Months after its release and the whole loot crate fiasco, EA has announced their plans for revising the progression and loot system for Star Wars: Battlefront II. The good news is that they're removing any kind of gameplay affecting items (such as the Star Cards that impact your class abilities and gear) from the loot crates and making them cosmetic items only. The bad news? None of these changes apply to the co-op Arcade mode.
Here are the planned changes that will arrive next Wednesday, March 21, when the update drops across all platforms:
Progression will be linear. Players will now earn experience for the class, heroes, and ships they use/play in the multiplayer modes and, after acquiring enough experience, will level up. Each level will provide players with a Skill Point that they can apply to unlock Star Cards or increase the level of an existing Star Card. No previous progression will be lost. Anything players have unlocked up until this point they will retain. Crates will only contain Credits and cosmetic items. Nothing that affects gameplay will be in the loot crates, thus removing the "pay-to-win" model that plagued the game's initial launch. Cosmetics will be available for purchase using in-game currency or real world money in April. No word on pricing yet.There's an FAQ over on the game's forums page that goes through a lot of what these changes will do/mean, but here are the two most important questions for us:
Q.) Will I earn Credits or Skill Points in Arcade?
A.) With the Progression Update, you will continue to be able to earn Credits, up to 1,500 per day, by playing Arcade. Skill Points can only be earned in multiplayer, linked to the Unit you play as.
Q.) Do you have any plans to change rewards from Arcade?
A.) All Star Cards and Weapons are going to be unlocked, at the Epic level, in Arcade mode so you can try out the best combinations and help you identify how you want to spend your Skill Points. You’ll still be able to progress across Challenges, Milestones, and difficulty tiers in Arcade, and you’ll also be able to earn 1500 credits per day.
I suppose it only makes sense that EA wouldn't extend these big changes (detailed here) to an "offline" mode where players could potentially exploit these changes. Still, it's a shame that there's nothing in this update for the Arcade mode. Hopefully, with this stuff in place, the development team will be able to focus some on the Arcade mode and work to add/improve upon it.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, however, two player couch co-op in the Arcade mode is only supported on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.