EA has today announced changes to Battlefront II’s unlock costs. The changes have, according to EA “drastically reduced the cost of hero unlocks.”
The cost of unlocks have been reduced by 75% meaning Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will cost 15,000 credits instead of 60,000. While this sounds like a drastic reduction, and functionally it is, the time required to unlock heroes is still too high.
You keep talking, and we’ll keep listening.
Today, we’ve drastically reduced the cost of hero unlocks in #StarWarsBattlefrontII. Learn more: https://t.co/H6m6ywGMAh pic.twitter.com/fJoJqWDRmo— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) November 13, 2017
Based on the data compiled by TheHotterPotato on Reddit, even at the reduced cost of 15,000 credits it will take 10-hours to unlock Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. That’ sounds 20-hours to unlock both heroes. And that’s only if you don’t spent any credits on anything else in the game.
While it is an improvement, players will still be facing a huge time investment just to play with characters they’ve already paid for. Players will still be able to pay to purchase credits and unlock heroes more quickly.
EA writes on the post regarding the reduction of costs;
Making games great comes from regular tuning. As one example, today we’re making a substantial change based on what we’ve seen during the Play First trial. There’s been a lot of discussion around the amount of in-game credits (and time) it takes to unlock some of our heroes, especially Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Unlocking a hero is a great accomplishment in the game, something we want players to have fun earning. We used data from the beta to help set those levels, but it’s clear that more changes were needed.
So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits.
Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players.
The model that EA appears to be using for Battlefront II is reminiscient of those used for free-to-play games. Except Battlefront II is a full priced game.
The 75% reduction in cost to unlock heroes is a nice idea in theory, but in practice, fans and players are still facing content locked behind paywalls or a long grind.
Star Wars: Battlefront II will be available on November 17.
