EA is in trouble.

[dg1995 28]

Battlefront fans are angry, even Yahoo has posted a news about it:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ea-apos-star-wars-battlefront-154136734.html

 

"This has come together to result in an official EA community account - EACommunityTeam - that now has the most downvoted comment in reddit's history. With the comment currently at a score of -294,000 points[it has passed 600K], the Star Wars Battlefront community is now filled with posts negatively responding to the game in a variety of areas. Some of the posts are people - from fans to those claiming to be a part of the games industry - going into what they dislike about the game, while others are making fun of EA and the situation as a whole. Many people are looking to refund the game, following both these criticisms and EA's official responses to them."

 

"The greatest criticism, one which elicited the response from EACommunityTeam, involved how players must 'unlock' famous characters such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to play as them in the multiplayer modes. You can either pay extra to unlock the 'heroes' faster, or unlock them via in-game credits earned via a vast time commitment.

The cost of Vader, for instance, originally ran players 60,000 in-game credits. Under the alterations, he will now cost 15,000 credits. Though when players are earning just a few hundred in each match, it will still demand a considerable time input. The heroes are stronger than the regular soldiers, and must also be earned for a limited time each game."

[dg1995 28]

Oops, sorry about making 2 topics. Mods,may you remove one of them ?

[sEcOnDbOuToFiNsAnItY 60]

The article does not seem aware that in addition to lowering the credit requirements, they also lowered the amount of credits you get from completing the campaign.

[dg1995 28]

Yep. And you even get less credits per match.

 

It's funny how Star Wars HQ youtube channel tells this news in the way that make you believe that EA has completely fixed the problem.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGrChnN-UQ

[Guest]

Nothing will come of it unless the game is boycotted heavily, and that won't happen because some idiots buy anything with Star Wars slapped on it.

[L0ki194 82]

I love how EA just keeps continuously messing things up... I'm waiting for the day I hear that they finally shut down, but that'll probably never happen.

 

 

Yep. And you even get less credits per match.

 

It's funny how Star Wars HQ youtube channel tells this news in the way that make you believe that EA has completely fixed the problem.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcGrChnN-UQ

Wouldn't be the first time they've said something misleading. When KOTOR 1 made it to Xbox One backwards compatibility, they posted a video saying that it was an "updated version" with "updated graphics". Only thing I've seen is that the resolution is increased to 1080p (still in 4:3) and the frame-rate got a bit of a boost.

[dg1995 28]

I love how EA just keeps continuously messing things up... I'm waiting for the day I hear that they finally shut down, but that'll probably never happen.

Unfortunately that won't happen since their FIFA franchise saves them. But I'm pretty sure that soon they will give up making games in other genres other than sport and mobile games.

 

Nothing will come of it unless the game is boycotted heavily, and that won't happen because some idiots buy anything with Star Wars slapped on it.

But it's already giving it a bad press. I'm pretty sure that it won't become as successful as the 2015 one. 

[LDR 234]

They're fine. EA has already made a ton of revenue from this game, and so long as they're publishing big titles and milking FIFA, they're completely ok. There's always going to be enough people with enough cash to blow to keep making microtransactions profitable.

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

I'll just leave this quote from the Battlefront subreddit - edited for language - right here.

 

I work in electronic media PR - I'll tell you what EA's PR strategy is regarding the "progression system."

Here is some information. Make whatever decisions you want with it.

EA spends tens of thousands of man-hours focus testing and doing market research on the optimum way to wring money out of your wallet. This means that one or two days (or weeks or months) of complaining will not get them to change their mind regarding the nature of the progression system. They will not truly "fix" it because they believe that it's working as intended and their accountants and marketing guys will tell them that it is. A certain amount of players are supposed to get sick of it and stop playing. That's built-in to the calculations, like when Wal-Mart assumes that there will be a certain amount of shoplifting.

 

That said, they understand that they have a clusterf--- on their hands, so since they are not interested in fixing it, they are going to use a technique referred to as "making the outrage outdated." This was very clearly what they did with the beta. The beta had a great deal of backlash and instead of fixing anything, they "made changes." The effect of these changes were negligible but it didn't matter because all the articles written about the flaws of the beta and the complaints by users became outdated and replaced by articles and comments about how they were making "changes." This allows them to control the narrative of their product without actually losing any money or making significant changes. The fact that the changes didn't help and potentially made the game worse didn't matter.

 

(Ubisoft did this in a much more elegant way with Assassin's Creed: Origins by the way - they prevented you from buying loot boxes with real money, knowing there would be a backlash, instead allowing you to purchase the currency needed for loot boxes with real money. The ONLY things that accomplished was allowing them to do interviews saying that you couldn't buy loot boxes with real money during pre-release and make people who wanted to use real money for loot boxes have to click two extra buttons. They didn't have to make the outrage outdated because they controlled the narrative from the jump.)

 

The reason this works is two-fold:

1. Journalists who cover the initial outrage feel that, ethically, they have to post the follow up but probably aren't going to do the research to figure out if the changes are substantial or effective at fixing the actual issue. (Edit: I've started seeing articles pop up already about the "changes" and at best, all they do is parrot the good research that various Redditors have done.)

2. Loyal fans who get fed up with it and decide not to buy the game are desperately searching for a reason to forgive EA so they can play their neato shooty game so they'll take any crumbs they are given.

 

Accordingly, I will guarantee this: They will "make changes" with a day 1 patch. That much is obvious, but specifically, the changes they make will be based around reducing the cost of heroes and loot boxes. Sounds good, right? Well, maybe. The actual reason why they're going to reduce it is because right now the complaints are that progression takes too long - specifically about 40 hours to unlock heroes. They will change it, negligibly, so that the story becomes "We fixed the 40 hour hero requirement!" Of course, the change will make it so that still takes about 37 hours (I'm obviously just making up a number here, but the point is that it's still an absurd requirement), but that will be lost in the news cycle of them "making changes."

 

And of course, inexplicably, forums will be filled with people who for whatever reason are desperate to point out that your outrage is outdated. You'll say "It takes too long to unlock heroes" and they'll pop up to tell you and everyone else that EA "made changes" to that. Complain about loot box percentages? They "made changes!" What changes? Who gives a f---. Changes!!!! Every complaint you have will be met with someone who wants to tell you that the reason you have for being upset is outdated.

 

This is a very common strategy used for scandals that are linked directly to financials - they will f--- you a little less than you expected and hope that you don't do the math on just how much less it is. All the while they will take advantage of the PR resulting from the reduced f--king.

 

Edit: To clarify, you shouldn't feel like EA is "ignoring" you. They aren't. It's actually worse than them ignoring you. They have people pouring over these forums (And twitter, more importantly) trying to get a general idea of the negative sentiment. They will then try to quantify that negative sentiment and add it to the previous years of focus testing and market research they've done. The previous focus tests told them the the most financially viable thing to do would be to make the game as it is now, and they will add the current negative sentiment to that formula and come up with something like "reduce micro-transaction costs by 1.5%" (Rounded up to the nearest 5 or 9 or 10, again, based on what focus testing tells them is most pleasing to the customer. They also will likely increase progression rather than decrease micro-transaction prices to avoid alienating people who bought the micro-transactions at the original price - of course, increasing progression speed and decreasing the cost are exactly the same thing, financially.)

 

Last edit: So EA made some changes and decreased the time required for a hero unlock from (about) 40 to (about) 10-15 hours. This is a much bigger decrease than I expected, but please consult the first paragraph of this post: The nature of the progression system is still the same. If you're cool with that, enjoy your purchase/license of a game as service.

 

Edit to the last edit: Apparently they also reduced rewards so, you know, lol.

 

[narshaddaarocks 67]

Thanks EA!

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

https://kotaku.com/the-curious-case-of-the-ea-game-dev-who-said-he-receive-1820474458

 

Turns out, the EA Employee who received death threats, probably wasn't an employee at all.

 

They couldn't pay me to play this game.

[Canderis 180]

All i've ever wanted was what the original battlefront 3 was supposed to be. Sadly, I will never get that game. So I'll stick to the original BattleFront 2. At least thats fun.

[dg1995 28]

All i've ever wanted was what the original battlefront 3 was supposed to be. Sadly, I will never get that game. So I'll stick to the original BattleFront 2. At least thats fun.

You can try this mod.(This isn't complete but it's awesome)

http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-battlefront-iii-legacy

[Canderis 180]

You can try this mod.(This isn't complete but it's awesome)

http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-battlefront-iii-legacy

 

 

This. This is what I want. Now, if only i could port it to my xbox 360!

[Malkior 476]

They just did the AMA.. From what I hear, it went predictably but not in a good way. https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7d4qft/star_wars_battlefront_ii_dice_developer_ama/

[Haveayap 127]

They just did the AMA.. From what I hear, it went predictably but not in a good way. https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7d4qft/star_wars_battlefront_ii_dice_developer_ama/

Just heard ea have now put a limit on how many credits you can make each day aswell.

[Xuul 224]

The latest news is in. EA temporarily removes micro transactions. 
 
AN UPDATE ON STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II

[Domino5555 119]

The latest news is in. EA temporarily removes micro transactions. 

 

AN UPDATE ON STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II

Thank [EXPLETIVE DELETED] God that those losers actually listened to reason, if only briefly. How are they going to "improve" the microtransactions?

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

The latest news is in. EA temporarily removes micro transactions. 

 

AN UPDATE ON STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II

This quote from the linked page doesn't fill me with confidence. (Emphasis mine.)

 

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.

 

[Domino5555 119]

This quote from the linked page doesn't fill me with confidence. (Emphasis mine.)

 

I read that statement. I'm going to give EA the benefit of the doubt, and assume that future microtransactions will be strictly cosmetic.

[Guest Qui-Gon Glenn]

Going to pass.

 

Gameplay doesn't look remarkably better than the original BF2.

 

Made by a company whose sole value is your money.

 

I purchased my last new EA game with DAI. If EA publishes something amazing, I will buy it used.

 

They might win overall, but they've already lost to me.

[Malkior 476]

I read that statement. I'm going to give EA the benefit of the doubt, and assume that future microtransactions will be strictly cosmetic.

It's simply impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point. They were being investigated for potentially getting their game banned and I'm sure the widespread bad press wreaked havok on their stock. This was an act of desperation and even a promise that they would return once the dust settles.

 

It might be amusing to see how much their game functions when the key component is forcibly removed from it, but by no means do they have anyone else's best interests at heart.

[Haveayap 127]

I read that statement. I'm going to give EA the benefit of the doubt, and assume that future microtransactions will be strictly cosmetic.

I have given them the benefit of the doubt. just purchased the game

[Domino5555 119]

It's simply impossible to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point. They were being investigated for potentially getting their game banned and I'm sure the widespread bad press wreaked havok on their stock. This was an act of desperation and even a promise that they would return once the dust settles.

 

It might be amusing to see how much their game functions when the key component is forcibly removed from it, but by no means do they have anyone else's best interests at heart.

To be honest, I've never trusted EA, and I never will. But when an investigation into Battlefront II's microtransactions brings up the possibility of gambling, and they are forced to give up the microtransactions, even if it's only temporarily, in order to safe face from lawmen, it proves that we have a power to make a difference in our protests against EA's actions.

[Xuul 224]

 I'm going to give EA the benefit of the doubt, 

 

Yeah. I mean going off their history, we really should be giving EA some slack....

 

I really hope they fix it. But my guess is they are just waiting until after Xmas sales to come through and then will return the gambleboxes back with some slight tweaks