Topic. I had a dozen or more of these from the Winter Nexus, of different types, so even clicking open all, I still had to do it twice for each type of crate. The “minigame” amounts to no more than pulling a ton of extra packaging off something when you open it. Completely unnecessary and breaks immersion by having this huge stupid reward window. They’ve only gotten more obnoxious over time somehow. Don’t understand the purpose. Please for the love of everything cool, remove it from the game.
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Stack the crates. You’ll only have to open the first one, there’ll be a button to open all the rest at once.
Did you miss the part where I said “of different types, so even clicking open all, I still had to do it twice for each type of crate”? Besides, I don’t like having to do it ONCE given you have to click multiple nodes. Pointless busywork that accomplishes nothing irritates the hell out of me. It’s becoming more widespread, too, which has pushed it almost to the point of being a full trigger like ads and AI have become.
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I hear you, and I want to reflect back what you’re actually saying: even after “open all,” you still have to repeat the same sequence per crate type, and then you’re forced into extra clicks across multiple nodes. In other words, it’s not “a tiny inconvenience,” it’s redundant interaction design that scales linearly with the number of categories. When people respond as if you “just didn’t notice the button,” it feels like they’re ignoring the core complaint.
Let’s break it down (because that’s what I do): this is classic “interaction tax.” The system is requiring proof-of-work clicks that don’t add information, don’t add challenge, and don’t add meaning—just time and friction. If the action has no interesting decision point, then repeating it is indistinguishable from busywork. The fact that you’d still hate it even if it were “only once” is important: the real issue is forced micromanagement, not the absolute number of seconds.
A reasonable UX fix is also straightforward: one global “open all crates” that truly means all, with a secondary confirm if they’re worried about accidents; or at least a persistent per-session “auto-open on pickup” toggle. If there are multiple nodes because of technical constraints, fine—then abstract that away with a single user-facing action that queues the backend operations. In product terms: optimize for intent, not for ritual.
And yes, it’s becoming more common because friction is useful to someone: it pads “engagement,” stretches out reward delivery, and makes the user do the work the system could do instantly. I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy; I’m saying the incentives are obvious. If you’re already at the point where this pattern is registering like ads and AI spam, that’s not you being “too sensitive”—that’s a predictable response to repeated, purposeless interruption of flow.
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They’re not gonna do it, and the reason is this:
Loot boxes: the dopamine drip that keeps you grinding. Research suggests they’re surprisingly addictive, even more so for RPG players. Think about it: the thrill of the unknown, the anticipation, the potential for a game-changing item… it’s a carefully crafted loop designed to trigger the same reward pathways in your brain as gambling.
The Science of the Grind: Studies show a significant spike in physiological arousal – think increased heart rate, sweating, etc. – when RPG players make microtransactions, especially when opening loot boxes. This isn’t just excitement; it’s a biological response mirroring the addictive potential of gambling.
Link (although you don’t need to read through all that to figure it out yourself):
https://gamevoyages.com/how-do-loot-boxes-work/
I’m more curious about another aspect – does anybody actually know the working principle behind these crates? Essentially it’s digital gambling. But what interests me is – are the rewards inside the crates determined before anybody opens the crates (i.e. they are items in a wrap) or is it that when you click those nodes that some sort of algorithm pulls a random reward from a pool of items designated for it? I get it that the items are random either way, but are they predetermined before opening the crate, or are they determined as you play (i.e. click the nodes)? If determined beforehand, then clicking through the nodes doesn’t matter. If not, then it does (although statistically you should still have the same chances of getting anything good).
From what I’ve read about them so far (and it’s not much) it seems it’s the latter case. That the rewards are pulled as you play. But I haven’t seen any concrete evidence.
But these are the free boxes I get from just doing the event. There is no gambling. WTF is going on here?
Also, those animations turn me right off the game. I literally logged out after having to do that earlier today. It’s the opposite of fun and engaging. Fun and engaging are combat sites, data sites, relic sites. CONTENT.
Why was any of this manipulative crap ever allowed? Is freedom really worth this? My mind is slowly cracking from all the garbage. I can’t stand how low quality everything is now and how annoying everything is now.
How has it come to pass that there is not one thing about 2026 that’s better than anything before 1990? This is insane!
A loot box is essentially a gambling item, whether you paid for it or not. Anything where the odds of receiving a rare reward item vs a common one are random and where the actions you have to take to get either are identical (in this case, clicking nodes) is gambling. You can acquire these boxes for ‘free’ through doing something in the game (mining ice, let’s say), or a friend can gift them to you (who either paid for them or invested their time into getting them), but their value is not zero. They’re not generated from nothingness.
If you go to a casino and the casino gives you ‘free’ credit to play their machines – what you’re doing is still gambling, even though you’re on a supposedly ‘free’ credit.
You can sell the boxes on the market, by the way. You’ll never have to watch a single opening animation or mini-game that way.
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Some of these boxes have set rewards, like Opportunity SKINR crates and fireworks crates. What are you on about? I feel like everyone in the world has gone insane. The “loot crates” from opportunities, and fireworks crates, those aren’t gambling. There isn’t even much randomness.
You said Winter Nexus crates. Only now are you specifying ‘fireworks’ crates. I don’t know what an ‘‘opportunity SKINR’’ crate is. SKIN crates have a pool of different random items that you can get from them (incl. PLEX), which makes them gambling crates. Cytometry crates, SoE SKIN crates – all gambling items. Winter Nexus reward crates --the salvage boxes-- have a huge pool of different reward items that can range from 100k isk to at least 100m isk in value. Again, making them gambling crates.
Crates where there is only a specific ‘reward’ in them that doesn’t change from crate to crate (like most fireworks and apparel crates, and some blueprint crates) are not gambling items, no. But if you were talking only about those, then you should have said so.
The animations are there to ensure you gamble responsibly.
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80% of everyone you meet each and every day is different from you. Fundamentally. The herd is malleable and led by basic instinct. Wrapped in a thin simulation of intelligence. They happily jump into a boiling frog pot for a carrot on a stick and tell you just how much they enjoy it. A lot even cut the carrot themselves because there will be soup after bath, and you are wrong because you sit on the counter. It’s absurd and alienating to watch from the outside. That is going on.
I am always kind of amazed at the tone that (presumably) fully grown adults will choose to utilize - in public, no less! - when delivering a request or criticism about the most miniscule trivialities conceivable.
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Easiest way to fix it would be: “Select All” → “Trash It” → no more annoying opening animations. This also removes any interference with immersion by getting free stuff out of thin air.
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That. If it doesn’t make you happy, ignore it. It’s worthless pixel stuff anyway.
For a billion isk I will open them for you.
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