issue
and if you try to kill everything all at once thats not the hammers fault

@Fehzor: I never said it was anything else but a theory! You seemed to think that I thought artists coded, and that's not what I was trying to get at. :C I'm pretty bad with words so I was just trying to make myself clear since I wasn't the first time around.

also lol at the GM quote coming back up, it's so flattering honestly. I support OOO cuz I love what they do and it's a dream of mine to someday work in game development, so it's not that much of a stretch for me to say positive things. That's not to say I'm completely un-critical of what they do, but there's certainly enough negativity on the forums already so I try to be more positive.