Yesterday, I complained that after doing away with loot boxes, Rocket League's new Blueprint system still felt too expensive. True, it's cheaper to buy $20 worth of Credits and craft a Black Market Blueprint than it was to buy bucketfuls of keys to open crate after crate, but $20 for the privilege of using one animated decal doesn't feel like much of a deal either.
Today, Psyonix has lowered the prices on most Blueprints, which I suspected might happen. The price of Black Market items—which are the most desired—hasn't changed, however. They still cost 2,000-plus Credits, which can be purchased for $20 if you buy two packs of 1,100, or $25 if you splurge on 3,000 Credits and keep the leftovers for something else. Every other rarity, however, is cheaper. Here are the new prices:
- Rare: 50-100 Credits
- Very Rare: 100-200 Credits
- Import: 300-500 Credits
- Exotic: 700-800 Credits
- Most Paint Colors: 50-200 additional Credits
- Burnt Sienna: 0 additional Credits
- Titanium White: 100-500 additional Credits
- Special Editions: 200-400 additional Credits
Ignoring the discount when you buy large amounts of Credits, the conversion is about $1 per 100 credits. That puts unpainted Exotic items at $7 to $8, with another $0.50 to $5 tacked on for painted variants. For comparison, Exotics were $16 before the change.
I can stomach that, even if some items still cost more than they used to on the key marketplaces. When opening crates, you were lucky to get an Exotic item by spending the same amount on keys—it was easy to open 20 crates in a row and at best get an Import car body you already had.
I'm still a bit stuck on the Black Market price. $20 for my painted Mainframe Blueprint? Nah. It's an OK looking decal and I'd probably use it if I had it, but it's not that special. (I probably shouldn't talk too big, though. Who knows how I'll behave if a Fire God Blueprint appears in my inventory at 1 am on some freewheeling night.)
If you spent Credits to craft Blueprints between December 4 and December 11, you'll automatically be refunded Credits to make up for the difference between the old price and the new price.
This won't be the end of post-loot box drama. Even as games like Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive cling to them, loot boxes are on the way out overall—especially with some countries regulating them like gambling—and the transition will undoubtedly meet more bumps and derailments along the way.