EA is turning Star Wars Battlefront II into a real video game

[TimeOmnivore]

EA's blog post

 

EA has announced some upcoming changes to Star Wars Battlefront II's progression system, releasing March 21^st, turning it from a gambling simulator into an actual video game.

Quote

With this update, progression is now linear. Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase. Instead, you’ll earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you'll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card you'd like to equip.

 

You'll keep everything you’ve already earned and unlocked.

 

Crates no longer include Star Cards and cannot be purchased. Crates are earned by logging in daily, completing Milestones, and through timed challenges. Inside of these crates, you'll find Credits or cosmetic items, such as emotes or victory poses, but nothing that impacts gameplay.

 

Starting in April, you’ll be able to get appearances directly through in-game Credits or Crystals. The first new appearances are coming soon, meaning you'll be able to grab new looks for your heroes and troopers directly by using either Credits (earned in-game) or Crystals (available to purchase in-game and through first-party stores).

 

 

Credit where credit is due, EA, you are actually turning your gambling sim into a game where you earn progression naturally(hopefully). I'm legitimately impressed and applaud this move. Hopefully, this is a sign that these publishers are actually listening to their communities and are realizing that creating actual games is much more preferable than glorified slot machines.

 

EDIT: While this may be a case of "too little, too late" for this game, I hope this is will be an indication that they at least won't fuck up the next one as badly. It would also be nice to have the cosmetics also only unlockable in-game (as opposed to microtransactions), but that's probably hoping for too much at this point, especially from EA.

[Crunchy Dragon]

No kidding.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, TimeOmnivore said:

glorified slot machines

this is why I stopped playing modern video games

I hate the "pay money and get nothing" mentality of how modern games are marketed and distributed.

[EunSoo]

good for them

[D13H4RD]

Eh, I'd wager that they did this because we finally spoke up and told EA we're done with their shit.

 

Don't be surprised if they try it again, or Activision/Ubi

[Probably Alex]

If EA was smart, they'd do a free weekend to coincide with this new patch.

[ItsMitch]

Too little to late. Like calling the FD to a burning building that's already put itself out. They burned their game to the ground. 

[Misanthrope]

Nice "please don't leave us Disney" late, token response.

[Drak3]

So, now it's just Battlefield with lasers.

 

Not much of an improvement.

[bob345]

As good as this news is, EA is still not getting a peny of my money. They have allot more than battlefront 2 to make up for.

[Bcat00]

meh, i thought the game was dead in the water by now.

[Daegun]

This is great. I still probably won't buy it because of other problems I have with the game (you guys tout single player but no conquest mode?) but at least it removes the 'no way in hell will I ever support this' impediment.

[Ryujin2003]

55 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Disney will probably end license with EA and work with other publishers like Activision, to make a better looking and running game that can host more then 40 concurrent players on larger maps with vehicles. And not have absurd monetization or day 1 DLC schemes despite restrictive creative freedom.

I wouldn't hold out on Activision. Still have to wait to see how this monetizing algorithm for manipulation players for micro transactions in multiplayer match making goes...

[TVwazhere]

Now that it's not pay to win I'm considering getting it, especially if it's on sale. 

[Eaglerino]

Too bad the game still sucks

[HarryNyquist]

Quote

You'll keep everything you’ve already earned and unlocked.

So the people who paid to win will STILL win, and now more CONSISTENTLY win against people who might be buying the game now.

 

Brilliant.

 

To be clear I am not advocating Pay to Win, it's just incredibly frustrating that the people who took a stand against the shit are still getting fucked if they buy the game.

[Arika]

I'm going to stay skeptical. they still severely damaged the reputation of the game and i dont think this is going to save it

[bcredeur97]

34 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Now that it's not pay to win I'm considering getting it, especially if it's on sale. 

everyone should get it now to be honest. show them this is what we want, with our dolla bills.

 

that way future games get made right.

[bcredeur97]

10 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

So the people who paid to win will STILL win, and now more CONSISTENTLY win against people who might be buying the game now.

 

Brilliant.

 

To be clear I am not advocating Pay to Win, it's just incredibly frustrating that the people who took a stand against the shit are still getting fucked if they buy the game.

what you want them to do? Take away things from people? Can't really do that... unless you refund them.

and we know people dont simply let go of their monies that easily.

[Probably Alex]

2 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

it's just incredibly frustrating that the people who took a stand against the shit are still getting fucked if they buy the game.

So what's the solution then? Let everyone have everything unlocked and have no progression?

 

It's a well accepted fact that beginning to play ANY game months after it's release means you'll be facing more experienced players with superior load outs. 

And this game will not be an exception to that.

 

Keep in mind that the in game micro transactions were only available for a week at most (maybe less I can't remember), so the chances that every person bought everything during that time period are basically zero. This means the majority of people still playing the game nowadays are people who got their gear by playing the game.

[Brooksie359]

2 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Disney will probably end license with EA and work with other publishers like Activision, to make a better looking and running game that can host more then 40 concurrent players on larger maps with vehicles. And not have absurd monetization or day 1 DLC schemes despite restrictive creative freedom.

The game uses the dices engine which is way better than anything Activision is using tbh. I am not a big fan of EA but dice is a good company and has made some great engines and games. To insinuate that DICE's engine is crappy and poorly optimized is such a stretch from the truth. It is probably one of the best looking and optimized engines out their so idk what you are talking about. 

[Teddy07]

2 hours ago, emosun said:

this is why I stopped playing modern video games

 

I also quit. I considered playing older RTS games such as C&C (1995) again a bit

[Blademaster91]

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

The game uses the dices engine which is way better than anything Activision is using tbh. I am not a big fan of EA but dice is a good company and has made some great engines and games. To insinuate that DICE's engine is crappy and poorly optimized is such a stretch from the truth. It is probably one of the best looking and optimized engines out their so idk what you are talking about. 

The Dice engine is good,though they could have at least re-skinned Battlefield1 so we could have 64 player conquest. How do we know Disney aren't the greedy ones? They already kinda ruined the SW movies,imo.

37 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

So the people who paid to win will STILL win, and now more CONSISTENTLY win against people who might be buying the game now.

 

Brilliant.

 

To be clear I am not advocating Pay to Win, it's just incredibly frustrating that the people who took a stand against the shit are still getting fucked if they buy the game.

So are they just supposed to take away content that people already paid for? What they should do now is lower the amount of p2w or grinding it takes to progress.

[DildorTheDecent]

2 hours ago, Drak3 said:

So, now it's just Battlefield with lasers.

 

Not much of an improvement.

That's DICE for ya. only game they can make well enough is Battlefield. Everything else is just a copy lol.

[Brooksie359]

Just now, Blademaster91 said:

The Dice engine is good,though they could have at least re-skinned Battlefield1 so we could have 64 player conquest. How do we know Disney aren't the greedy ones? They already kinda ruined the SW movies,imo.

So are they just supposed to take away content that people already paid for? What they should do now is lower the amount of p2w or grinding it takes to progress.

Is it confirmed that the 42 player matches was an engine limitation and not just a decision made by EA or dice?