Well, you got your answer. But honestly, I'm a bit surprised you only asked yourself such questions NOW.
Similarly, I was wondering why so many people forgot that Team Fortress 2 got lootboxes since 2010 ! Two years before actually going free-to-play. And unlike many lootboxes that came afterwards : you couldn't find the keys randomly : you had to buy them. So unlike Overwatch for example, you couldn't actually benefit from the boxes content unless you paid for it.
That's definitely the WORST kind of lootboxes, and Killing Floor definitely falls into that category.
But mind you, even though many games (as I said) introduced a way to actually earn boxes while being able to open them freely, it is still, indeed, a gamble. Now is luck a bad thing in game? No. Not at all. Not only does it increases replay value, but it also adds a sense or surprise and thrill. It's great to cross your fingers and BOOM : you got a rare item ! And equally satisfying to find a common item... that you simply didn't have in your collection yet!
But here's the main problem : it is very rare that you're gonna play a game to the fullest. Taking Overwatch (or even Mortal Kombat since it's also guilty of that somehow) into account : you probably won't play with every characters. Similarly, you may not play with every weapons or perks in Killing Floor or Team Fortress 2. How annoying is it when you find a sniper item when you hate that character trope? If it happens once that's fine. If it's a daily struggle...That's very meh.
Now let's pop-in the fact that you can actually BUY boxes, which will sadly run on the same system. What might works for free **** (you played your ass to get some boxes, you open them... either you're lucky, or not and then you just go back to play more) clearly doesn't for stuff you pay. I already said that it would be annoying to find a sniper skin if you never play that class. How furious would you get if you spent 10 bucks on boxes only to find only worthless items?!
As such, I don't blame lootboxes per say. But I believe that when you spend money on them, they should cater to your style. Or even just straight up... don't exist. Like, you could instead simply buy the items you truly want, effectively "skipping" the luck part. That's something that would feel fairer. Like either you take the risk of grinding endlessly to finally unbox that legendary skin you've been craving. Or you spend 10 bucks to get it straight-up. Simple.
But wait, there's more.
If only the luck (and thus, "gambling") factor was the only problem, that would be a lesser problem. Something that only bothers the impatient players. But something I truly hate is the mix of monetization...Something Killing Floor is definitely guilty of.
Beforehand, I have to say that I'm not among those entitled players who feel that "when I purchase a game, I shouldn't ever spend a single cent on it anymore"... Because that's bull****. You pay for what's offered on RELEASE. Anything added afterwards is a bonus. It's extra work put on by people who got bills to pay and children to feed. It's perfectly normal that you pay for extra content, assuming it wasn't artificially removed from the base game of course.
But as to how should you finance the game? That's a matter of choice. Some people choose microtransactions. Some people choose lootboxes (the scoundrel). Some people choose DLCs. Sadly... Tripwire choose all three. And that's a huge problem.
Now one could say that they fed us with years of free content. And that's true ! And greatly appreciated ! But that still feels like three half-assed ideas rather than really well-thought ones. It is also very anti-consumer. As I said, a way to make it consumer-friendly would be to allow us to loot keys alongside boxes for example. Or diminish the prices of DLCs (no matter what Yoshiro told me many times : 10$ for a SINGLE GUN is unacceptable. I could buy whole expansions for that price)
All in all, with the whole Electronic Arts fiasco, it seems lootboxes are a disappearing trend. It's getting replaced by season passes... A far better alternative admittedly. But again, I find it perfectible. Mostly because while the idea of keeping your players hooked and rewarding them with tons of content is great, just like it's great to offer the opportunities to unlock everything should you so desire... It also means that the casual crowd is pretty much punished for not playing enough. It's perfectly sound to reward the most active players, but if you only play once in a while, you pretty much miss on tons of content... That quite often won't come back. As a result, I believe the Call of Duty system is the best (never thought I would say so) : if you missed some seasons, you still earn in-game money that allow you to purchase old items that you may have missed. That way, not only is it far from random (you're getting what you wanted), but it also means you get rewarded for... playing the game ! Which is what gaming should always be about.
