Pauldrons, vehicles, new weapons: A look at the latest Battlefront news highlights
With the Death Star dropping on Tuesday, it’s been a busy week for Battlefront news.
I’ve also been busy, but I managed to garner some free time to do a short write-up on some new things we learned this week.
I’ll try not to write stuff I already wrote about this week; I did a post on the Chewbacca hair situation this morning, as well as another one covering Twitter earlier in the week.
More on how pauldrons will work:
Dynamic customization is coming to Battlefront. We were able to see it in action in the trailer, as some Rebel pilots were aliens, some were helmeted and others were un-helmeted. Imperials will get customization through pauldrons (the shoulder pads currently worn in-game by generic stormtroopers on Tatooine and Sullust).
Battlefront’s lead designer, Dennis Brannvall, tweeted that pauldron customization will only come to normal stormtroopers. Other troopers (such as shock or scout) will now get selectable genders.
No playable Y-Wings or TIE bombers:
Brannvall confirmed yesterday that they’ve announced all playable vehicles for the expansion. This indicates that Y-Wings or TIE bombers won’t be making an appearance this time around.
Branvall also confirmed that neither ship will feature in the background.
Hit detection, flying should be better:
Fighter Squadron has been plagued with hit detection woes. Brannvall noted, however, that they’ve “done some work on that as well as work to prevent ship ramming (very important for the Trench Run).”
More info about R2-D2:
In the trailer, we learned that R2-D2 will have smoke abilities. This is in addition to his previously-announced scan ping and shock prod abilities.
Brannvall also teased that while R2 won’t have emotes, he will have “funny sounds.”
Unfortunately, we don’t yet know how R2 will exactly function (or how his health works), besides the fact that he’ll be fully-controllable.
Battle Station’s second phase will have at least two villains:
Looking at R2’s image above, you can make out two red dots. One is Bossk behind the astromech, while the dot on the right is likely another, different villain for the Empire.
The K-16 Bryar pistol will be able to fire when overheated:
In the trailer, a player equipped with the Death Star’s exclusive pistol was able to fire a shot while the K-16 Bryar was overheated. This blast was explosive and likely referenced in the promo page’s statement that the gun can discharge “the entire heat source in one powerful blast.”
It’s also possible that the TL-50 Heavy Repeater’s concussion blast was shown moments prior:
The Death Star DLC’s playlist is focused on Battle Station:
Branvall noted that the playlist is primarily Battle Station, but he added that it “might have more modes later.” However, at least Heroes vs. Villains made the cut, as did Fighter Squadron. Speculating a bit, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Blast arrive, too.
Bossk’s predatory instincts will have downsides:
Bossk has an ability that enables him to gain heat vision while also increasing cooldown and sprint speeds. However, it does have some downsides. Hero designer Guillaume Mroz wrote on Twitter: “If you get flashed while it’s active, your vision goes bananas for a longer time and you temporarily loose your enhancements.”
That’s all I’ve got for this post. If you haven’t yet, the Death Star trailer is definitely worth a re-watch. It includes many little highlights, including interrogation droids and the new Medical Droid.
