If they wanted to emulate the obscenely lucrative pay-to-play model of other games they needed to be more covert about their intentions:
They should have started off with a barebones but functional game to hook in the players. With maybe a few perks that can be purchased but always with the sense that purchases are not at the core of the game. As the game gets popular they might introduce more and more interesting kinds of purchases and perks. Also many of existing pay to play games (e.g. Kabam Contest of Champions) started off with a lot more simple leveling and gameplay that made it easy to pick up. Kabam only later started gradually injecting layers of complexity and different forms of currency. The system is now about as convoluted as SWBF2 is starting off with but they did it so gradually that a lot of players who complained were already too invested in the game to quit. EA/DICE built their convoluted system right up front which already intimidates folks from the start.
Also they got too greedy too fast. The game should make it realistic for someone to be able to grind the game for most of the rewards and advance reasonably fast without spending a cent. The reason being is that these folks, as they progress further, will inevitably start spending. But EA/DICE effectively put a cap on grinding and disproportionately rewards folks who only want to spend money from the start to advance. That's the heart of pay to play.
This is a horrible long term plan because it's freezing out most grinders, including me. It's the grinders that remain loyal to a game and produce long term steady income. Also the grinders keep a game popular and sustain the community even if they might not spend much as those handful of players with bottomless pockets. When they biased the game so heavily towards spenders (and penalized the grinders) they're basically playing to one portion of the market. It's the grinders that will study a game's mechanics and are most vocal about promoting or slamming a game.
They should have started off with a barebones but functional game to hook in the players. With maybe a few perks that can be purchased but always with the sense that purchases are not at the core of the game. As the game gets popular they might introduce more and more interesting kinds of purchases and perks. Also many of existing pay to play games (e.g. Kabam Contest of Champions) started off with a lot more simple leveling and gameplay that made it easy to pick up. Kabam only later started gradually injecting layers of complexity and different forms of currency. The system is now about as convoluted as SWBF2 is starting off with but they did it so gradually that a lot of players who complained were already too invested in the game to quit. EA/DICE built their convoluted system right up front which already intimidates folks from the start.
Also they got too greedy too fast. The game should make it realistic for someone to be able to grind the game for most of the rewards and advance reasonably fast without spending a cent. The reason being is that these folks, as they progress further, will inevitably start spending. But EA/DICE effectively put a cap on grinding and disproportionately rewards folks who only want to spend money from the start to advance. That's the heart of pay to play.
This is a horrible long term plan because it's freezing out most grinders, including me. It's the grinders that remain loyal to a game and produce long term steady income. Also the grinders keep a game popular and sustain the community even if they might not spend much as those handful of players with bottomless pockets. When they biased the game so heavily towards spenders (and penalized the grinders) they're basically playing to one portion of the market. It's the grinders that will study a game's mechanics and are most vocal about promoting or slamming a game.