Let me open by saying I really want to love this game but every time I find myself really enjoying it I discover something that makes me question what on earth DICE were thinking. I also dearly hope I am missing something so please correct me if I'm wrong.

So some cards like Ion shots and personal shield operate on a charge system which is more or less ammo for that skill. I knew that you could collect extra charges from power ups around the map which add to this pool. This made sense to me: with a semi-limited number per game players wouldn't spam them and have to use a bit more thought.

What I didn't realise however is they don't replenish between rounds. Ie. If I start with 10 and use 4 in a game leaving me with 6 when the game ends. At the start of the game I will still have 6. And if that number hits zero my options are buy more with in-game credits or spend the round being totally useless to my team as I hunt for charge tokens.

What the fuck. Effectively I have to choose between unlocking new items or restocking my skills so I'm not a burden on my team. That's seriously messed up.

It gets even worse when you consider that players that play more than others will amass more credits and unlock all the cards faster than other players. Excellent work DICE, let's widen the gap between players by not only having more experienced players have more items but also the ability for them to use them more than other players. In Drop Zone mode the personal shield is pretty much 1 free cap/recap of the pod. Anyone who's played this mode understand how important it is for winning games. By tying charges to XP/playtime the sides become seriously stacked in favour of the team who has the most charges for their shields. This is the sort of situation you'd expect to see in f2p games not proper retail games.

It seems even more ill-conceived when you find out the only way to buy more of these from the collection menu which can only be accessed out of a game. So not only do the way these charges are obtained influence single matches they also influence long series of matches. Players who are serious about winning will want as many of these charges and want to buy them when they run out, which they inevitably will over a string of matches. This means you'll have people, likely experienced players, dropping out of their games to restock at the shop. I can't be the only person who sees how insane that is right?

The only way to balance this fairly with be to remove it entirely which I have no doubt DICE is unwilling to do so I offer a compromise: Set a minimum number of charges which these sort of Star Cards is reset to after a game ends. This allows all players a fighting chance and allows the power-players to use their extra credits to get an advantage over people who don't have the credits to spare. Additionally to not break the flow of ongoing matches please allow charges to be replenished from the spawn menu that appears at the start of games. I sincerely hope this is given the consideration it warrants as I feel this is not a small issue.

This isn't the only one of those sorts of balance issues and I don't believe I'm smarter than DICE so this must have occured to them so why have they gone ahead with it? This was immediately apparent to me let alone years of design and testing. I'm a bit worried this game will end up getting a free pass from a largely uncritical games press.

What do other people think? Is there something I am missing? Let me know.

I disliked the system when Titanfall had it. My resources in a match should be self-contained. I should be incentivized to make the most of what I have in order to help my team in the game, not weigh my commitment to winning against my overall player progress.

I think that you actually can replenish cards in between matches, as well as buy weapons. I however seem to have a weird bug where my personal shield cards either don't work or are all zero at the beginning of each match, regardless of the fact that I bought charges (even though that's not the case with other kinds).

The overall powerup system isn't really that great, it could be done well but the charges should be found in more appropriate locations instead of in the middle of the battlefield, like the smart rocket should be found in a vehicle-reistant bunker, and tied to completing objectives, like activating an uplink should net you an X-wing token (it works somewhat ok on the drop pod map).

I think this would really bring a lot of direction and guidance to the game. That chokepoint has a team shield powerup, I guess it would be a good place to hold and deny the opponent mobility. There's an implosion grenade right outside that fortified trench, I guess if I book it I could take it down and allow my team to advance. That cool hill with the flag has a hero icon, I could really help my team by covering some high ground and change the tide of the battle with the force.

That and spawns should actually make sense.

I'm really torn on this game, I'll have to see what people's opinions on other maps and modes are upon release, but for now it's probably not worth a purchase.

@imsh_pl: yeah at the risk of sounding melodramatic this is the most conflicted I've been about a game in a while. I feel there's fun to be had with the game they've made but by buying it I feel I am endorsing all the bad decisions they've made like no server browser and zero teamwork systems.

Oh yeah and the spawns are the worst I've maybe ever experienced. Without a big map it is beyond disorienting.

@hayt: It'll really depend on the quality of the other maps/mods. I mean, hopefully they've chosen to release Hoth because it's an iconic environment that showcases a lot of the game's mechanics, not because of how it reflects on the game's quality. It would be really disappointing if it turned out that they've literally chosen the best levels to put in the beta.

Couldn't you just, you know, budget your usage? I have all kinds of issues with what I've seen of this beta, but the weird card system has yet to affect me in any way.

@spoonman671: yes but the problem is that players who play more/better will earn more credits and therefore won't need to budget their usage in the same way other players will. It's sort of a positive feedback loop.

Non-issue Battlefront won't have alot of unlocks, you'll have more money than you know what to do with. I know I'm not your typical player but after a couple of days playing I have 25,000, you earn far more points PTFO'ing or finishing on the winning team than you get from personnel performance.

@thepanzini: I hope you're right but I'm not sure I can agree on the "not a lot of unlocks" bit. While they haven't showed them off I suspect the aesthetic unlocks will form a large credit sink. Additionally if credits for restocking charges becomes meaningless with extended play then why have the limit at all?

When I play this game I enjoy it on an animal level but I feel it doesn't hold up well to much critical thought

This. I was concerned as well, but then I realized this isn't going to be BF4 in terms of unlocks(which in hindsight was a bit much IMO).

Battlefront is an arcade shooter its designed to be accessible for casual players its not going to be a time / credit sink, Battlefront will also have challenges and other milestones that will net you alot of recurring credits. Past Battlefield games haven't been a grind to unlock items and its not COD you don't unlock better stuff. In BF4 you still get xp boost despite hitting the level cap, Hardline you still earn cash after you bought everything, I imagine with restocking you always have something to spend credits on.