EA Greed KILLED Star Wars? - Dude Soup Podcast  

James: "We fixed it. Now NO ONE can be Luke Skywalker!" This is pretty much it. Devs wanted to fix the problems of idiots camping on the hero points on Battlefront, but publisher wanted that to be a way to milk cash from the teet of players' wallets by dangling the carrot of fun in front of them. Now, neither devs nor players are happy.

One day I'd like to be able to sit around a table with the FH crew, with a couple beers, talking about the state of the world. Another great podcast, guys. Maybe one day we'll get a great Star Wars game. Republic Commandos? Imperial Commandos??!??!??!!?

Games should be judged whether they are ONE DOLLAR ONE HOUR

They reduced the cost it takes to unlock Vader and Luke by 75% but they also reduced the reward credits your receive by 75%

As a person who has a 9-5 job monday - friday and a girlfriend, I physically cant put 4000 hrs into a game. I absolutely loved the original battlefront, EA has successfully pushed me away from the previous battlefront and this one. I will not pay full price for a game and not get the full game.

Wow! Dude Soup is such an amazing podcast. I hope the guys at Funhaus feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment for what they have created.

Just wanted to update people on the man who said he receives death threats. He has made his Twitter private and removed all mention of EA on his account. In an article by Kotaku, Jason does research on the man and asks him if he actually does work for EA, the man then makes his Twitter private and didn't answer Jason's questions.

Smite is a free to play game where you can pay 30 bucks to get all 92 current playable characters AND all future playable characters. I've given smite more than 300 dollars over the past 3 years for cosmetics. Free to play models belong in free to play games.

Here is where "devil's advocate" and "it's just how it works" lead us, some might say we can feel sense of pride and acomplishment.

"Oh I remember, they looked at his feet" Died laughing because that's how I always remember Bossk

EA lowered the number of points required to unlock the character by 75% but also lowered the normally rewarded points by that same amount, leaving everything the same. Before, finishing the campaign would reward you with 20000 points and now rewards you with only 5000.

I had so much hope for this game too

I can remember back in the 90s on Genesis (Megadrive) when I used to think the yellow tab on the taller cartridges was a sign of quality. Sad what EA has become.

Crazy stuff. I read that they already lowered some of the costs of characters. Darth Vader went from 60.000 down to 15.000. Still crazy that a key character like that is locked, while you pay €60 or more *Edit: They lowered the prices on the characters but also the rewards... so still a grind fest

can't wait for the next Star Haus podcast

Yo EA , add jar-jar binks to ease this madness, only for the price of 1 dollar, but 1000000 hours of grinding.

SOMEBODY CALL SPOOLE I GOT A GAME FOR HIM

I’d say EA didn’t kill Star Wars, I’d say the game will be a COD style failure, it makes more than enough money but still not as much as they want

I have passed on SW:BF2 and COD and LoTR because of this nonsense. I also didn't buy Destiny 2 because of the crap they pulled with Destiny 1. I wonder if I'll ever buy a triple A title again.

EA should have just made the game free to play with all these paywalls and pay 2 win type model

So glad I'm not into these kind of games and that I'm patient as heck. Gimme a solo game with all the DLC included a year or so later for a fraction of the price. I look forward to playing Shadow of War next year lol.

This is the most extreme use of loot boxes that any AAA game has used. If this game sells big, it's just gonna prove to publishers that it doesn't matter how much bullshit they shove into their game, people are gonna buy it anyway. I don't think people realize how fast this disgusting trend will stop if u JUST DONT BUY THESE GAMES. Don't even hit me with the "buy the game just not the loot boxes" argument. These games are getting designed around these things so ur tempted to buy them. Just look at shadow of war. The entire last section of that game was designed hoping u get impatient enough to spend real money. It's all shits and giggles until these things find their way into the games you like to play. Is this really what you people want your games to be like going forward?? Have some self control for once vote with ur wallet.

I want a new RPG in the Star Wars Universe.

@funhaus Kotaku did a (surprisingly) good investigative article on the death threat developer that is worth brining up. The guy likely isn't a developer and is likely making the whole thing up. Not saying that the developers aren't being harassed or that it's even remotely acceptable.

I like Lawrence’s hoodie.

Lawrence getting wrecked at 44:16 is my new favorite Dude Soup moment.

If the game was free this model would have made sense. As is $60 plus this shit is insane.

I loves seeing Elyse so invested in the short time she played today. And the improvement in her mechanical capabilities in the FPS area is really great. Not trying to be patronizing, genuinely fun to see :)

Thank you Lawerence for reminding Elyse and viewers that although a few idiots send death threats the majority of ppl have simply voiced their opinion as their right as consumers. Don’t make the issue bigger than it is, but also don’t detract from this being a clear message to future developers. Just because a lot of ppl have an opinion about something other than politics or the economy doesn’t mean you should scoff at them.

They lowered the cost for each character but the 3 hour cool down is ridiculous. So it takes the exact amount of time.

EA "Greedo" KILLED Star Wars?

I absolutely love James' first point he makes here. It's absolutely on point "Give them fucking Vader" Perfectly summed up.

PERFECT TIMING BOIIIIIS LET'S GO

Lawrence on the low low looks like the little boss from the incredibles

We fixed it! No one can play luke skywalker! that's great :D

Oh how I love Lawrence's Segway into as reads, makes me laugh every time

I want to play Battlefront 2 so badly, but paying for the game at all, even if I don't buy any micro-transactions, shows that I'm willing to put up with EA watering my game down to milk the whales and dolphins which is always a win for them. If you want to protest EA's horrible practices, you need to avoid paying for the game at all.

There are a few points that were missing from the discussion that I wish were included: 1. EA and Dice have previously implemented combined grind-to-unlock and/or pay-to-unlock progression systems including “Battlepacks” in Battlefield 4 which included non-cosmetic weapon upgrades. 2. There is no non-cosmetic abilities that cannot be unlocked via gameplay alone. The number of hours / costs quoted for unlocking “all” unlocks alone could be misleading, the number of hours to unlock 3 (all slots) fully upgraded star cards for one soldier class or a hero would be useful to compare minimum time required to be equally competitive with veterans. 3. The heroes that are required to be unlocked by credits have comparable tier heroes unlocked for the player immediately on purchase of the base game. 4. Recent games such as Rainbow Six Siege, Battlefield and Shadow of War with similar, but not identical progression systems are interesting cases (imho) to compare against, in particular the timing of the availability to purchase unlocks (before or after launch, as well as relative novelty of micro transactions) and the community’s feedback. 5. I don’t believe there has been enough time (at time of writing) by most to reach a verdict on the balancing of unlock heroes and abilities. To add my own opinion and experience in my short 10hrs of play, I have for the most part been dominated by other people using heroes or vehicles that are immediately unlocked with the base game but I haven’t played enough to make a verdict on the balancing.

Gamers have power to fight back, but some don't use it.....the only way these assholes will listen is if we hit them where it hurts. People who say that you don't need to buy Micro-T fail to see the point and the problem, we can already start to see them keep on trying to push the line and its going to get to a point when it destroys gaming. If we are going to help out, we need to do it now....even when bs publishers gives us a inch we as gamers need to take that mile. I don't want to look upon gaming in the next ten years and just think to myself how much has it fallen from grace. :/

Dude Soup heals the hole in my heart that "That one show" was supposed to but didn't.

Well it killed it for me, but also because they didn't listen to the community, just to the sales figures for newbees that afterwars will hate the game as well.... sorry EA ... big fail...

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is like being on vacation in Florence, needing to take a shit and finding the toilet behind a paywall (based on a true story)

No joke lol... Ever since I discovered Elyse I have stopped smoking (herb) and did a serious 180 on my diet just to make my odds at getting a girl like her higher. Thank you for making me a better man lol.

Even during Hardnetting Elyse can be an "Indie Elitist" in the way she speaks and justifies herself.I appreciate the commitment.

too bad this wasnt made a day ago or something. havent watched the full thing yet but i doubt, during the filming of this, they will talk about how there's a cool down for challenges, they nerf campaign credit reward saying it was only meant for eidon (is the guys name?),and that they removed the refund button on their website making you wait in over 1 hour queues to refund the game (during this shit fest). you guys remember that awful site, g2a? their keys are mostly stolen and some can be scams and the money you spend there doesnt go towards the developers? if i was gonna buy the game in the first place im gonna get it from g2a. fuck ea.

the best home remedy for hickups is to run up 3 flights of stairs, and then back down but this time while doing a handstand while screaming your home country's national anthem. Trust me works every time.

They reduced credit for heroes but reduced credit earned

Also in the original battlefront when your a hero your health slowly degrades over time and getting kills gives you health

Are you guys ever gonna bring back the google trend show?

Who giggled at the point when Lawrence was talking about butt wipes and then you hear Elyse shout "I'm going In ! "

What?!? EA being money hungry assholes ruined a game?!?! Nooooooo..... I dont believe you.

100% success rate hiccups removal trick: You get someone to block both your ears by pressing firmly on your tragi. You then simply drink water while NOT breathing at all from your nose. The idea is that you make the swallowing motion over and over a few times, not really drinking water so it doesn't have to be a lot of it. Worked every time for myself and others :)

Can't wait to hear Adam condescending and patronizing the redditors that downvoted the comment Edit: 2 ,minutes in and uncle adam proved me wrong

So apparently that EA dude who cried about threats isn't an EA employee. Kotaku has an article on it.

I was really expecting ea to do this you’d think that they would figure out how to make a game by now

How I usually get rid of hiccups is drinking water upside down. I’ll hold water in my mouth and sit on my couch upside down, works every time!

Runescape still keeps it old-school. $5 A Month or $40 a year simple

I don’t have much money, and if I can buy a £50 game I expect it to be complete and full and not be ripped off again and again.. so sad. I miss the models of PS2 and GameBoy where you got extras by playing the game fully and unlocking things - this is a much more enjoyable experience for the consumer and gamer.

the harassed dev wasn't a dev at all as it turned out.

I'm loving that this whole conversation just rounding right back to Disney!

Talking about Star Wars and no Bruce? What is this?

That's roughly 189 days of playtime just over half a year of straight game play

Sad cause we all know EA makes the games more casual and boring then add micro transactions

"Can I rant or how much time do we have?" "No you can rant" "Noo I don't wanna rant" -Adam, 2017

this podcast isn't fully caught up. They reduced the cost it takes to unlock heroes by 75%, but they also reduced the reward credits you receive from the campaign by 75%. They also put in a limit to how often you can earn credits ("come back in 3 hours" if you want to earn credits)... But probably the biggest kicker of all is the fact they got rid of the ability to automatically return the game and now you have to wait for hours on the phone.

Elyse`s " *wheeze* Oh noooo..." at around 10:30 is the best reaction to this post I've heard.

Star wars is a movie.

as a note to the "no droids or trooper, only heroes" thing James brought up. The original battlefront 2 had a hero battle mode with Luke, Annakin, Obi-wan, etc vs. Darth Maul, Vader, Grievous, etc

Complains about content behind pay walls, has content behind pay walls... great job funhaus

How to get rid of hiccups: 1. Hold your breath; 2. Swallow twice; 3. Slowly exhale through your nose.´ This trick always works for me, hope it can help others as well!

Aw, no timestamps in the description?

As far as playing as a stormtrooper... that's kinda what made me love the old Battlefront games. I've always hated playing as the hero. Playing as a soldier, in the war with your buddies, trying to survive and maybe kill a guy or two before you go down yourself made it really enjoyable for me. Maybe i'm crazy

Had some cash, bought it, enjoy it. It seems like people take games so seriously now and the expectations always outweigh the product. Some expectations are acceptable and certainly warranted, but lowering those expectations even a little to enjoy a game isn't a crime.

R6:S is doing it pretty well. "You can buy skins nobody cares about if you want. Here's a cute ghost charm for Halloween. Here's an elite skin for try hard. Have fun. We'll give you another operator in a few months."

Lawrence lookin' pretty

When the dollar shavr club ad came on, I fast forwarded. It started back up with Lawrence saying " A clean asshole. All day. All day."

Kinda like how you guys do TWITS AND CRITS?

Microtransactions - It's in the game

I didn't see anybody boycotting Call of duty who has a season pass and loot boxes containing weapon and perk upgrades. These lynch mobs have about 20 minute of shit research behind them

As Adam was playing this, I really wanted to play it. The dodge rolling, the accuracy matters, the ships looks snappy to fly and shoot, the gameplay just looks fun. It's all spoiled by them shoving their crystals in my face and pointing at the things I can buy if I throw food money at the game.

I'm surprised no ones talking about how garbage the campaign is. You play as a hero the entire time. My mistake for thinking that the game supposed to be about the foot soldiers of Star Wars has nothing to do with them. Also, I'm so fucking tired of seeing imperials abandon their entire core beliefs and join the rebellion on the turn of a dime. "oh, so you killed 1000s of our men? lets fucking make you a rebel officer". Disney's Star Wars is starting to fucking suck.

Elyse and James’ body language and faces from 44:47-45:28 is the reason I love them both so much

So Americans now care about this system? when this has been on FIFA for years. Don't turn a blind eye now huh?

Elyse's reaction at 10:35 is gold.

The hero’s are harder to get because they want people to feel accomplished when they earn them. Also the game is constantly changing even when it is out, so in other words they may change some this people constantly complain about. Lastly if you don’t like the crates, don’t get them, I mean if you spend real money on a game who’s really winning?

A point about Shadow of War, it is really easy to never buy a loot box and still get great stuff. I haven't bought a loot box with real money, and while playing around a very busy graduate school schedule, I have been able to build up a great army. The loot boxes for BF2 seem key to succeeding.

To summarise: EA "Credits will do fine." Community "No, they won't!"

Another thing that was changed later that wasn't mentioned was the Campaign Credit Unlock. For completing the campaign you recieved 20,000 credits. Once they lowered the requirements for all the hero's they also lowered that. They also lowered the amount of credits you get from other sources. So while they lowered the cost of the heros, the grind will be near the same as they've reduced the rate at which you can get credits to begin with.

Wolfsbane and Mountain Dew...instant cure for hiccups!

43:50 the game James is describing sounds, to me, like Jedi Academy

22:50 Laurence shoots a guy and James gives him one of the most honest thumbs up ive seen. Its cute as heck

I don't think unlocking Vader or Luke is that big of a deal, if it was fucking reasonable!!

You guys should seriously consider trying to get an EA rep to your office for a podcast like this and give them a chance to reconcile all the arguments you guys have. It would be interesting to see how they spend more time in an interview, than in individual statement releases, in justifying their reasoning for doing things the way they did. I want to see how they can argue your logic because I seriously agree with you guys. Its absolutely ridiculous. Hard to believe anyone approved of these ideas if they looked past the actual implementations and focused on the effect it has.

How to win hardnetting: Have an obscure shtick and make your channel all about it, or be The Dyson Show.

I just started watching Marble Olympics and I binge watched almost all of it. I think it is one of my favorite channels on youtube now. The 2017 games were amazing.

What's a shame is that... We've only had two AAA star wars games in 4 years? And apparently the deal for EA and star wars ends in 2020. I love star wars but the only games for star wars I'd played are just of battlefront which can get boring over time. I think EA have wasted the opportunity to make more games in star wars and I guess we'll have to wait 2 years for the next? Shame.

"TL;DR: Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are locked when you first open the game. They cost 60,000 Credits each to be able to play as either of them. Earning that amount of credits just by playing will take you 40 hours." this is the TLDR from the reddit post where the math was laid out. 40 hours to unlock something in a game is not a foreign idea. Battlefield 3, any COD game, or even MMO's I have played you have to grind for even longer than this to get some of the best guns or attachments or vehicle abilities etc... They give you heroes to play as at to start one of them is Boba Fett which has been a cult favorite of many fans I have known. (obviously not as big of a character as Luke or Vader). This all feels similar to something like COD where u start with a few guns with no attachment and u can go into a game and get matched with someone that can have a thermal scope on a late-game gun that you will have to grind a lot more than 40 hours just to get to that late game gun to even start to work towards unlocking that thermal scope attachment . This all being said the starting gun can be the best gun in the game and you just could not know until you play the game enough to know. I think the same can be said for playing as Boba Fett as a starter hero in BF2. While you may want Vader to play as you need to play a bunch to unlock him, while Boba Fett may be the best character in the game and no one could know yet... Now that the prices have been lowered to 15k credits to unlock Vader or Luke meaning it only takes 10 hours to unlock the biggest unlock in the game which is well within what is a reasonable amount in my opinion. I do not necessarily agree with microtransactions in games when they affect gameplay. But when all of the things purchasable with money can be achieved with gameplay that makes it more reasonable though still not the best model. The amount of outrage I have seen here is confusing to me when this is what I have always expected from a AAA Shooter game. Final Thoughts: Microtransactions that change gameplay are bad but it is nothing we haven't seen before and the amount of outrage in particular towards the amount of time needed to unlock a character in a game seem ridiculous when considered in the context of other games at the forefront of what is popular and most successful today. I hope everyone is mad at me but I hope someone is willing to have a decent discussion about this

If EA made a game on you guys John would be the stormtrooper, and Elyse and Adam would be available at launch with everyone else behind a paywall. Peake would be Vader, Bruce would be Luke, and Lawrence would be that voice that keeps telling you to kill shit while you are killing shit, and screaming at you to get to point fucking A. James would be an exclusive DLC character for an extra 30$ which also includes the old office map. Benson would be like those droids rolling around.

I listen to dude soup walking to classes and the gym, and come to youtube for highlights in the podcast and hard netting. Also love that you guys put the after-show on vrv!

The moment Elyse mentions hiccups, I get them...