Star Wars Battlefront 2's Microtransactions Are A Real Problem

[Mr. Analog]

A pay-to-win nightmare wrapped in an overly confusing system? YUP.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-battlefront-2s-microtransactions-are-a-r/1100-6454825/

What a waste...

[Darren Dirt]

https://m.imgur.com/t/star_wars_battlefront_2

Some great artistic works / ventings in ^ there. Like "STAR WARS: CASINOFRONT" #true

[Darren Dirt]

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/7qeiI

^in case you couldnt find it, SW:CF -- minimalistic perfection.

[Melbosa]

The micro-transaction thing isn't new to DICE games.  Its been there for a long time in the Battlefield series.  So yeah you can pay to be better, and sometimes it can help out the average Joe gamer... say you don't play a game 100h+ but you want to try out that nice top end gear - well for your hard earned mola you can do just that.  Just saying: There are good reasons for micro-transactions with actual game play implications.

[Thorin]

I must say, there is a lot of backlash over their decision to make this pay-to-win system through lootboxes that then don't even guarantee that your pay will let you win.  The response from EA to all this backlash has not been good (that Reddit comment is sitting at, what, -500,000 now?), and people immediately saw through the "re-balance" (unlocks take less points, but finishing stages now also give you less points, so it's still the same ratio).

I really hope that people vote with their wallets and that SW:BF2 is a big flop, forcing them to adjust their systems.

And while I was thinking about this, I realized that I've paid for Skylanders (six editions, I think? new one every year), Disney Infinity, and LEGO Dimensions, each of which require you to spend money to unlock characters because you have to buy the figurines!

[Mr. Analog]

It's at unprecedented levels in this game though - taking monetization to the extreme.

To make things worse the publisher's response has been surprisingly bad and has been severely criticized:
https://kotaku.com/ea-defense-of-star-wars-battlefront-ii-becomes-most-dow-1820396527

Once again EA attempts a significant course correction before release to try and save some face
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/14/16648218/star-wars-battlefront-2-ea-loot-crates-explained

But even with a 75% reduction in credit costs they cripple how much you can earn in a day, which circles back to the original problem for the people that would be willing to grind:
http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/battlefront-2-limits-daily-credits-earned-in-arcade-mode-w511754

To summarize for people not following this, if the bonuses you got were cosmetic nobody would care but the bonuses you get impact your ability to play the game. This game uses a card slot system, a crafting system and a kill-streak bonus system. So you can level up your gear, slot in a number of ability boosting "cards" based on your level and give you player bonuses for performing well in multiplayer (if circumstances are met you may be able to play as a character you've unlocked). You can technically grind all this stuff, however, there are a lot of incentives to just pay to unlock. If you watch the video in the OP you can spend $100 on loot boxes and because of the way the leveling system works, unlock 3 stat boosting card slots then either slot in cards you already got or craft ones you want.

Right from the get-go you can achieve multiplayer bonuses by spending money. Pay to Win sucks, there's no other way around it.

Sure you can pay full price for a game and never buy DLC. Sure you can grind gear and bonuses without spending a $1. But, is this behavior we should be rewarding financially? Is a system that takes your money that can be so easily modified by the publisher behavior we should support?

I say no. Particularly because of EA - who knows better, who also knows they will attract people to this game because of the Battlefield and Star Wars connections alone. This is abusing fans of those games in the worst possible way, and they should burn for it.

[Melbosa]

To be fair to EA they aren't the only ones doing this.  Blizzard has this in WoW (and conversly in Overwatch it isn't a play benefit system, but in WoW it is), UbiSoft has this in some of their games.  Even Epic and ID software has fallen to this model as well in some aspects, and most of the major MMOs now offer some type of pay to advance play systems.  It profitable form of income for gaming and I'm sad to say none are going to drop it if it makes them money.

What I would like to see is all companies offer servers where you can't pay to advance, so that you have to earn your play advantages.  This then gives the player base options - play with those whom can pay to advance, or play with those that can't.

[Mr. Analog]

It is blowing up and it is highlighting why this is wrong for all publishers.

When a publishers business model looks the same as Clash of Clans (a free-to-play game) except its for a AAA, full-price title and they hire more than one psychologist to try to figure out the optimal way of enticing gamers to keep forking over cash there's a big problem ("Greed"). I think gamers, particularly PC gamers, have had enough of this @%&# and -I hope- will vote with their dollars.

This year showed us that it is 100% possible to deliver great games and turn a profit without resorting to DLC of any kind, let alone the kind that incentivizes itself by exploiting a gamer's ego.

[Melbosa]

Well they pulled the microtransactions: https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/16/16668218/star-wars-battlefront-2-microtransactions-removed

[Mr. Analog]

Well they pulled the microtransactions: https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/16/16668218/star-wars-battlefront-2-microtransactions-removed

Word on the street is they drew wrath of their corporate overlord Disney for driving negative Star Wars press before the next film as well as potentially incurring legal action in the EU. The thing is though the statement is worded in such a way that makes it sounds like once the heat is off they'll be back at it

However, it?s important to note that while in-game purchases have been culled from the game before its global launch, DICE General Manager Oskar Gabrielson?s statement adds that ?the ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date.?

In other words, the disabling of microtransactions is likely only a temporary move, and EA plans to reintroduce purchasing to the game after unspecified ?changes? have been made.

Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/ea-drops-controversial-star-wars-battlefront-2-microtransactions-loot-box-purchases-launch-3335748#KReJZsRLgK4OO2rb.99

Honestly? When I first heard the news I actually considered getting into it (because beyond the usual scummy behavior it looks like fun also? Star Wars)  but I dunno man, I want to trust EA on this but.... engghhhhh

Trust. EA
Trust.... EA.....
it seems like falling for the dark side, y'know?

[Melbosa]

Yeah, putting the micro stuff aside, I'm having a lot of fun with it.  Feels like I'm in the movies when playing!  Longevity... Who knows but for now I am happy with my purchase.

[Melbosa]

Disney must be really pushing back on EA. More changes to make progression system even faster and more plans in the future yet... Sorry on phone so can't post link to IGN news article.

[Mr. Analog]

Disney must be really pushing back on EA. More changes to make progression system even faster and more plans in the future yet... Sorry on phone so can't post link to IGN news article.

Yeah word on the street is Disney is still on the war-path, they need the new Star Wars movie to be a massive hit (I'm sure it will be no matter what) so this bad PR is not good in their eyes.

To me though I hope it's finally catalyst for change industry wide. Blizz and others are also guilty of this paid random lootbox nonsense. They should have learned from Valve. Valve is HELLA greedy and yet did it right.

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