Need for Speed Payback increases rewards and tweaks lootboxes

This year’s Need for Speed isn’t a very good game. Not only is it filled with some of the least appealing, knuckleheaded characters you’ll find in a modern game, it’s also got much of its progression locked behind a lootbox system – not too dissimilar from the one found in Star Wars: Battlefront II. The game stingily doles out lootboxes that rewards players with cards that are used to upgrade your vehicles.

Perhaps as a pre-emptive response to the furore over the now removed Pay-to-win mechanics in Battlfront II, Need for Speed Payback’s loot system has been tweaked a little – giving players more rewards for their time.

Here’s how rewards have changed:

• Increased the amount of REP awarded by taking part in events.
• Increased the amount of Bank awarded by taking part in events.
• Bait crates now reward increased REP.
• Bait crates now reward increased Bank.
• Competing against a Roaming Racer will reward you with increased REP.
• Competing against a Roaming Racer will reward you with increased Bank.
• Air Suspension will now appear more frequently within Shipments.
• Slightly increased REP and Bank for finishing an event outside of first place.
• Decreased the time it takes for new parts to appear in Tune-Up shops, down from 30mins to 10mins.
• Increased rate in which parts are rewarded within Ranked Speedlists.

“Our aim with these changes is to make the progression, especially around the ownership of cars a much more enjoyable experience,” said developer Ghost Games in a post. “Today’s changes are just phase one and we have further tweaks coming. Coming shortly will be some changes to the way tune-up shops work, especially around the quality / level of parts they stock.”

Will that be enough to turn a middling game into a decent one? I’m not convinced. Here’s what we said of the game in our review:

“Need For Speed Payback is several bad ideas on four wheels, a drab racer whose potential is rear-ended by an underhanded upgrade system and a story that belongs in a direct-to-DVD bargain bin.”

 

Last Updated: November 20, 2017