Star Wars Battlefront 2 recently wrapped up its open beta period and is now looking ahead towards the launch of the game itself. EA and DICE gathered player feedback from the beta and have decided to alter the deal regarding the crates and progression system.
The team wrote in a blog post today about the changes and here they are:
- Epic Star Cards, the highest tier of Star Cards available at launch, have been removed from Crates. To help keep everyone on a level playing field, these Star Cards will primarily be available through crafting, with the exception of special Epic Star Cards available through pre-order, deluxe, and starter packs.
- You’ll need to reach a certain rank to craft upgraded Star Cards. You won’t be able to buy a bunch of Crates, grind everything up into crafting materials, and immediately use them to get super powerful Star Cards. You can only upgrade the ability to craft higher tier Star Cards by ranking up through playing the game.
- Weapons are locked behind specific milestones. While a select few will be found in Crates, the rest can only be attained by play. Want to unlock a new weapon for your Heavy? Play as a Heavy and you’ll gain access to the class’s new weapons.
- Class-specific gear and items can be unlocked by playing as them. As you progress through your favorite class, you’ll hit milestones granting you class-specific Crates. These will include a mix of Star Cards and Crafting Parts to benefit your class’s development.
These changes will surely help the game feel less pay-to-win and more like a game where everyone has an equal chance for success. There will still be some weapons that remain locked away behind a crate but those will be outliers now.
The biggest change is removing Epic Star Cards from the crates. This means that everyone will have an equal chance at getting these instead of whoever decides to drop the most amount of cash into the game. Loot boxes and microtransactions in video games have been becoming rather troubling lately so this looks like a fair compromise to make.
Another change made with Star Wars Battlefront 2 is the fact that not buying a map pack or Season Pass will no longer fracture the playerbase. A problem with the Battlefront reboot was that each map pack had a different playlist that all depended on who bought the pack or not. With Battlefront 2, those maps will all be added into a rotation and all new maps, weapons, heroes and vehicles added post-launch will come free of charge. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 releases November 17 for Xbox One, PS4 and Origin on PC. For bonus goodies, you can opt for the Elite Trooper Deluxe Edition which will help get you a head start on the competition on November 14.
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