EA messed up - the huge backlash about SW : BF2

SeantheMan

So over on Reddit...yes I know...reddit....the EA Community Managed posted a response to the complaints and arguments about PAY2WIN and how long it takes (40hours average - saving up all your credits) to unlock an extra main characters such as Vader etc.
-Some guy did really good research and made a spreadsheet and all detailing how long it takes etc
Original post : https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7c6bjm/it_takes_40_hours_to_unlock_a_hero_spreadsheet/


The EA Community Manager response was

The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.
As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we're looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can

Well this didn't go down well.

Previously the most DOWNVOTED comment EVER on all of Reddit...was 24,333...and that was a guy asking to set the record.
This currently has 94,600 downvotes and counting in 12 hours.

Thread is here
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7cff0b/seriously_i_paid_80_to_have_vader_locked/dppum98/


Hopefully this teaches EA a lesson somewhat and they remove, curb or at least somewhat stop these ****ty practices.

Edit : In the time it took me to write this it's not at 98k lol

Sonics2k

SeantheMan wrote: »

Hopefully this teaches EA a lesson somewhat and they remove, curb or at least somewhat stop these ****ty practices.

It absolutely will not though. EA don't give a toss about downvotes, because they know people will continue to play their games, pre-order constantly and still buy lootboxes/microtransactions.

SeantheMan

110k now

I think this will make a difference. I can see it being picked up not only by every major gaming magazine and news outlet, but some general news outlets too.
I reckon they are in serious damage control mode now

Penn

Read this morning that one of the EA twitter accounts called people complaining "armchair developers". Needless to say the tweet was pretty quickly deleted. Will try find the screenshot of it I saw this morning.

Edit:
http://archive.is/DenaU
Apologies, it was the EA community manager for the game on his own twitter account, not an official EA account.

Fuzzy Logic

And of course he backtracked on his deleted tweet to say it was a general tweet and nothing to do with BFII. Certainly not doing himself any favours and their community team posts on Reddit saying that Everett doesn’t post there yet he offered alpha codes for the original release to the mods and introduced himself by name to everyone.

wes

Saw this on twitter from someone reviewing the game:

https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/930024723706245120

Its pretty clear, that EA and Dice know that the progression is bull****, and made sure to hide it from reviewers.

I hope reviewers respond accordingly to this deception, and give the game low scores.

Penn

Post now almost at 190k downvotes. Will likely get to 10x the number of downvotes of the previous most downvoted comment in a few hours.

gizmo

Whomever thought 40hrs was ever going to be acceptable for a single Hero unlock needs their head examined. I wouldn't even put that limit on a skin, nevermind a character so integral to the franchise.

Not only is the raw credit balance required for those unlocks crazy but the credit generation itself occurs over time played, not actions in-game, so as one user pointed out, if their team pulls a blinder in the early stages of a match and wins it, they'll get less points than they would if a match was dragged out and they limped across the finish line.

It's incredibly poor design throughout but, as Sonics2k points out, it will only change if their bottom line is affected.

Angron

Penn wrote: »

Post now almost at 190k downvotes. Will likely get to 10x the number of downvotes of the previous most downvoted comment in a few hours.

An impressive amount of annoyance, but I'd be utterly shocked if it made any form of difference to EA.

gimli2112

I may register a reddit account just to downvote this

Penn

gimli2112 wrote: »

I may register a reddit account just to downvote this

Ara it won't make a difference.

Do you really think EA gives a sh1te what people downvote on Reddit? The only real way to get it through to them is to just not purchase the game.

If the 158K people don't buy the game, then it'll have a huge effect.

If you assume a $60 pricepoint, then 158K of those not buying the game gives EA a loss of $9,480,000.

Vote with your wallet, not your downvote.

Edit: Seems to have pretty much reached 200K, which would be $12,000,000.

gizmo

gizmo wrote: »

Whomever thought 40hrs was ever going to be acceptable for a single Hero unlock needs their head examined. I wouldn't even put that limit on a skin, nevermind a character so integral to the franchise.

Not only is the raw credit balance required for those unlocks crazy but the credit generation itself occurs over time played, not actions in-game, so as one user pointed out, if their team pulls a blinder in the early stages of a match and wins it, they'll get less points than they would if a match was dragged out and they limped across the finish line.

It's incredibly poor design throughout but, as Sonics2k points out, it will only change if their bottom line is affected.

It's incredibly sneaky, they target the maximum amount of players that way not just the usual soft targets of impatient players or poorer ones looking for an easy leg up and are willing to pay.

Dcully

EA wont care in the slightest.
They also wont care that in my opinion the game is utter garbage.

gimli2112

I stopped buying COD in 2012 and the game just went from strength to strength. Still it cost Activision about €300 plus the DLC which I would invariably have bought while drunk.

Sieghardt

EA do care, just look at how much they cried about getting voted worst company 2 years in a row, they're still bitter about it even now.

They just wont actually do anything to change their business practices. They'll be on to reddit admins to change the rating and get their journo friends to pump out a few dozen articles about how anyone who doesnt like lootboxes and microtransactions is some kind of evil person

Dcully

I stopped buying COD in 2012 and the game just went from strength to strength

Really?

:eek:

gimli2112

In terms of sales I meant. Probably should have clarified that.

J. Marston

They're just too big to fail at this point.

They might take a minor hit in sales for Star Wars but Ultimate Team packs in Fifa will probably rise again to cover any losses.

Yakult

EA are the biggest ****tiest game developer going imo. They release broken games every year, only care to fix the games where you pay micro-transactions. So if a game mode doesnt make them money and its broke, they probably wont fix it or take their sweet time to fix it.

Will think twice, three times about buying their poisoned products.

Dave_The_Sheep

Yakult wrote: »

Will think twice, three times about buying their poisoned products.

Why even think, if your opinion of them is that low?

Just don't buy it. Period.

TerrorFirmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Ara it won't make a difference.

Do you really think EA gives a sh1te what people downvote on Reddit? The only real way to get it through to them is to just not purchase the game.

It's about more than just a reddit downvote though. It'll get picked up by all the gaming websites and some general entertainment sites as well.

EA would care very much about this sort of mass negative publicity just ahead of the games release.

EA are the biggest ****tiest game developer going imo. They release broken games every year, only care to fix the games where you pay micro-transactions. So if a game mode doesnt make them money and its broke, they probably wont fix it or take their sweet time to fix it.

I can't understand why they're doing this to the extent that they are with BF2 - they ****ed up the first one and promised the sequel would be the game it should have been, but then pull this?

I've no problem with loot boxes and microtransactions, but I do have a major issues obviously when they seriously affect core gameplay for those who've already paid full price for the game.

In fairness, comparisons to COD or Battlefield aren't fair as neither game - like most games with microtransactions - have a 'pay to win' element to that content like Battlefront 2 very much does.

They're essentially saying "You don't have to pay to win but if you don't.....the game will only be half as fun".

wes

Sieghardt wrote: »

They just wont actually do anything to change their business practices. They'll be on to reddit admins to change the rating and get their journo friends to pump out a few dozen articles about how anyone who doesnt like lootboxes and microtransactions is some kind of evil person

They don't need to get anyone to defend them. Plenty of fanboys to do it for them.

gimli2112

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

In fairness, comparisons to COD or Battlefield aren't fair as neither game - like most games with microtransactions - have a 'pay to win' element to that content like Battlefront 2 very much does.

Yeah my gripe with COD wasn't micro transaction related. I did disagree with certain things that happened which led me to make a conscious decision not to buy it anymore. Things like allowing their games to be hacked to hell and back. In fairness it makes sense from their perspective as otherwise I'd have stayed on MW2 rather than buying the next instalment. It was just so suspicious that their games seemed to be hacked just as the new one was going to get released.
Putting tin foil hat away now but seven years on I'm still not over it.

readyletsgo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ara it won't make a difference.

Do you really think EA gives a sh1te what people downvote on Reddit? The only real way to get it through to them is to just not purchase the game.

If the 158K people don't buy the game, then it'll have a huge effect.

If you assume a $60 pricepoint, then 158K of those not buying the game gives EA a loss of $9,480,000.

Vote with your wallet, not your downvote.

Edit: Seems to have pretty much reached 200K, which would be $12,000,000.

What about the other 10million sales from people who don't read up on these things?

Companies do this, because people pay it. If 10million stopped paying then they 'might' stop.

But yeah, nothings going to change with downvotes.

People need to talk with their wallets, gamers seem to have a major problem with that for some reason.

Sieghardt

wes wrote: »

They don't need to get anyone to defend them. Plenty of fanboys to do it for them.

True, they gilded the post dozens of times like some kind of strike back against the downvotes, trying to pay2win even on reddit :pac:

wes

Sieghardt wrote: »

True, they gilded the post dozens of times like some kind of strike back against the downvotes, trying to pay2win even on reddit :pac:

Really. Didn't even notice that. Something profoundly wrong with these fan boys.

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It's about more than just a reddit downvote though. It'll get picked up by all the gaming websites and some general entertainment sites as well.

EA would care very much about this sort of mass negative publicity just ahead of the games release.

Has that ever had a proven negative impact on an EA games' release?

callaway92

Most telling comment in the Reddit thread.

It's sickening but he's spot on. Things ain't gonna change.

That's the problem. This type of stuff is not targeted at the average gamer. This type of stuff is targeted at the non-average, the "whales".
One person spending $1k on a game is worth almost 200 of those that just buy the game alone. And make no mistake, there are those that spend that, and more.
It is those people that thus stuff is aimed at.
All EA has to do is make sure enough average gamers play to draw in the whales so that they can enjoy their pay to win against those that haven't.

TerrorFirmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Has that ever had a proven negative impact on an EA games' release?

Negative publicity? Yes. Mass Effect Andromeda springs to mind.

If reviewers slate the game on release for this approach to gamers who've already paid full price for the game, it will affect sales.

EA do care that every gaming website going is now carrying stories that paint one of their biggest releases of the year in a terrible light.

It doesn't mean the game will flop obviously, but it will dent sales.

Also, there's never been such a unified backlash against an upcoming game this big before.

mcgovern

Sieghardt wrote: »

True, they gilded the post dozens of times like some kind of strike back against the downvotes, trying to pay2win even on reddit :pac:

It was gilded to increase the visibility of the issue, it wasn't EA that did it as it only increases the bad PR.

Stone Deaf 4evr

I wonder will we see EA stepping back from the 5 day early play for people with EA access? It certainly hasn't done them any favours with regards to This or Mass effect.

Already starting to make news on other sites

Stone Deaf 4evr

Deleted User wrote: »

Already starting to make news on other sites

you mean there's other sites? :eek:

TerrorFirmer

What ever about outrage that's not right.

https://twitter.com/BiggSean66/status/930058496216670211

K.O.Kiki

Comment is at -391k now

wes

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What ever about outrage that's not right.

https://twitter.com/BiggSean66/status/930058496216670211

FFS there is always some bloody idiots slinging out death threats on pretty much anything these days. I don't care how bad the micro transactions are, that kind of carry is simply out of order. What the hell is wrong with some people.

wes

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Comment is at -391k now

Here is hoping that 391k don't buy the game.

Shiminay

EA don't give a fig, they'll pay some lip service cause they have to, but if being voted the worst company on earth twice didn't put any kind of dent in their image (and it didn't), this too shall pass and people will buy the product anyway because people always buy the product anyway. Downvoting a Reddit comment is about as effective as a fart in a hurricane because there are so many fkwits that'll threaten individual staff with death threats over anything, it means the whole thing can safely be explained away to the investors and board of directors as "typical internet hate" and if they're clever (and they are), it'll be spun into a story about how big a percentage of the news was dominated by EA products for the month of October and November "making it our most successful media campaign and launch of the year."

No, if people want to get something done about this, they need to go after the Star Wars caretakers at Disney for allowing this to happen and ruin the brand. There are few companies on earth that will rain the sort of unholy fire upon those that would attempt to damage their brand as Disney. Disney is one of the wealthiest companies in the world too, they could slap EA down without breaking a sweat if it came to it.

J. Marston

Deleted User wrote: »

What ever about outrage that's not right.

https://twitter.com/BiggSean66/status/930058496216670211

"Death threats" Yeah, from edgy 13 year olds who think they're being funny.

Clearly shouldn't happen but if he actually fears for his life, he's an idiot.

If I was in his position and got a message saying "I'm going to kill you" and another saying "You're a cúnt." I know which one I would roll my eyes at and which one might annoy me.

Shiminay

J. Marston wrote: »

"Death threats" Yeah, from edgy 13 year olds who think they're being funny.

Clearly shouldn't happen but if he actually fears for his life, he's an idiot.

If I was in his position and got a message saying "I'm going to kill you" and another saying "You're a cúnt." I know which one I would roll my eyes at and which one might annoy me.

Except he lives in America where mass shootings by deranged angry white men are a weekly occurrence...

Anytime someone threatened my life when I was working here on Boards, I immediately reported it and all the relevant data I had to the Gardaí, you'd be an idiot not to.

J. Marston

Shiminay wrote: »

Except he lives in America where mass shootings by deranged angry white men are a weekly occurrence...

But I'm guessing the cross-section between very upset Star Wars fan and deranged gun nut is teeny.

Shiminay

J. Marston wrote: »

But I'm guessing the cross-section between very upset Star Wars fan and deranged gun nut is teeny.

lol, I don't know what rock you're living under, but Star Wars fans are amongst the most rabid and deranged of fandoms, it's just that they've been going for so long there are enough older members to make it look respectable. Just look at the sort of hate poured on George Lucas over the prequels.

Shiminay

Shiminay wrote:

lol, I don't know what rock you're living under, but Star Wars fans are amongst the most rabid and deranged of fandoms, it's just that they've been going for so long there are enough older members to make it look respectable. Just look at the sort of hate poured on George Lucas over the prequels.

The way fans spoke about and treated Jake Lloyd contributed to him having serious mental health issues. He was a child and fans were horrible to him because of his role in the film. Star Wars fanboys are amongst the most rabid and it would not surprise me if one of them went full on postal.

Gbear

wes wrote: »

FFS there is always some bloody idiots slinging out death threats on pretty much anything these days. I don't care how bad the micro transactions are, that kind of carry is simply out of order. What the hell is wrong with some people.

If you're singled out by a population of 250000, or a million, or 5 million people, you're going to get some proportion of those that are gob****es, weirdos or psychopaths.

It doesn't make sense to you because people don't regularly interact with those numbers.
We're literally not capable of comprehending it.

It's an unfortunate side effect of the concentrating power of social media but there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.
I suppose the good news is that it's actually so incredibly rare given the numbers of people involved.

Sucks for those it happens to but there's no helping it really.

Kiith

Deleted User wrote: »

What ever about outrage that's not right.

https://twitter.com/BiggSean66/status/930058496216670211

This sort of **** is just unreal. Anyone who actually threatens someones life over something like this is seriously ****ed up. Don't threaten violence, because not only is it wrong, it won't in any way help your 'cause' in any way.

J. Marston wrote: »

But I'm guessing the cross-section between very upset Star Wars fan and deranged gun nut is teeny.

Even a teeny amount of people who might actually be stupid/crazy enough to do something like this would be a teeny bit too many. And unfortunately, people have been killed for less. Now i don't for any minute actually believe his life in in danger, and neither does he (probably), but this sort of carry on is absolutely unacceptable (not accusing you of saying it was ). He didn't personally decide the loot box strategy, he just told people about it.

If you don't like the decision, don't buy the game, and as was suggested, maybe send a tweet/comment/whatever to Disney. Simple as that.

wes

Gbear wrote: »

If you're singled out by a population of 250000, or a million, or 5 million people, you're going to get some proportion of those that are gob****es, weirdos or psychopaths.

It doesn't make sense to you because people don't regularly interact with those numbers.
We're literally not capable of comprehending it.

It's an unfortunate side effect of the concentrating power of social media but there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.
I suppose the good news is that it's actually so incredibly rare given the numbers of people involved.

Sucks for those it happens to but there's no helping it really.

Oh I understand that, but I think a hard line needs to be taken against people who harass and make death threats. I they need to be made examples of legally. That kind of carry on needs to be dealt with severely. I think society at least needs to try and shuttle these people down.

I get that we as well be pissing in the wind got all the good it will do.

Penn

Cost of unlocking heroes to be reduced by 75%

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/swbfii-changes-launch?utm_campaign=swbf2_hd_ww_ic_soco_twt_swbfii-launchchangesblog-tw&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cid=41287&ts=1510608729384

So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits. Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players.

CastorTroy

So is that each? Like 15000 for Luke and 15000 for Vader. So 20 hours play, assuming they don't buy any other characters

Falthyron

Translation: "Oh, fúck. Oh, fúck. Oh, fúck. Please buy the fúcking game or we are in serious trouble."

Its really simple: cancel the loot-boxes. Make everything unlockable via in-game play just like Battlefield 1 and every other Battlefield before it. But, naaah, they are still holding out for some tasty, juicy greed.

EA: 'Always pushing boundaries to the limit in every possible way.'