Everything We Now Know About Star Wars Battlefront II.

EA Play and E3 have been incredibly illuminating when it comes to what will be in Star Wars Battlefront II. Here’s a complete list of what we’ve learned so far.

 

A quick rundown the game’s content.

 

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of what’s in the game from what we’ve seen:

  • Playable Factions: The Galactic Republic, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance/New Republic, the First Order, and the Resistance.
  • Playable Heroes: Yoda, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Iden Versio, Gideon Hask, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma*, Finn*, and Rey.
  • Vehicles: Slave I, Vulture Droids, Trade Federation Landing Ship, Delta-7 Jedi Interceptor, Naboo Starfighters, V-wings, ARC-170s, LAATs, Republic Attack Cruisers, AATs, MTTs, AT-RTs, TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, Imperial Shuttles, Imperial Star Destroyers, Super Star Destroyers, Raider-class Corvette, Millennium Falcon, T-65B X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings, Nebulon-B Frigates, CR90 Corvettes, Mon Calamari Cruisers, AT-ATs, AT-STs, Tauntauns, Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter*, First Order TIE Fighter, AALs, T-70 X-wings, and LIUVs.
  • Playable Battlefronts (Planetary and/or Space): Naboo, Kamino, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Yavin IV, Hoth, Endor, Vardos, Jakku, Takodana, Starkiller Base, D’Qar*, Crait*, Spaceship Interior(s), and a variety of Space Battles.

I should note that some of this stuff (labeled with asterisks) is confirmed to be post-launch DLC (we’ll get to that later), but it doesn’t appear that anything that has actually shown up in either trailer is being saved for after the game’s initial release. Stuff that’s technically unconfirmed to be in the game, but has been hinted at or otherwise rumored, include the maps of Scarif, Sullust, and Geonosis, along with playable versions of Jango Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

Currently, there’s not word on any of the following things returning from the first game (although that will likely change soon): Bespin, the Death Star, Princess Leia, Nien Nunb, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, Jyn Erso, Emperor Palpatine, Greedo, Dengar, Bossk, and Director Krennic. One more thing – the game will still have a focus on the Original Trilogy Era, as evidenced by the campaign almost completely being set in it. Prequel Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy content will be represented equally, although both will have slightly less focus than the Original Trilogy – at least at launch.

 

Now that that’s out of the way, here are some more specifics.

 

Story details.

 

 

So we already know the basics about the game’s story – we’re going to play as Iden Versio, one of Inferno Squad’s finest recruits, around the time that the Empire collapsed after Palpatine’s death, and learn a bit about how the various Imperial Remnants formed into the First Order. The mission that was revealed to a few outlets like Kotaku covers follows Iden’s return to her home planet of Vardos immediately after the Death Star II’s destruction to see her superior – her father, an admiral (pictured above). He shows her a message from Palpatine that gives her and her team key details necessary to carry out the contingency plan Operation Cinder. Suddenly, the shipyard that the Versios speak on is besieged by Rebel forces, and Inferno Squad leads a counterattack to allow Iden to infiltrate the Rebel frigate to destroy the ship’s ion cannons from within. (The article linked to has a pretty good summary of what the gameplay is like and how it differs from Battlefront 2015, so I’d recommend checking it out.)

 

Characters, Classes, and Vehicles.

 

 

One of the big things that makes Battlefront II a return to form is that the reintroduction of classes into the franchises. There are four major classes in Battlefront II: the Assault Trooper, the Heavy Trooper, the Officer, and the Specialist, all of which have their own respective strengths and weaknesses. In addition, there are several special units that players can gain access to by spending in-game points that are gained as a result of doing well on the battlefield and completing objectives. The special units range from Elites and Heroes to Vehicles and Hero Vehicles. This is a departure both from the LucasArts/Pandemic Battlefront games and the first EA/DICE title in that these vehicles are selected from the spawnpoint menu instead of being a power-up. It’s also noted that certain special units will be added post-launch, such as Droidekas.

 

How you upgrade your soldiers (and Heroes) will be a bit different this time, too – skills are obtained through loot crates this time around, which when obtained will allow you to outfit your soldier with a unique look and set of weapons. There are a lot of things you can unlock with these loot crates, which should give players incentive to adopt a variety of play styles to optimize their characters. This system is also tied to the next point.

 

There are Microtransactions.

 

 

Don’t panic. This game is NOT one that follows the “Pay-To-Win” format. It’s more along the lines of “Pay-To-Unlock-Stuff-Early”, as the Microtransactions will allow players to get access to specific weapons much more quickly. However, none of this stuff is a artificially boost a player’s character, as all of this stuff that affects gameplay can be obtained in the base game. Knowing EA, there might be a handful of cosmetic items that you could pay for to change the appearance of your character, but it doesn’t seem incredibly likely that certain weapons are going to be hidden behind a paywall. DICE are trying to win back the portion of the fanbase that was alienated from the first game by some of EA’s less popular practices.

 

Why might Microtransactions be in this game at all, you might ask? Well, it’s to cover the deficit presented by the next point…

 

All DLC will be free.

 

It’s true. All of it.

 

 

DICE revealed that their reasoning for ditching the season pass model was that they didn’t want to segregate fans by a paywall this time around (something which ultimately hurt the first game’s player base, since there were a lot of new modes that could only be played if you bought the DLC). They took this out in exchange for adding optional microtransactions. From the sound of things, they want this game to have a longer lifespan than the first Battlefront did, so I’d expect the game to release new content periodically over the course of the next two to three years. In fact, we already know what the first bit of post-release content is going to be.

 

The first DLC wave will be based on The Last Jedi.

 

 

John Boyega himself recorded a quick message for EA Play stating that the very first set of DLC is going to be arriving just in time for The Last Jedi and that the content we’ll get will be tied to that movie – Finn and Captain Phasma will be added to the game, along with a map for Crait. If I would have to guess, this most likely means that there will be a little less Sequel Trilogy content available at the game’s launch than one would typically expect – and that’s really not too surprising, considering that by the time the game releases, only one of the three movies will be out. (I’m guessing that we’ll probably get Armitage Hux and Poe Dameron in the base game as well.)

 

Also worth noting is that this DLC wave will allow players to experience a space battle over D’Qar, which all but confirms speculation that the planet we saw in the teaser for The Last Jedi is indeed the planet home to the Resistance Base (which most likely means that it’ll be the earliest battle of the film).

 

 

“Era Mixing” may or may not be a thing.

 

…Which is to say that they’ve not yet reached a decision with regard to whether or not they’ll allow fans to “cross the streams” with the Star Wars chronology and allow players to mix and match armies, heroes, and vehicles in each game. The reason for this question came as a result of some confusion over the anachronisms shown in the “Assault on Theed” stream:

 

 

Makes perfect sense, although I can totally get why fans are confused. Odds are, they’ll probably save such a feature for post-launch or (perhaps more lucratively) the inevitable Battlefront III. In any case, if the game has a “Heroes versus Villains” mode – something present in LucasArts and Pandemic’s Battlefront II and EA and DICE’s Battlefront – then it’s not impossible to imagine that they’ll allow for cross-era battles in at least that front. I should note, however, that weapons from across eras can be used by different soldiers for the sake of customization, which is to say that a Battle Droid could tote a First Order rifle if the player fits them with that weapon in multiplayer.

 

And that’s all we have on Battlefront II for now. Stay tuned for more updates as they arrive.

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

24 thoughts on “Everything We Now Know About Star Wars Battlefront II.

  • June 12, 2017 at 7:45 am
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    I’m worried about the grind for items if they are unlocked via micro-transactions. They want to encourage micro-transactions so I hope they don’t make some stuff an epic grind because of that. And rather or not its pay to win depends on what items can be purchased via m-ts. There are differences in weapons and their use. There are always weapons nobody uses that mostly suck and good weapons that most use. If the good ones can be purchased via m-ts that could be considered pay to win.

    • June 12, 2017 at 8:39 am
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      Perchance, but i think they are just looking for some good PR right now. If games like Overwatch, HotS, and LoL have taught me anything, it’s that the money is in the skins. there is an abundance of spoiled kids with their parents’ credit cards. I never pay for such things, but there are those that do.

      Scavenger Rey, cloaked Maul, shirtless Maul from Rebels. Jango for Boba Fett, etc. that’s where the money is. If things get bad on the micro-transaction front, they will probably just up the exp given to make unlocking better. hoping it isn’t crazy, because this game looks legit.

  • June 12, 2017 at 10:18 am
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    Wait…only two prequel characters? Where is Dooku? Grievous? Kenobi? ANYBODY?!

    This is b******t.

    • June 12, 2017 at 10:46 am
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      Don’t overreact. They’ve already confirmed that there are several other hero characters that will be available at launch – they just haven’t revealed them yet. And more still will come via DLC.

      – Pomojema

      • June 12, 2017 at 8:14 pm
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        Agreed. I don’t mind DLC, so long as it feels like an expansion pack and not like something that should have been included in the base game.

        • June 12, 2017 at 9:18 pm
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          Just bear in mind that you don’t have to pay for any of the new characters and maps – all DLC is free in this game.

          – Pomojema

          • June 12, 2017 at 9:54 pm
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            I somehow missed that. Wow!

          • June 12, 2017 at 10:30 pm
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            They’ll probably still getcha with the Microtransactions, though. But focus on the positives!

            – Pomojema

    • June 12, 2017 at 3:46 pm
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      This isn’t ALL of the characters. Relax.

    • June 12, 2017 at 6:11 pm
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      Jesus, that wasn’t all of them. Just the ones they could show at E3.

    • June 13, 2017 at 3:47 am
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      People have really bad reading comprehension skills. Wow.

  • June 12, 2017 at 11:26 am
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    The game looks awesome, I am super excited for the campaing, the only thing that worries me are the cross era battles as written in the article I find that absolutely stupid and chaotic

  • June 12, 2017 at 1:08 pm
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    other good thing i heard is that you can fly with keyboards A S D W keys and the mouse, BF1 was only the mouse and was terrible…

  • June 12, 2017 at 3:35 pm
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    How much SINGLE PLAYER content is there? Long campaigns? Most of the game?

    • June 12, 2017 at 9:41 pm
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      Dunno yet, but it seems it may be longer than 4 hours I believe.

  • June 12, 2017 at 4:35 pm
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    AT-TE!? Destroyer Droids!? I seriously hope those happen at some point. Destroyer Droids more than anything…

    • June 12, 2017 at 8:03 pm
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      Be cautious with your optimism. They also list Star Destroyers, frigates, and corvettes among the ‘vehicles’. Willing to put money on not being able to control any of those. Hope the walkers won’t be another on-rails experience like the last game, but this doesn’t tell us anything yet.

      • June 12, 2017 at 9:56 pm
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        Optimism? I was saying I didn’t see the two things listed. I really want them. I’m more bummed we’ve yet to see them. 😛

        • June 13, 2017 at 6:43 pm
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          Oh, I thought they listed ATTE’s in that alphabet soup. My bad!

  • June 12, 2017 at 5:26 pm
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    I am very curious about the single player plot. That time period is what I wanted most to see covered in a game. Can’t wait to play it!!!

  • June 12, 2017 at 7:50 pm
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    If Anakin and Obi Wan aren’t in this game..I will be heavily disappointed.

  • June 13, 2017 at 7:05 pm
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    I’m happy that EA isn’t paywalling the DLC for Maps, characters etc. I understand that these games cost a lot, but man EA can be the absolute worst with their season passes and confusing deals. And I am glad they chose not to pursue it. I love the different eras they are exploring and the maps, like Theed on Naboo(still one of my personal favorite planets during the PT era).

    I finally enjoy the hero characters and how different they operate. To be fair, the prior Battlefront I do not think gets enough credit for this. But really, they stepped it up. Aspects, like Darth Maul having the saber throw makes sense given his flamboyant nature and heck even Rey looks really badass in this. Overall, I cannot wait to pick this up. 😉 Especially, for the story mode.

    If I have one critique, it is one more the imperial perspective. I do not hate on it, but it feels like the NC has been really pushing that angle a bit too much. If anything, I would have preferred a character perhaps who was a bounty hunter/ not actively involved on both sides. I think that could have allowed for a more unique perspective.

  • June 14, 2017 at 7:50 pm
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    Just saw the gameplay trailer. Alright, EA, you got me – pre-order placed, damn you.

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