New patch notes from EA and DICE provide an exact list of what has been tweaked on all platforms.
Today’s big Star Wars Battlefront 2 update makes a lot changes, the biggest being to how the game’s progression system works.
As those who have now downloaded the patch will know, the shooter now allows for things like Star Cards and weapons to be unlocked through gameplay.
This also included all heroes and hero ships, while the game’s Crates currently only include credits and cosmetic items
Microtransactions will be returning early next month, although Players will only be able to purchase Crystals, which can only be used to unlock available Appearances that a player can select.
Players will not be able to purchase Star Cards or items that would impact gameplay or progression.
It should be noted that players get to keep any and all Star Cards that you currently own at their current rarity level.
As you level up, you will start earning Skill Points that can be used to unlock and upgrade Star Cards.
Here’s more from DICE, who reveal: “we’ve brought a new location to the game! Bespin makes its return from the first Star Wars Battlefront as a new location for Blast, Heroes vs. Villains, Arcade, and for a limited time as Jetpack Cargo.
“We hope you enjoy this blast from the past. Lastly, we’re unlocking all Star Cards and Weapons in Arcade at Epic card level so that Arcade can be more freely used as a sandbox to try out new combinations.
“This change also provides more gameplay options for players who aren’t interested in playing Multiplayer.”
The full Star Wars Battlefront 2 patch notes include an array of hero changes, which can be found below:
Heroes and Villains Balancing:
Iden Versio
- Iden was in need of a power increase so we decided to focus a lot on her for this Update while we watch the results of the previous Update’s impact on other Heroes.
GENERAL
- Increased Base health from 550 to 650
- Fixed an issue where the Secondary Fire module didn’t appear on Iden’s TL-50
DROID SHIELD
- We made a small improvement to the Droid Shield as we felt it’s wasn’t active long enough. This tweak should make it very viable.
- Increased active time from 10 to 12 seconds
PULSE CANNON
- Iden’s Pulse Cannon has been slightly re-worked for this Update. We improved it a bit for now but we would like to re-work this ability further in the future. It now fires faster so to compensate we reduced its base damage. The zoomed-in, long range damage should feel rewarding and we wanted to push the weapon’s use in that direction. As a result we’ve reduced the explosive damage but increased the weapon’s accuracy to make it more of a skill weapon. Additionally, we’ve gone back to an earlier design idea where we wanted Iden to more freely swap between the TL-50 and the Pulse Cannon – this will make Iden feel a bit more versatile.
- Reduced the recharge time from 5 to 1 second
- Added a zoomed-in damage increase multiplier of 80% (the explosive damage is not multiplied by this change)
- Decreased the time to full power from 1.25 to 0.6 seconds
- Decreased the non-zoom dispersion from 2 to 0.2 degrees (zoom dispersion is 0)
- Reduced the recoil of the weapon
- Reduced the start damage from 100 to 40
- Reduced the end damage from 150 to 100
- Reduced the start damage distance from 125 to 30 meters
- Reduced the end damage distance from 150 to 50 meters
- Reduced the explosive damage from 80 to 20
HOT SWAP – Star Card
- This Star card has been changed to give health to Iden when her DROID STUN hits enemies, and even more when it hits Heroes. With the Pulse Cannon rework, the old version became obsolete. We know that players want more Hero Star Cards that regain health and we will investigate adding more, but this felt like it was a good fit for Iden’s Droid. We’ll monitor the balance of this Star Card until the next Update.
Boba Fett
JETPACK
- We’ve heard the comparison to an F-15 and also heard that the maneuverability of Boba Fett’s jetpack is very well liked. With this tweak the speed is slightly reduced, but he should still feel fast and powerful when played.
- Reduced the forward thrust speed of Boba’s Jetpack slightly
HEALTH
- While reducing Boba Fett’s jetpack forward speed, we also wanted to revisit his health as it’s the lowest currently and doesn’t feel correct for a hero – even a flying one.
- Increased Base Health from 500 to 550
Leia Organa
- Leia’s hair has been updated to match her outfit
- We’re happy with Leia’s current gameplay but will look at her SQUAD SHIELD for Heroes vs. Villains in the future. She is a very approachable character for new players. That said we’d like to push her more into a control-the-battle style of gameplay. We decided to bump up her health regeneration to keep her base health on the same level as other blaster-wielding Heroes as well as give her more of a chance to keep in the fight.
- Increased maximum health regeneration for Leia from 150 to 200
- Decreased health regeneration delay from 5 to 4.5 seconds
Han Solo
- Han is hard to master and him having at low health without much defensive abilities made him quite vulnerable.
- Increased base health from 600 to 650
- Fixed an issue where Han Solo’s DETONITE CHARGE didn’t explode mid-air
Darth Vader
- Fixed an issue where Darth Vader’s PUNISHING GRIP Star Card wasn’t correctly applied.
- Fixed an issue where Darth Vader’s SABER THROW ability could go through a wall on Takodana
Emperor Palpatine
- Fixed an issue where Palpatine’s LIGHTNING ABSORBTION Star Card didn’t grant the correct amount of health after being used
Chewbacca
- STUN GRENADES can no longer be activated while other abilities are activating
Rey
- While using INSIGHT, a circle shouldn’t appear under Rey for other players when activated
Yoda
- The area of effect should now display properly when the UNLEASH ability is triggered
- Fixed an issue where Yoda didn’t break out of immobilizing abilities when using PRESENCE
Finn
- Fixed an issue where the UI marker for Finn’s DEADEYE ability would persist after the ability had ended
- Fixed an issue where weathering effects weren’t working on Finn
Lando Calrissian
- Fixed an issue where players were unable to spawn as Lando Calrissian if Han Solo was being played
Classes, Special Units, & Vehicles:
Assault
- Fixed an issue where weapon cooling was not working correctly for weapon mods
Officer
GENERAL
- Fixed an issue where Increased Cooling provided higher cooling reduction than intended
- Tweaked description of Homing Shot to clarify that it can fire multiple rockets, rather than just one
- Fixed an issue where weapon cooling was not working correctly for weapon mods
Default Pistol
- Reduced end damage from 20 to 17
SE-44C
- Reduced amount of shots that can be fired before overheating from 25 to 17
- Reduced how many shots can be fired before overheating when Increased Cooling mod is equipped from 49 to 25
- Reduced end damage distance from 40 to 30 meters
OFFICER’S PRESENCE
- Flattened the points given to an Officer with OFFICER’S PRESENCE, regardless if the aura affects 1 or 19 allies.
- Point payoff with OFFICER’S PRESENCE was stacking, meaning an Officer standing in a choke point can farm thousands of Battlepoints without effort. To fix this, we’ve removed this stacking rule.
TURRET
- The Turret now spots enemies when it acquires them and primes to fire. The spotted enemy is only visible to the officer who owns the turret.
Specialist
THERMAL BINOCULARS
- Enabled spotting logic, IMPROVED THERMAL BINOCULARS increase the time an enemy is spotted
- Added 25 point scoring event per enemy spotted