DICE made a futile and a rather inadequate attempt to address concerns over the criticism Battlefront 2 has been getting lately, via an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session conducted on reddit on Wednesday. John Wasilczyk, Executive Producer, Dennis Brannval, Associate Design Director, and Paul Keslin, producer, stepped up and volunteered to face the criticism by answering to the questions asked by reddit users.
The AMA session was flooded with hundred of questions, but only about 30 of them were answered by the developers, and most of the responses were vague and consequently they were mass downvoted by reddit users. While they assured that they are “committed to making progression a fun experience for all of our players”, there was no concrete statement on the abolishment of Star Cards, i.e., the feature that has been immensely criticized.
On asked about the immense grind required to unlock Heroes, DICE said that they have “seen the speculation about how long it takes players to earn things” but their “averages based on the Play First trial are much faster than what’s out there” and “as more players come in, that could change.” They further assured that they are “committed to making progression a fun experience for all players” and they would be “working towards making sure that players can continue to progress without daily limits”.
A reddit user further asked about whether they are looking forward to make radical changes to the loot boxes, since these are the major drawbacks which mar a potentially good game. DICE replied that “this concern has come through loud and clear” and they are “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”. They further said that they are “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”.
They were further criticised for ruining the Star Wars IP by implementing microtransactions and their recent Star Wars IPs lacking the charm which was present in their late 90’s and 00’s predecessors. DICE replied by saying that their “partnership with Lucasfilm gives access to a huge amount of Star Wars information” and they are “always looking back at the heritage of Star Wars games”. DICE further added that they “want players to enjoy their progression through the game and want gameplay to be fair along the way” and “Microtransaction are there for player choice, but won’t be a requirement to play or succeed at the game” and they will “continue tweaking and tuning” until they achieve their goal. They further replied on another question about microtransaction by saying that “crates can be a fun addition” as long as one doesn’t “feel forced to engage with them in order to progress”. They further assured that they are “looking to add additional ways to progress character or class, while allowing crates to be a fun thing for those who want to engage with them”.
Regarding the negative reviews the game got from reviewers around the world, DICE said that it was a result of the “feedback on the progression system” and “the gameplay, art, audio and depth warrants higher recognition”. They were further cross questioned that the whole AMA was pointless and they are probably not looking forward to improving the game. DICE replied that they “care more about how everyone enjoys the game and how long everyone plays the game vs. what its metacritic score is” and they would “continue to adapt as fast as possible to things which aren’t working well”. They reassured that they will “improve and expand on what works and rework or eliminate what doesn’t” and everyone’s “feedback directly impacts what features fall in which bucket”
While DICE made all attempts to assure that they will revamp their controversial microtransaction and lootbox system, most of their answers were vague and lacked a concrete assurance to remove the Pay to Win elements of the game completely. The full AMA thread on reddit can be found here.
they said they would tweak it, even revamp it. But remove it. Not every company has balls like Blizzard to remove RMAH a facte around which a game is designed.