Star Wars Battlefront 2 Loot Boxes Are Slightly Better Now

Star Wars Battlefront 2 ’s loot boxes became a major controversy following the game’s open beta last month, and EA has taken that negative feedback into account. A new blog post details how progression will work when the full game releases Nov. 17. Here are the key takeaways about the system:

• Epic Star Cards (the highest tier at launch) won’t be in loot crates: Instead, these cards can be crafted once the player passes a certain in-game milestone. The only exceptions to this rule are a few specific cards that will be pre-order and starter pack bonuses.
• Powerful weapons are tied to levels: That means a player must get good at the game to get the best weapons.
• Class-specific crates: In order to make the grind for a specific desired weapon a bit less bothersome, class-specific crates can now be earned by playing as that class. This drastically increases your odds of getting the gun you want.

While this is far better than the entirely random progression of the beta, it’s still not perfect. Starting with the first bullet, the content in parenthesis is potentially very telling. While it’s nice to see that Battlefront 2’s best Star Cards at launch won’t be in loot boxes, the implication here is that better ones could be relegated to boxes in the future. After all, the current top tier is Epic Star Cards. That suggests box-exclusive Legendary Star Cards will be introduced down the line.

Similarly, the idea of gating cards and weapons behind level milestones is really great, but there’s still a hint of pay-to-win elements within those specific tiers. After a player hits the highest tier, for example, he or she can still pay for a bunch of loot boxes to get the crafting parts required to make an Epic Card much faster than they otherwise would have. Once you hit the very minimum of the required unlock tiers, the system can still be manipulated with money.

Obvious questions still remain. If Epic Cards can be crafted with parts, how liberally will those parts be doled out for free? As those who played the beta will likely know, the early game was really stingy in terms of parts offered in costless crates. If DICE makes the grind for parts frustrating enough, those much lighter pay-to-win hooks will start to carry a bit more weight.

At this point, the only thing for potential players to do is wait and see how Battlefront 2’s loot box system functions post-release. On paper, this new monetization model looks like a three-quarter step in the right direction, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out the obvious holes that could plague its initial implementation.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 comes to PS4, Xbox One and PC Nov. 17.

What do you think of the new loot crate system in Star Wars Battlefront 2? Do you still think it feels pay-to-win? Tell us in the comments section!