For the second time in a month, Battlefield Studios has altered the in-game language explaining how Battlefield 6 XP Boosters work, only to renege and claim it was done in error. This time, however, it’s made players even more aggravated because of the way the message was delivered.
On Tuesday, patch 1.3.3.0 arrived across PC, PlayStation and Xbox. This is the last major update of Season 3. The update was anticipated for its proposed changes to gunplay, and some of the new stuff it was set to bring – but no one expected a worse version of the XP Booster debacle from a few weeks prior.
After installing the update, players reported receiving a message through the in-game mail alerting them about a major change to the way XP Boosters work titled “XP Boost Update: Now Based on In-Game Time”. Needless to say, everyone started sharing screenshots on Reddit and elsewhere in celebration, but it was very short-lived.
Shortly after, Battlefield’s official Comms X account posted an update to deliver the bad news: the in-game message “was sent in error”, and that it has now been removed.
“There are no changes to how XP Boosters currently work,” the post adds, annoyingly quoting the original fumble from a month ago.
9th June’s update 1.3.2.0 is what started this: it made a change to the XP Boosters’ in-game description to say that they now count down in-game time, rather than real time (meaning they would deplete even when you’re not playing). Battlefield Studios quickly changed it back. Inexplicable though it may have been, it wasn’t as upsetting as this week’s fumble.
While you could generously explain away the original change as the result of miscommunication or error, this week’s mess-up feels personal: everyone got a message celebrating the new – positive – change, only for it to be taken away a second time.
For years, XP Boosters in major shooters have counted down in real-world time, something no player likes, as it ensures some amount of time will be lost while you’re not actively in a match. If you activate one and have to get up for any reason, that time will be wasted. If you spend a few minutes messing around with your loadout, adjusting settings, setting up a party or doing anything but actively being in a match, all that time will be wasted.
While previous Battlefield titles had XP Boosters, the timer only counted down during matches, ensuring they wouldn’t be wasted. However, Battlefield 6 – notably the first serious attempt at a live service – changed it to resemble every other live service shooter on the market and have them count down in real-world time.
We’ve reached out to EA to see if we could get some clarity on why this keeps happening.
