star wars battlefront 1 season pass free 2018

Moreover, there’s no schedule of premium DLC extensions to sell, like the maps and playable heroes over four installments in the first Battlefront. So EA’s backtracking on Star Cards is significant, because it acknowledges how out-of-whack Battlefront 2’s original priorities were, regardless of how they were monetized. A couple of months ago, I finally got every Star Card applicable to every vehicle or unlocked “hero,” despite being very bad at and, honestly, uncommitted to the actual multiplayer game. That, and that alone, constituted playing the game for me that night. There have been many nights since Star Wars Battlefront 2 launched where I simply checked in, got my daily crate reward (or the factional award for being on the “winning” side of a community goal) and either filed away the latest Star Card or applied the Parts to get one I didn’t have. There’s a side-door into getting the Star Card you really want or need (“Parts,” which “craft” a card) but, like the Star Cards themselves, Parts are also awarded in varying amounts through a loot crate. But “Star Cards,” which are class- and character-specific buffs, drive a lot of a player’s performance in the game. Weapons - the truest determinant in shooter gameplay - are gated by in-game milestones (kills by a certain class, for example). Originally, that included real money - at least until those transactions were jettisoned at the final hour following a tremendous public outcry. Electronic Artsįor those who don’t play Battlefront 2 or its multiplayer modes with dedication, advancement in the game is a byzantine system of checkpoints and random drops, some of which can be bypassed or sped up with funds. In either context, the company still did the right thing by its players.

The odor of pay-to-win, even if EA cut off actual paid microtransactions a day before launch, has been cleared.ĭepending on how you feel about EA, the upcoming progression system update is either a gutsy call or a mercy-begging mea culpa. Instead, EA DICE has effectively reinstated the first Battlefront’s advancement system: When the update is live, players will boost their performance through a traditional experience-point system.

Secretly, I had expected that Electronic Arts would wait until Star Wars : The Last Jedi was out of theaters (it is, incredibly, still playing in some domestic markets) and then introduce real-money microtransactions, restoring the original progression model used just prior to the game’s launch in November. The changes announced today, coming March 21, directly address Battlefront 2’s misplaced priorities. The game’s opaque progression system, tied to a random draw of buffs out of loot boxes - whether or not they could be bought for real money - drew attention away from what really is a strong-playing first person shooter made by a studio that does it very well. My strongest criticism of Star Wars Battlefront 2 was that I simply didn’t know what its priority was.

Star wars battlefront 1 season pass free 2018