The new catch-up packs are unbelievable...
Hi guys,
I just read this interesting article:
https://www.ea.com/de-de/games/need-for-speed/need-for-speed-unbound/news/update-to-catch-up-packs
(Translate that if you don't understand German)
And in it, there is something that absolutely shocked me.
The dynamic catch-up packs, as Criterion calls them, they "depend whether the player has purchased the Premium Speed Pass".
So you're telling me, if some players haven't played Volume 7, but they want the LED license plates and basically all other customization, they just can't get them because it's only available for Premium players? Are you serious?
Same deal with the cars, apparently. The car set only gives the car that people get for free, and not the Premium car. This indeed means that people who haven't played Volume 6 AND haven't purchased the Premium Speed Pass will never ever get their hands on the Audi R8, which from what I heard is meta in S Class.
I'm normally not someone to judge decisions, but this is absolutely absurd. I'd rather pay 9,99 and get EVERYTHING from the Speed Pass of said volume instead of paying 7,98 and only getting the stuff I would have gotten had I just leveled up the pass without purchasing Premium. Like, the old catch-up packs were so much better, because you got everything from said volume instead of just the free stuff.
If I want to be honest here, I miss the times from Payback or Heat, when new cars were either added for free (like the five abandoned cars from Payback, M3 E30, Skyline 2000GT-R, RX-7, etc.) or they were included in a DLC pack like the Aston Martin DB11 Volante for free and the McLaren F1 as paid DLC in Heat. This system was totally fine, and it was nice. Now with the Speed Pass, things are just getting complicated. I know it's supposed to be an incentive to get people to play the game, but when the physics are just as wonky as Burnout (hint to Criterion's infamous crash physics from Burnout which was not present in Payback or Heat), Story Mode gets zero new content (save for the Hot Laps) and most new cars are only unlockable online which has no AI opponents available if there are no other players in a playlist you want to play, why would anyone play that? Why do you think I'm replaying older NFS titles like Carbon and ProStreet? Because Unbound is such an awesome game? No, I don't think so! Like, everyone hates Heat, but I say that Heat is one of the best NFS titles alongside Underground 2 and Carbon, because it actually feels like Need for Speed, and not like a Burnout clone. Not even Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted felt like a Burnout clone, and they were from the same developer, but they were actually a lot of fun compared to Unbound.
I don't know what you guys think about all this. Let me know your opinion in a reply and let's hope together that Unbound will improve in the future, not just online, but also for Single Player addicts.
Good day,
Nico
Hey @LuckyNico92
For your first question correct,
Using Volume 6 as the example... If you did not purchase the Vol.6 premium pass, and purchase the Dynamic Catch-up pack for $2.99, you will get all 45 tiers on the "free" track including the Free Car from that track. If you then purchase the Vol.6 car set for $4.99 you will get the Premium Car plus its body kits.
- so in theory, if you did not purchase the Vol.6 premium speed pass or didn't play through the speed pass, you can buy the catch-up pack and car set for $2.99 + $4.99 to get the free 45 tiers and the premium car.
Answering your second question, using Vol.6 and Vol.7 as examples...
If you want to purchase all the tiers (items) that were available from the Vol.6 Speed Pass and did not complete it when it was available. You must have owned the Vol.6 Premium Speed Pass to get everything from the Catch-up Pack.
Owning the Vol.7 Premium Pass will not affect this.
Think of it as a way to unlock and get access to everything on last season's Speed Pass, if you did not have time to unlock it by playing.
- One benefit, however, is that you won't need to purchase the Car Set, you would just need to purchase the catch-up pack for $2.99. (as the premium car + its body kits are included in the premium pass.)
Hope this helps!
