A look ahead for Battlefront — More DLC, 2XP weekends & Hutt Contracts
Because Battlefront-related news has been lacking recently, I thought I’d do a post looking ahead at what’s to come for the Star Wars shooter.
Much of the information below comes from this handy Live Events calendar posted on the official Battlefront site. Otherwise, I’ll provide the link for my source for each bit of info found elsewhere.
Bespin Open Trial Weekend: August 19-21
The next event coming up for Battlefront is a free trial of Bespin. If this works like the Outer Rim’s free trials, both the playlist and heroes (Lando and Dengar) will be available to try out.
I’ve enjoyed Bespin so far, but the playlist is a bit bloated with seven different modes. The maps are really gorgeous and play out nicely though! And while I might be more partial to Extraction, Sabotage is fun for a game or two.
New Hutt Contract: August 30
At the end of this month, a new Hutt Contract will drop for free. Based on leaked footage from Unispired Zebra, it will most likely be either the CJ-9 bo-rifle or the Escape Artist trait. I’d also guess the one that doesn’t arrive on August 30 will drop alongside the Death Star in September.
The CJ-9 bo-rifle, as shown above (via Unispired Zebra), features a new melee mechanic and is semi-automatic. According to Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD, bo-rifles are the weapon of choice for the Lasan Honor Guard. The show’s lone Lasat, Zeb, uses the weapon as does the Imperial Agent Kallus, who earned the weapon from a defeated Lasan Honor Guard. (Note that Rebels features the AB-75 bo-rifle, not one of the CJ-9 variety).
The Escape Artist trait will provide the player bonuses towards sprint speed and melee strikes. When at level one, the player will receive a small sprint speed bonus. At level two, they’ll garner a high sprint speed bonus. At level three, the player maintains the high sprint speed bonus and melee strikes will instantly kill opponents.
In the game’s current form, the jump pack is almost a necessity to get back into battle, especially on large maps. Hopefully the Escape Artist trait will provide a viable alternative for moving around maps quickly. If it does, players could free up a Star Card slot by dropping the jump pack.
Note that neither of these items are officially confirmed yet. Specifics might change in the meantime. That said, other items Unispired Zebra’s found (like the Stinger Pistol) ended up in game.
Bespin Open Trial: September 12-18
A couple of weeks after August’s free Hutt Contract, there will be another Bespin free trial. I’d expect it to function just like August’s free trial, although this time it’ll run for an entire week.
Death Star expansion update: September 20 (?)
This date gets a question mark because the expansion doesn’t have an official release date. However, the final listing in the Live Events calendar is for a double-score weekend celebrating the launch of the Death Star for Season Pass holders. Because the double-score weekend starts on the 23rd, it makes sense for the Death Star to release on the 20th.
If the Death Star does release on September 20 for Season Pass holders, buyers picking up the DLC individually can expect the expansion to drop on October 4.
The Death Star will feature a new mode with “multi-stage gameplay”, plus new vehicles and a pair of new heroes, Chewbacca and Bossk. Chewie is featured with his bowcaster in the above concept art, while the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk will probably rock a version of the Relby-v10, like he does in the Clone Wars TV show. The trailer below also teased space combat:
If you look closely at the teaser art, you can see Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced X1 at the center. An astromech droid that bears an uncanny resemblance to R2-D2 is also visible in the featured X-Wing. This could hint at Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker becoming playable heroes in ship-form. Of course, nothing has been officially confirmed regarding the matter just yet.
Double-Score Weekend: September 23-25
As mentioned above, there’ll be a double-score event the final weekend of September. This event is “to celebrate the launch of the Death Star expansion for Season Pass owners.”
Rogue One: Scarif expansion: December 2016
Back at EA Play in June, EA/DICE revealed that the fourth and final expansion pack for Battlefront would drop in December of this year—not early 2017 as originally intended. Then at Star Wars Celebration last month, it was announced that the Rogue One planet of Scarif was to be the primary location for the upcoming DLC.
No date has been set yet for the expansion’s drop, but the movie itself is coming to theaters on December 16.
Jyn Erso, who is to be played by Felicity Jones, will be the Rebel hero for the pack. Director Krennic (played by Ben Mendelsohn) will be the Imperial’s villain.
Further clue
s can be gathered elsewhere. The Season Pass page now shows the icon on the right, possibly hinting at the presence of AT-ACTs like in the Rogue One teaser trailer. The planet of Scarif is also known to be a beach-like planet:
The future beyond 2016
EA/DICE have yet to comment on whether or not there is future content (free or paid) for Battlefront after Rogue One drops. However, EA’s second Battlefront will be arriving in 2017. DICE will continue on with the franchise, while the Montreal-based Motive Studios will be lending assistance.
Not much has been said regarding this next edition. Battlefront director Niklas Fegraeus did touch on the topic in a PC Gamer article, though, saying, “We’ve done a lot of stuff with Skirmish mode, with expansion packs, and a bunch of other things, and all of the stuff we’ve learned there we’ll of course bring with us going into the next one.”
Motive is also said to be “making great progress in building out a significant new addition to the game” which could hint at a story-driven campaign.
Even though we don’t know specifics just yet, it’s safe to say that EA will be moving forward with the Battlefront franchise next year—be it with this installment or the next one.
