Players who have been spending time with Star Wars Battlefront II pre-release trial period have already started trying to calculate how long it would take to unlock every hero in the game without paying money and the results aren’t pretty.
By some estimates, the likes of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader could take close to 40 hours each to unlock for the player intent on not spending any money on microtransactions.
Heroes cost credits in Battlefront II. With the average multiplayer match currently netting people somewhere between 250 and 350 for 10-15 minutes of play, the road to buying all of them appears like it will be a long one.
Luke and Vader are two of the most expensive heroes at 60,000 credits each, but even heroes like Leia and Chewbacca still cost 40,000.
Here are some of the calculations one user on Reddit game up with:
- Average Galactic Assault Match Length: 11:09
- Average Credits per Match: 275
- Average Credits per Minute of Gameplay: 25.04
- Gameplay Minutes Required to Earn a Trooper Crate (4000): 159.73
- Gameplay Minutes Required to Unlock One Hero: 2,395.97
If you’re a subscriber to EA Access, you can start playing the game right now for up to ten hours before it officially launches on November 17. That’s how players have already started getting a feel for the game’s dubious economy.
I’ve played a few hours worth of matches so far and my numbers are in line with most other people’s. Even just trying to earn the game’s loot crates for new abilities and stat bonuses can be tedious at several thousands a piece.
There are challenges in the game that can help players accrue credits more quickly, but these are limited. Once someone has finished them and cleared out any other remaining milestones, the only credits coming in will be on a per-match basis. Of course, daily crates can occasionally give you credits, and any Star Card duplicates will be broken down into currency as well, but neither of these is going to significantly change your finances.
For Honour had a similar problem when it released earlier this year. The Ubisoft fighting game was full of special skins and extra character classes that all required you to diligently grind in order to obtain them, assuming, that is, you weren’t willing to shell out real money. At the time of its release, one player calculated that it would take $US732 ($955) to unlock all of the game’s heroes for someone who was willing to actually spend the money. The alternative was earning the 1,098,000 of in-game currency by completing matches and daily challenges, or the equivalent of getting a second job that paid less than minimum wage.
But the problem is more apparent with Battlefront 2 because of how iconic everything in the game is. A big part of the draw is, and always has been, that rush of excitement once you run onto the battlefield as your favourite Jedi or bounty hunter ready to tear shit up.
Especially now that DICE has made it easier to do so by letting you use heroes in matches after reaching a certain point threshold rather than by stumbling upon tokens. Gating those moments behind a gruelling process that all but ensures people will decide to pay a bit extra to speed up the process is disappointing to say the least.
Even dumping real money into the game buy purchasing crystals which can in turn be used to buy loot crates offers only a round-about way at best to finally getting your hands on some of your favourite Star Wars characters.
This calculus could change with the game’s final launch, or even in later patches, however, so nothing’s written in stone. And following public concern, the EA Community Team took to Reddit to respond to critics about how it takes to earn stuff in the game.
“Our goal involves creating a compelling progression path for all of our players,” the comment began.
“There’s a lot of content at launch with even more coming via live service, and we’ll continuously adjust our progression mechanics to give players a sense of accomplishment as they explore all of Battlefront 2.”
The EA Reddit account continued,
“Heroes earned through Credits: The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. 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.
Credits Earned: We’re looking at the results daily and will be continuing to tune this to ensure that players feel a meaningful sense of reward for the time they spend with Battlefront 2.”
Comments
62 responses to “Unlocking Heroes In Star Wars Battlefront II Could Take A Long Time”
I have no idea who is spending money on this garbage. I have not bought some games because the grind is way too much.
Bring back the days of cheat codes and a fair reward system. Complete a game and unlock stuff.
Greedy.
I played the beta… The annoying thing is it’s a fun game with gorgeous graphics. Why do they have to ruin it with this crap.
I loved playing the beta so much, but these loot crates… Oh man, I hate it so much 🙁
It’s all about a phrase that’s been kicking around for awhile. “Games as a Service”.
Companies see games like WoW and GTA5 Online where Whales drop hundreds or even thousands of dollars , creating a revenue stream that lasts years after release, and they want to replicate that.
I have no doubt that every design decision in Battlefront 2 was made to emulate that system.
The thing is a lot of these developers and publishers are bolting on these systems without even thinking whether they would work or not.
I have more respect for games where the micro transactions are cosmetic. Sure you can shell out some cash and have a cool looking skin, but ultimately it comes back to skill and commitment to playing that put you on top.
GTA Online is an interesting one, they gate some of the content behind high priced items (ie the bunker) but things like weapons have a level requirement so the act of killing people isn’t that massively advantageous by paying lots of real world money. Cash purchases just speed things up a bit.
Yes & no… Wow has been around for over a decade, GTA has been around for 4 years.boyh have A lot of game for your money. GTA online is just a bonus, you still get that amazing story mode, and you really don’t have to spend real money on it.
This game they only want to be around for 12 months, until battlefront 3 comes out. Then you start from scratch again, and can buy the all the things again. It really is just a pokies machine
Please stop. GTA:Online is far from a bonus anymore. Its brought in more revenue than the actual game did, and to this day it’s still. It is not a bonus for Rockstar anymore. The singleplayer has become the bonus in their mind, that’s why they canned the DLC for it, and focused primarily on releasing more “free” dlc for Online… Sorry, but you’re one very ignorant boy/girl if you dont think GTA6 or RDR2 wil have massive micro transaction influence, both in MP and SP. Rockstar tasted the cake, and now it wants it fucking all.
Because the people in charge don’t actually care about games. To them it’s a product no different from selling oranges, guns or medical equipment. It’s just a way to make money pure and simple
F*** this game. Seriously.
Not really because I wont be playing it.
I’m with you, this was the one that was supposed to bring me back to game.
Any inclination I had to buy this game has vanished thanks to this stupid system. It’s been years since the last time I bought an EA game…
It’s been years since I spent over $10 on an EA game, but it seems like more an more games are being put into the category of “Yea I guess I’ll play it when it comes cheap and I get a few hours out of it”
Yep. These days there are too many games to play and too little time to play them. I’m over buying a game just because it has hype and gets released. Games need to prove they’re worth playing now or I don’t buy them.
Putting in stupid grinds to make people spend more money is a good reason for me to avoid a game. I already avoid games with micro transactions as much as possible…making those worse just puts them further down the list.
I don’t understand. In the first game, anyone could end up playing a random hero if they hit the hero pick-up icon first. In this game, how does it work? Why do you have to ‘unlock’ a hero?
Because $$$$$$$$$$$$.
Do you remember how it used to charge your credit card each time you hit one of those icons in the first game? No? Exactly. This way they can get you to pay (even more) money. Or, alternately, no money at all if you don’t buy it.
If it was free to play then they could maybe justify it. But pulling this shit in a full price retail game is utter bullshit and any of us who love video games as an entertainment medium should refuse to participate.
The immersion killing floating icons were one of things that really put me off the first one.
I was happy to hear they were gone, then horrified to hear what it was replaced with.
(And this sorta crap isn’t helping)
So is getting to play a hero still ‘random’? I guess if you spent so much time unlocking Darth Vader you’d want a decent chance to play as him…
Don’t listen to any of these people Zambayoshi.
For one thing there are other heros that are unlocked from the get go Rey, Yoda, Han, Boba, Bosk, Kylo, and Maul. The only ones you earn with credits which are *earned in game* Are Chewie, Vader, Palp, Leia, Luke and Iden(the campaign character).
Also the article reported the wrong figured for launch. Vader and Luke only case 15k not 60k.
It takes like a few hours of play to unlock them sure. but like maybe 5 hours not 40
EA deliberately reduced the cost of heroes following community outrage, because the above was the existing values.
Also, they reduced the cost of heroes to prompt responses like this – “oh it’s not that bad, they’ve changed the game, the game has been changed”.
It’s a deliberate PR strategy to neuter the negative sentiment out there.
Well there is one less game for me to buy this year, sadly i imagine the whales will cover the lost sales and then some from people like me who don’t buy the game because they think this an unethical way to conduct business.
I used to think having a huge backlog on Steam was a bad thing but this is the third or fourth AAA game that I was planing to buy that I straight up haven’t because of crappy business practices. So that backlog will keep me going for years at this rate. Gaming.. I can out wait you 😀
I am in the same boat as you this year, my backlog has been getting a thorough workout this year. Unfortunately i just don’t see this genie getting put back in the bottle any time soon
I canceled my pre-order. It was really for my son but after seeing the demo, reading about loot boxes and the grind, I pulled the pin. He’s only 8 and I don’t want him to be exposed to these type of reward mechanics at this age.
Edit: responded to the wrong thread
Much respect for not buying & supporting these abhorrent practices, It’s been a while since i’ve purchased a big game too.
I was playing the trial through EA access yesterday, got to the end of mission 2 (that’s as far as you can get in the trial) in the campaign and for the most part really enjoyed it – few irritating bits but otherwise it certainly felt Star Wars-y and enjoyable.
The MP felt pretty familiar gameplay wise, certainly enjoyable, but the cards just… Yuck? Fact it shows you which cards the person who killed you has equipped felt like another layer of dirt, as did the multi-stage/button press combo to unlock a crate (one of the free ones, would eat my own face before spending a single cent).
Net result is a campaign I really want to play with a multiplayer I suspect I’d very quickly lose interest in. I avoided the previous Battlefront, looks like I’ll be avoiding this one too until it becomes very cheap/free on access – there are plenty of other games around to play instead in the interim.
In the first one you could actually test out the cards by equipping the set that the person who killed you had equipped, or a set your partner had equipped. Can you still do that?
Remember when games didn’t require arbitrary progression systems to keep players engaged and playing? They just had to be fun.
This all started with the COD prestige system, and has just gotten way out of control with loot boxes and microtransactions.
I remember! For me it was Rainbow6 Vegas 2 – got it on sale and didn’t understand why I needed to grind matches to arbitrarily “level up” and unlock stuff. Thinking to myself what’s up with this!?
Little did I know what it would mutate to…
Reeeally?
That reply is now 5th most downvoted Reddit comment haha.
….
reeeeeeeeeeeealllly?Not really.
it is now on top haha.Yup, I expect EA’s PR department is screaming at the higher ups telling them they have to change the system. But they are clearly ignoring them. Id hate to work in PR at EA Games.
ROFL, so much contradiction.
* insert credit card to buy pride and accomplishment.
Absolutely deplorable! Vote with your wallets people.
For anyone who ever doubted it, this is a powerful reminder that companies are only interested in “keeping the customer happy” when that aligns with the profit-making scheme. If there is money to be made by pissing people off, you can bet your ass that big business will do exactly that.
I find all of this so weird as the loot system on NBA Live is so good imo. You play the game pay in game credits you earn (quite easily at that) and then unlock the stuff. During special events you play the games and if you win enough times (no more than 20 games in my experience) you unlock everything.
I don’t mind a decent grind for games but this is excessive as hell.
To give EA a small benefit of the doubt…they could have the values adjusted for the early access because they don’t want people to unlock things before official release.
That said it’s EA so not likely.
Yeah exactly, as you said though it is EA so don’t expect much.
Okay this is the first thing that actually really annoys me. I thought you unlocked access to heroes in a match by using points earnt in that match… Now I assume you have to unlock heroes outside of a match to then be able to use them with points in a match? Bs, everyone that bought this game should have access to all heroes.
I remember a time when the reward for playing a game was the fun you had playing it.
But imagine how much money you could make if you sectioned off the REALLY fun parts and made people pay for them!
You’d be rich!
Lies ! That is an urban legend created by the fake socialist gaming news media!
Why would anyone waste their money on this garbage.
Omg a game has a progression system! ???? ????
Yes I agree 40 hours is ridiculous. But there’s nothing wrong with having something to work towards, I think 5-10 hours would be reasonable.
Especially when it’s 40 hrs for 1 hero. I only get upwards of 100hrs played on games I really love, most I get to 30-40 and then move on. So I’d never get to play as Luke or Darth at all in this game at my usual rate.
40 hours for 1 hero while not unlocking ANY of the other smaller/cheaper things along the way by the sound of it.
My feeling is they’ll probably change it in a patch/update. (Which they definitely should)
I just disagree with how a lot of the gaming community tackles these issues, pitchforks and torches is not the right way to go about it.
If this changes before release it will be ENTIRELY because of pitchforks and torches.
These companies only care about PR so unless you can get some serious outrage going they will just look at you as something to be milked.
Push a lot.. take a little back.. release the next game.. push a lot .. take a little back
So we should just sit down and be silent and wait for them to change it?
The only way they will stop pulling this crap is if we get outraged at them. Being nice means they know they can exploit us even more.
I never said be silent. I just think the gaming community should hold itself to a higher standard than childish outbursts, which I’m not saying everyone does. Also I agree that it needs to be changed from 40 hours it’s ridiculous, I’m not debating that.
Yeah but outrage seems to be the only thing that gets reported on these days.
I’m tired of it too. My outrage meter topped out years ago and I just don’t have it in me anymore.
I yell at my kids when they piss me off sometimes. That’s about the extent of it.
I think thats the point though. There’d be less of an uproar if earning a character took considerably less time than a full time working week. I’m not home for 14 hours a day and sleeping for 8. So that’s 20 weekdays of solid game time (and forgoing food time, which should never be forgone) before there’s mildly a chance of earning 1 character. Now add to that the taunt (because there’s definitely people out there with more time than me) of playing with other people who have those unlocks before me, who are rocking out Darth Vader in MP against me.
So then I have the choice. Spend a month seeing people play the game the way I want to play it, or succumb to the temptation (through repeatedly having it thrown at my face) of spending more money in game, on a game I’ve already paid once for.
…or you pay $’s for it.
I remember seeing a LevelCap (or someone similar) video where they said EA’s intention was to move away from paid DLC which fragments the community and instead make their money with micro transactions. The implication was that map packs/new weapons would be free so everyone could always play together and access the same stuff, but there would be more focus on cosmetics/loot crates instead.
As someone who has never thought paid DLC belonged in a multiplayer game, I got a bit excited. But if this is the alternative, I’m out. Though now that I think about it, of course they wouldn’t change systems unless they thought it would be MORE profitable…
This right here would be the gaming community’s chance to take a stand against such anti-consumer nickel and diming garbage.
Unfortunately it won’t happen and the game will sell well and money will be spent in game. This will be standard very soon.
The worst part is.. It’s Star wars. they would be making hundreds of millions from it regardless but no. that’s not enough they want ALL the money
It’s like we get to pay $60 to play a f2p mobile game on the PC
40 hours each and 60k credits?? Hahah i got vader and luke plus a couple others in 2 hours,, luke and vader are only 15k each on mine