Star Wars Battlefront II - Jun 11th Patch - Release Notes
Hello there,
We’re releasing a small update this month to address some balancing concerns and issues, including reducing Anakin’s effectiveness in modes like Capital Supremacy and Galactic Assault, where he can cut through troopers too easily, while retaining his capabilities when facing off against a villain.
We’ve also worked on a few community requests, including changing Darth Maul’s Furious Throw to a horizontal throw and reducing the number of players required to begin some modes. This ability now has a significantly larger hitbox, meaning it can more easily hit the designated target and multiple enemies at once. Because of this, we’re reducing the damage it does so that it doesn’t become over-powered. We’ll keep monitoring feedback and balance for further tweaks to keep it fun, powerful, and fair.
More changes will come in a much larger update on the 26th of June. Until then, see you on the battlefront!
Release Notes:
Balancing tweaks for Anakin Skywalker:
Darth Maul:
Game Modes
Reduced the minimum number of players required to start the following game modes
All Other Improvements
Deployment Info
We’re releasing a small update this month to address some balancing concerns and issues, including reducing Anakin’s effectiveness in modes like Capital Supremacy and Galactic Assault, where he can cut through troopers too easily, while retaining his capabilities when facing off against a villain.
We’ve also worked on a few community requests, including changing Darth Maul’s Furious Throw to a horizontal throw and reducing the number of players required to begin some modes. This ability now has a significantly larger hitbox, meaning it can more easily hit the designated target and multiple enemies at once. Because of this, we’re reducing the damage it does so that it doesn’t become over-powered. We’ll keep monitoring feedback and balance for further tweaks to keep it fun, powerful, and fair.
More changes will come in a much larger update on the 26th of June. Until then, see you on the battlefront!
Release Notes:
Balancing tweaks for Anakin Skywalker:
- Reduced the duration of the choking during Anakin's Retribution ability from 4 to 2 seconds.
- Anakin's Retribution does not charge up based on damage received during Heroic Might.
- Heroic Might no longer deals increased damage as Anakin takes damage. The ability’s radius still increases as Anakin takes damage.
- Increased base damage of Heroic Might from 70 to 90 against heroes.
- Reduced base damage of Heroic Might from 130 to 120 against troopers.
Darth Maul:
- Darth Maul now throws his lightsaber horizontally instead of vertically, creating a much wider hit-box for his attack. The Furious Throw ability base damage is now reduced from 150 to 75 to balance the ability’s improved accuracy. Improved VFX and Animation related to the ability.
Game Modes
Reduced the minimum number of players required to start the following game modes
- Blast from 8 to 4
- Strike from 8 to 4
- Heroes Vs. Villains from 8 to 6
All Other Improvements
- The mini-map in Heroes vs Villains will now work similarly to Hero Showdown and will not constantly show all players on screen.
- Heroes will now cost the same amount of Battle Points across all maps.
- Fixed an issue where Iden’s Droid Batteries Star Card was granting incorrect recharge time values for the Stun Droid ability.
- Fixed an issue where Han Solo would be unable to jump if the Sharpshooter ability got cancelled or interrupted.
- Fixed an issue where the DC-15LE weapon would have no crosshair when close aiming, if the Improved Zoom attachment was equipped.
- Fixed a visual issue with the animation of the back gear of the 91st Recon Corps.
- Fixed an issue where one of the roofs on Kamino allowed players to jump out of map geometry.
- Fixed a visual issue with the brightness of the Command Post projections on Geonosis and Kashyyyk.
- Fixed an issue where LAAT pilots would be seen floating in air when boarding the Dreadnought on Geonosis - Capital Supremacy.
Deployment Info
- 08:00 UTC PC
- 09:00 UTC PS4
- 10:00 UTC Xbox One
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Replies
On a side note, concerning the HvV change, it is either useless or bad decision, one less player on a side is easily felt in game.
Also having less minimum players required to join a game is a great addition as well. Now if only you could add this to Hero Starfighters as well. Been impossible getting into a game lately.
HvV not showing players all the time as well, damn, thank you!
Less of a fan seeing all heroes having the same BP cost on all maps. Tired of seeing Anakin on OT maps.
Otherwise, really a great patch, well done!
10% less on troops, lol. If you have any damage when he activates it, you're still dead
I was hugely dissapointed by the lack of non CW content but since Anakin is fixed maybe I'll play the game once in a while.
Make heroes at 2k while you are at it.
Oh...
Too low.
The battle point system is starting to go against the very reason it was implemented. People are supposed to earn heroes, these low costs are essentially just handing them out.
due to dice's nice team balancing a match can now start with one team having more people than the other team.. awesome change...
it says 4k sadly
There's a bug I've encountered when using the AT-RT that the infantry piloting it would appear between the legs of the vehicle rather than on top of it. Not sure how many others have encountered this or if it's been discussed, but it happens at least once a match when I use the AT-RT.
The Anakin nerf isn't as bad as I thought it would be, but he didn't need a nerf in the first place. The toxic whining and complaining of the player base shouldn't always be a determining factor in what gets nerfed or buffed. There are legitimate things that need to be tweaked (i.e. various bugs, Maul's saber throw) and you can determine that based on logic, but Anakin was balanced after the last nerf. In matches with quality players, he hasn't been game-breaking and plays like a slightly above average hero. If he didn't have star cards to increase damage output, he'd be completely useless after this.
RIP Anakin
Wait, are you crying?
yeah well 90% of the time you dont have any damge! So relax....
He'll play the same in HvV but in GA he'll be balanced
Even i admit that doesn't sound bad even thought retribution is my favorite ability
Smart people stop hitting or shooting him during HM anyway, so I personally wont see a difference
Agree, I never liked it from the start, especially how Officer was set up to exploit it. The first thing they should do is dump any extra bp accumulation cards and keep the BH only card so it’s the same across the board for all classes.
Imo only kills and obj gets bp, not buffs. I can spawn in at the beginning of a match as an officer with a bud or 2 and almost have enough bp to get a hero before I encounter the enemy team, all just by spamming recharge back and fourth. 4K will make this almost a guarantee without firing a weapon.
So, now HM does 120 damage, even if charged ( mean you will not even be able to oneshot a heavy or buffed base class )
And retribution does 200 damage ( the same as Yoda push ) and can be done one time in a game.
From 4 skills avaible to 1.
Good luck have fun with the best lightsaber hero boys. I'm curious to see what players will do with Anakin now.
They were bad even before, now is gonna be fun.
From the top, to the bottom.
Good Job whine players, you did it.
@F8RGE Some people don’t like the low cost of heroes as they feel they are earned to easily or can be spammed more. To find a balance, here is my idea that could be considered for the big June Update later on this month:
-All heroes cost the same, 5k BP (Dead smack in the middle of 4K and 6K).
-Heroes have a 30-60 second cool down timer before they can be picked again, timer length per hero depends on the era map being played on.
I hope so xD
This is too low. You give with one hand by nerfing Ani vs troopers then take away by making it even earlier when he and other heroes appear. Where is the balance for the 90% playing as troopers?
May I ask why this low? Does any1 from the dev team actually play this game? So basically free heroes, given the fact how fast can one acquire BP. GG again. Herofront.
noooooooooooo noooo!!!
do not reduce maul saber throw damage. are you out of your mind? why fix one thing and ruin another?
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No, It should be 150 as it is. Decreasing damage is the stupidest thing i've seen. If they actually do this, the bonus damage card needs to do 75 damage at max level. So it does 150. What's the stupid point of improving his hitbox if he ain't gonna kill *****?
Should be 150.
Whaaa? This means a hero now costs only a bit more than an enforcer! The hero should cost 8,000 BP at least. A hero should be earned over a match, and getting one should be an achievement that'll turn the tide of a fight. This makes it even easier to get heroes than it already was! The BP cost ought to be increased for heroes.
It happened to me several times also
Why is it so difficult to grasp that a lightsaber hero's abilities (using the saber) should outright kill any and all standard troopers... Period?
But, Maul's horizontal throw is a good change, so is the Anakin balancing. 👍
I love you. Thank you for your work.
HE NEEDS A ONE SHOT KILL. He's only got 700 health, the damaged enemy won't die and has a full moment to melt Maul's health CUZ HE CAN'T BLOCK. Who the hell is balancing this thing?
The bad parts drastically overwhelm the good parts, so I'll start by the good changes first:
Blast and Strike now need half the players to start. Considering these 2 are dead modes, these are the only truly good changes of this patch. Better late then never.
HvV OTOH, despite being better that it'll be able to start with less players, it won't solve the issue of unbalanced teams, but it may make it even worse. This change may be good, or may be bad, and depending on how populated a server is, the outcome may be totally different. So a change that can't be labeled either good or bad.
Those useless changes to graphics design and map geometry don't even require a label as we have so many issues with this game that hardly anyone cares for the graphical mistakes (and since HvV can't be exploited by map glitchers, out of map geometry issues are now irrelevant).
And finally the changes to 3 BUGs that have been haunting this game for a very long time. Han's issue is here from day 1, so congratulations, you finally removed it from the game. Well, only if this line of the patch notes is actually telling the truth because we have a good history of lying patch notes. Iden's issue is also from day 1 but only got the attention from the players when the droid started functioning better last year. The DC-15LE issue I honestly don't know since when it plagues this game. Even if you deserved to be mocked by how slow you are to fix these BUGs that are around for more then a year, this is a good change. That is, if it's true of course.
Anakin's retribution choking duration reduced seems to be the correct change to go. However there's the issue of reducing damage that isn't explained in the notes. I admit the intention is good and the issue is dealt right where it hurts, the duration of the choke. More testing will be needed to be sure if this was implemented smartly.
Now let's see all the horrible decisions you made:
Changing the Radar in HvV to how it works in Hero Showdown is not the way to go. It'll still promote the same kind of gameplay we've been having up to now. The Radar should revert back to how it was. Or, if you fear hiders will be a problem (maybe sometimes you try to think ahead, despite we not believeing it, as most of your changes prove you don't think ahead), implement a routine in the radar that reveals all players for a few seconds if no tickets are consumed after a certain amount of time. This way the radar will be hidden, unless people try to stall the game. See? It's simple when we think.
Heroic Might has been nerfed to the ground. I think you guys have someone to imagine the effective uses of skills prior to releasing them ingame. While Anakin was this OP machine you dropped upon us in the beginning of this year, the concept of Heroic Might was to us as follows: Anakin suddenly gets in the middle of a crowd, pushes the skill button, wait for some damage to be absorbed and unleash a wave to clear the room from most enemies. Of course other uses of the skill are available, but this was it's most important function, a room clearer. With the nerf you gave it, now it can't be done that way anymore, it'll have a totally different role from now on. This means, by the current meta, that Anakins will perish a lot more in the big modes because anti-Anakin players will still be in the mood to cripple anakins, and anakin players will still think Heroic Might should be used to clear rooms. Then I believe things will change as Anakin won't be that OP character anymore. I can't say I think this is either good or bad, but seeing how easy it is to totally change the concept of a skill for you devs, from a character you tried so hard not to do this, shows how oblivious you are to any game design behind these decisions. And saying this won't have an impact in HvV is laughable at best, now Heroic Might will deal a lot less damage there too, because it was really easy to charge HM there with idens and boosks and bobas and phasmas.
Changing the BP costs of heroes to be the same for everyone is a sign of giving up. You had a system that made sense, there was no need to change it. As some here mentioned, after introducing the Infiltrators, heroes could cost slightly more, and that makes sense. However you took the easy route, just like you did with HvV transforming it into a boring and bland pure Blast mode. This was a mindless change.
And finally, the jewel of it all: Maul's Saber Throw.
Guys, really, why? Decrease his damage by HALF? 75 DAMAGE? I don't know where to start. I think I'll reserve this for a topic on its own, but briefly:
No other saber user has an ability which deals such low damage, Vader has his horizontal throw dealing 150 damage both going and coming back up to 300, which can be used in combo with his choke for more then 400 damage. Kylo's frenzy is an auto-lock, 3 hit dealing skill, for 125 damage each, which breaks blocks! Maul's saber throw can't break blocks, not even from behind. Grievous can still do 260 damage with his spider move. Maul is already the character with the abilities which deal the least damage, now his only damaging ability has been turned into something that won't hurt anyone. The others are at least tactical, the saber throw isn't. Whatever, I expect Maul buffs next patch, as this seems to be the way you like to go DICE.
We should be paid to play this game, not the other way around. We are testers to this company, and we are the ones paying them. This way they can learn from their mistakes here and make their own IP games better so people prefer to play those, while still making money from this franchise and poor excuse for a finished game. Smart Move! I hope Disney sees this.
Well, they'll still exist.
But visit the Rogue Bros Channel, there we document many BUGs and possible workarounds for them. There's also gameplay and other videos related to EA's Star Wars Battlefront (I & II)
The whole minimum numbers thing for modes tells me these modes are seeing less and less people. Seems the popular modes are GA and CS. But with better changes to HvV maybe it will start populating again.