This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this folio. Terms of use.

Battlefront 2

EA has completely revamped Star Wars: Battlefront ii as part of an effort to respond to longstanding player grievances and to remove the pay-to-win mechanics that destroyed the game'due south reputation earlier information technology fifty-fifty hit store shelves last twelvemonth.

Where the first Battlefront was an enjoyable, if sparse romp through a licensed galaxy far far abroad, EA promised the second game would deliver deeper play, more vehicles, multiple eras within the Star Wars universe, and a unmarried-histrion entrada. It even promised to make expansions available to people who bought the base game without splitting the player base of operations between those who shelled out more coin for new maps and modes and those who didn't. And so far, and so good.

Battlefront-Pic

The original loot progression system. It's called "Buy loot crates."

The issues started when EA decided to create an alternate acquirement stream for itself based solely on loot crates and pay-to-win mechanics, with players who purchased loot crates with real coin gaining a meaning advantage over those who opted to just play the game. While Battlefront 2 is far from the offset game to include microtransactions, the original BF2 progression system was designed to finer force players to spend money on loot crates. When players discovered information technology would take upwardly to 40 hours to unlock a single hero, EA breezily responded that this requirement would "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking unlike heroes."

On a related annotation, EA now holds the tape for the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.

The microtransaction system was yanked literally hours earlier the game launched, later on Disney made EA pull it, but that didn't solve the problems in the progression system. It only meant that players couldn't literally buy their mode to victory using real cash. EA wasn't the only company to take fire from gamers over loot crates in 2022, only its system was i of the worst, inspiring states like Hawaii and countries similar Belgium to investigate banning loot crates birthday. The company's initial response to the controversy was to blame Star Wars canon, which didn't exactly endear it to the community, either.

With these new updates, which started going live this week, the entire progression process has been revamped. Star Cards, which requite admission to diverse buffs, weapons, or capabilities will only be earned through gameplay (you lot go along access to any Star Cards you already had). All heroes and hero ships are now unlocked from the start. While microtransactions still exist inside the game, they're express to cosmetic items and have no impact on gameplay.

BF2-Loot

Instead of buying loot crates to find parts for critical upgrades, players will proceeds skill points as they level. These skill points tin be used to purchase various Star Cards. Points are unique to the hero or class you earn them with — you tin't use points earned with Yoda to upgrade a Heavy or vice-versa. EA'due south FAQ has more details on how the new progression system works. The Arcade also mode now offers all Star Cards unlocked at Epic Carte levels, to give players the opportunity to experiment with various configuration options. And Bespin is now available every bit a location for certain game modes (Nail, Heroes vs. Villains, Arcade, and for a limited fourth dimension as Jetpack Cargo).

Should You Purchase the Game?

The enormous amount of negative publicity surrounding Battlefront ii had a substantial impact on the game'southward sales. EA initially reported 9 one thousand thousand sales compared with x million expected, but later corrected its ain figure and reported approximately roughly 7 1000000 sales. While that's an splendid figure in its own right, it's as well roughly three million fewer copies than the studio expected.

If Battlefront ii is the kind of game you would have purchased if it hadn't used pay-to-win microtransactions, in that location's a potent argument for purchasing information technology now. Gamers unquestionably sent a message when they refused to purchase the game in the first place. Picking upward a re-create now that the system is gone would tell EA that the problem actually was the microtransaction arrangement as opposed to the rest of the title. Of course, some will argue that EA doesn't deserve a sale nether any circumstances for having the gall to endeavor this trick at all. Either manner, EA's conclusion to scrap pay-to-win microtransactions is a win for the BF2 player base and a lesson the company won't soon forget — until it does. Despite the happy ending, we're still talking most EA, subsequently all.

At present read: The All-time Gratuitous PC Games of 2022