Holding out for a hero – Need for Speed Payback gets a progression update

While EA has currently disabled microtransactions for the recently released Star Wars Battlefront 2 (some of which affect in-game progression), the company has also announced a change in progression for the racing game Need for Speed Payback. In an EA blog post, the company has announced that it has already changed up some game mechanics and will patch other updates soon.

Launch is always a time that’s both busy and exciting, and the Need for Speed Payback release was no different, an emotional cocktail of excitement and nerves. It’s always a big moment when we hand the game over to you, our players.
We’ve been reading your feedback, watching your videos and digesting all of our game data, all to make Need for Speed Payback the best experience possible.

Something we’ve heard loud and clear is that it’s often too time consuming to upgrade multiple cars. We agree, and as a result this is something we’ve been tackling over the previous weeks, and will continue to act upon.

We’ve already started this process and have made several server-side tweaks. The first of which was decreasing the amount of time for parts within the tune-up shops to refresh. This is now down from 30minutes to just 10minutes.

There’s also been changes to the way events, bait crates and roaming racers work. Completing any of these tasks will now grant you more in-game bank as well as more REP. The increase in winnings will allow you to purchase more cars, as well as parts. The increase in REP will have a side effect of awarding you more shipments, which in turn will lead to more bank, more part tokens and more vanity items.
Players in Ranked Speedlists will also notice an increased amount of parts being paid out. Win the Speedlist and you’re guaranteed a new part, while simply participating will see you have a 50% chance of receiving an item of your own.

We believe that owning a garage of customized cars is part of the essence that makes Need for Speed what it is. We’ll keep making tweaks, based on your feedback, and we’re committed to making car progression a much more enjoyable experience.

Talking of customized cars, we know that Air Suspension hasn’t been appearing in Shipments as much it should have. Air Suspension has the same chance of being in a Shipment as all the other vanity items. However, because there are multiple types of Horn, Underglow, Nitrous and Tyre Smoke and only one type of Air Suspension. This has resulted in a less than optimal appearance rate. We’ve made some changes and you’ll now be seeing Air Suspension appear more frequently.

There will be a client-side patch going live soon. Once the patch arrives, one of the changes you will notice is that tune-up shops will now be stocking a higher quality selection of parts. As always, times and dates are subject to change, so keep an eye on our social channels for all the latest info.

While there are some changes implemented now, such as decreased time for new parts to appear in tune-up shops, here are the changes that will be patched later:

• Tune-up shops now stock higher quality parts.
• Improved quality of cards from targeted rolls in the Tune-up Shops.
• Increased the level on parts awarded from winning events.
• Multiple fixes to Improve stability.
• Improved game performance.

Check out Ron’s review of the game for more details, and stay tuned for more news here on Gaming Trend.

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