A couple of days ago, the Internet was in an uproar when it was discovered that Star Wars Battlefront 2's heroes took a minimum of 40 hours to unlock. Fans were outraged that iconic Star Wars characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker were locked behind an absurd grind, with many feeling as though this was EA's way of frustrating players into purchasing loot boxes with real world cash. Following this backlash, which included EA posting the most downvoted comment in Reddit history, the company has attempted to appease fans by reducing the cost of heroes by 75%. But there's a catch.

What EA failed to mention when it announced that it would be reducing hero unlock costs in Star Wars Battlefront 2 is that in-game rewards have also been reduced. Prior to the changes, completing Star Wars Battlefront 2's story campaign rewarded players with 20,000 credits, but that reward has been reduced to a mere 5,000 credits.

By reducing the rewards players earn in-game from playing Star Wars Battlefront 2, EA has actually done little to address concerns over the game's implementation of loot boxes. Many disgruntled fans may see headlines citing the reduction in hero cost and feel better about purchasing the game when it launches on November 17th, only to find that the game still presents an overwhelming grind to unlock popular characters like Darth Vader.

Some Star Wars Battlefront 2 defenders may point out that the game will have free DLC like the upcoming The Last Jedi content, and that is the trade-off for having microtransactions like loot boxes. Even so, characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader seem like they should be available from the start, considering they are two of the most iconic characters in the entire franchise. It would be like releasing a Dragon Ball Z fighting game where Goku was locked behind a paywall, or a DC fighting game where Batman and Superman took hours to unlock.

It's clear by the fan backlash that many are not happy with the way EA and DICE are handling loot boxes and microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront 2. Whether or not this leads to more change remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 will launch on November 17th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Game Informer