DICE is testing a new “Premium Friends” feature in Battlefield 1 that lets Premium Pass owners invite their friends to play on paid-for DLC maps — even if they don’t actually own the required map pack.
It seems like a sensible way of stamping out matchmaking friction encountered by groups of players who’ve purchased different content.
“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’,” reads a Battlefield blog post. “This will allow anyone in that party to play on all maps, regardless if they own the content or not.”
As you’d imagine, the system does have some caveats designed to incentivize the purchase of DLC further down the line.
For example, in a Premium Enabled party only those who actually own a Premium Pass or the correct expansion will earn XP from games. DICE will save up the XP accumulated by everyone else and dish it out once they’ve purchased the respective map pack.
What’s more, map-exclusive weapons, vehicles, codexes, and medals will only be available to those who’ve purchased the relevant expansion pack, meaning those piggybacking players won’t have access to the full experience.
DICE will trial the Premium Friends feature during the upcoming Battlefest, which starts on March 30.