Love it or hate it, game companies are finding new and ingenious ways to take more of your hard earned cash after you have purchased the inital game. Expansion packs are nothing new to PC gamers and they shouldn’t be to console owners at this point either.

Battlefield 3, like many other games before it, has announced a list of expansion DLCs coming out over the course of the next year. Unsuprisingly, like the Call of Duty series, Dice has decided to offer all the upcoming expansions for a lower price, purchased all at once. Very much like Modern Warfare’s Elite mode, you get access to all of the DLC content over the course of the next year.

DLC package deals like Elite and Premium are a big debate with gamers and I’m pretty much convinced that if you want it you’ve already got it and if you despise this kinda thing, you’ve probably stopped reading by this point. For those of you on the fence about it, I’ll give you a little insight on the Battlefield Premium features.

Battlefield Premium gives players access to all 5 planned expansions for Battlefield 3 for the price of $49.99. While this may seem like a decent chunk of change to drop on a game that you have probably already spent $60 on, it is quite a savings when you compare it to buying each expansion individually. If you purchased a new unused copy of the game, you should have received the first expansion Back to Karkand DLC free. Each expansion costs $15 on their own, so assuming you’re even purchasing four of the expansions on their own, you’ll be saving $10 by getting the Premium package. In addition to the expansion DLC, you recieve some added bonuses that other non-premium players wont have access to. New camoflage for your soldier, a new unique combat knife, new dog tags, and new weapon camos. While these are all merely aesthetic changes, some nice usable features include the ability to reset your stats, priority queue onto servers, and double experience weekends. Also, you will be able to play the expansion dlc two weeks before regular members can. Currently, the Close Quarters DLC is available for play if you’re a premium player (I will be posting my impressions on this in a later article).

5 Expansions for the price of 3

In closing, if you are a big fan of Battlefield and are planning on purchasing all of the expansions, there is no reason you shouldn’t go for the Premium package if you don’t mind paying for them all up front.