"Vermintide 2" will soon allow titular heroes to outfit themselves with cosmetic items without having to sacrifice to the petty gods of the RNG. Instead of praying for random loot drops, players can visit a new in-game store.

Every time a game adds a store after launch, the community complains. This was most recently the case with "Rocket League," which did away with loot boxes and introduced an item store and blueprint system that upended the player economy. In the case of "Vermintide 2," however, the stores are smaller and simpler; Fatshark CEO Martin Wahlund says the goal is to give players more cosmetic items.

"From the beginning, there were a lot of cosmetics in the game, but they were hard to come by. 'Sometimes they're so rare that you can't even target what you want. We thought we needed a system that would give us a long-term goal to work towards for the classes we were playing and the cosmetics we liked"

. [Like in "Rocket League" or "Warframe," you don't have to juggle a lot of currency or craft items. You just pick the items you want and buy them with the money you earn from your quests.

"You earn currency from daily and weekly quests. These quests will be in the game for a while and more will be added as time goes on." As you complete quests, you will earn a certain amount of coins, which can be purchased in the store. There will be many variations in the future, but it's very simple."

The three main items available are hero skins, hats, and weapon illusions, but more items may be added in the future. Most of the items are available practically for free, using only in-game currency. They do not require cash, just time. However, premium items are available, which Fatshark hopes to use to fund new DLC.

Vermintide 2 has several expansions, but it also distributes maps for free, and anyone who joins the game with someone who already has them can play the premium items Wahlund hopes to be able to offer more DLC like this, and he hopes that the store will be able to offer more of it, He will keep an eye on the store's performance to see if that is possible.

"We are patient. We're not rushing into anything. We want to make sure people can play the game long enough to have a good time."

Premium items also do not require the purchase of a bunch of currency. One of the most pernicious tricks of microtransactions is selling bundles in increments that encourage players to buy more than they need. If the price of an axe is 1,000 Bucks, the closest bundle is likely to be 1,100 BBs; in Vermintide, this will be done through Steam using regular currency, allowing players to purchase items directly.

Since Chinese publisher Tencent owns 29 percent of the company, the store news led some players to wonder if this was a change inspired by the company rather than Funcom. However, according to Wahlund, the plans for the store were in the works long before Tencent purchased the stake. It was originally planned to launch shortly after Tencent entered the market, but Fatshark decided against it because of concerns about its reputation among players.

"This is what we wanted to do. Tencent is very reluctant. They don't tell us what to do or change our business model. We are the major shareholder, so we control the company. They only get a seat on one of the five boards, and they have no authority to tell us what to do."

However, Tencent has a lot of experience with this type of business model, so publishers could provide feedback. However, Wahlund emphasizes that it was all Fatshark's creation.

I wasn't too keen on it before, but as someone who is sick of being a victim of the RNG, I'm getting on board, especially with the emphasis on allowing players to purchase cosmetic items with in-game currency instead of actual cash Fatshark is running a beta to get player feedback and will be adding a store to the live game later this week.