Space battles are coming back to EA and DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront today, September 20th. At least, they are for season pass owners. Releasing with the Death Star DLC, the launch reimagines the space segments that made Star Wars Battlefront II the penultimate release in the original franchise. Although the Death Star DLC won’t land for non-season pass players until early October, a patch for all players is headed to Battlefront to assure the DLC lands smoothly. But there’s an interesting tidbit inside the patch that will affect all players: the rank cap has increased from 70 to 90, effectively expanding the game’s level up system.
A variety of other changes are also coming to Battlefront, according to the patch’s official notes from EA. Alongside the Battle Station game mode and five new Death Star maps, the patch features a brand new heavy blaster and blaster pistol, a new mine and medical droid as ability cards, Bossk and Chewbacca as playable heroes, Luke Skywalker’s Red Five and Darth Vader’s Tie Advanced as usable vehicles, and a variety of balance changes and ability updates to traits across the game. That’s quite a bit of changes to Battlefront‘s gameplay and design to compliment the Death Star DLC.
It’s a positive change too, at that. Bumping the level cap from 70 to 90 suggests that EA expects their players to invest more time and energy into the release before the next Battlefront emerges. And with the Rogue One: Scarif expansion pack coming in early 2017, EA certainly plans to hold onto their playerbase for a lengthy amount of time.
The season pass and expansion pack system isn’t all that different from the Battlefield series’ DLC structure, in that regard. Instead of releasing the base Battlefront and letting it sink or swim, EA sees the game as an investment that requires ongoing support. It’s a good sign for what is to come with the next rendition of Battlefront.
The Death Star DLC launches today for all season pass owners. For everyone else, the expansion pack launches in early October. Stay tuned as more news comes in about the Rogue One DLC; EA hints on their website that there will be more information to share “in the coming months.”
