Das ging aber schnell - nachdem EA reichlich Kritik für die Preisgestaltung zum Freischalten von Spielcharakteren (ua. Darth Vader war hinter einer immensen Credit-Mauer versteckt) in Star Wars: Battlefront II eingesteckt hat, meldete sich nun John Wasilczyk, Executive Producer bei DICE, auf der offiziellen Website zum Spiel zu Wort.

Neben reichlich bla bla wie "Wir hören auf die Fans" senkt der Publisher die erforderlichen Credits für Figuren wie Darth Vader und Luke Skywalker um bis zu 75%. Vader und Skywalker benötigen nun 10.000 Credits, Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca und Leia Organa 10.000 Credits und Iden 5.000 Credits.

Nimmt man die vorherigen Berechnungen für das Erspielen der Charaktere zum Vorbild (da dauerte es ohne Doppelte Punkte oä. fast 60 Stunden nur um Darth Vader zu erspielen, so kann man das jetzt in rund 10 Stunden schaffen. Oder aber man bezahlt mit richtigem Geld, denn diese Optionen sind immer noch reichlich vorhanden.

Ausschlag für diese rasche Wendung dürfte ein unpassender Kommentar eines Community Managers gewesen sein, infolge dessen dieser Post bei reddit in die Geschichte einging. Kein anderer Post in dem beliebten Social-Tool wurde mit mehr als 400.000 Stimmen heruntegewählt.

Nun liegt es an euch, liebe Spieler, euch entweder mit solchen Sachen zufrieden zu geben, oder EA und diese Pay 2 Win Praktiken weiter zu unterstützen. Denn neben Battlefront II ist auch das neue Need for Speed mit Micro-Payment Optionen und langweiligen Grind-Orgien, die man normalerweise nur in Free 2 Play Spielen findet, durchsetzt.

Since the start of the project, listening to fans has been important in making sure Star Wars Battlefront II is the very best experience for all of you. We’ve done this with the closed alpha, through the beta last month, and our Play First Trial. And we continue to make adjustments based on your feedback as the game launches worldwide this week. Listening, and providing choices in how you play, will always be our principle with Star Wars Battlefront II. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future.

Making games great comes from regular tuning. As one example, today we’re making a substantial change based on what we’ve seen during the Play First trial. 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. 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.

It's a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly. It will be live today, with an update that is getting loaded into the game.

We’ve also been listening to how much you’re loving features in the game (Starfighter Assault, 40 player MP battles, Darth Maul lightsaber throws, etc.) as well as what you haven’t liked. We know some of our most passionate fans, including those in our subreddit, have voiced their opinions, and we hear you. We’re making the changes to the credit levels for unlocking heroes and we’re going to keep making changes to improve the game experience over time. We welcome the conversation.

In fact, this Wednesday we’d like you to join us for a Reddit AMA with some of the key leads on our team. Stay tuned to our social channels for more info on the AMA, and our blog for continual updates on what we’re seeing, hearing and adjusting in the game.

For those of you already playing, thank you. For those of you looking forward to playing the Star Wars game you’ve been waiting for, thank you, too. The team is fully committed to listening to our community, continually adjusting the game, and providing even more great Star Wars content over the upcoming months and years of live service updates. More to come.