Star Wars Battlefront 2 - now with lootbox drama

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

If you have a generally well-loved brand it gives you more freedom to argue that long term brand health is worth more than short-term profit.

"They only hurt you because you don't love them enough."

 

[Lahey]

He was right about that part. EA has a shit reputation but it doesn't matter because their customers are retards who happily throw money at their screens in order to update rosters every year.

 

[Durandal]

Hey everyone, EA "listened"!



https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/b...&utm_medium=social&cid=41287&ts=1510610344562

Since the start of the project, listening to fans has been important in making sure Star Wars™ Battlefront™ II is the very best experience for all of you. We’ve done this with the closed alpha, through the beta last month, and our Play First Trial. And we continue to make adjustments based on your feedback as the game launches worldwide this week. Listening, and providing choices in how you play, will always be our principle with Star Wars Battlefront II. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future.

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.

It's a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly. It will be live today, with an update that is getting loaded into the game.

We’ve also been listening to how much you’re loving features in the game (Starfighter Assault, 40 player MP battles, Darth Maul lightsaber throws, etc.) as well as what you haven’t liked. We know some of our most passionate fans, including those in our subreddit, have voiced their opinions, and we hear you. We’re making the changes to the credit levels for unlocking heroes and we’re going to keep making changes to improve the game experience over time. We welcome the conversation.

In fact, this Wednesday we’d like you to join us for a Reddit AMA with some of the key leads on our team. Stay tuned to our social channels for more info on the AMA, and our blog for continual updates on what we’re seeing, hearing and adjusting in the game.

For those of you already playing, thank you. For those of you looking forward to playing the Star Wars™ game you’ve been waiting for, thank you, too. The team is fully committed to listening to our community, continually adjusting the game, and providing even more great Star Wars content over the upcoming months and years of live service updates. More to come.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

It's all an interesting development, but I am doubtful enough people will actually boycott the game. They will reduce the unlock times and prices just enough to claim a change has been made.

Here it comes:
https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/swbfii-changes-launch

Spoiler

Since the start of the project, listening to fans has been important in making sure Star Wars™ Battlefront™ II is the very best experience for all of you. We’ve done this with the closed alpha, through the beta last month, and our Play First Trial. And we continue to make adjustments based on your feedback as the game launches worldwide this week. Listening, and providing choices in how you play, will always be our principle with Star Wars Battlefront II. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future.

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.

It's a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly. It will be live today, with an update that is getting loaded into the game.

We’ve also been listening to how much you’re loving features in the game (Starfighter Assault, 40 player MP battles, Darth Maul lightsaber throws, etc.) as well as what you haven’t liked. We know some of our most passionate fans, including those in our subreddit, have voiced their opinions, and we hear you. We’re making the changes to the credit levels for unlocking heroes and we’re going to keep making changes to improve the game experience over time. We welcome the conversation.

In fact, this Wednesday we’d like you to join us for a Reddit AMA with some of the key leads on our team. Stay tuned to our social channels for more info on the AMA, and our blog for continual updates on what we’re seeing, hearing and adjusting in the game.

For those of you already playing, thank you. For those of you looking forward to playing the Star Wars™ game you’ve been waiting for, thank you, too. The team is fully committed to listening to our community, continually adjusting the game, and providing even more great Star Wars content over the upcoming months and years of live service updates. More to come.

That will probably be enough to appease plebs.

 

[Shadenuat]

He was right about that part. EA has a shit reputation but it doesn't matter because their customers are retards who happily throw money at their screens in order to update rosters every year.

They are using gambling methods though. Gambling is important enough for it to be regulated by country law. Game developers seem to dodge the bullet just by fact that these games are not seen as real, "grown ups" gambling. It's an exploitation of a thin line and being protected by immature state of electronic games. It's funny cause laws regulate online poker and such, but when you look at lootpacks from particular perspective, they're basically online slot machines.

And naive norms still fight "violence in games" while real crime goes unpunished.

It's a bit different in a lot of ways:

Sure. You can Draft too and then everyone is a victim of fate just as you. But by it's nature? A totally P2W game as designed from start. And it's not the only one. There are a lot of card collecting games that are hyped and then die out and new come in, esp. asian made.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

80$ for a game.

estimated 4528 hours of gameplay

Sounds like a great deal!

 

[Lahey]

They are using gambling methods though. Gambling is important enough for it to be regulated by country law. Game developers seem to dodge the bullet just by fact that these games are not seen as real, "grown ups" gambling. It's an exploitation of a thin line and being protected by immature state of electronic games. It's funny cause laws regulate online poker and such, but when you look at lootpacks from particular perspective, they're basically online slot machines.

And naive norms still fight "violence in games" while real crime goes unpunished.

Good point, and it ties into your earlier post regarding MTG and even much older practices such as prizes in cereal boxes, Mcdonald's monopoly game, and other similar promotional marketing campaigns. In the case of cereal prizes a bunch of kids died over the years from accidentally eating toys which prompted laws. MTG sidesteps somehow but I haven't researched it enough to comment on how. Loot boxes in games simply don't have the advocacy groups to oppose them, which seems odd given the size of the industry. Like you said, they're too busy fighting sexism/violence on one side and censorship/false advertising on the other. The ESA is far too corrupt to self-regulate to boot.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I have not purchased an EA game in seven years.

Feels good man.

 

[J1M]

He was right about that part. EA has a shit reputation but it doesn't matter because their customers are retards who happily throw money at their screens in order to update rosters every year.

They are using gambling methods though. Gambling is important enough for it to be regulated by country law. Game developers seem to dodge the bullet just by fact that these games are not seen as real, "grown ups" gambling. It's an exploitation of a thin line and being protected by immature state of electronic games. It's funny cause laws regulate online poker and such, but when you look at lootpacks from particular perspective, they're basically online slot machines.

And naive norms still fight "violence in games" while real crime goes unpunished.

It's a bit different in a lot of ways:

Sure. You can Draft too and then everyone is a victim of fate just as you. But by it's nature? A totally P2W game as designed from start. And it's not the only one. There are a lot of card collecting games that are hyped and then die out and new come in, esp. asian made.

The reason game companies have got away with loot boxes so far is simply because it's not gambling when the box contains nothing of value.

 

[Durandal]

I'm fairly sure that online games in China are required by national law to display the drop rates of their lootboxes in order to counteract the gambling-like addiction with lootboxes. Here's something we can learn from China for once.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

​

 

[Average Manatee]

I'm fairly sure that online games in China are required by national law to display the drop rates of their lootboxes in order to counteract the gambling-like addiction with lootboxes. Here's something we can learn from China for once.

Doesn't seem to help China much. And from history I doubt it would help us much, people still wasted weeks farming Diablo 2 for items with known drop rates of 0.000001% (do MMOs/online games list drop rates nowadays for non-loot box shit?).

​

Can we just hand out the worst company in America award now?

 

[DragoFireheart]

I hope EA rapes everyone that gives money to them in the ass.

There comes a point where I expect EA to behave a certain way but so many retards enable their behavior that I can no longer blame EA for the way they act.

I have not purchased an EA game in seven years.

Feels good man.

I think the last EA game I bought was Mass Effect 2.

Haven't given them jewgold since.

 

[DemonKing]

I don't think the comparison between MTG boosters and Loot Boxes is fair.

MTG Boosters have a guaranteed rarity distribution - if a set has 55 rare cards and you buy 55 boosters by the law of averages you will be able to trade for roughly a full set - you will get duplicates of some good cards as well as some lames so it should all even out. Also the game has been going for decades so in theory you can dust off cards you haven't played with for years and pit them against the latest sets.

Loot Box contents are much more ephemeral. Overwatch might be pretty hot right now but likely the herd will have moved on in a few years and you will have paid for a bunch of stuff that you can't even make use of. Also the servers could be shut down for various reasons meaning your purchases literally no longer exist. At least with MTG cards you have something physical to hold on to and can even resell at a profit in some cases (I noticed one of my old cards is now valued at over USD$1,000 recently!)

 

[Average Manatee]

Technically I think most loot boxes have some kind of guaranteed min-rarity thing. It's just that they put in bullshit like "rare skin", "better than average consumable", and "buy one get one free coupon" at the same rarity tier as "super weapon you want". It's easy to pad the list out.

Are there any games that let you trade loot boxes and/or their contents? I know that's what they are going for with Diablo 3 (with Blizzard taking a cut of each transaction), but I thought that was eventually nixed and I'm not knowledgeable about how other games handle it.

 

[Cael]

I'm fairly sure that online games in China are required by national law to display the drop rates of their lootboxes in order to counteract the gambling-like addiction with lootboxes. Here's something we can learn from China for once.

Unfortunately, if I read the law correctly, in the Western world, it is not considered gambling if there is nothing valuable that is being gambled on. That means online games can get around this by prohibiting the resale of items and making the statement that the player do NOT own the items on their toons. Whether they enforce those rules is another matter entirely.

 

[Dexter]

I find it's interesting how people react to random loot boxes in computer games, when these existed in gaming for years. Like booster packs in Magic The Gathering. You buy a pack with random set of cards and you have no way to get card you really want by means provided by developer. You can exchange cards with other players of course, but sooner or later, to be competetive, you'd spend money on buying just that one card you really need... sometimes for a dollar, sometimes for 50$, but some can be more expensive.

But due to it being collectible card game, just like collecting any other random junk, I don't think people mind.

The difference is that with Magic The Gathering you're not buying a full-price game for $60-80 with added costs and gambling systems in it, you're buying "Booster Packs" that contain 15 playing cards or whatever, and that's arguably exactly what you want and are paying for. So you pay for the (physical) cards and get said cards.

They are using gambling methods though. Gambling is important enough for it to be regulated by country law. Game developers seem to dodge the bullet just by fact that these games are not seen as real, "grown ups" gambling. It's an exploitation of a thin line and being protected by immature state of electronic games. It's funny cause laws regulate online poker and such, but when you look at lootpacks from particular perspective, they're basically online slot machines.

Isn't that arguably exactly what makes it worse? As an adult you can go into a Casino and spend your time pulling one-armed bandits or playing roulette, but this is about children being encouraged to gamble, often with their parents earnings, since they often have their credit cards attached to said accounts.

Also, there's already various regulations in a lot of countries for the same or similar stuff, some of the Western governments just need to catch up, since they're rather slow when it comes to "video games" and have a tendency to concentrate on retarded stuff instead of what actually matters:
Japan: http://www.serkantoto.com/2012/05/09/kompu-gacha-dena-gree-history/
South Korea: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Di...rnment-Ban-All-Virtual-Item-Trades-43620.html
China: https://www.pcgamesn.com/china-loot-box-regulations
UK: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24272010
EU: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-187_en.htm

 

[HitPepper]

Here comes the EA defense force, from a guy that has only made one decent game and a garbage walking sim, but is always brought up as an "indie darling"

Thread is all about how the poor publisher has to make money somehow while keeping the $60 tag. Are you fucking kidding me

 

[Dexter]

Here comes the EA defense force

Don't forget the usual narratives, from the usual cancerous people:

WayPoint - Being Upset at a Game Developer Doesn't Give You an Excuse to Harass Them: https://archive.fo/ZM0TO

CNBC - EA's new Star Wars game is so unpopular a developer is apparently getting death threats: http://archive.fo/HEizj
Fortune - 'Star Wars: Battlefront II' Controversy Escalates to Death Threats Ahead of the Game's Release: http://archive.is/dh8Ah
Screen Rant - EA Developer Receives Death Threats Over Battlefront II Loot Boxes: http://archive.is/6JrrL
Attack of the Fanboy - Star Wars Battlefront II Developer Receiving Death Threats over Microtransactions: http://archive.is/9WjRD
Heavy - Star Wars Battlefront II Dev Gets Death Threats for Loot Boxes: http://archive.is/pvlEf

I think this is a good way for them to go:

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Didn't even read any of this shit but I just thought I'd chime in to say that EA deserves all the harassment they can get by default. Just because they are EA.

 

[Black]

Here comes the EA defense force

 

[FeelTheRads]

Can't criticize something because it's made by the publishers. Think of the poor developer's feelings. I'm sure some robot slaving in a cubicle at a billion dollar franchise cares very much about what you think of his work.

IMAGINE: A game journalist with a brain.

 

[Astral Rag]

Game comes out in EA access in 4 hours!

GET HYPED.

Only playable for 10 hours tho, before the actual launch next week on 14th for preorders!

 

[Falksi]

I wrote a poem about EA the other night, to try and sum up my feelings for them......

EA,
So Gay.

 

[Durandal]

tl;dw MC defects to the Rebellion at the last moment to the chagrin of many SW fans who wanted a full-on Imperial campaign