'Need for Speed: Payback' news: Devs rework progression following community feedback

"Need for Speed Payback" offers high-stakes competition.Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (EA) is making amends for the issues that cropped up in two of its recent releases, "Star Wars Battlefront II" and "Need for Speed: Payback." Specifically, the newest racing game in the franchise is getting a revamp in its progressions system after community feedback.

A developer for Ghost, the development studio for the racing game, took to the "Need for Speed: Payback's" official Reddit thread to post about the recent changes. The said developer, named F8RGE on Reddit, has stated on behalf of the company that their team had enforced several modifications based on feedback.

"We've been using Community feedback, along with our own in-game data and have come up with a number of changes, many of which are in the process of going live. Our aim with these changes is to make the progression, especially around the ownership of cars a much more enjoyable experience," he wrote.

The changes have now been implemented and involve an increase in the amounts of REP and Bank awards from in-game events and races. These means less grinding just to be able to obtain a much-needed part of the players' custom cars. Hopefully, it would also mean fewer reasons to spend real-world money for microtransactions just to be able to have a smoother progression in the game.

The developers have also admitted that these are just the initial changes being implemented to improve the gameplay of "Need for Speed: Payback." Players can then expect more changes, especially for the way tune-up shops work and the quality and amounts of the parts that they stock.

It is worth noting that "Need for Speed: Payback," like "Star Wars Battlefront II," has aggressive microtransactions which compel players to spend additional cash apart from the game's original price. "Battlefront II," however, has recently scrapped all its microtransaction options in the face of the overwhelming negative backlash from its player base. Now, it seems EA is doing the same precautions towards microtransactions with its racing game perhaps to prevent similar reactions.

More changes to the racing game's progression system are underway, so players are advised to stay tuned for developer announcements.