It's been forever since I posted here, but there was something that I was really curious about that's brought me back.

How exactly do the Battle Pack weapons/utilities figure into online games, given that not all players will have the Battle Pack? Do both players need to have the Battle Pack for them to appear in crates, or is it possible for them to appear if only one player has the pack? Seems to me like crate contents are determined before they're collected, so I assume a scenario where a player with the Battle Pack can get one from the crate but their opponent without the Battle Pack can't isn't possible. Also, is there any difference in whether or not these items will appear based on if it's a ranked or player battle?

I rarely have a chance to play local matches, and I like playing ranked matches moreso than player matches (I'm a victim of that "gotta keep progressing" nature; though if finding 4 random players online went quicker, I'd definitely see myself doing more player matches). So basically I'm wondering what the chances/frequency of me getting to use the new items actually are.

Oh, and for the record, I already picked up the pack. The new customization options made it worthwhile enough for me, so I'm not gonna be too miffed if turns out I'll rarely have a chance to use the new weapon and utilities.

Seems the second sentence of this post should shed some light on your wonderings: http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?p=723057#post723057

After reading that, I doubt it very much that the probability of getting weapons in crates would change in the presence of players without the DLC. But then I'm only going by forum posts and intuition. Someone who's actually tried the thing in practice may know more.

Having played a bunch of ranked Crazy Crates matches since having the DLC, it seems like the new items don't appear in ranked matches at all. You can't even select the Warzone game style (which uses all the new weapons) unless it's a player match, which sucks, 'cause apparently losing isn't an option in player matches--I just tried playing five Warzone matches in a row only to have my opponents quit in every single one of them either after a stupid mistake or just before losing. It'd be nice if there was some workaround that made it so the new stuff actually had a real presence in online play.