EA DICE is reworking the Star Wars Battlefront 2 progression system

The good news is EA DICE has bitten the bullet and is reworking the Star Wars Battlefront 2 progression system, having turned microtransactions off amid a s…

[Felsager]

I would have assumed that large corporations such as EA where wise enough to invest resources "fieldtesting" something that significant before launch. Guess I was completely wrong.

The problem with the game is that it was designed intentionally to be bare bones if you play the whole thing alone.
The obnoxious milking system happens when you play online. When you play alone is less of a game and more of a Star Ware themed client with the gaming and of course, gambling.

If for some reasons they allow bots for the main game and sealed the online micro transaction I would not mind. But they never thought of that. EA claimed that the single player where great but then the meat of the game where placed on multi player, the fights we were expecting to have. Then they 'paywalled' the multi player enough to make the player spend money if he wants to get anywhere in the game.

The harsh fact is that they blatantly made it without considering the customer satisfaction. They traded customer satisfaction for customer addiction and pressure to make them spend money.

That is the attitude that really sucks, and that's why many of us decided to walk away from the game. It had potential but the game feels incomplete, with many bugs and lots of AI problems. I think EA attitude botched a great game. The damage will take a lot of time to be fixed and by that time the game will be available for 20 dollars.

EA attitude towards the customer sucks. That's why many abandoned the game without giving it a chance.

[thekhurg]

Gamers are field testers to large corporations. Throughout the history of this industry gamers have allowed themselves to be taken advantage of on larger and larger scales. From Bethesda's horse armor DLC, to Microsoft/Sony charging for the ability to play a video game online with your friends, to cut content ON THE DISC being sold as DLC, to loot crates.

It will continue to get worse because all developers/publishers will do is back off for a while, allowing the short term memory of most gamers happen, add a little back in and just continue to nickle and dime them.

EA's only "mistake" on BF2 was they went too far in one jump. It was too obvious. They "dun goofed".

[Felsager]

"It will continue to get worse because all developers/publishers will do is back off for a while, allowing the short term memory of most gamers happen, add a little back in and just continue to nickle and dime them."

It's well known that server maintenance requires money and 20 dollars for three month is fair enough. The volume of players grew exponentially. Servers, personnel and maintenance is required. Those things are not for free.

The problem as you said is the short term memory of players. EA will continue pushing the envelope further trying to do the same with Anthem and many other games. Players needs to have a firm posture on the matter by not supporting these practices. If we continue with the firm grip they will be forced to back down since other companies will provide the service we want while these get our money on a fair business.

Of course EA is trying to save face but they are too late for that. Players understood that boycotts have results when a vast majority agrees on certain matters against paywalls, micro transactions and games as a service.

[thekhurg]

@felsager

Sure, servers cost money. But the vast majority of online console games are peer to peer. If Sony/MS provided dedicated servers for everything it would be a little different.

[Felsager]

"Sure, servers cost money. But the vast majority of online console games are peer to peer. If Sony/MS provided dedicated servers for everything it would be a little different."

True thekhurg. Many of these companies wants to make players pays more for something considered a hobby. They depend too much on the crutch of "gamer addiction" in order to nickle every aspect of gaming. We old folks will simply stick to very few games that worth the money and time.

The youth of players should be aware and stick together when companies pushes too hard. We have to remind them that gaming is a hobby not a way of living. If they push too far we will leave because the economy is way too much for the sustainability of this hobby.

[T2X]

Just wondering if you have it or had the game. Because, I have it and have played it since day 1. The single player is great for what it is. The actual meat of the game of course is the MP modes. I honestly didn't see the big deal with the stupid loot crates. I can hold my own against others and have since it came out. I have never spent an extra dime on any "Shortcut packs" or "Credits" or any of that stuff. I get it that people get upset over stuff like this, but it really wasn't as bad as people were making out. I think it was more about the point and the practice than the game being bad or ruined.

[thekhurg]

Some of the cards aren't game breaking. But the turning radius card for starfighter combat is critical. Essentially making that a win condition for most dog fights.

[ColonelHugh]

Contrary to popular opinion, the release version of the game never really had purchasable microtransactions, they were initially put on hold because of the outrage prior to release.

They've been trying to fix their mistakes since day 1 but continue to get crucified nonetheless.

The only legitimate gripe I have --other than some balancing issues that continue to get addressed-- is the matchmaking. Normally it's fine, but every now and then it seems to shove every good player to one team, and the next two matches will be garbage. No other FPS I've played has done this.

[OB1Biker]

I agree that there was an attitude problem and that the loot crates get in the way of a straightforward progression.
That said, there was no MTS since day one (unlike the MANY games that get a pass)
Also
'the game feels incomplete, with many bugs and lots of AI problems'
I have no idea what your talking about. For that matter it's well known from the start that this is primarily a MP game although with a significant campaign.

[CorndogBurglar]

It may not have launched with MTs, but that was certainly their plan. There's even a place for it, its just disabled.

I understand they removed it pre-launch, but they also said they would be implementing them again in the future.

The bottom line is that if gamers didn't put their feet down then you would be playing a much different version right now. One that takes hundreds of hours to unlock all the heroes (some took over a hundred hours by themselves, like Vader and Luke). Also, the loot crates that don't even guarantee you anything new would have still had MTs attached and the amount of credits rewarded after matches would have been far less.

This is not right. To me it doesn't matter that they changed things. The original intent was there. And when you look at all their other games and how they all have a loot crate system it becomes quite apparent what EA is doing. (Really, Need For Speed has crates that give speed boosts? UFC has crates that make your fighter's stats higher?)

I will support EA again when they quit with the nonsense. Loot crates should only have cosmetic items and nothing aside from that should be locked behind pay walls.

[CorndogBurglar]

I'm replying your below post here.

I get what you are saying, but i'm not sure how much impact constructive criticism gives a developer like EA when they know they already have your money.

Sure, in a perfect world you would be 100% correct. Unfortunately, buying a game the way it is, then telling them you would want certain changes, is only telling devs that even though you would want those changes you are perfectly okay with spending money on their games the way they are. There is absolutely no incentive for that dev to actually make a change because they know it doesn't matter. You will buy it and play it anyway.

You only need to look at history to see thats true. Most games that go through heavy changes like this only happen when fan backlash is loud enough that it hurts their sales. Rarely do big things like this happen when gamers buy the game like normal and provide polite feedback. They may listen to some of it. But never have I seen giant overhauls take place because of it.

[chris235]

and all of this you did not see coming? you bought it anyway just to rant on later?

if i may suggest doing it the other way round: don‘t buy such a trainwreck, let dice go back to the drawing board and come up with a sensible business model.

but no. now they are tweaking and butchering their mess so that even more are going to give them money for their failed effort. i don‘t really get people.

[Nintenzo]

EA should Just delete battlefront 2 and do a HD port of battlefrontS 2 on ps2 instead

Now THAT is a Star Wars game

[Zabatsu]

A bit too late for that EA. Hope this moment comes back to haunt this greedy corporation, forever.

[PressXtoBacon]

It's too late for BF2, but it sure as hell won't haunt them.

[Phoenix76]

Until Anthem comes out that is....

Then this whole MT BS can start all over again and we'll all fondly remember back to Q4 2017 and say, oh those were good old days /s

[badboyz09]

AGREE!

[gutteranthems]

It won't be enough to save the game's sales

[TheDriz]

Sales were lower than expected but it still outsold everything except COD in November.

[Mr Marvel]

In all the time EA have had the Star Wars licence they’ve only managed to release Battlefront 1 & 2, both under very controversial circumstances.

My main question is:
Where the f**k are all the Star Wars games?

TT Games even managed to release a better Star Wars game a couple of years back in Lego form.

[ZombieKiller]

Too late, starting next month I have a TON of games to buy for the year. I would love to play it though being a Star Wars fan. Maybe they should figure this out BEFORE the game comes out.

Star Wars: Hell Yeah

EA: Hell No

[CorndogBurglar]

They thought they did have it figured out before launch. They thought they would be able to implement that ridiculous system and that gamers would just eat it up.

The ONLY reason they are making all these changes is because enough people finally said "enough is enough."

[OB1Biker]

@Corndog
I cant reply to your previous comment so I do it here.
I totally understand what your saying about the game prior to launch and agree in the principle (though the annoyance of loot crates bothered me more, and still are annoying. than a supposed imbalance in cards level when you know you need play and rank up first in order to be able to upgrade you cards))
However the game was very different at launch and kept changing many times. The changes are also due to gamers enjoying the game and speaking up to improve it.
Your saying to you it doesnt matter that they changed things because there was a different intent to start with. To be clear Im not trying to talk you into changing your mind but simply speaking as a gamer among many who enjoy the game.. Its important for us that the game keeps getting support from the development team just like any games getting support after launch and get new modes, new tweaks improving the game etc.
I see a lot of people going 'oh 4k u EA Ill never buy the game' etc you see the picture Do you think gamers saying 'Im enjoying the game but this, and this needs to change' have less chance to be heard than the former? People need to respect gamers who enjoyed to game and contribute to positive criticism and change.

The point is since launch, the game keeps improving (if you played the game only last year you have no idea about all the daily challenges for instance) and many gamer got their enjoyment and possibly even moved on, out of this version on the game with no mts while so many other MT heavy games were so happy Swbf gets all the hate diverted from them.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@OB1- completely agree.

[DillyDilly]

Their big idea is gonna be stop supporting Battlefront 2 & get 2 work on Battlefront 3

[No Way]

I was super excited for this game, pre release.. Until I started to hear everything about it and then gamers confirmed it. I'll pass. Dones't matter what they do or change, I won't buy it. NEXT.

[badboyz09]

F**K EA

[ReBurn]

Progression in what is essentially a MOBA is stupid. The only progression a game like this needs is for people to get good so that they can rank up and play with people at higher skill levels. Making a character more powerful through add-ons in a multi-player game just doesn't make sense to me.

[xX1NORM1Xx]

I don't care if they make the game free to play and pay me to play it, i still wouldn't play it I want them to suffer so they know not to do it again. They will do it again but hopefully we can prolong it as much as possible.