Publishing giant EA has responded to some of the feedback it received during the recent Star Wars Battlefront 2 beta.
In a post on its site, the firm thanked the ‘millions’ of people who took part in the beta, and went on to detail some of the feedback it was drawing from to improve the final game. This included character balancing, saying the First Order Flametrooper “needs some work”.
However, the bulk of this statement was reserved to address concerns the fans had about the loot crate and progression system in the sci-fi shooter.
EA insists that Battlefront 2 isn’t pay to win, saying that the goal with balancing was to have the “most powerful” items in the title earnable with in-game XP.
Furthermore, the team said that the full system wasn’t in the game, and that they are still tweaking it ahead of release.
The full notes about the loot crate system are below:
“We know you have a lot of questions about Crates and progression, so we want to clarify a few things, as the complete system was not in the Beta and will continue to be tuned over time:
“There are many things you can earn in the game, including weapons, attachments, credits, Star Cards, Emotes, Outfits and Victory Poses.
“As a balance goal, we’re working towards having the most powerful items in the game only earnable via in-game achievements.
“Crates will include a mix of of Star Cards, Outfits, Emotes or Victory Poses.
“Players earn crates by completing challenges and other gameplay milestones, or by purchasing them with in-game credits or Crystals, our premium currency.
“If you get a duplicate Star Card in a crate, you will get crafting parts which you can then use to help upgrade the Star Card of your choice.
“And lastly, you have to earn the right to be able to upgrade Star Cards and unlock most Weapons. You can only upgrade or unlock them if you have reached a high enough rank, which is determined by playing the game.
“We also have heard some players are looking for a way to play where all players will have the same set of Star Cards with flattened values. Like everything else, we will be continually making necessary changes to ensure the game is fun for everyone. We will work to make sure the system is balanced both for players who want to earn everything, as well as for players who are short on time and would like to move faster in their progress towards various rewards.”
During the beta, fans became concerned that the only way to progress in the game was paying for loot crates. Loot crates have been a hot topic in games recently, thanks to full price projects like Battlefront 2 and Middle-earth: Shadow of War seemingly locking away player progress behind a paywall.
Review aggregator site OpenCritic earlier this week said it was going to be marking projects that use this business model on its reviews, while YouTube personality John ‘Totalbiscuit’ Bain said that ratings board ESRB should be considering this business model when giving games a rating. The thinking here is that games that use loot crates are psychologically attempting to manipulate players into spending money; something that isn’t exactly appropriate for games aimed at children.
