200$ for Comic shaded material? y'all are wild.

Alcohol causes 5% of worldwide deaths each year, according to WHO, not to mention other immeasurable societal harm, and the majority of "sane, moral, empathetic human beings" happily part-take in it and wouldn't dream of de-legalizing or even not financially supporting its production, yet we're supposed to get all huffy about some lootboxes in video games - and only when there's a desirable cosmetic involved?

I don't buy loot-boxes - that's as far as my "sanity, morality and empathy" go, in relation to this subject.

Well, this is nothing new; many games that have online access have been doing this for years, just in different flavors. For example, some games have that "Founders Pack" that gives exclusive in game items and cosmetics for early adopters and for those who want to pay that price. Founders Packs can go from $100 to about $175, depending upon the game and what is offered which usually includes a unique cosmetic and/or in game item that you cannot obtain any other way.

These "mega bundle" packs seem to be a solution for players who buy multiple time capsules/bundles and do not get the coveted item that is featured in them. I'm not saying that it's the "right" solution, but there it is. If it doesn't work, the devs can change the amount/cost of the bundles so they are still profitable and generate more interest. For this game, the mega bundles are not going away any time soon, in my opinion.

The simplest solution is to speak with your wallet; don't buy it if you don't want to for any reason. Companies are going to charge what they believe customers will pay, no matter what side of morality those customers stand with. Customers have the power of choice, and they can choose to purchase a product/service or not; companies have no power over what customers' will choose.

This, right here. It does no good to complain about it on the forums, but then go into the game and whip out the Mastercard or Visa. They'll look at your forum posts, then look at the $180 you just dropped ($200, if you don't have a current membership), then go, "Okay, well that works. Let's do it again, next time."

I know FOMO is a powerful motivator for players, but for game publishers, so is players not paying an amount of real world money that they consider to be too outrageously expensive for a bunch of pixels.