EA Tweaks Need For Speed: Payback’s Progression System, But Is It Enough?

We reviewed Need For Speed: Payback a little while back, and while it has an interesting racing [...]

Need

We reviewed Need For Speed: Payback a little while back, and while it has an interesting racing format, we couldn't help but think some limitations got in the way.

Along with being unable to control key stunt-based moments in the game, Payback has had a big problem with progression, as players basically need to grind to earn some of the better parts and/or cars within it – or pay out of pocket, of course.

But, just as it did with Star Wars: Battlefront II earlier this week, it appears EA, along with the developers at Ghost Games, are listening. The team recently took to Reddit to explain that it was going to make changes to the progression system in the game. It hasn't provided a date as to when these changes will be applied, but they will make notable improvements.

Here are some of the changes Ghost Games intends to make to Payback when the patch goes live:

  • Increased the amount of REP awarded by taking part in events.
  • Increased the amount of Bank awarded by taking part in events.
  • Bait crates now reward increased REP.
  • Bait crates now reward increased Bank.
  • Competing against a Roaming Racer will reward you with increased REP.
  • Competing against a Roaming Racer will reward you with increased Bank.
  • Air Suspension will now appear more frequently within Shipments.
  • Slightly increased REP and Bank for finishing an event outside of first place.

While it appears that you'll be able to make progress a bit easier with these changes, the "grind" will likely stay in place, making us wonder if EA will possibly make a bigger change down the road that will affect the game, just like it did with Battlefront II by (temporarily) turning off its Microtransactions.

We'll see how what happens after these changes are applied – and if the game is still weighed down with that system. Hey, at least Ghost Games is aware there's a problem, and is trying to address it in some way.

Need For Speed: Payback is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Origin PC.

0comments