Star Wars Battlefront II – Release Notes – Update 2.0

Soeren Kamper Star Wars: Battlefront

Here are the patchnotes for the Star Wars: Battelfront 2 update, that was released a few days ago.

This update brings about large changes to the Multiplayer Progression system, and unlocks all currently available Heroes and Hero Ships for everyone. With all characters now having a Unit Level, DICE don’t want to limit anyone’s chance to progress as they change the way you interact with these characters.

On top of that,  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, DICE is 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.

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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

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

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

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

GENERAL

Heavy

  • Fixed an issue where it was possible to use the SENTRY ability in first person
  • Fixed an issue where the sound could get stuck on the SENTRY ability
  • Fixed an issue where weapon cooling was not working correctly for weapon mods

Aerials

  • Fixed an issue where the IMPROVED ROCKET LAUNCHER Star Card didn’t reduce recharge as intended
  • Fixed an animation issue that caused Aerials to incorrectly roll when dashing
  • We’ve updated the description of each of the Aerial units to more clearly differentiate them from each other. Jump Trooper –> Imperial Jump Trooper & First Order Jump Trooper. Rocket Jumper –> Rebel Rocket Jumper & Resistance Rocket Jumper

Enforcers

  • Fixed an issue where the Death Trooper wouldn’t see a white outline on enemies that have been affected by their SONIC IMPLODER’s blinding effect
  • Fixed issue where the explosion radius of the SONIC IMPLODER wasn’t improved by the EXPLOSIVE EXPERT Star Card

AT-ST

  • Fixed an issue where the AT-ST’s GRENADE LAUNCHER would fail to trigger after having been activated

Game Mode Changes:

Galactic Assault
Takodana

  • Re-worked the defender spawns in Phase 2, moving them closer to the objectives
  • The price of the AT-ST on Takodana has been increased from 1500 to 2500

Kashyyyk

  • Re-worked the defender spawns in Phase 3, moving them closer to the objectives
  • The LAAT respawn time has been increased to 30 seconds
  • Fixed an issue where the MTT health would not display correctly and it would sometimes enter an incorrect state

Deathstar II

  • Made Phases 2 and 3 easier to defend and Phase 1 slightly easier for the attackers by adjusting spawn positions

Tatooine

  • Phase 2 spawns for defenders have been adjusted for positioning and spread in an effort to increase safety directly after you’ve spawned
  • Attacker spawns in Phase 2 have been moved closer to the objectives to make it easier to attack
  • Defender spawns in Phase 3 have been moved closer to the objective to make it easier to defend
  • Introduced various visual quality improvements such as: reduced LOD pop-in, sharper textures, improved lighting and materials, minor destructible content, and additional environmental detailing
  • Adjusted frequency with which the alternative light settings appear

Kamino

  • Increased price of LAAT on from 400 to 1000
  • LAAT respawn has been increased by 30 seconds

Jakku

  • Fixed an issue where players spawning into the AT-ST were occasionally spawned out of bounds

Endor

  • Updated and re-introduced the daylight setting
  • Adjusted frequency with which the alternative light settings appear

Blast

  • Improved spawn zones for Blast on Starkiller Base

Starfighter Assault

  • Starfighter splash damage against troopers reduced by 50% to prevent excessive targeting of troopers.
  • Fixed an issue where the MVP screen would continuously shake

Jetpack Cargo

  • Various improvements to UI clarity, issues for players joining mid-round, and respawn issues with the cargo

Arcade

  • Fixed an issue where AI could sometimes become static and not recognize the player
  • Fixed an issue where Milestones in the end-of-round were missing after completing a Mission
  • Fixed an issue where the battle settings were overlapping with the loading screen in Arcade
  • Solved an issue where Captain Phasma’s visual environment was applied to both players when playing splitscreen
  • Fixed an issue where it was possible to avoid the AI on Death Star II
  • Misc. fixes to areas where Boba Fett was able to fly out of reach of the AI
  • Fixed an issue where the AI would clip into a building on Tatooine
  • Fixed an issue where lighting would break on the guest screen when playing Duel on Crait
  • Fixed an issue where tickets were incorrectly counted if players fell off the map when playing Versus on Kashyyyk

General Improvements and Bugfixes:

  • Fixed a few areas where the player could get stuck when playing in parts of Mos Eisley
  • Improved terrain collision on Mos Eisley, to prevent issues with the camera shaking when not intended
  • Fixed a few areas where the player could get stuck in the interior of the Hoth base
  • Improved collision for structures on Starkiller Base
  • Improved collision on Kamino to prevent players from reaching unintended areas
  • Improved collision for the cave entrance on Crait
  • Fixed a few areas where the player could get stuck when playing on Naboo
  • Fixed a few areas where the player could get stuck when playing on Endor
  • Improved collision on Yavin structures and trees, to prevent the player from getting stuck
  • Fixed a few areas where the player could get stuck when playing on Kashyyyk
  • Fixed an issue where it was possible for a user to equip Star Cards on a locked slot
  • Fixed an issue where the Star Cards were displayed with low opacity after spawning
  • Fixed an issue where the user was prevented from joining a group and a server if already in a different group on a different server
  • Fixed a front end issue where the yellow “new” marker was incorrectly displayed
  • Fixed an issue where the milestone “Heights of Greatness” didn’t track properly
  • Fixed an issue where the “Double Your Efforts” challenge was incorrectly translated
  • Solved a lighting issue that caused black rocks on Endor
  • Solved an issue where the UI elements could start flickering if the player resized the game window
  • Fixed an issue where the Aerial units weren’t properly translated
  • Misc bugfixes and improved animations for living world creatures on Endor
  • Fixed an issue where Heroes were able to enter vehicles after a trooper had exited
  • Fixed an issue where the game could get stuck in an unresponsive state if the user performed sign-out and sign-in actions repeatedly
  • Fixed an issue where the game would occasionally freeze when navigating to the Collection tab in the front end
  • Fixed an issue where loading screens unintentionally caused a high load on some graphics cards
  • Fixed an issue where the player would sometimes lose their loadout when continuing a mission in the Campaign
  • Resolved various crash issues
  • Added Ansel support for Nvidia graphics cards in Arcade
  • Added pre-compilation of shaders on DX12 to reduce stutter during gameplay. This can be seen in the loading screens when this process takes place.

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Known Issues:

  • Endor Galactic Assault – The AT-AT incorrectly has friendly fire turned on when shooting the hangar gates
  • Darth Maul’s SABER THROW ability does not always hit its target
  • Decals aren’t properly applied to the terrain on Crait
  • Legs may clip when characters are rotating
  • Headshot scoring event isn’t tracked in the event log
  • The XP bars are not animating at the end of a match