Star Wars Battlefront II‘s heroes were a little expensive to unlock. Responding to widespread criticism, a new blog post from EA outlines a major reduction in cost for unlocking heroes.
One of the major appeals of Star Wars Battlefront II is the chance to participate in massive battles from the films and play as iconic character such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
This weekend, players broke down the numbers it would take to play as some of these heroes. Some estimates placed the process at forty hours.
Players were so disappointed that a reply from EA outlining the decision is now the most down-voted post in the site’s history. A new blog post now states that the price of heroes will be reduced by 75 per cent, allowing players to run around as their favourite characters much sooner.
“It’s a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly,” the post said. “It will be live today, with an update that is getting loaded into the game.”
Characters like Luke Skywalker used to cost 60,000 in-game credits to unlock but will now cost 10,000 instead. This change comes alongside additional criticism that the game’s loot box progression system allows players to pay for in-game advantages.
Players asked that EA alter the deal and they have done just that. Maybe we can get a playable Jar Jar Binks too?
Comments
60 responses to “EA Cuts Star Wars Battlefront 2 Hero Costs After Widespread Anger”
EA be like ‘I am altering the deal, pray that I do not alter it any further’.
Actually, I’m praying they keep altering it until it gets all the way down to zero.
I think it’s more, Leia Choking the life out of that Bitch Jabba the Hutt.
I can see the animated gif meme now. Jabba with the EA logo on his face.
In an amusing twist, they did alter the deal further and didn’t tell us: while it’s true that they reduced the price of heroes, they also reduced the number of credits you earn!
https://www.vg247.com/2017/11/14/star-wars-battlefront-2-has-reduced-the-credits-awarded-for-finishing-the-campaign/
What EA giveth, EA can take away (quietly and sneakily, hoping we won’t notice.)
That is kinda sneaky, I think if they had of changed it for Multiplayer as well there would have been a bigger outcry.
The people have spoken!!
Except that they ALSO reduced the credits you get for finishing the game from 20,000 to 5,000 making it much harder to get the heros without paying.
They are pricks.
I didn’t say we were done talking.
I know they are pricks, but it’s clear they are in a panic.
They may have exclusive rights to make games for SW, but I can’t imagine Disney is willing to let them run it in to the ground.
(Even though I bet Disney is part of the problem to begin with)
But how will i feel any sense of achievement now?
You’re right. After only eight hours of effort any chump can be Vader!
How do we downvote the loot box mentality now? We’re on a rolllllll
It’s nice they changed something but that’s still around 7 hours of non-stop grinding to unlock a single hero (and you have to gimp yourself by not buying crates along the way to savs the credits up) in a full price, competitive multiplayer game.
No thanks, still happy I canceled my pre-order.
I remember when ‘grinding’ was called ‘playing the game’. Sadly so many games I have read something similar, why shouldn’t you have to work towards unlocking a powerful hero? sure people can buy loot crates until they can unlock them but if they are a rubbish player they wont be actually be good enough to have the score to be able to use them in the game. (I am basing that on the fact I thought they had a rather high unlock price during the game, on top of the unlock price.
EA themselves have admitted that the whole idea behind hero unlocks is to keep you playing the game longer. If that is the only way they can motivate you to keep playing longer, it sounds like they need to design a better game.
Funny thing about that – when a game tries to make me play longer by arbitrarily making its goals take idiotic amounts of time to reach for no particular reason and the game itself isn’t that fun either, I tend to lose all interest in playing it and go find something else to do.
I guess I’m a bit of a freak though…
Of course it is a time sink. hows is that any different than grinding to get the Thorn in D1, or grinding to unlock special guns or perks in virtually every PVP like CoD/s or Titanfall. It is also system used in virtually all kinds of online MMO type games. Its the big carrot.
Having to work towards a goal like this is what would keep me in a game, it could have all the maps, playlists in the whole entire Star Wars Universe but if I get everything all at once. Nothing is special. Nothing acts like that big carrot.
yes the cost was absolutely ridiculous and yes the whole rewards system seem terrible so far (I havent played much yet, PS I didnt buy the game but got it as a present) but you do realise one thing… not everyone cares about Darth Vadar or Luke. Of all things to unlock in this game, cant say they are high on my list. They arent the only way to keep people playing, there is a lot of ways. This is just one of them. Some good, some terrible.
It’s not any different really. I remember the grind to get the AK47 in CoD4
Remember the original Battlefront 2?
Everything was unlocked. And it was hugely popular. Lots of games during that time had everything unlocked at were still hugely popular. Ever heard of a game called Battlefield 1942?
yeah and have you heard of virtually every online shooter than is not 1942 or the Original Battlefront 2, or even think of any RTS type game and the difference between playing a game in full sandbox mode and campaign mode. One is like being the most spoilt kid ever, where nothing is off limits and you can everything right away, or one in which you have to set goals to get the things to that matter to you first. With every unlocked, whats to work towards, where’s the carrot? I mean I do play games for fun, primarily but there is just something fundamentally better starting with nothing and learning the basics with nothing, so when you do get the tools you are already a better player.
but hey that could just be me, its not like there is a shortage of things unlocked at launch.
No, it’s more like working all that time you spent to get thorn to unlock the mage character. Bad design is bad! Far reaching goals do not make a game worth playing. I spent 1000 hours in the original original starwars batlefront(before the reboot) and everything was unlocked from the start.
I don’t mind the grind element, it’s that they monetised it. Pay 2 Win, in this case Feemium riddled with Wilson loot boxes, are games left to the ios appstore/android playstore for a quick buck, not 3A titles. They done phucked it up! But this whole feemium model was always broken, whales made the stream turn into an ocean for EA and the ilk.
Loot boxes are crap no one is denying that but regarding playing for a bit to get the good stuff I don’t have an issue with that. No one complained when Tekken did it for years locking certain characters away from players. RPGs locking special skins or modes unless you beat the game completely once. Aside from the loot box fiasco, having a character/skin/item locked until certain criteria is met is totally a staple of multiplayer games, single players, and just about any game from the 80-90-00’s time period I had growing up.
Because it’s a core mechanic of a competitive game. Competitive games should be about skill, not about how much time or money you spend playing them – which is exactly what this one is. The better you are, the worse off you actually do in BF2 as you finish matches more quickly and earn less credits (as you earn credits per minute played).
As far as grinding vs playing the game, normally I’d agree but my issue here is that you’re paying quite a lot for the game, and then stuck playing it for a reasonable amount of time with only half the content available to you – unless you spend more money… No upgrade cards, no customisation options, no fancy hero/villain options (or skins/upgrades for them either). Just the bare minimum until you start throwing the cash around or play for days (likely weeks for most people).
If it were just cosmetics we were talking about, I’d be totally there with you that it should take some work (or money) to get the awesome stuff but when it involves core mechanics of a PvP game… that’s just bullshit IMO.
yeah, good points.
Ahh grinding. Brings me back to FF and WoW days.
Same. And I’m guessing from your username that you love star wars. I love it too.
I enjoyed Battlefront 1. I’m not touching 2 until it’s so cheap that I can’t go past it.
Haha, my name was actually from when my friend and I were really into NHL in high school and I liked the Sabres but yes I do love Star Wars too 😛
I played the beta for Battlefront 2 and actually really loved it which is why these things annoy me even more – it’s such a fun game at it’s core but it’s being ruined by that progression system.
Still not touching it.
@heather-alexandra https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/swbfii-changes-launch
So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits. Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players.
This just seems like a bit of a tactic to get people to jump on board with EA.
Everyone hates EA for ridiculous prices, grind time.
EA listens, changes prices etc people go “Aw EA are not that bad”
People put up with EA again until they try their shenanigans again. Rinse and repeat.
Enough is enough. BF4 is still an AMAZING game go stick on that. These Star Wars games are just reskinned battlefield games anyway.
That’s exactly what I was thinking, it’s like they went so far out for their first try that any lowering would seem like they’re doing us a favour when in truth it’s still doing the consumer over when we shouldn’t have to unlock and/or pay to get heroes in the first place.
Legit. This almost solidifies this practice in years to come.
People need to boycott games with these transactions altogether if they want to see change.
They’ve been doing it for years, I remember when they launched BF Hardline that they gave away BF3 for free, when BF1 launched they gave away BF4 dlc for free. They’ve been practising the art of buying good favour for years.
It’s just a tactic to make the outrage ‘out of date’. It’s still a shitty situation for players.
They’re also reducing how many credits you earn. Cheeky fuckers.
I would love to see a Jar Jar hero up for grabs, but leave him at the 60k credits mark lmao. Not that I would ever play this trash boat game.
While this games loot boxes are terrible and the rewards system seems to be frustrating slow to make people buy more, just ten minutes of looking over at reddit (and indeed the comments section on their very cute live action trailer) one thing is even more abundantly clear, some gamers now obviously no grounding in reality. I thought the Destiny 2 community was terrible but the hate train on this is all kinds of scary. I went back to D2 reddit and it was like Happytown! Another example of truly disturbing mob mentality in which, I have to say, are some of the people even posting because they believe in the issue or to merely part of a lynch mob.
So of things I have read today makes Evilcor- Er EA seem like the good guys and given how badly they are acting here and have done for decades, thats quite an achievement on behalf of some of these gamers.
I wonder how much of it is gamers knowing that reasonable discourse seems to get ignored or swept under the rug. The only thing they know that gets results (sometimes) is outrage and hyperbole.
but thats the thing it doesnt get ignored. no matter who many gamers say that, across so many different games, that is rarely true but yeah bring on the hysteria and hyperbole that never fails. I would rather a flawed broken game that ever jump on board that level of discussion.
just sad after six pages of reddit, not a single thing was discussing anything to do with the game itself, nothing to do with classes or weapons or vehicles or hell different map types. hell I would have settled for anything that wasnt endless hyperbole about the latest gaming crime since the last greatest gaming crime.
Again, Your taking whats been said by an ignifcant minortiy and applying to everyone to dismiss their legitimate complaints and protest.
Believing that EA are now the good guys based off a couple of comments shows how illogical you are.
Stop laying in the mud and you wont think everyone is dirty.
I think you missed the joke in what I was saying, hehe PS it is not a couple of comments, in fact, ‘couple of comments’ is amount of conversation about the game not involving EA and loot boxes. thats my point the trolls are too busy being out in force seemingly last time I looked you have to go 8 pages deep in reddit to see a single post about the actual game itself.
Still will not be buying this first hand, why not have the characters locked behind levels? like back in the old days?
Playing Devil’s Advocate here, but at least you can save up for what you want rather than have to wait until Level 100 to play as Vader.
But then you couldnt buy loot boxes. Making the game no fun.
That’s right, no game is even remotely fun without loot boxes…
That whole opening up anticipation animation is way more awesome than skipping across the battlefield as Skywalker…
I think what we are about to see is an increase in AAA game price in order to accommodate for increase production cost. Games are becoming bigger and bigger with more details and production complexity while the developers continue to challenge themselves. In order to sustain the cost to make profit they will need to do something about it, either it is micro transaction or increase the price of game. Just look at Projekt Red, they now have increased to 500 employees and the Cyberpunk is going to be way larger than Witcher.
I would probably prefer an up front price increase if it means the publishers will then just go away and stop asking me for more money after I’ve already bought their game.
Of course, what we’d actually get is the up front price increase AND the ongoing nickel and diming post-sale.
That all just sounds paaaaiiiinful.
EA want to trap players from other games on the strength of their dedication to a franchise.
This has come at the expense of what I remember to be well designed games. Remember when a Star Wars game was fun based on its own merit as an individual product? Now each title I play requires some form of trial to earn the SHEER FUCKING PRIVILEDGE of being able to play a character you know from movies. Because that’ Luke Skywalker, man! You don’t deserve to just play as Luke Skywalker! Disney owns him and he’s like Jedi Jesus to white males born in the 70’s and 80’s! Fuck fun, you need to suffer for us because we pay ongoing licensing fees for this fucker, and fuck you if you think you can just go off and play Spelunky for a couple of days. You have to feel frustration before you feel fun, you little bitch.
Remember Battlefront 2? That awesome game that Pandemic made?
Those were the days, then EA killed Pandemic and ran their franchise into the ground.
Damn that game was awesome, I still play it on the odd occasion.
I think it was 4 players on the Xbox too…
Also remember Pandemic The Clone Wars game on the GameCube, that game had some awesome 4 player modes.
I have this horrible feeling that this was their intent all along. It’s like when you are negotiating, you start unreasonably high, so that when you lower the price a bit it seems fair. It feel like the same is happening here. They told us a figure of 60,000 and then dropped it to 15,000. What they have actually achieved is the community is now celebrating and embracing their loot box system. If they had started out at 15,000 there probably would have been more resentment than what they are getting with this new reduction.
Just my 2 cents,
You are absolutely spot on. This is a common PR strategy to make current criticism become outdated, hence giving off the impression that they have given to the fans in and “fixed” the issue at hand, but in truth the horrendous system is still there. There is a detailed Insider post in Reddit that talks about it, he clearly outlined how the PR team of EA works, that they are prepared to respond to any scenario.
Someone mentioned what EA haven’t mentioned is they’ve lowered the drop rate for credits now. Can anyone confirm?
They’ve lowered the amount you get for completing the single-player story from 20k to 5k – I don’t think the multipler drops have changed at all though.
I’m guessing their argument for dropping the SP reward is that it’s supposed to be so you can buy Iden (the main character of the story) who now only costs 5k but it still seems a bit shitty – if anything they should just make her the reward rather than credits.
Ah but you don’t get trained into using their currency system if they just gave it to you as a reward, like the good little labrats we are we must be trained to not accept these as rewards for nothing, we must earn the credits so we can spend them, an learn to earn more almost like that thing you do to earn another currency that keeps a roof over your head… Like.. work..
@sabrescene nailed it, but in case you want an article:
https://www.vg247.com/2017/11/14/star-wars-battlefront-2-has-reduced-the-credits-awarded-for-finishing-the-campaign/
This is fantastic. This is why gamers should not be silent and just bend over accepting anyting publishers give us. We need to teach companies like EA that this kind of crap is not on at all.
I don’t like loot boxes but unfortunately people buy them. As people keep buying them we will keep seeing them. Us loot box haters could even be a minority looking at how much money they make off them. Maybe we’re just old angry people that don’t like the change.
The best thing is that the truth is that it was all a part of the plan. They still fuck around with the player base. They’ve taken into account, knowing from the very get go, that there will be a huge backlash and made appropriate calculations. Now, they’re trying to appear friendly, like they do us a favor with the price cut. A classic example of manipulation, similar to a “bad cop good cop” technique. These price drops were predicted and included in the costs even prior to the release. In fact, all characters should be available completely free of charge. Same with NFS: Payback. EA is total garbage of a publisher.