Hero Blast in Battlefront: Let’s break down the facts

It’s been awhile since Battlefront received a new mode for free.

Besides the nine modes that launched with the game, DICE added Turning Point last December. Since then, three new modes arrived to Battlefront, but they’ve all been a part of paid expansions.

With the rumored introduction of Hero Blast, however, that might all change.

Shortly after the Death Star update last month, dataminer Uninspired Zebra leaked an image showing off the potential new mode on a Private Match screen:

Uninspired Zebra has a proven track record for leaks. These data mining efforts include Skirmish and Star Cards like the Bacta Bomb or Stinger Pistol. As such, this leak above is probably true.

So what can we glean from this image? First off, it appears that “Hero Blast” will be a six versus six mode; note that the spot for four spectators is standard in Private Match. Next, under “Chew Pew” it lists the mode as “Gamemode II XP3”. This indicates that it’s the second mode for the third expansion, the Death Star.

That’s all we know for sure. However, based on the image and several other clues, we can speculate several things:

• This mode will likely involve the Season Pass somehow. First, hero designer Guillaume Mroz has previously teased plans for heroes and the Season Pass. Uninspired Zebra also called Hero Blast a “season pass” mode. However, I’m not sure if this is Uninspired Zebra conjecturing here, or if they have more information beyond what’s shown in the image.
• Based on the name, it should play somewhat similar to the infantry-centric Blast mode. Unispired Zebra also called it a “deathmatch” mode, but again, I don’t know where this information comes from. Hopefully it does function like Blast, where the teams compete to rack up the highest score in the least amount of time. My biggest gripe with Heroes vs Villains is the breaks in between rounds. They just break the flow of the match for me.
• Because it ties into “XP3”, a release before the Rogue One DLC seems possible. And because there is seemingly only one patch in between expansions, it could very well come alongside the next update. Based on previous patterns, I’d optimistically guess the next update will fall on either October 18 or 25. However, with both the releases of Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 happening this month, I could see EA/DICE withholding more content for Battlefront until November.

Again, the three bullet points above are pure speculation. All we can definitively say right now is that a hero-centric mode is likely coming to Battlefront. It’s quite possible that things will change (such as name or player count), or that my conjecture misses the mark.

There’s also a few things we don’t know yet, such as if the mode will contain infantry or if multiple versions of the same hero can be on the field at the same time. Also—perhaps this is a pipe dream—I think it would be neat for this playlist to be available to all. It would provide a teaser of maps and heroes for those without the Season Pass while also boosting the playlist’s potential player base.

Regardless, it looks like a new hero-centric mode is on its way to Battlefront. The community has talked about a Season Pass playlist before, so it would definitely be cool to see DICE implement something along those lines.

I’m personally not a huge fan of Heroes vs Villains. However, if this mode does indeed function more like Blast (and neglects the round breaks in found in Heroes vs Villains), I’m sure I could enjoy it.