Battlefield 3 DLC Lets You Pay to Cheat (Basically)

Kotaku - EA is no stranger to allowing users to pay for upgrades most people earn the hard way. It's been doing it since the dawn of the DLC era. But a new set of unlocks for Battlefield 3 is beginning to take the piss.

[Hufandpuf]

all the hate over this is very necessary and stupid. If they want to shell out money for it, then they can do it. But that doesn't mean they'll be a killing machine right away. they've just started the game and don't even know how the guns work. which is why you get rewards for using different guns.

[RioKing]

I like how you wrote all of the hate is "necessary" haha.

[da_2pacalypse]

while I agree with you, and the fact that paying for the kids doesn't automatically make them a killing machine... this business model is for F2P games... Is this game F2P???

Sorry, but soon EA will just let you buy kills -_-

[badz149]

but they might sell perks! $10 for using perks 100 times for example

[Statix]

You must have not ever played Battlefield 3. Getting kills as a noob is extremely hard, especially in vehicles with no unlocks, and especially in jets with no unlocks. If you're buying these "Shortcut" DLC packs, then yes, you're buying a major competitive advantage over other people who are just starting out with the game and haven't unlocked anything.

I'm speaking as a big fan of BF3. I've already unlocked most things in my kits and vehicles, so this doesn't really affect me. However, the principle of it is just morally wrong, more or less (depending on how seriously you take your videogames, that is). This is one of the more blatant examples of "pay-to-win" that I've personally seen.

[Hufandpuf]

I've reached Colonel lvl 4 and have played BF3 for 108 hours. I have every gun already because I bought the game day 1. I have also played EVERY battlefield game made, even the free2play ones. So I know what kinds of people play Battlefield.

People could pay to unlock all guns in BFBC2, but no one complained about that at all.

[Statix]

You didn't address my argument. Perhaps I should specify that VEHICLE unlocks give people a huge advantage in particular. Vehicle unlocks are also rather time consuming and/or hard to attain, so you have to invest a lot of time and effort to get these unlocks. I'm a level ~30 colonel, and even I don't have every unlock for Jets and LAV's yet.

I agree with you that gun unlocks don't matter. Any decent player can get some kills with ANY gun. But vehicle unlocks on the other hand make a huge difference in helping your team, and many of them are difficult to attain.

I bet that you play mostly Team Deathmatch, where there are no vehicles, and that's why you think that buying kit unlocks isn't a big deal. But it is.

[CommonCent]

IMO the later gun unlocks aren't even more powerful, they just handle differently.

[Statix]

The gun and infantry kit unlocks aren't a big deal. However, vehicle unlocks make a MASSIVE difference. If you're driving a tank, a jet, or a heli with zero unlocks, you're almost guaranteed dead meat against someone who has unlocked everything with all his/her vehicles.

[ginsunuva]

Jet with zero unlocks = death.

[TekoIie]

yeh Jets really need it. I dont personally use Heat seeekers but i do use the AGM missile thingy (i forget the name). Brilliant to give your team an advantage at the beginning of the game in the vehicle combat ;)

Forget taking out enemy jets they barely do anything to get in the way of the team-mates on the ground so i just damage tanks and when i see a jeep if im lucky the missile will kill someone in there so i get a little bonus :3

[eak3]

thats probably why i still to this day rarely get in a jet. I havent unlocked a single thing for it yet. Hmmmmmm on my way to the EA store .../s or not???

[Redtide]

it doesnt bother me that someone can do this, just because they can buy all the weapons doesnt mean they will be any good with it. i personally wouldnt buy them myself if i was new to the game because id like the challenge of unlocking everything myself. wouldnt the game get boring if you just buy everything?

[RememberThe357]

Exactly, Just becuase some kid bought the F2000 with his moms credit card doesn't mean I wont pop his top with my M16A3.

@below: Yeah, I'm not a killing machine by any means, and I'm not digging a lot of the changes to most of the guns, but I don't need to pay EA to get better at the game.

[Redtide]

i do hear that alot on bf3 when i actually use my mic a bunch of kids on my team braggin about buying all the weapons and then at the end of the match there 3 and 20. not that k/d is important to me just pointing that out.

@above I know exactly what you mean

[Errod88]

Didn"t Bad Company 2 have this I can't remember,If it did or not.

[SKullDugger]

Yes it did from day one.

[Errod88]

Thanks I wasn't too sure,if it did or not.

[glennco]

- they lack the experience necessary to unlock the weapons and it shows in the game.
- the weapons generally don't offer an advantage, just are different.
- some people don't have the time to play the game 4 hours every night
- it doesn't change anything in the game as there is no unfair advantage in unlocking guns in the first place

cheating is using hacks, modded controllers, mouse/keyboard adapters on console etc. etc.
unlocking weapons are hardly cheating and i don't have a problem with it. if i was spending more money on this game i would rather that than buying a worthless skin. calling this cheating takes away the seriousness (i know it is only a game) from the real cheats. buying these unlocks doesn't mean you will slaughter me anymore than i already get slaughtered.

this was obviously written by someone who doesn't play the game

just play the damn objective, don't cheat (for real) and i'm happy.

[ChrisW]

I still haven't bought BF3 and I really want to play it, but my EA boycott is preventing me from doing so... *SIGH*

[SuperBeast811]

Well thats dumb oh well glad Im not you......back to BF3 and SSX;)

[360GamerFG]

Paid by EA.

[Persistantthug]

.

[SneeringImperialist]

Because they are worthless corporate scum most likely :P

[SuperBeast811]

Why is everyone so shocked?They did the very same thing with Medal of Honor in 2010

[dazzrazz]

If u wanna pay (more) for shit you did not unlock and already paid for.... be my guest. But it won't make u a good player at all :)

[FlashXIII]

And EA wonder why they got voted worst company in an online poll.. it's little dirty things like this tbh which surely lead to it.

[ExCest]

Dirtier than stealing tax money?

[J_Cob]

This is better than anything Capcom has done. They should take note if they want to charge for disk lock content. You can get everything just by playing BF3 for 80+ hours. Capcom should do the same with costumes and characters. Just make it a ridiculous amount of online wins to get them like 5,000 or more. That way there's sure to be those hardcore fans that would want those locked characters right away while the rest just play to unlock stuff.

[ISNeko]

I love BF3 but have a hectic sched which makes it take a very long time to unlock things in game that require time sinks. This sort of business is for people like me.

[NeoTribe]

Rediculous dlc. Why not pay for platnium trophy also.

[denero1]

Please don't give them idea's :(

[PAYNEinc85]

I see no problem with this. Some people only have time to play games for a couple hours a week. Not 3 or 4 hours a day.

[Ravenous_Syn]

It's just weapons, not skill. Don't freak out over nothing. Bad Company 2 had the same DLC and high rankers still killed the low rankers that bought the DLC. It's just EA giving new people to the game(like myself) a short cut, but I'm not spending 2000 or 3200 microsoft points on that, that's ridiculous.

[Ravenous_Syn]

and EA does this with all the sport games too, but I guess this is the only game that is worth bitching that it happened.

[Rainstorm81]

You know since EA has become public enemy number one its the in thing to try and drag them through the mud for any and everything. Despite the fact people had no previous problems with it or dont villainize other companies for doing equal or worse

[Ravenous_Syn]

Good point, I'm just saying that EA does short cut packs for almost all their sports games, but no one complains. Bad Company 2 had the same DLC packs(not as expensive though), but no one complains. You figured it would be an article complaining about the prices, 2 of the bundles run at 2000 and 3200 microsoft point. (O_o)

[Saryk]

This story again? Who cares? If this were a MMO I could understand the QQ, but this is a skill game and buying these products does not make you better............