Battlefield 3 to get CoD Elite-like service called Battlefield Premium
According to rumors swirling around the web these days, EA is looking to release a service similar to Call of Duty Elite. BF3Blog first reported on the possibility of this back in February, and now it appears that the rumors are true. The service, called “Battlefield Premium”, would work much like CoD Elite, where players pay a subscription fee or a one-time fee, and get “content drops” in return. As a leaked description of the service says:
“Battlefield™ Premium will land you a number of content drops with unique in-game items not available anywhere else. First out is the one-of-a-kind Premium knife and black dog tag, plus a set of soldier camos, weapon camos, dog tags and Assignments that will make sure you stand out and get more personalization options.”
The new service is rumored to be unveiled at E3 2012 in the beginning of June. While the service sounds very similar to what Call of Duty has, this wouldn’t be the first time a Battlefield game gets this kind of DLC: Bad Company 2′s “Specact Kit”, offered players new player and weapon camouflage for $5.
Now you can pay $40 to unlock everything in Battlefield 3
The huge 1.5GB Battlefield 3 PC patch has arrived, bringing tons of balance changes, bug fixes and new, paid-for “shortcut boxes.” These will let players pay to get hold of unlocks like weapons, attachments and vehicle add-ons without having to level up.
According to the Battlefield blog, the bundles are supposed to be available on Origin now. When the collection does go live, it’ll include a Kit Shortcut bundle that “immediately unlocks all items unique to the four playable classes,” a Vehicle Shortcut Bundle that unlocks all items for all vehicles, and the “Ultimate Bundle” which unlocks “all items from all other available shortcut packs,” which is basically everything.
Each class kit can be unlocked separately, as well. The Battlefield site has a rundown of the prices for each kit. A class kit costs $6.99, the Ultimate bundle costs $39.99.
There’s plenty of good stuff in the patch notes, including improved minimaps, cleaner vaulting, faster movement from prone to standing, vehicle horns and dozens and dozens of tweaks to weapon balance, but it’s overshadowed somewhat by these shortcut kits, which will be infuriating to players who have put in the many hours needed to unlock that gear.
Of course, new players who haven’t played many games won’t have a clue how to use some of Battlefield 3′s more complex gadgets, so these microtransactions probably won’t upset the balance of the game too much. But still, grrrr. What do you think?