After much criticism, EA has announced changes on how players will progress through Star Wars Battlefront II. The first set of changes are set to begin March 21. With the changes progression will become completely linear. Star Cards, or any other item that affects gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and not purchase. This addresses fan’s outrage of the pay-for-play system that allowed gamers to spend real-world money to gain improved status which made gameplay easier. Fans will now earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you’ll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card they would like to equip.
EA stresses that users will keep everything they have already earned and unlocked. They will keep all of the Star Cards, heroes, weapons, or anything else that they have already earned.
Crates, which used to be available for purchase, will no longer include Star Cards and will not be available for purchase. They will now be earned by logged by logging in daily, completing Milestones, and through timed challenges. Inside of these crates, you’ll find Credits or cosmetic items, such as emotes or victory poses, but nothing that impacts gameplay.
Starting in April, you’ll be able to get appearances directly through in-game Credits or Crystals. The first new appearances are coming soon, meaning that gamers will be able to grab new looks for your heroes and troopers directly by using either Credits (earned in-game) or Crystals (available to purchase in-game and through first-party stores). This is a way that EA is able to keep a real-world purchase element, but address concerns regarding purchasing gameplay features.
Upon the game’s release, there was severe backlash regarding the purchase element. While common in free apps, a “pay-to-play” scheme in a game that costs over $70 was seen as greedy. In multi-player, some gamers were able to purchase improved stats creating an uneven playing field. Following the controversy, Disney stepped in to push EA to make some changes to resolve the issues. EA took immediate steps, and this is the latest phase of addressing the concerns.