EA and DICE suffered some major backlash over the progression system in Star Wars Battlefront II which initially was designed so you could pay money to gain advantages in battle that employed loot boxes. This was removed the day before the game was released and EA and DICE have said they have been working on a revamped system. Now the time has come to launch this and it is all presented in a lengthy post over at the official homepage.
You will, of course, be able to keep everything you have unlocked previously, but the unlocking of things will now be very different as EA explains:
"With this update, progression is now linear. Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase. Instead, you'll earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you'll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card you'd like to equip."
Starting next month, there will be a bigger focus on cosmetic items in the game that you can buy with your Credits (earned by playing) and Crystals (can be bought in-game and with real money). We can expect several new Star Wars species and EA says it will be possible to join the resistance as a Rodian (whose most famous personality likely is the poor chap who fell for Han Solos blaster - who totally shot first - in A New Hope).
With this, the crates of the game will also be completely revamped and EA ends by writing:
"Crates no longer include Star Cards and cannot be purchased. Crates are earned by logging in daily, completing Milestones, and through timed challenges. Inside of these crates, you'll find Credits or cosmetic items, such as emotes or victory poses, but nothing that impacts gameplay."
Sounds like improvements across the boards if you ask us. Hopefully, this means the cumbersome menus will be changed up as well so you won't have to end the online multiplayer to collect rewards and upgrade your things.