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DICE Responds to Star Wars Battlefront II Beta Lootcrate Controversy

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/thank-you-beta

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.
I have no idea what they were thinking releasing that beta build without a word before. Absolute idiocy in my opinion.
 

belvedere

Junior Butler
As a balance goal, we're working towards having the most powerful items in the game only earnable via in-game achievements.

This better mean weapons.

Though that's still nowhere near good enough.
 
Crates include Star Cards, Outfits, Emotes, or Victory poses. So a bunch of cosmetic shit that I don't give a damn about. Sounds fine to me.
 
Sounds like pretty much what we already knew, except that some things are locked behind rank. While that's "better," it still introduces a fundamental imbalance where people who have played more have a no-compromises advantage. So, while not completely "pay to win" in the strictest sense, I feel it's still not a great choice.
 

Marcel

Member
They should just subtract the specifics and add some Mad Libs prompts to this response so the other EA developers can use it when they add loot boxes to their projects.
 

ViviOggi

Member
Test the waters with an outrageous system in the beta, backtrack a little before release, boom gamers will lap it up
 

Audioboxer

Member
Don't miss out the good part

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.

Short on time

CxPi7jg.png
 
fucking dupicates.....this is what pisses me off the most. It will probably be the same shit system that they have in Overwatch where they give you some BS paltry amount for them too.
 
If the best items are not within the paid loot box then I feel a bit better. I went from a day one purchase to a no buy, but I'm open to purchasing if this won't become a large issue. Though right now it is still a no buy.

But watch it end up as you can only receive the 120% health regen with in game earned loot boxes, but you can still try to get the 110% health regen with money.
 
They only say 'the most powerful' items are accessible via ingame achievement.
This doesn't address the concern that lazy whales can pay for less-than-most-powerful higher damage and lower ability cooldowns day 1, effectively creating a 'pay to win' curve that folks who do not buy premium currency have to catch up to by grinding it out.
 

benzopil

Member
fucking dupicates.....this is what pisses me off the most. It will probably be the same shit system that they have in Overwatch where they give you some BS paltry amount for them too.

I wish they still gave me dublicates (and money for them). That way I could at least buy what I want with in-game currency.
 

ASaiyan

Banned
If they say nothing people will complain also.
If only there were a third option, like not having to say anything because there weren't any boxes. Or having the box drops be purely cosmetic, which they seemed to just stop short of being okay with doing, lol.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Test the waters with an outrageous system in the beta, backtrack a little before release, boom gamers will lap it up
That's not how game development works.

They only say 'the most powerful' items are accessible via ingame achievement.
This doesn't address the concern that lazy whales can pay for less-than-most-powerful higher damage and lower ability cooldowns day 1, effectively creating a 'pay to win' curve that folks who do not buy premium currency have to catch up to by grinding it out.
Those people still have to level up, (aka playing the game) to use those in the first place. You aren't paying for levels.
 

cicatriz

Member
A lot of tip-toeing around the issue in these comments.

Will loot crates at all be tied to progression? If the answer is yes, then the system is shit.
 

LifEndz

Member
A rather tepid response and not at all reassuring. I was planning on buying it day one, but the uncertainty around all this stuff is making me wait for reviews of what the final progression system is and how much loot crates play a factor in all this.
 

Tonedeff

Member
So less bad than one would initially think, but still pretty shitty? I wish this loot crate shit would go away because I really liked the beta otherwise
 

Marcel

Member
Feel free to jump on this EZ loot box apology form. Fill in the brackets and have fun, AAA developers!

We know you have a lot of questions about [loot box facsimile] and progression, so we want to clarify a few things, as the complete system was not in the [insert game title here] and will continue to be tuned over time:

There are many things you can earn in the game, including [weapons], [nonsense], [shit you don't need], [unbalanced items], [duplicate you'll get sick of getting after three crates], [useless trinket] and [*cash register noise*].
 
"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."

This makes me feel better. Along with them locking the best stuff to in game only.

Reminds me of how overblown the controversy was with Destiny 2 loot crates.
 
This may be the fact that I play RPGs more than shooters (though I quite enjoyed the first Battlefront), but I'm put off by the fact that there are objectively better loadouts and skills, and that the devs are up front about that.

Wouldn't you ideally want to balance out weapons and star cards to make different builds and loadouts viable?

Quick Edit: I know tier lists are inevitable, I'm just saying I would prefer if there was an attempt at balance.
 

Theorry

Member
If only there were a third option, like not having to say anything because there weren't any boxes. Or having the box drops be purely cosmetic, which they seemed to just stop short of being okay with doing, lol.

Then we would have a premium pass and people will complain about that. :D
There is some outrage and they respond on that. Nothing wrong with that.
 

888

Member
Too late. The Beta is what most people will take from it. It is not a good system to be pushing. No one trusts EA to keep it fair and balanced. They lost tons of sales just on the Beta feedback.
 
A lot of tip-toeing around the issue in these comments.

Will loot crates at all be tied to progression? If the answer is yes, then the system is shit.
Doesn't seem like it.

"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."
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Lootcrates are rarely the developer's prerogative.
They're also rarely as devious as gamers would have you believe. No dev or even pub would include the finalized version of progression or loot boxes into a beta build.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
That‘s fair. I‘ll take the wait and see approach.

As in wait until it hits bargain bin prices and see if I still care about the game by then.
 
Apart from the game/Star Wars specific jargon, you could've taken that statement and applied it to a great many microtransaction-laden games. It's almost become a parody now when I see "We want to make it so that players with less time..." and I know exactly what follows that almost verbatim. It's a fee-to-pay economy regardless of how many of the usual excuses they fit into their statement so it's a massive disappointment to me.

Fun game though.
 

Snoopycat

Banned
No. I don't think so DICE. If the loot crates were 100% cosmetics only then maybe I'd buy your game when it goes on sale, but otherwise, no thanks, I'd rather give my money to a developer who has at least some respect for their audience.
 
I really wish they had come out with this earlier. Like, during the beta or even before it. Figured the crate system in the beta wouldn't be final but they probably lost a decent number of sales over it
 
They're also rarely as devious as gamers would have you believe. No dev or even pub would include the finalized version of progression or loot boxes into a beta build.
Its either incredible shortsightedness or a deliberate plan to not address the lootcrate system in the beta beforehand.
 

bosh

Member
Beta was already fine with the crate system. I normally was on the winning team and top 5 every round without realizing until the last day I had crates to open. Playing the objective definitely helps.

The crates don't do anything to protect and or pickup the giant launcher that takes the ship down . You are always going to outgun the other team if you all stick together and not run off 1v1 guns blazing for kills.
 
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