EA’s PR rep received one of the most downvoted comments of all time when they patronized gamers by making up the excuse that the current unlock process in Star Wars: Battlefront II that requires 40 hours of play to unlock a single hero was done so that players felt achievement when accomplishing such a monumental task. Most gamers were angered at the response, which was in relation to a gamer who asked why they would need to grind for 40 hours to play as Darth Vader after spending $80 on the game?

The rep made the following statement on the Battlefront sub-Reddit, writing…

“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 comment received more than 542,000 downvotes as of the writing of this article.

EA responded to the negative response to the response about the amount of hours required to grind for the characters by quickly making a post stating that they would be updating Star Wars: Battlefront II at launch to reduce the grind required to unlock characters. In a post made on November 13th, 2017, EA’s PR team stated…

“There’s been a lot of discussion around the amount of in-game credits (and time) it takes to unlock some of our heroes, especially Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Unlocking a hero is a great accomplishment in the game, something we want players to have fun earning. We used data from the beta to help set those levels, but it’s clear that more changes were needed.

“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.”

This patch will be applied to both the home console versions of the game and the PC version of the game. Additionally, those who have early access to the title via the pre-order deluxe edition will also see changes reflected in the game when it comes to the credits required to unlock the heroes.

This still doesn’t absolve the issues surrounding the complaints about the game’s pay-to-win factors. EA says they will hold an AMA on Reddit this Wednesday on November 15th to further address concerns.

Previously a DICE producer stated that they had to make the premium loot boxes in the game in order to get people to “try new things”, which did not go down well with gamers. Some people did attempt to defend EA by claiming that they have to add microtransactions in order to cover the costs of development, but thankfully a majority of gamers aren’t buying it.

They can’t just remove loot boxes it’s part of the progression system and who cares if there are loot boxes everybody AAA game now a days have them

— Dylan King (@OHsnapGame) November 13, 2017

Seriously guys, this is coming from someone who wants this game to succeed: Thank you for all the work you do.

Some people have been going insanely overboard with this. Just thank you for listening to us and our feedback.

— Scott (@Metalsnake27) November 13, 2017