My Star Wars Battlefront II Hopes

Star Wars Battlefront II released in November 2017 and while it did not have a good reputation in its early days due to EA’s inclusion of micro-transactions, the game has changed a lot since then and it still has a good following, with a recent reveal by the developers that the number of people playing now is similar to 3 weeks after release.

The game has not been left alone by the studio either, as players continue to be rewarded with new content like the recent Capital Supremacy game mode and new Infiltrator reinforcements for the Clone Wars factions, or even more recently the “Princess” skin for Leia to celebrate Star Wars Day. Now at this point, we don’t really know how much longer we will continue to get updates, patches and new content for the game, but as this is currently still the most recent multiplayer game (Jedi: Fallen Order has been confirmed as a single player story game) I am hopeful that we will continue to get updates and new content for the foreseeable future. And that got me thinking: What sort of content would I want to see?

---

More Inferno Squad

One of the big features that got me initially interested in the game was the single-player story mode. The original story followed Iden Versio as she went form serving the Empire to serving the fledgling New Republic and culminating in the Battle of Jakku, while a content drop to coincide with The Last Jedi gave us an extension to the story that saw Iden and her daughter Zay drawn back into the fight during the time of The Force Awakens and finished with what was left of Inferno Squad being sent away by Leia to find the Resistance’s allies in the Outer Rim during the evacuation of D’Qar.

Iden herself may no longer be around, but a few extra missions with Zay as the protagonist would be a great way of tying into the upcoming movie The Rise Of Skywalker, which is rumoured to have jumped forward in time from the end of the last movie. Also, Shriv was an amazing character and I desperately need more of him in canon!

Unfortunately, as the story mode was dealt with by a different developer, I doubt that we will be seeing any further story added to the game.

More Maps

It has been a few months since we got a wholly new map in the form of Geonosis, but other than that we have not received much in the way of new planets since the game’s original release.

As well as bringing in new planets that tie into The Rise Of Skywalker, the recent push for Clone Wars era content would be a great chance to bring in planets that featured big battles in The Clone Wars TV show, such as Ryloth (we already have a space battle so why not a ground one too), Umbara, Felucia and Christophsis. Maps could also be created for Bespin (which already features in the smaller game modes but not Galactic Assault or Capital Supremacy) and Sullust, which both featured in the previous game and in this game’s story mode.

On top of that, though, I would love to see an expansion of Capital Supremacy. With just Geonosis and Kashyyyk currently, I find myself getting bored after a couple of rounds and while there are a few other maps announced, they are all for Clone Wars era battles. I would love to see the game mode expanded into all 3 eras: Endor, Tatooine and Hoth could easily be adapted for the Original Trilogy, Jakku, Takodana and Crait for the Sequel Trilogy. The variation in not just maps, but also factions would make the experience feel much less repetitive.

New Troopers

Tying into the last point and expanding Capital Supremacy to all 3 eras means that the Empire, Rebellion, Resistance and First Order would all need Infiltrator reinforcements.

For the Rebels, I think that this would be a chance to bring in the Bothan spy. This was available in the original iteration Star Wars Battlefront 2 but is still yet to be seen in canon. Alternatively, the Rebellion could have a Patfinder: an elite soldier as seen in the Battle of Scarif and Battle of Endor.

For the Resistance, it is a bit more difficult as we have seen so little of them as a fighting force, but a Pilot could always be adapted in some way. Or it may be that The Rise Of Skywalker will give us something that could be adapted into a reinforcement for the game.

The First Order troop that kept coming to mind when I was thinking of options was the Riot Control Stormtrooper. The current Infiltrators have given us something very different to what was already in the game by creating a dual-wielding ARC Trooper and a melee-favouring Commando Droid. Bringing in a Riot Control Stormtrooper could allow for even more of a melee focus, while having a shield (holding the aim button could raise the shield into a defensive position so that it does not count as one of the special abilities) would allow the player protection as they get in close to their opponent.

As for the Empire, I would recommend bringing in the K-X series droid. I wonder though if this would work better as an Enforcer unit (we see K-2SO take some serious punishment in Rogue One before being defeated), which could then allow the Death Trooper to be adapted to become the Infiltrator.

More Weapons

I don’t get to play that often, maybe a couple of hours a week maximum. I also spent months just focusing on using troopers or weapons I was OK with, rather than unlocking all mods for all weapons. Despite that, I am very nearly done with that task. A great way to change the game up would be to add more weapons into the game. A couple of extra guns per trooper would give a new feeling to the game and put newer players on a level playing field with those who have been playing since Day 1. They don’t even need to stay along the same line as current guns, as I would not be against seeing Assault/Heavy troopers using shotguns or weapons like Bo-rifles making it into the game.

New Heroes & Villains

We already have a good selection of heroes and villains in the game, but there are so many more possibilities that could give us greater choice and new fighting styles.

Ahsoka Tano is one of my favourite characters in the entire canon, so I would obviously love for her to be added to the game for the Galactic Republic, along with Rex and Mace Windu. Meanwhile, the CIS could gain Ventress, Cad Bane and Jango Fett.

As Heroes and Villains have always been able to cross eras, adding in Sabine Wren for the Rebellion would be a great way to give the Light side a hero with a jetpack, while it would also be great to see Jyn Erso and a Rebel-aligned version of Iden Versio (or Shriv) added. For the Empire, Krennic and Thrawn could be added, while Rukh could also come in to give a different style.

Moving onto the Sequel Trilogy and it would be great to see Poe become a playable hero on the ground as well as in the air, while adding Commander Pyre from Resistance would be a great way to tie together more canon material.

It doesn’t have to stop on the ground, though, and I would also enjoy seeing more hero ships added, such as Wedge Antilles/Snap Wexley, Anakin’s fighter from Revenge Of The Sith, Vult Skerris’ TIE Defender from Rebels and Vonreg’s red TIE Interceptor from Resistance.

Skins

We already get the occasional new skin, but I think that this is something we can get much more of. I’ve already discussed the potential skins that I would love to see added for Heroes and Villains, where I also suggested some additions to the troops, which I now want to go into more fully:

Galactic Republic: The changes that have been done here are great and I think that this faction is in a good place.

CIS: A difficult one to amend much given the limitation of B1 battle droids.

Rebellion and Resistance: Have male and female versions of each current species available for each trooper (eg. Zabrak, Abednedo, Mirialan) and add new ones like Nautolans, Togrutas and Tognath. Much like default outfits for different maps have now been removed for the clones, add the different outfits as skin options.

Empire: Create a new default stormtrooper appearance for the Specialist. For each trooper class, have each variant of stormtrooper available (eg. Scout trooper, Range trooper, Mud trooper, Sand trooper, Snow trooper, Shore trooper) and for the Officer class also include the different uniforms (olive, black, grey and white).

First Order: Take a similar approach to what I have suggested with the Empire. Like with the CIS, the lack of options seen in canon limits things a bit but still allows some variation, especially with the officers.

Improve Arcade Mode

While I understand that the main part of the game is its online multiplayer mode, the Arcade mode is dire beyond the Battle Scenarios, which I am not overly interested in doing on a regular occasion. I would suggest adding Arcade versions of the Galactic Assault, Starfighter Assault and Capital Supremacy modes, which would allow for a much more fun offline experience.

---

What would you love to see added to the game?

Thanks for reading and May the Force be with you…