Battlefield Hardline Premium officially detailed

As expected, Electronic Arts and Visceral Games have announced Battlefield Hardline Premium, the membership program that delivers new content to players throughout the year. In layman's terms, it's a Season Pass for downloadable content.

Detailed today, Hardline Premium will offer "four new super features" — Masks, Gun Bench, Competitive Play, and Legendary Status — as well as two weeks early access to four story-themed digital expansion packs.

Four super features:

• Masks – New player masks with unique gameplay benefits tied to the theme of each mask.
• Gun Bench – Provides players with the ability to visually customize their weapons and track their kills per weapon.
• Competitive Play – Support for competitive play through Battlefield Hardline Premium-access only tournaments and ladders.
• Legendary Status – Provides replayability of the entire progression system.

Four expansion packs (new multiplayer maps, modes, vehicles, and in-game content)

• Battlefield Hardline: Criminal Activity – Players have to make a name for themselves in fast-paced, highly-destructible new maps littered with small-time crime jobs. Available summer 2015.
• Battlefield Hardline: Robbery – Take down the opposition head on and progress through key locations with major cinematic action. Available summer 2015.
• Battlefield Hardline: Getaway – This is frantic, high-speed chases that immerse players deeper in the heist. Available fall 2015.
• Battlefield Hardline: Betrayal – There is a rat in every operation and players will have to find out who to trust. Available winter early 2016.

In addition, members will receive monthly rewards and access to exclusive in-game events and items including 12 Gold Battlepacks, new personalization options (camo, ammo skins, etc.), access to double XP, in-game missions, and exclusive events, and priority position in server queues.

Battlefield Hardline Premium will be priced at a hefty $50. While I understand the value new maps and modes can add to multiplayer, and keep things fresh throughout the year, asking people to pay $110 for the complete experience seems a little excessive to me. It's not just EA either; season pass content like this is frequen in the industry, especially for first-person shooters. If you're a gamer who enjoy playing one game for a long period of time, it might make sense to drop that amount of money for all the possible content, but if you're like me, and enjoy playing multiple games, it's hard to buy into the DLC.

Battlefield Hardline is due out on March 17. If you can hold out until later this year, you might be able to snag it at a holiday discount and then buy into the Premium membership for a more affordable total.