No one could have predicted when DICE said it was doing away with community dividing DLC in Star Wars Battlefront 2 that things would turn out like this. The game has been absolutely slammed for its implementation of lootboxes and microtransactions – and as we near the title’s release, things actually seem to be getting worse.
One fan calculated over the weekend that, based on the current trickle of in-game credits, it’d take you about 40 hours to unlock a character like Luke Skywalker without investing real money. You can see his arithmetic for yourself through here. There are a few caveats, like the fact that his figures don't account for completing early game challenges, for example – but it’s not a good look either way.
An EA representative actually responded to the calculations on Reddit, claiming that it will be balancing things on a “daily basis”, and elsewhere that “the intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes”. Bizarrely, there’s some social media speculation suggesting that review code may be balanced differently – although we’ve been unable to verify.
Ultimately, it’s all a bit gross. While we don’t have access to review code just yet, we’ve already decided that we won’t be running our review until we’ve had time to see how everything works on retail servers. But given what we experienced in the beta, the real worry here is that DICE may have simply slapped a crappy monetisation model on top of an already pretty crappy game.
[source reddit.com, via reddit.com, reddit.com]
Comments 72
"there’s some social media speculation suggesting review code may be balanced differently"
If true then that's some seriously shady business practice... Frankly I wouldn't be surprised. Couldn't that be passed as fraud in a court of law where a retail version is biased to making you spend on micro-transactions but the reviewer copy isn't?
I want to play this for the single player, but I'll wait until it's been reduced to practically nothing.
I don't think the game is 'crappy'. Its made a number of great changes over the original Dice Battlefront. Visually and as far as audio goes to, the game is excellent and recreates the Star Wars universe superbly.
I agree that their handling of loot boxes is incredibly dodgy and ideally, I would rather see these removed entirely - even if that means a Season Pass and/or DLC packs returning. Although I am still likely to benefit from those gullible idiots who will literally buy my DLC for me by purchasing lots and lots of loot boxes...
All these reports of 40 hours to unlock one hero are coming from people who are playing the origin / EA access trial.
I personally believe (hope) that DICE dialled up the required amounts for the trial to prevent a certain section grinding through the whole trial to advantage themselves on day 1 with all the heroes etc.
I'm expecting (fingers crossed) these amounts to be reduced once the game is on full release otherwise it is a quite absurd model.
(Call me optimistic
EA community manager Mat Everett made some comments on Twitter as well showing his lack of respect for customers. Swiftly deleted after the inevitable reaction of course. And lots of backpeddling.
The 40 hours is based on a lazy player who does not take into account challenges and other ways to gain points. He has based his calculations purely on play time nothing else.
@Dodoo It may not be true, which is why I made it clear that it's just social media chatter. I've known some games patch microtransactions in after the review period is over, though, so it's not unprecedented.
@LieutenantFatman Yeah I saw this too, but wanted to post the more corporate statements rather than an individual's tweets. He shouldn't have said what he said, but the gaming community is crazy so didn't want to send anymore heat his way.
@BLP_Software Here we are again.
We don't mind criticism or negativity as long as it's respectful and on topic, but your snark is becoming a consistent theme, and your posts are veering closer and closer to troll territory. I don't know if you're wanting to push buttons or not, but that's the way it's starting to look.
All I ask is that you take a minute to consider your stance and always be respectful.
Glad i cancelled.
That BLP is just a total b*llend in my opinion.
I'm glad I cancelled this pre order. It's rare that I do cancel them.
Guess I'll wait and see how this looks in December, if it has a price drop then like rumoured. Then I might get it
@BLP_Software Well, I like to think we take shots at games and other media rather than people. Not sure we've ever called out someone by name and had a go at them in an article?
If people get offended by us calling Sonic Forces crap then that's their problem. Bottom line is that's a lot different to jumping into the comments sections of a site that you clearly have issues with just to take jabs at it.
Thanks for the advice.
Go buy Evil Within 2 or Nier or something instead. Star Wars is tripe at the best of times, and EA? C'mon now.
Savage!
Its a shame really, looking at it Battlefront should be the game 8 year old me dreamt of, but then EA got a hold of it and crapped on everything.
Can't we just get X-wing v Tie Fighter in HD... no microtransactions
@get2sammyb Yeah, I know you made that point clear and is why I said "if true".
Maybe it would be fairer these days if and when micro-transactions are patched in after the review period is over that reviews are updated to reflect the changes.
At the end of the day I could send out a review code with zero micro-transactions and the game be awesome, then after the review period is over patch it to make it pay to win. Totally changing the game itself and value proposition.
It's unfair and unique to gaming. Imagine reviewing a car with a 4.0l V6 engine, lots of tech etc, it reviewing well, then you go and buy one and it's been changed to a 4-cylinder 1.4 litre engine and a cassette player. It's a totally different product to the one that was reviewed.
Kudos to saving your reviews back though...
Had a feeling that review code versions would be held back to stop the already decline in first day sales. But I can see this game selling loads and then people complaining about how rubbish it is down the line. I never bought the first game and I got it free a few months back with my PS+ renewal never had the intention of playing it. But now Battlefield 5, Titanfall 3 and maybe just maybe Bad Company 3 will be a flop too because of micro transactions. Then EA won't have studios left since Need for speed is already dead.
@get2sammyb I think you're talking about this tweet: https://mobile.twitter.com/hanmik01/status/930008820713213952
Apparently a hero costs 60,000 in the final version, but in the demo version at a recent event it was only 10,000. And that version is supposedly the review copy. Anyway, ''balancing on a daily basis'' doesn't sound great either, cause it can go either way...
I'm glad to hear you guys are waiting to publish the review. Too bad most other sites will probably rush the review out as soon as the embargo ends.
Amazon currently isn't selling physical copies of EA games until release day. Any ideas, why?
Not sure if its true, but someone said that EA were not happy with the 20% discount and it was stealing business from other retailers so now EA won't let amazon sell physical copies until the release day.
Also, I think For Honor might be worst as someone pointed out that you'll need to play the game for more than one and half years to unlock everything or spend at least $700 to buy everything.
@get2sammyb Fair point. He's already received death threats apparently, crazy indeed.
"No one could have predicted when DICE said it was doing away with community dividing DLC in Star Wars Battlefront 2 that things would turn out like this."
I think quite a few of us in comments sections, including myself, knew this was going to happen, and called it out knowing it's EA. This is one of those situations where I really wish i wasn't right though.
@BLP_Software I wish your connection to the site was even less secure, bro.
Basically everything EA does is evil.
@BLP_Software Now that's the kind of respect I was looking for Try giving everyone else a portion.
@kyleforrester87 I think he enjoys being a heel too much to "deprive" us of his presence.
Surely we can't blame DICE for this knowing they're owned by the devil that is EA?
@BLP_Software errrr...okay then! Well I certainly wish you all the best, and hope that you get the best care possible.
Okay, there's a forum to discuss medical complaints and personal issues and stuff like that.
Can we talk about Star Wars Battlefront 2 in here, please? Cheers!
Wow, lotta tension in here. Let's all just chill out and accept that people have different opinions on games and review styles, okay?
Anyway, looks like I was extremely right about this being a poor man's Splatoon. Micro-transactions aplenty.
It was deadly hard to get gold medals with this.
You had to git gud, no way you can buy them...
regardless of the lootbox/microtransaction debacle, the beta was crap anyway. i know that it's not necessarily representative of the entire game, but the only thing improved from the original is a bit of visual polish. the gameplay was worse, and the list of multiplayer modes at launch is extremely uninspiring/uninteresting. the original was better in this regard, the main problem with the original was the lack of maps/content.
Shame. I'll buy the game when it's $10 just to play the single player and that's it.
@kyleforrester87 what did I miss?
And people keep on saying we were doing something about microtransactions we were fighting it
And if you played the beta you played the entire game.
Disney REALLY need to take the Star Wars licence away from Electronic A**hats because their crappy business practises are hurting the brand
@johncalmc same here, unless it goes to £10 on PSN like the first game did in a sale
@WanderingBullet i just checked in case what you was saying was true but Amazon does have EA games for preorder, including Battlefront 2
so it's not true and to be honest it would be a pretty stupid decision on EAs part, Amazon is a HUGE company and probably where most physical copies of games are sold now a days
It's like a £50 f2p game.
@FullbringIchigo Disney at least did patch multiplayer support back into the original Battlefront 2 on PC
@Dichotomy i never had it on P.C, i had it on PS2 but that's great news for P.C players
hmmmm the price will be 5$ at 2019 . and i want play single player . so there is no reason to buy it
anyway this lootbox thing is getting Scandal ! the only way is reviewers getting a low mark (like need for speed: PB) and the second way is gamers don`t buy it and on this way EA will do something cause EA= MONEY
or maybe they`re going to close Dice lol
"Balancing things on a daily basis” meaning they'll see how much money they dumb consumers are willing to shed throughout the first weeks after launch and once the appeal has faded they'll adjust the price scheme.
I hope people buy into this.
@Dodoo @Kidfried Just for the record, we try not to use extra currency or DLC bonuses where applicable when we're reviewing games.
Recent example is we got extra weapons and stuff with our copy of Ass Creed Origins, but we didn't use them at the start of the game for fear that we'd tip the balance and get a skewed perspective (to be fair they were very powerful weapons).
This is partly me just bragging about our review policy but I thought it was worth mentioning since the topic came up.
@legalstep I dunno about that. There's Archon, Arctic Fox, Skate or Die, Dr.J vs. Larry Bird, Hard Hat Mack and M.U.L.E just to name a few non-evil things they have done.
I hardly buy DLC and all that other Trash :-/ I just wish everyone else copied me, oh well.
@ShogunRok Ass Creed ... heh - I C WUAT U DID THEAR!!
@dryrain I disagree.
That statement makes a massive assumption.
His calculations take the average into account, and all the currently available information.
Not everyone has unlimited time to do every single challenge, every single day forever.
And not everyone dedicates the entirety if their game time to a single title.
Unlockables should be progressive and attainable over a realistic timeframe for everyone.
40 hours PER HERO, is just an absurdly high amount of time for a single unlock, and challenges arent decreasing that time by a huge margin.
If existing challenges in games are anything to go by, you are getting 2x credits each time at best, and if you cannot complete those daily that decreases efficiency.
Youre still looking at 25-30 plus hours.
@Nickolaidas @Bliquid I've written Assassin's more times than I dare to imagine. Always a pain to type. If I can get away with Ass Creed in the comments, I will!
Anyway, back on topic...
This is one of the reasons I will never buy this game. The only genuine games that seem to release anymore are Sony's first party titles and Indies. I stay away from third party ones like the plague.
@FullbringIchigo Thanks. Looks like they finally had the physical version up for pre-order.
https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx3KZMXSIR7JKIW/ref=ask_al_aap_hza?_encoding=UTF8&sort=helpful
Also, they did the same thing with FIFA18 and other EA games as well.
Scroll down to the "Customer questions & answers" part:
https://www.amazon.com/FIFA-18-PS4-Digital-Code/dp/B071WKS4N5/ref=sr_1_2_twi_sof_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1510592513&sr=1-2&keywords=fifa18&th=1
It looks like console games are becoming paid freemium, if that makes sense.
@hi_drnick maybe the corporate entity, not the actual games.
Was reading a few posts on the actual Dice battlefront 2 forums, and people on there (who have played the game) saying that took them 7 hours or so of casual play to unlock Palpatine, so even though it will be a grindfest, not as bad as the Internet says. Maybe spreadsheets found on Reddit are not to be 100% trusted...
@Deadlyblack just rent it, Redbox or something they shouldn't get a penny of our money.
Heres an idea;
Boycott EA!
Honestly had enough of them. They should think back to what made them popular in the 90s and make more Carmen Sandiago and Desert Strike with less bs ultimate team p2w ship.
@themcnoisy yeah well as long as the kids who were raised on mobile freemuim games move to consoles and keep buy their crap that's not going to work
@johncalmc Same here, i'm interested only on the sp campaign and i'm also really not sure if it will be good.
The game is good , microtransaction not.
Hmm, sounds dodgy, but I'll probably wait for the BLP Software review before I decide whether to -
Oh.
Has BLP scarpered? Awww I missed the meltdown
Anyway, EA are now the proud owners of the single most downvotes in reddit history. I hope sincerely that this costs them and their shareholders dearly.
I've played for about 2-3 hours and don't see it being a 40 hour grind. You also get credits for duplicate star card received in loot crates and completing challenges. Dont see what the big deal is about all this grinding and microtransactions. Grinding gives you a purpose to keep playing, just like any other game. And microtransactions may get you good gear, but it's no good if you don't know how to use it or can't play to save your life. It's the same as weapon shortcuts in previous games IMO. Just another exaggerated topic to get people crying over something that won't affect the players who play to enjoy the game.
This is looking like a bargain bin purchase more and more.
But still there's 2 sides of the coin. A game like league of legends, where you have to unlock champions appeals to me, cause you can learn your owned champions and have a sense of progression before buying them. BUT games like DOTA 2 where you have 100 heroes unlocked from the start are just too much for me...you have to have a sense of progression or else I'm not interested. Like Overwatch has this only with cosmetics...
I dunno if I explained the way I intended but yeah....my opinion
Don't forget the RNG factor on these lootboxes.
::: shakes fist at the RNG god:::
I already have it preordered. I play with a great group of friends, so I know I'll have fun with them. If I didn't have that circle to play with, I'd probably not buy it.
Just jumped on the game for another look: Luke Skywalker costs 15,000 credits to unlock. I have 4,155 available and already spent about 11,000+ last night. So if it takes him 40 hours of gameplay to earn that many credits he needs to learn how to play.
@MattyHammo It always starts off easier to get your first hit, then the dealers start asking for more and more money for less and less hit. Before you know it you cant stop and all your left with is emptiness. And the one Luke Skywalker.
Price reduced by 75% so it's ok guys, we can buy the game again xD
The things is: you know the system is messed up when they are “continually adjusting”. Imagine being an early adopter pouring in the hours just to see the system adjusted and stuff set back that you worked on for a week?! And next week you are playing 10hours to unlock a hero (because you refuse to pay your way up) and the day after it will be free for all because they are tweaking the system?!
It’s a mess and I for one will wait it out a couple of weeks after release, to see how it develops.
Worth remembering that the game is getting discounted when The Last Jedi comes out so best to wait anyway folks
"there’s some social media speculation suggesting review code may be balanced differently" while I think that is hard to believe, if any company would do that would be EA.
Also, guys please stop bashing PushSquare staff, if they are on youtube with much more aggressive opinion everyone would be fine.
So please stop being such whiny dudes.
@themcnoisy it's too late for me. George Lucas was my dealer and now look where I am.
@MattyHammo lol. EA had made the alterations to the microtransactions due to the crazy bad publicity and reddit thread before your last comment. That 15k for Skywalker was 60k previously.
The girl look alike kourtney kardash btw
Truly digging the truth pushsquare! Respect!
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