Paladins Bringing BattleFront 2 Styled Loot Boxes And Players Are Not Happy

Developer and Publisher Hi-Rez Studios has announced a new update for their free to play game Paladins. the new update brings major changes to the currency system, the casual mode has been rebranded to quick play mode and some other hero changes.

But one thing which has angered the games fan base is the new progression system which players are claiming that it is similar to Star Wars Battlefront 2 and is a pay to win system.

The loot boxes system already exists in Paladins players can get power cards by unlocking random chests and or by crafting new ones. but with the new reworked system players can only level their cards by powering them up with duplicate cards meaning if you own two similar cards it will merge and give you a ranked up version.

The cards are divided into 5 levels each level increase the powers giving a player equipped with level 5 cards a very high advantage against a player who only has level 1 cards.

The duplicate cards can be earned by grinding the game getting new chests to get random cards and according to YouTuber Kami players will need to get 43 duplicate cards to level up a card from level 1 to level 5 but if you don’t want to grind you can buy the chest and get the cards. One thing to note is that purchase of chest is temporarily closed as they are still testing the new in-game economy.

Also to keep things fair Hi-rez has restricted all the cards to level 3 in competitive mode but what about quick play mode where the new progression system can create an unfair advantage and ruin the fun for everyone. well the devs listened and have released a new blog on their website where they said the following

We get it: This is a major change that may be controversial, particularly given some recent questionable moves by full-price games.

We’re moving forward with this system because we believe it will make the game better for all of our players. We want to serve our players, and we’re confident that we can best do that with a more wide-open and fun QuickPlay mode, and a Ranked mode that is only affected by player skill

Anyways players are not happy with their decision and the Paladins’ community has been very vocal about it on the official forum and on Reddit where players upset that the devs are turning the game into something similar to star wars battlefront 2.

IGN reached out to Hi-rez and asked them about the backlash from the community and they said the following

The Cards Unbound system has been released to our Public Test Server, with no microtransactions allowed, so we can work with the community to refine it before it goes live

As we continue to develop this system, we do so with three key goals in mind:

1. Creating the ultimate Competitive mode that is 100% fair and 100% free. No matter how much time or money is spent, everyone will be on equal footing.

2. Enhancing our Casual mode to be less restrictive and more over-the-top to serve our many players who have asked for a fun-first experience.

3. Ensuring the free-to-play experience is excellent. We recognize that 90% of our players will never spend money with us and those players are the lifeblood of our multiplayer game

We plan to update and adjust the PTS version approximately every two days, with changes driven by community feedback and surveys. What is being played on PTS is very much a work in progress, and we will iterate on the Cards Unbound system until we meet the goals above.