Villains, Arcade, and for a limited time as Jetpack Cargo). And Bespin is now available as a location for certain game modes (Blast, Heroes vs. The Arcade also mode now offers all Star Cards unlocked at Epic Card levels, to give players the opportunity to experiment with various configuration options. EA’s FAQ has more details on how the new progression system works. Points are unique to the hero or class you earn them with - you can’t use points earned with Yoda to upgrade a Heavy or vice-versa. These skill points can be used to buy various Star Cards. Instead of buying loot crates to find parts for critical upgrades, players will gain skill points as they level. While microtransactions still exist within the game, they’re limited to cosmetic items and have no impact on gameplay.

All heroes and hero ships are now unlocked from the start. Star Cards, which give access to various buffs, weapons, or capabilities will only be earned through gameplay (you keep access to any Star Cards you already had). With these new updates, which started going live this week, the entire progression process has been revamped. The company’s initial response to the controversy was to blame Star Wars canon, which didn’t exactly endear it to the community, either.

EA wasn’t the only company to take fire from gamers over loot crates in 2017, but its system was one of the worst, inspiring states like Hawaii and countries like Belgium to investigate banning loot crates altogether. It just meant that players couldn’t literally buy their way to victory using real cash. The microtransaction system was yanked literally hours before the game launched, after Disney made EA pull it, but that didn’t solve the problems in the progression system. On a related note, EA now holds the record for the most downvoted comment in Reddit history. When players discovered it would take up to 40 hours to unlock a single hero, EA breezily responded that this requirement would “provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.” While Battlefront 2 is far from the first game to include microtransactions, the original BF2 progression system was designed to effectively force players to spend money on loot crates.

The problems started when EA decided to create an alternate revenue stream for itself based solely on loot crates and pay-to-win mechanics, with players who purchased loot crates with real money gaining a significant advantage over those who opted to just play the game.

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