Battlefield 1 gets Premium Pass and Premium Trials

Update 2: Premium Trials are now available on Xbox One. Not only did DICE another map to the game, you can now try out the Premium content without having to be in a friend’s party. You can read the entire patch notes here.

Battlefield 1 is a great shooter and has garnered tremendous critical acclaim since launch. However, if you want to get the most out of the game, you need to purchase the expensive Premium Pass. The Premium Pass not only allows you to access the expansions early, it also providers owners with other benefits like crates. It’s an essential part of the experience. For those gamers who didn’t want to purchase the Premium Pass, there’s good news! DICE just announced a feature called Premium Friends. Premium Friends lets you share your Premium Pass with party members. This allows everyone to play on the new maps.

When creating a party in Battlefield 1 you may notice that it has become Premium Enabled. This will allow anyone in that party to play on all maps, regardless of whether they own the content or not. Access is available as long as the party is Premium Enabled. While all players will be able to play on maps accessible through Premium Friends, some experiences are exclusive to Premium Pass owners. The exclusive features as as follows:

• In a Premium Enabled party, only owners of a Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will earn experience from the maps exclusive to that expansion. Experience for everyone else is saved and granted retroactively if they decide to get the content for themselves.
• Only owners of a Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will be able to spawn in with weapons and vehicles unique to the expansion.
• Only owners of a Premium Pass or the specific expansion pack will track progress towards the unique medals and codexes for the expansion.

Everyone can try out this feature when DICE activates the test run on March 30 during Battlefest. Premium Friends seems like a great way for friends to play together but the fact that only Premium Pass members earn experience may turn many gamers away from it. Hopefully the developers will make some tweaks so that everyone earns some experience when they’re playing.

Update 1: DICE also announced an endeavor called Premium Trials which allows you to try out any Premium map for a limited time. If you like it, purchase the Premium Pass. If not, you don’t have to. They also shared new concept art from the upcoming expansion which will be available to Premium Pass holders first.