In a triumphant battle between the gaming community, the StarWars community, and one of the most hated companies in the world, Electronic Arts, consumers end up on top! Today it was announced, that EA will be releasing an update to the game called the “Progression Update” which will rid the loot boxes of skill based items and cards, only allowing them to be won through in-game milestones, daily logins, and other challenges. They are still allowing real money to be used to purchase loot boxes, but ONLY for cosmetics, a system that many gamers don’t have an issue with.
You can read the extent of the new update here. Ea states in the post….
With this update, progression is now linear. Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase. Instead, you’ll earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you’ll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card you’d like to equip.
The question now is, did EA / DICE wait too long to implement this new linear progression update? The games sales were massively impacted by the outrage, and as someone who currently owns the game, it’s safe to say active online player count seems to be quite low. That said, it seems like they’re making the right moves, and if they continue down this path, listening to gamers, giving the audience what they want and deserve, while also continuing to put the game on sale for less than the MSRP of $59.99, I think more and more players will pick this game up to give it a try.