logo Sign In

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - controversy thoughts? — Page 3

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Tyrphanax said:

Now today I have to pay to get content in the new Zelda game.

I don’t think Zelda is a fair comparison. To me, that’s like saying Dawnguard should have been released for free for Skyrim back when it was first released. And Breath of the Wild’s Normal Mode is already so much of a bigger game than any other Zelda that has a Hero Mode. Not to mention only half of the DLC has as yet been released, so an (optional) extra 20 bucks to extend BotW gameplay may very well be worth it.

Nintendo is not EA. They don’t force you to buy story-critical DLC in one game in a series in order for the prologue in the next game to make sense (see: Mass Effect 2: Arrival.)

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

Author
Time

The point wasn’t to call out Zelda specifically, the point was to lament that we are now expected to pay for content we didn’t have to before.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I don’t know. Back in the day, we had expansion packs. StarCraft had Brood War. Diablo II had Lord of Destruction. Star Wars:Tie Fighter had Defender of the Empire. With the advent of downloadable digital content, expansions can be smaller, cheaper, and more frequent. I don’t see the problem with (story) DLC in general, as it seems to me it’s an inevitable extension of full-blown retail expansion packs.

In fact, I don’t have problems with the pay-to-unlock outfits in Breath of the Wild so much as the fact that they are locked behind acquiring rare and expensive, limited-run physical merch (amiibos) to obtain them ingame. None of them have the best armor rating, and none are dyeable (whereas the Armor of the Wild does and is.)

It’s the fact that EA is milking it for all its worth that’s upsetting.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Anyway, here’s how pay to win looks in game (now imagine that same ability against a group of non-hero classes).

JEDIT: And here’s a good, objective review.

Lvlcap and XFactor are some of the best and longest running Battlefield-type gamers (who have both done a lot of sponsored content for EA), so their opinions are pretty valid and worth checking out.

Other JEDIT: I called the story months before release, of course.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time

Tyrphanax said:

DominicCobb said:

joefavs said:

I unlocked Luke the second day I played and I suck at the game. Yes, it would take years to unlock everything, but “everything” includes a lot of meaningless bullshit like emotes and victory poses. You should be able to get all the heroes at least reasonably quickly.

This is good to hear, at least. I figured after the reduction it would be more manageable. And if I got it I’d be sharing the account with my brother, so that’d mean less individual time for each of us before good unlocks.

I usually don’t care about micro transaction stuff and I think the complaints tend to be silly (like who cares about special helmets and shit?), though this seems to be another step and I can’t say I’m not worried.

And I still play the original Battlefront II from time to time, and it’s still great, but it’s not a mystery why a new version would be appreciated.

The issue with Battlefront II is that it’s not just cosmetic crap in the loot crates. That’s stupid, but manageable. It’s that there are straight up stat permanent enhancing cards in there, so if I buy the game and drop 500 bucks on crates and you buy the game and don’t buy any crates, I will very likely crush you in every encounter we have regardless of how much better at the game you are. I played the beta and could see the dark path this game was walking even then.

This is the new model, though, thanks to mobile gaming. But it’s actually even worse because you have to buy the base game for full price in order to then spend apparently up to 2000 dollars (let that number sink in. What does 2000 dollars buy? Can you imagine spending that much on one piece of entertainment?) or 40 hours to painfully grind out the content of the game (which is engineered that way so you’ll give up and pay here and there).

Imagine paying full price for a movie ticket and getting access to the first third of the movie and then having to pay 2000 bucks to see the rest of it. Or you can roll up your sleeves and scrub the floors for 40 hours and see the rest. It’s insanity.

And that’s not even the worst part of it. Let’s pretend for a moment that stat-boosting unlocks were okay in a competitive multiplayer game (they’re not in any way), and let’s say you wanted the Level 4 version of the best card for your favorite unit, but you don’t want to grind it out for hours and hours in a game that doesn’t reward you based on your performance, but based on how long you’re in a match (? what?), so you reason that paying 40 bucks for some crates is worth it. Every crate contains three or four items in it, one of which is guaranteed to be for your favorite class. Now consider that there are over 20 useless emotes, four or five different “action poses” (for your character to have a different pose if you make it onto the VIP list at the end of a round), a chance to get a piddly amount of “scrap” (which you can use in large amounts to “craft” or upgrade the cards you want) if you get a duplicate item, plus the fact that only one item is guaranteed to be for your class while the rest can be for modes you don’t even play or classes or heroes you don’t enjoy, PLUS the fact that who knows what the odds are you’ll get the item you want (could be 3.00 or 0.003 for all we know), and you are literally gambling now. You are pulling the handle on a slot machine and hoping that all the 7s line up so you can make your money’s worth. Maybe you don’t get any items you wanted with your 40 bucks? Maybe the guy you’re playing against now got it in 40, or maybe he spent 2000 and unlocked everything and wipes the floor with you every time you meet on the battlefield? How is that fun?

Then think about how this is a game that is within a franchise that is beloved by children worldwide and suddenly a lot of people under 18 are functionally gambling. That’s a cool thought. It doesn’t help that loot crates have these fancy exciting opening cinematics where it reveals a set of cards laying face down that you then have to turn over to see what you “won” that’s designed to hit all the dopamine centers in your brain. It’s so shady.

Loot crate gambling is one of the most toxic and predatory things to come from the mobile gaming scene and now here it is in premium, full price, AAA games, and not even for just pointless cosmetic content anymore. I paid 60 bucks for Majora’s Mask back in the day and I never had to pay again, and I got a full game with no content locked behind a paywall. Now today I have to pay to get content in the new Zelda game. Now today, I have to dedicate 40 hours of my life (or the low, low price of a couple Gs) to access all the content of a game I already paid full price for. It’s ridiculous.

Don’t buy this game. Don’t support these practices. And none of that “well I only want the story mode so it doesn’t affect me” or “well everyone else is going to buy it so whatever” garbage, either. This is a toxic practice and it will only stop if they see these games don’t succeed.

This. All of this.

Author
Time

Supposedly EA has removed the ability to purchase in game currency with real-world money.

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/pre-launch-update

Oskar Gabrielson, General Manager at DICE
said:

As we approach the worldwide launch, it’s clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game.
This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right.
We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases. We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing, and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this.

Author
Time

As long as this isn’t just a tactic to wait until the backlash dies down so they can reinstate it as it was, then good.

If it’s just cosmetic stuff in the loot boxes when they reinstate the ability to buy in game currency instead of progression-related stuff, then I’ll be happy. I probably still won’t buy the game, but that would at least show that they understand the problem.

Author
Time

snooker said:

Supposedly EA has removed the ability to purchase in game currency with real-world money.

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/pre-launch-update

Oskar Gabrielson, General Manager at DICE
said:

As we approach the worldwide launch, it’s clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game.
This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right.
We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases. We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing, and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this.

Can’t say they aren’t listening and acting on the overwhelming feedback, they do get a few kudos for that…like maybe 1 or 2 😛

.Val

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I have an idea. Those who’ve purchased micro transactions will only get paired up with other players that have done the same.
Those who actually play online games to have fun will have a good time with others who are the same.

Author
Time

nickyd47 said:

I have an idea. Those who’ve purchased micro transactions will only get paired up with other players that have done the same.
Those who actually play online games to have fun will have a good time with others just like 'em.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ChainsawAsh said:

As long as this isn’t just a tactic to wait until the backlash dies down so they can reinstate it as it was, then good.

100% what this is.

JEDIT: Here’s a great Reddit post about exactly why this kind of system is awful.

I am 19. I am payed $15/hour. In the past two years I have spent an estimated $10,407 on micro transactions, gambling, and other video game related digital items. At my worst I was working two jobs and considering dropping out of high school.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

More news keeps flooding in, this is from a Reddit post, so take it with a grain of salt:

EA was just threatened with losing their exclusivity deal unless they revamp/remove the current microtransaction system

And from a comment:

I’ve posted this elsewhere, but in the interest of fucking EA, keeping them honest, and choosing sides, here’s what’s going on.

Microtransactions WILL be reintroduced (keep pushing, hard, because how so depends on what happens here). There are two options being discussed at the moment:

  1. Microtransactions will be cosmetic only
  2. Microtransactions will be used to purchase certain star card + cosmetic bundles, removing the “gambling” aspect from MTs.

Very interesting possible developments. If these changes go live, then I would advocate for purchasing the game to show that this is how we want games to be. Until then, go make more noise about it, so we can hopefully score the first option.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I’m glad EA is receiving this amount of ridicule although these problems extend beyond EA in scope. Microtransactions, lootboxes are a cancer to video games.

Author
Time

Bubba J said:

I’m glad EA is receiving this amount of ridicule although these problems extend beyond EA in scope. Microtransactions, lootboxes are a cancer to video games.

I don’t have a problem with loot boxes that are randomly dropped, are free to open, and contain only cosmetic items (i.e., Overwatch).

Author
Time

TV’s Frink said:

Tobar said:

If everyone had that mentality, we’d quickly see full priced games charging you 50 cents just to start a new game. A quarter for every respawn! 10 cents to reload! This kind of business model has NO BUSINESS outside of F2P titles.

It’s a market-driven business. If that happened, and no one played, it would quickly die. Or people would pay and it would survive.

The answer is always if you don’t like it, don’t pay and don’t play. Find another business model to support.

As someone who is no longer a gamer, I agree with this. The people that complain the most about this are the ones that will be first in line to buy it. That said, I agree completely that this business model is horrific and shady as all hell.

The Person in Question

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Well I can definitely say now, don’t buy the game simply for its single player campaign. The story was mildly interesting with very scripted, simple and easy combat. I completed the campaign in 4 hours, the first 2 on medium difficulty and then the last 2 on high (there’s only 3 difficulty levels) to try and make it somewhat a challenge and slow my progress down a bit. I still breezed through it nonetheless on the hardest difficulty setting.

The cutscenes look amazing thanks to stunning visuals that look and sound perfectly Star Wars but everything else always left me a bit wanting.

So now I’ve got to try and get my remaining money’s worth out of multiplayer which I wasn’t all that interested in anyway but will still just have some fun gaming with some mates that also have the game.

Unless they switch the next release back to singleplayer being the focus though with multiplayer an extra feature, I won’t be buying it. It’s just not worth a AAA game price for 3-4 hours of story gameplay.

.Val

Author
Time

I tried to Redbox it for the campaign after hearing how short it was. I got a piece of paper with a Xerox of the disc printed on it. Couldn’t find a way to report it stolen, so I reported it as an unplayable disc, put the piece of paper back in the sleeve and returned it to the kiosk, and…got a credit for a free rental rather than a refund.

If they try to blame and charge me for the stolen disc I’m gonna be fucking pissed.

Author
Time

ChainsawAsh said:

I tried to Redbox it for the campaign after hearing how short it was. I got a piece of paper with a Xerox of the disc printed on it. Couldn’t find a way to report it stolen, so I reported it as an unplayable disc, put the piece of paper back in the sleeve and returned it to the kiosk, and…got a credit for a free rental rather than a refund.

If they try to blame and charge me for the stolen disc I’m gonna be fucking pissed.

Man that sucks. Have you tried contacting them through their website they have been pretty responsive with refunding me in the past. Online chat support.

Author
Time

Not yet, I might still do that. I was already having a shitty night so when that happened I just said fuck everything and went home to drink.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ChainsawAsh said:

I tried to Redbox it for the campaign after hearing how short it was. I got a piece of paper with a Xerox of the disc printed on it. Couldn’t find a way to report it stolen, so I reported it as an unplayable disc, put the piece of paper back in the sleeve and returned it to the kiosk, and…got a credit for a free rental rather than a refund.

If they try to blame and charge me for the stolen disc I’m gonna be fucking pissed.

Sorry I don’t quite understand. Are you saying your disc was missing in the physical copy of the game you bought?

I would think there’d be a way to still install it through the Origin app anyway after registering the key or something, the game is a 60GB download so I would expect you to have to download most of it anyway unless it comes on a 50GB BD (highly doubtful)?

.Val

Author
Time

No, I tried to rent a PS4 copy from a Redbox kiosk and got a piece of paper in the case with a scan of the disc printed onto it.

I will never purchase this game, unless I get it used for like $10. EA is getting no money from me for it - I justified Redbox since a $3 rental can’t get them more than a buck or two and I wouldn’t be spending any money on microtransactions.

Author
Time

ChainsawAsh said:

No, I tried to rent a PS4 copy from a Redbox kiosk and got a piece of paper in the case with a scan of the disc printed onto it.

I will never purchase this game, unless I get it used for like $10. EA is getting no money from me for it - I justified Redbox since a $3 rental can’t get them more than a buck or two and I wouldn’t be spending any money on microtransactions.

Ah, fair enough. I didn’t know what Redbox was sorry 😉

.Val

Author
Time

They’re little red kiosks at supermarkets or drugstores where you can rent a movie or game for a couple bucks a day (it charges your card every day until you return it). They’re usually pretty convenient and carry Blu-Rays, too.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ChainsawAsh said:

They’re little red kiosks at supermarkets or drugstores where you can rent a movie or game for a couple bucks a day (it charges your card every day until you return it). They’re usually pretty convenient and carry Blu-Rays, too.

Ah k, yeah I’ve seen similar machines here in Australia outside of Woolworths supermarkets for DVDs / Blurays but not for video games.