EA and DICE have announced Premium Friends, a new feature for Battlefield 1 that lets non-Premium Pass owners play on the new DLC maps as long as they’re in a party with a Premium Pass owner.
The test run of Premium Friends will take place during the upcoming Battlefest, which begins on March 30. Producer Andreas Skoglund explained what to expect:
As a player who owns Battlefield 1 Premium Pass you will be able to bring your friends in Battlefield 1 along to play on the new maps!
When creating a party in Battlefield 1 you may notice something new: if someone owns a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass the party will become “Premium Enabled”. This will allow anyone in that party to play on all maps, regardless if they own the content or not. The access is available as long as the party is “Premium Enabled”.
While Premium Friends grants non-Premium Pass owners the ability to play on the new maps for free, you won’t receive XP on those maps unless you own the Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack:
- In a “Premium Enabled” party, only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will earn XP from the maps exclusive to that expansion. We will save the XP for everyone else and grant them retroactively if they decide to get the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass for themselves.
- Only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will be able to spawn in with weapons and vehicles unique for the expansion.
- Only owners of a Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will track progress towards the unique medals and codexes for the expansion.
Skoglund added that DICE will pay close attention to player feedback on Premium Friends, and “it’s our goal to work towards molding this feature into something that embodies our commitment to you, our amazing community.”
Asked how many friends a Premium Pass owner can invite with Premium Friends, Skoglund said, “It is based on your platform party size, as long as your party is on the same server.” As for whether or not Premium Friends will be a permanent feature, Skoglund said, “We want to make sure we get it right as we run test periods and hope you provide feedback to help us improve.”
They don’t have release dates yet, but the remaining three expansions for Battlefield 1 are called In the Name of the Tsar, Turning Tides, and Apocalypse.
[Source: Battlefield (1), (2), (3)]
