Update, November 15: Little concrete detail is coming out of the Battlefront II AMA, but the developers promise some amount of change is yet to come.
EA’s Reddit AMA for Star Wars: Battlefront II has come, and the responses from the developers have certainly been vaguer than the community was hoping. The answer to most questions – and obviously the vast majority of those queries were related to loot boxes and the progression system – was roughly “we’re listening, we’re making changes, but we have nothing concrete to announce at this time.” The developers do promise they’re tweaking the specifics to make progression more enjoyable, but wouldn’t commit to any specific changes yet.
Here’s how much it’ll cost you to unlock everything in Star Wars Battlefront II.
As for whether it’s possible we’ll see a complete overhaul to the progression system, associate design director Dennis Brannvall says yes. “I don’t feel you can take yourself seriously as a developer on a live game if you’re not willing to completely challenge your own system and consider overhauls. I can’t really commit to the dates just yet, but we’re looking at solutions where players have a clearer, more direct path to getting the stuff you want.”
Perhaps we shouldn’t expect the death of loot boxes anytime soon, though. Brannvall also says “I think crates can be a fun addition as long as you don’t feel forced to engage with them in order to progress. I feel that’s where the issue is with our game right now and that’s where we’ll look to solve as quickly as we can. We’re looking to add additional ways to progress your favorite character or class, while allowing crates to be a fun thing for those who want to engage with them.”
But most responses echoed the more philosophical approach of executive producer John Wasilczyk’s answer to whether the progression system would undergo radical changes. “We’re going to continue adjusting the crate systems, content, and progression mechanics to hit a point that gives players a great, balanced experience at all skill levels,” says Wasilczyk. “We’re working on expanding the number of ways that players can progress, putting more control in their hands and providing more options and choice in the way people play. There’s not much in the game that we wouldn’t revisit to improve the game for as many players as possible.”
With regards to credits earned during matches emphasizing time played over performance, producer Paul Keslin says that “right now Credits you earn in-match DO take into account your performance. It also takes into account the time you’ve spent in-match. Currently it’s skewed more towards your time spent in-game and we have some work to do to make it more clear that your performance does impact your Credit earn. This change was done prior to Launch.”
So things are changing. Just don’t expect many details on how – or even if those changes will be fundamental enough to reverse the course of public opinion – just yet.
Original Story:EA are hosting an AMA on theStar Wars Battlefront subredditthis evening to talk to the community about Star Wars Battlefront II.
The AMA will feature three representatives from EA and DICE; John Wasilczyk, executive producer; Dennis Brannvall, associate design director; and Paul Keslin, producer. It’ll kick off on the subreddit from 09:30 PST (17:30 GMT), but the post will go live several hours earlier than that in order to allow questions to be posed (and moderated) in advance.
Star Wars Battlefront II was recently the subject of the most-downvoted Reddit comment ever, and it seems as though the AMA is an attempt to reach out to stem some of the tide of dissatisfaction. That dissatisfaction means the subreddit’s moderators, and EA themselves are worried about the AMA becoming hostile. In a post last night, the mod team issued a statement reiterating the ban on hostile or inflammatory language, and saying “EA has also informed us that if the AMA becomes hostile, their team will pull back and stop the AMA.”
Elsewhere on the subreddit, players are worried that EA is likely to use a hostile response to the AMA “to flip the narrative.” Responding to that post, Dennis Brannvall says he has no desire to make the community appear unreasonable, but encourages players to remain “calm and respectful,” as well as honest and open with their feedback.
A list of questions intended to be asked during the AMA has been put togetherhere.