Battlefront II – MMO Fallout

Electronic Arts may have won the award for most disliked and tone deaf comment on Reddit in the history of the platform. Those of you who follow Battlefront II are likely aware of the criticisms that the game has received in regards to its progression system, namely complaints that it shamelessly gates power behind random loot box drops that are also available for real money. The comment popped up in a thread titled “Seriously? I paid 80$ to have Vader locked?” The post took umbrage with the fact that Darth Vader, an iconic Battlefront character, is locked from use unless players do some extensive grinding to unlock him.

According to another Reddit thread using graphs and charts, it has been calculated that Battlefront 2 requires approximately 40 hours to unlock a single hero or villain, as the game doles out currency rewards based on time played rather than points earned. Alternately, of course, you can bypass this grind somewhat by plugging real money into the system and buying loot boxes.

In response to the complaint, a representative from EA’s customer support posted the following comment:

“The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.

As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we’re looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we’ll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.

We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.

Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.”

You heard it here first, Battlefront wants to provide you with a sense of pride and accomplishment, not frustrate you with an intentionally crippled progression system designed to deeply encourage loot box purchases. The comment currently stands deep in the red at negative 274 thousand votes in just 19 hours.

And now, please enjoy some of the better angry and snarky responses in said thread.

“If the unlock took maybe 2-4 hours that would be fine, but this is essentially saying “You don’t need to pay but if you don’t good luck””

“Locking iconic characters behind credit walls that will take dozens of hours to get one is just insane, especially when I am willing to bet you have tons of heroes planned which will be behind similar paywalls?”

“If I had a credit for every downvote you’ve gotten I could finally unlock Darth Vader!”

“More so how much do they expect the average gamer to play this game? To unlock 3 hero’s I would have to play 120 hours, there are few games I have played 100 hours and that goes for a majority of people, people will get bored long before that and move on to another game once the grind becomes too much.”

“And Vader costs 60k, it’s bizzare.”

“Isn’t that also 40 hours for 1 hero assuming you buy nothing else at all. The opportunity cost for missing out on everything while saving up for a single big ticket item is tremendous.”

“That’s fucking rich. Just be honest. The truth is you know very few people are going to sink a full work week into this game and you’re hoping that somebody is desperate enough to buy credits to unlock the character. It has nothing to do with providing a “sense of pride and accomplishment.” This is a flat-out lie and you know it. How naive do you think your player base is?”

Star Wars: Battlefront II just recently launched its open beta, and it is getting panned by critics and users alike over pay to win elements present in the game.

With the latest title in the Battlefront franchise, EA/Dice decided to go down the route of loot boxes as the main source of secondary income, tying abilities and crafting materials to random chance. Users have been pointing out how powerful the abilities are, such as an ability for Bobba Fett which allows him to take 100% less damage (effectively invulnerable) while flying with his jetpack, and how the expense/rarity of obtaining or crafting said abilities is encouraging players to spend a ton of money on crates in order to not be at a disadvantage. Another example includes up to 40% health increases on bombers.

Have you played the Battlefront II beta? If so, do you agree with the critics below?

So if I spend $200 on crates, open or craft all the best cards I can, then face an equally skilled opponent at the same level as me who didn’t spend money, I will likely win because I have better tools available.
–IGN

To make matters worse, awarded currency comes in at a flat rate for the team regardless of performance, making it even harder to strategically earn to earn everything the game has to offer.
–Kitguru

What’s even worse is that for some reason, the developers have decided that it’s okay for progression to be completely random. Unlike the previous game, regardless of which classes or even mode you’re playing, the loot box system completely dictates the overall progression.
–WCCFTech

Cards are not rewarded based on the class you play, so if you’re unlucky you could end up with a bunch of garbage for a class you never touch. It also has made leveling meaningless—unlike Overwatch, there’s no crate reward for gaining a level, which is utterly bizarre.
–PCWorld

Put simply, this is an exploitative and greedy system I’m surprised has made it this far. Question is, will EA let it go the whole way, or will it use a saving throw and alter the system for full release?
–Eurogamer

What can I do to side-step this bad luck? Well, EA could ask me to spend real money of course. Buying as many loot crates as I need to get the abilities I want, either using crafting parts or waiting until the RNG falls on my side. People who would buy the most loot crates on day one will have a significant advantage over those players that don’t, which is depressing because the underlying game seems supremely amazing.
–Windows Central

And if these loot boxes are purchasable from the get-go, yes, I can imagine that players who buy say, 50 boxes on launch day will be at an advantage over someone who is going to grind out 50 boxes over the course of the next month, even if the “opportunity” is there for them to get the same amount of crates when one pays and one doesn’t.
–Forbes

There is something about the timing of Battlefront 2’s release that coincides with the ongoing debate in the gaming community regarding loot boxes. But of the games listed as “offenders” so far, Battlefront 2 is the game critics are singling out as having a particularly hostile loot system.
–US Gamer

While Star Wars Battlefront 2 has yet to be released, unless the ability to purchase loot crates with cash is removed from the game, it’s difficult to see how EA could change the current system without it being pay-to-win.
–Game Revolution