Is Star Wars Battlefront 2 Pay to Win?
Can you pay real money in Star Wars Battlefront 2 to get an in-game advantage?
If you’re at all interested in the release of Star Wars Battlefront 2, you’ve almost certainly heard about the fuss over progression and microtransactions in the game. Players felt that Electronic Arts went with a progression system that encouraged players to spend real money to unlock popular in-game items. Darth Vader was previously priced at 60,000 Credits, which could take 40 in-game hours to reach. But, does that make Star Wars Battlefront 2 pay to win?
It's worth noting that the following was written prior to microtransactions being temporarily removed from Star Wars Battlefront 2. For the time being, Star Wars Battlefront 2 has no microtransactions, meaning it is not pay-to-win. We will have to wait and see what changes are made to the system when microtransactions return to the game in the future.
Is Star Wars Battlefront 2 Pay to Win?
During my time with Star Wars Battlefront 2, I completed campaign Milestones and multiplayer Timed Challenges to earn in-game loot crates. These crates had Credits, Crafting Parts, Star Cards and Emotes. I then spent $6.99 Canadian on 500 Crystals, which is the currency you can buy with real money. I used the 500 Crystals to open three loot crates. Every single loot crate that I opened contained Star Cards that I was then able to apply to the various Classes, Heroes, and Villains to upgrade the characters I played with. I didn’t notice a difference in the items I received when spending real money versus the in-game currency, but I got a lot more a lot faster by spending real money. I was able to avoid several hours of grind and jump straight to having some advantages.
Now, for those thinking that someone can drop a bunch of cash, open a bunch of loot crates, and have fully upgraded Classes, Heroes, and Villains immediately, that’s not the case. Yes, you can get items that make you more effective in multiplayer, but you must play the game to level up and open the slots that those upgrades fit into. You get one open slot by default, but the rest must be unlocked by leveling that Class, Hero, or Villain. This, however, will happen naturally as you play.
Still, Star Wars Battlefront 2 has pay to win mechanics in it. Does this mean you can pay cash and be the best player in multiplayer? No. You can unlock advantages for the character, but if you just aren’t a good player, it isn’t going to help you much. If you are equal in skill to an opponent, though, and you have a character loaded with upgrades because you paid real cash to get them quickly, how is that not pay to win? It isn’t the most blatant pay to win mechanic I’ve ever seen, but you can spend real dollars to get an advantage.
Regardless of whether Star Wars Battlefront 2 has a bit of pay to win in it, the game is going to be very popular this holiday season. If you’d rather avoid spending real cash on loot crates, there are ways to earn Credits fast and unlock crates, although it’s not as effective as dropping real money, unfortunately.
