Star Wars Battlefront 2 content might take years to unlock, but EA won’t say

Frustrations continue to brew on Star Wars Battlefront 2’s subreddit, where members of EA DICE, the game’s developer, took part in a heated Ask Me Anything session today. Chief among the concerns: How long does it take to unlock all of the game’s content? But DICE’s answers, meant to assuage concerns, don’t seem to have satisfied those wary of Battlefront 2’s microtransactions.

The Battlefront subreddit’s current top-voted thread is about one user’s estimation about the amount of money and time needed to get all of the game’s content.

“There is a grand total of 324 cards. Upgrading these will require a total of 155,520 crafting parts,” according to Soeren Kamper of fan site SWTOR Strategies. “This requires opening a grand total of 3,111 loot crates which will require 4,528 hours of gameplay.”

The site where Kamper’s math lives is currently down for maintenance, although the full text is available on Pastebin. He continues with a breakdown of how much money all those loot crates could cost if they choose to spend real-life funds: $2,100, a number derived from the cost of the paid currency, crystals, used to open all of those loot crates. (Players can also use credits, which they receive for free; it takes more credits than it does crystals to unlock crates, however.)

Those numbers could be underestimated, according to Kamper. The calculations don’t include how long it takes to upgrade Star Cards to their maximum level, which are unattainable through loot crates; those who want the best abilities offered by these collectibles might have to spend more time than the 4,500 hours, according to users.

It’s uncertain how accurate this estimate is, although others have come up with similar numbers in their own calculations. When Redditors asked DICE for specifics during the AMA, the game’s executive producer suggested that it’s not quite as high as they think.

“We've seen the speculation about how long it takes players to earn things — but our averages based on the Play First trial are much faster than what's out there,” wrote DICE’s John Wasilczyk. “But as more players come in, that could change. We're committed to making progression a fun experience for all of our players. Nothing should feel unattainable and if it does, we'll do what it takes to make sure it's both fun and achievable.”

Redditors aren’t taking the answer well, demanding numbers and averages from Wasilczyk in replies. Some also point out that last week, producer Paul Keslin — who is also part of the AMA session — told YouTuber Angry Joe that Keslin and the team “actually don’t know the math behind” how long it takes to unlock everything for free, which they don’t find encouraging.

The AMA marks the most recent major instance of DICE acknowledging players’ concerns about Battlefront 2’s paid content. Earlier this week, an EA representative posted what went on to be Reddit’s most downvoted comment ever, in which they defended the costs of unlocking new playable characters. Shortly thereafter, the company announced in a blog post that it would lower the number of credits required to earn these new heroes.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 launches this Friday, Nov. 17. We’ve reached out to EA for further details on the unlock time and cost estimations and will update with more.