Gaming

Star Wars Battlefront 2 update: Rebellion patch news for PS4 and Xbox One

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EA and developers DICE have confirmed that a new Star Wars Battlefront 2 update is being released that will add content from the original trilogy of films. The Star Wars Age of Rebellion Update is scheduled to land on Wednesday, February 26 and will include a number of eye-catching changes.

Top of the list is the new Ewok Hunters and ISB Agents, which will be bolstering the Rebels and Empire reinforcement lists.

Both will be classed as infiltrators and will pack some interesting abilities for PS4, Xbox One and PC gamers to try out.

The Ewok Hunter “is a cunning bundle of fur that hunts its prey with bow, spear, and Wisties.

“The Ewok Hunter’s primary weapon will be its Hunter’s Bow which has dual firing modes. When the bow uses its default zoom (i.e. no zoom), it will pick out targets for you to fire at, similar to Lando’s Dead Eye ability.

“When zoomed, you’ll have manual aim control for far greater control and the ability to hold your draw longer to increase maximum speed and damage. When firing the bow, the Ewok Hunter does not appear on scanners.

Meanwhile, the ISB Agent will provide the Empire with its first opportunity of dual wielding.

“Armed with two RK-3 blasters, the ISB Agent is skilled in intelligence gathering and close combat, working tirelessly to rout the enemies of the Empire,” a message from DICE explains.

Leia Ability Improvements

We’re making a number of changes to Leia, and it starts with modifications to her E11 blaster.

  • Start Damage increased from 32 to 36

  • End damage increased from 17 to 19

  • Increased damage fall off start distance from 5 to 20

  • Increased damage fall off end distance from 10 to 40

  • Reduced the recoil

  • Reduced spread of blaster fire

In addition to the above modifications we are also implementing changes to her shield, which now also heals friendly forces within it for 5 health every second.

Rounding out the changes to Leia is a change to her Flash Grenade, which is being replaced by Thermal Detonators. Leia will have the ability to throw 3 Thermal Detonators which explode after 0.85 seconds. This ability will then enter cooldown once all three detonators have been thrown.

Due to the above changes, some tweaks are being made to her Star Cards
Old Card: Blinded
New Card: Fearless
Description: The blast radius of THERMAL DETONATORS is increased.

Old Card: Blinding Reveal
New Card: Handy Device
Description: The cooldown of THERMAL DETONATORS is reduced.

One modification to Leia’s milestones will also be implemented in this update, which sees Blinding Flash Grenade changed to Plenty of Explosions. To complete this milestone you will need to defeat 30 opponents with Leia’s Thermal Detonators. If you’ve already completed the milestone, it will be unlocked, so there is no requirement to unlock it again.

Chewbacca Bowcaster Improvements
Chewie’s Bowcaster will be receiving a set of tweaks and improvements with the aim of making everyone’s favourite Wookiee more efficient against Troopers while also missing fewer shots.

While using Furious Bowcaster

  • Scoped: 5 bolts, in a cross, tighter than not scoped

  • Non-Scoped: 5 bolts, in a larger circle

Auto Player Updates

In January, we made an update to our Auto Players to allow them to play as Droidekas in both Co-Op and Instant Action. In February, the Auto Players will be updated further, as they will now be able to use vehicles.

Furthermore, Auto Players in Instant Action will now be able to play as friendly heroes. This means that you’ll be able to run into the battle side-by-side with some of your favourite heroes. We’re also implementing Auto Player squads within Instant Action, allowing you to squad up with the AI. This brings with it the ability to spawn on them, allowing you to get back into the action even quicker.

Heroes Vs. Villains

Fans of the Heroes Vs. Villains game mode will be pleased to hear that both the MC85 Star Cruiser and the Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer are coming as playable maps. We have also made map layout changes to both Geonosis and Yavin 4 for this mode and we’re keen to hear your feedback on both.

Reinforcement & Trooper Updates

Within this update, we will be making some improvements to a number of Age of Rebellion Reinforcements. The Wookiee Warrior, Imperial Rocket Trooper, and Rocket Jumper will all be receiving updated appearances.

These new appearances will become the default look for each of them with the previous default available as an unlocked option to choose from.

Troopers are also getting updated accordingly. The Imperial Death Trooper will receive the E-11D Blaster Rifle, the Rocket Trooper will be equipped with the E-11 for improved combat efficiency, and the Jump Trooper will use an A280C for automatic fire.

Rocket Trooper

We have also tweaked the Dual Wielding functionality which will improve both the ARC Trooper and the ISB Agent. Both Reinforcements will now play more consistently when firing the pistols. They will now be automatic and moved onto a single button, while power blast will become an alternate fire ability.

UI Updates

The Age of Rebellion Update will also include a number of new User Interface options, allowing you greater freedom over how your UI will look.

These include:

  • Weapon Heatbar Vertical Position (Default / Below Crosshair)

  • Radar (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Squad List (Default / Only Icons / Off)

  • Player Bar (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Abilities (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Name Tags (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Game Mode Progress (Default / Off)

  • Challenge Progress (Default / Off)

  • Rank Up Celebration (Default / Left Side / Right Side / Off)

  • Added additional option to the Kill Message setting (Default / Medium / Small / Legacy / Off)

There have also been improvements to the PC Chat window, which is now positioned at the top right corner of the screen, and is included within a vertical stack of three widgets: Network status, PC Chat, Kill and Event Log.

Various visual updates on the Scoreboard have been made, too, with character levels now on display.
The Age of Rebellion Update is shaping up to be a great addition to the game, and it all arrives tomorrow, Wednesday 26th February. We’ll see you on the battlefront.

Punch It
The Star Wars Battlefront II Team

Release Notes

  • Co-Op is now available on the Age of Rebellion (Endor, Death Star II, Hoth, Yavin 4, Kessel and Tatooine – Mos Eisley and Jabba’s Palace), as well as on Age of Republic Capital Ships (Republic Attack Cruiser and Separatist Dreadnaught).

  • Two new Reinforcements, the Ewok Hunter for the Rebel Alliance and the ISB Agent for the Galactic Empire, are now available.

  • Heroes Vs. Villains is now available on MC85 Star Cruiser and Resurgent-class Star Destroyer.

  • Hero Showdown is now available on new maps (MC85 Star Cruiser, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, Republic Attack Cruiser and Separatist Dreadnaught, Felucia).

  • New weapons for Trooper Classes (E-11D for Assault Troopers, T-21 for Heavy Troopers, DL-18 for Officers and Cycler Rifle for Specialists) are now able to be unlocked through Milestones.

  • Updated the default appearances for: Imperial Rocket Trooper, Rebel Rocket Jumper and Wookiee Warrior. Legacy appearances are available as unlocked alternatives.

QUALITY OF LIFE

  • Changes the map layout for improved Heroes Vs. Villains and Hero Showdown gameplay on Yavin 4 and Geonosis.

  • Vehicle units are added as AI players on certain maps on Instant Action (Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Naboo, Felucia, Ajan Kloss)

  • Friendly AI can spawn as Heroes on Instant Action

  • Players can now spawn on AI as fellow squad members on Instant Action.

  • Various visual updates on the Scoreboard. Character levels are now shown on the scoreboard.

  • Major visual updates on the PC Chat window. The window is now positioned at the top right corner of tje screen and included in a vertical stack of three widgets: Network status, PC Chat, Kill and Event Log.

UI – NEW HUD OPTIONS
Added new options in the Options / Gameplay / HUD section:

  • Weapon Heatbar Vertical Position (Default / Below Crosshair)

  • Radar (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Squad List (Default / Only Icons / Off)

  • Player Bar (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Abilities (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Name Tags (Default / No Outline / Off)

  • Game Mode Progress (Default / Off)

  • Challenge Progress (Default / Off)

  • Rank Up Celebration (Default / Left Side / Right Side / Off)

  • Added additional option to the Kill Message setting (Default / Medium / Small / Legacy / Off).

HERO CHANGES

  • Added Dual zoom to the Blaster weapons of Iden Versio, Bossk and Finn.

  • Added visual information to show that certain Hero abilities can be cancelled (Han Solo’s Sharpshooter, Bossk’s Predator Instincts, Leia Organa’s Rapid Fire and Chewbacca’s Furious Bowcaster).

  • Fixed an audio issue where the Lightsaber ignition sound would not trigger when a Lightsaber was activated by an ability.

  • Fixed an issue where players could interrupt Hero abilities with melee attacks.

  • Fixed an issue where opponents could be seen briefly hanging in mid-air, if being electrocuted right when they were about to fall.

  • Fixed various visual issues with the footprints and trails of General Grievous, Yoda, BB-9E and BB-8.

BB-8 AND BB-9E

  • Increased the support ability score reward for the BB units from 2 to 4.

  • Fixed an issue where casting certain effects on the BB droids while using their abilities, could cause the death of seemingly random AI players.

  • Fixed an issue where placeholder VO would trigger when BB-8 and BB-9E would encounter an enemy Hero.

  • Fixed an issue where BB-8’s moving animation could break if BB-8 gets interrupted after using the Rolling Charge ability.

  • Fixed an issue where a Milestone for BB-8 would reward the wrong emote.

  • Fixed an issue where the “Effortless” milestone description for BB-9E would mention rewards using work-in-progress names.

LEIA ORGANA

Abilities

  • Flash grenade is replaced by Thermal detonators: Leia can throw, up to three, thermal detonators that will explode after 0,85 seconds. This ability enters cooldown when all three detonators have been thrown.

  • Leia’s Squad shield is now Healing 5 health every second.

Star Card Blinded

  • BLINDED changed to FEARLESS

  • Description: The blast radius of THERMAL DETONATORS is increased.

  • Effect: INCREASED BLAST RADIUS

Star Card Blinded Reveal

Balancing tweaks

  • Increased E-11 start damage from 32 to 36.

  • Increased E-11 end damage from 17 to 19.

  • Increased E-11 the start distance for Damage fall off from 5 to 20.

  • Increased E-11 the end distance for Damage fall off from 10 to 40.

  • Reduced E-11 Recoil.

  • Reduced E-11 blaster shots spread.

Milestones

CHEWBACCA
Chewbacca’s Bowcaster

  • When not scoped: The three bolts are clustered in a triangle, instead of a horizontal line.

  • When scoped: One powerful shot that allows Chewbacca to be more efficient at long distance, instead of the three horizontal shots clustering.

  • When using furious bowcaster while not scoped: 5 bolts, in a larger circle

  • When using furious bowcaster while scoped: 5 bolts, in a cross, tighter than not scoped.

  • Fixed an issue where Chewbacca’s Bowcaster could get disabled during the entirety of Boba Fett’s Concussion Rocket ability.

BOBA FETT

Abilities

Star Cards

  • BLASTER DISABLER changed to AUGMENTED GEAR

  • Description: If CONCUSSION ROCKET hits more enemies, Boba Fett’s jetpack regenerates more fuel.

REY

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

LUKE SKYWALKER

IDEN VERSIO

  • Improved Iden’s Pulse Cannon ability. Players can now fire while aiming from the hip, as well as fire at any time during the charge up. Even if the shot does need to be fully charged, a charged shot does a lot more damage.

KYLO REN

GENERAL GRIEVOUS

GAME MODE AND MAP CHANGES
SUPREMACY

  • Updated the Resistance-controlled AT-ST on Supremacy – Ajan Kloss to “Scavenged AT-ST” to make it more easily differentiated.

  • Fixed an issue where the capture area of Command Post A on Supremacy – Felucia would show up misaligned on the radar.

  • Fixed an issue that would cause the names of friendly boarding players to show up in the action log with the wrong color.

  • Fixed an issue where the UI outline on the objectives on Capital Ships would not always be visible if boarding a Capital Ship more than once in a match.

  • Fixed an issue where the Starfighters fighting in the background in Supremacy and Co-Op (Age of Resistance) would be from the wrong era.

  • Fixed an issue where previously marked objectives would remain targeted, even when switching phases.

  • Fixed an issue where the objective markets on the Separatist Dreadnaught would disappear, after destroying the first objective.

  • For balancing reasons, we reduced the amount of Flame Troopers available on MC85 Star Cruiser to two.

CO-OP

  • Tweaked the Out Of Bounds area in the 1st Phase of Co-Op – Defend on Takodana to allow retreating to the castle.

  • Updated the Co-Op mode description to include the defending of Command Posts.

  • Fixed an issue where a number of AI would be suddenly dying during Phase 3 on Co-Op – Ajan Kloss.

INSTANT ACTION

  • Added note that performance can be impacted if a user selects a high count for AI.

  • Implemented limit in how frequently friendly and enemy AI Heroes and Reinforcements are allowed to spawn.

  • Fixed an issue with audio being cut during the End-Of-Round screen on Instant Action.

Added new Frontend options for Instant Action:

  • Enemy Hero Count (slider)

  • Friendly Hero Count (slider)

  • Enemy Reinforcement Count (slider)

  • Friendly Reinforcement Count (slider)

  • Enemy Vehicle Count (slider)

  • Friendly Vehicle Count (slider)

STARFIGHTER ASSAULT

  • Removed the era-associated costs for Hero Ships on Starfighter Assault. All Hero Ships on Starfighter Assault will now cost the same number of Battle Points.

  • Fixed an issue where stray assets would be visible near the horizon when the user approaches the Out-Of-Bounds barrier on Starfighter Assault – Kamino.

HEROES VS. VILLAINS

GALACTIC ASSAULT

MAP CHANGES

  • Fixed various collision issues, exploits and improved areas where players could get stuck in across a wide selection of maps (Geonosis, Kamino, Ajan Kloss, Felucia, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Endor, Bespin, Hoth, Yavin, Crait, Naboo, Jakku, Takodana, Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer, Death Star II, Starkiller Base).

  • Fixed various visual and texture popping issues on Ajan Kloss, Geonosis, Kamino, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, Takodana, Endor, Death Star II.

  • Fixed an issue where Lightsaber characters from the Light side could bypass certain Out-Of-Bounds areas on the Separatist Dreadnaught.

  • Improved VFX feedback when the AAT hits the invulnerable parts of the AT-TE on Geonosis.

CHANGES TO CLASSES AND SPECIAL UNITS
ARC TROOPER

  • Reworked the ARC Trooper’s dual wielding to fire both pistols with primary fire, and instead use secondary fire button to trigger Power Blast.

  • Replaced the Power Blast with Toggle Weapon, that allows toggling the pistols between slower rate of fire with high accuracy, to fast firing with bigger spread.

  • Tweaked damage output on primary pistols (Close Damage 30->34 | Far Damage 17->15).

ASSAULT

SPECIALIST

OFFICER

CAPHEX SPY

OVISSIAN GUNNER

  • Reverted previous update where movement speed would be reduced when spooling up and firing the rotary cannon.

  • Fixed issue where firing the rotary cannon wouldn’t trigger controller rumble.

TX-130

AT-ST

AERIAL

  • Fixed an issue where the camera would get stuck in a different position after an Aerial unit would perform the Jetpack Dash ability.

  • Fixed an issue in an effort to reduce risk of Aerial units being affected by minor obstacles when performing Jetpack Dash.

  • Updated rocket launcher icon to the missile icon, since it more closely reflects the ability than the previous version, that was the MPL launcher.

JET TROOPER

REBEL ROCKET-JUMPER

IMPERIAL ROCKET TROOPER

DEATH TROOPER

  • Updated the blinding effect of the Sonic Imploder ability to be concussion based, and increased effective range to 10 meters.

  • Replaced the DLT-19 Heavy Blaster with the E-11D Blaster Rifle.

  • Updated Overload to no longer have movement reduction.

WEAPONS

MILESTONES

AI PLAYERS

  • Fixed an issue where the AI in Supremacy – Age of Resistance would be seeing carrying weapons from the wrong era.

  • Fixed an issue where AI would not spawn as BB-8 and BB-9E as frequently as other Heroes.

  • Fixed an issue with the jump timing of the AI version of Chewbacca.

GENERAL CHANGES/MISC

  • Fixed an issue that could cause rubberbanding when the player is dashing away after being close to a Lightsaber opponent making the first charge.

  • Removed the ability to buy Crystal packs in-game for owners of the Celebration Edition.

  • Fixed a localization issue where the Supremacy mode description in German would overlap with other info on screen.

  • Fixed an issue where some models would animate with low FPS while certain Arcade – Battle Scenarios previews were showcased

  • Updated the availability of certain cosmetic items from “Available in Crates” to “Available through Milestones”.

  • Improved visibility of weapon stats under certain colorblind profiles.

  • Fixed an issue where Heroes would sometimes appear with barely closed eyes in the Frontend menu.

KNOWN ISSUES

source: express.co.uk