Following player ire regarding Star Wars Battlefront II‘s implementation of loot box and XP progression systems during the game’s last beta period, Electronic Arts and developer DICE have announced a re-balancing of both systems in time for launch.
Much of the anger from fans directed at the game came from the way loot box drops and microtransactions were seen to be promoting a pay-to-win economy. Players that spent real money on loot boxes and in-game bonuses were being rewarded with gear of a quality far exceeded those who weren’t buying anything, granting a distinct and unfair advantage to those with deeper pockets.
EA have announced today via the official Star Wars Battlefront II blog that they’ll be incorporating a number of changes to these systems in response to all that vitriolic player feedback. Changes include:
- Epic Star Cards, the highest tier of Star Cards available at launch, have been removed from Crates
- You’ll need to reach a certain rank to craft upgraded Star Cards
- Weapons are locked behind specific milestones
- Class-specific gear and items can be unlocked by playing as them
Each of these changes comes with a short explainer and a bit of the rationale behind them. What does not appear to have changed is the Titanfall-esque unlock system whereby players ranking up through regular play will open up near gear according to their level. While this does still convey an advantage in-game, at least they had to work for it.
Star Wars Battlefront II releases on November 17 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
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