5 Biggest Changes Made to Star Wars Battlefront II’s Multiplayer

Character Classes and Squads

Twinfinite recently got some extensive hands-on time with Star Wars Battlefront 2’s multiplayer. We played each mode and map featured in the game at launch including Galactic Assault, Strike, Heroes vs. Villains, and more. There’s a few things that stood out to us in our time with the game so far, so here’s the most drastic changes that have happened with Battlefront 2. Make sure to stay tuned for more on Star Wars Battlefront 2 in the near future. 

By far one of the biggest changes coming with Star Wars Battlefront 2 is the introduction of characters classes. The first game essentially let you build characters how you wanted, giving you different loadouts to build and use. This time around, there are four base character classes to choose between, similarly to the original Battlefront games. These are Assault – a well rounded attacking class, Heavy – a tank style attacker, Officer –  a supporting and defensive class, and Specialist – a stealthy sniper class. Each one functions differently, and comes with its own set of abilities, weapons, and Star Cards. Using weapons to get kills unlocks more weapons and mods for them, while Star Cards can be obtained through a couple different ways, which we’ll go over.

What this means, though, is that each player has a role to fill. The classes in Star Wars Battlefront 2 aren’t quite as drastic in their differences as something like Battlefield, but the differences are enough that you want to know how to properly handle each one. At the same time, now players are grouped into four man squads during matches. You’re grouped into a squad nearly each time you respawn, and fighting near and with your squad members will boost the amount of Battle Points you get.

There’s a reason this feature is even more important, however, as it means you won’t really be rushing into battle entirely on your own. Instead you’ve got at least one or two other players heading into the combat zone with you. It works well in keeping you right in the action, and it’s an effort to try and promote a little more teamwork in matches. Still, the new class system provides a little more structure to multiplayer matches, and that’s a good thing.

Battle Points Instead of Pickups

Playing as hero units or vehicles in the first Battlefront was relegated to a strange system that had players picking up power-ups scattered around the battlefield. This meant that rewards were shelled out to the fastest players, or the ones that knew where things would spawn and just waited around there. Battlefront 2 completely scraps this system in favor of something called Battle Points. These points are rewarded for doing various things in battle, like playing an objective, killing an enemy, or saving an ally from being defeated. Battle Points stack throughout the match, and you can use them to purchase things to use in battle. This includes vehicles, fighters, and the game’s various hero units.

There is a limit to how many heroes each side can have at any given time during a match, so even if you have enough Battle Points to buy one, you might not immediately do so. Still, this ensures that all players can at least have a chance to play as a better character class or hero. At the same time, this system could be troubling as players of a higher skill level have the potential to rack up Battle Points with kills, leaving lower skill players to catch up, unless they play the objective to earn points in a match. It’s not without its own potential problems and pitfalls, but Battle Points still work better than the scattered power-up system in the first Star Wars Battlefront. 

How Star Cards Work

Star Cards function much differently in Battlefront 2’s multiplayer. In the first game you had to unlock the cards, and more often than not had to stock up on them to use special items or abilities, which were limited. Battlefront 2 gives each class, hero, vehicle, and Starfighter a set of Star Cards to use. There are base cards for each class that do things like reduce your ability recharge time, and there’s a set of cards that have specific effects or abilities unique to that class. Starfighters, heroes, and vehicles simply have one set of cards to choose from that have various effects.

All Star Cards are around permanently once you unlock them, and there’s no kind of stock or limit on them. Progression, however, takes the form of having a Star Card rank and overall rank. To unlock Star Cards you can either get them in the game’s loot crates, or spend scrap to unlock them, which you can get from completing challenges, or opening loot crates. The catch is that some cards require a certain Star Card rank. You can raise that rank by purchasing Star Cards, which means you’ll need to purchase all the cards for the given class, etc., that you really want to focus on. With the huge amount of cards in the game, it’s definitely going to take a bit of a time investment if you want everything available for everything in the game.

Dodge Roll and Mobility

Star Wars Battlefront 2 certainly feels much faster than the first game for a couple of different reasons. The speed of the game has been upped ever so slightly, as battles certainly feel more hectic and fast-paced. Part of this feeling is given of by objectives that are more tightly placed together, and some verticality to maps. Another addition to the control scheme makes a world of difference to the way the game plays, and that’s the dodge roll. It seems like such a small, simple thing, but it really does affect things a great deal.

The roll lets you dart out of harm’s way and behind cover, or try and get around an enemy to get an angle on them. It makes your character feel much more mobile overall, and gives you at least a last ditch chance if you find yourself ambushed. The big mobility card from the first game, the jetpack, is now relegated to a single class you can unlock during battle with Battle Points. This means everyone is on a level playing field with the standard classes, in terms of mobility at least, and purchasing the class with a jetpack can help give you that little boost if you’re trying to get somewhere fast. Overall, the mobility in Battelfront 2 just makes things feel a little faster paced than the first game did, which can honestly be a good or a bad thing depending on which kind of style you prefer.

Starfighter and Galactic Assault Modes

The two main modes of Star Wars Battlefront 2 are modes that were featured in the first game, with a few big overhauls and alterations. Galactic Assault is the big new marquee mode, pitting two teams of 20 players each against each other. Each map in Galactic Conquest is a series of objectives, like capturing and holding points, taking down a Walker, or sabotaging a point. These are multi-faceted matches that can often devolve into Battlefront 2’s most hectic sections. The increased player count certainly contributes to that, but throw in the ability to play as vehicles and heroes, and you’ve got chaos in the making. While this is the main mode of Battlefront 2, these matches can take quite a while, as they are based off of the Walker Assault mode in the first game. At times, these matches can take around half an hour each if the objectives keep getting hit. Still, if you want to truly experience massive scale Star Wars battles, this’ll be the mode for you.

The other multiplayer mode to get overhauled is Starfighter assault, which now plays out with a series of objectives, just like Galactic Assault. Small improvements have been made to your ship controls, while you can also customize each ship with Star Cards. Starfighter Assault was one of the modes that really piqued our interest, and you can check out our impressions here.

Of course, keep in mind that in each of these modes there are maps from each of the three eras of Star Wars. On some you’ll be playing as the Republic vs. the Separatists, the Rebels vs. the Empire, and the Resistance vs. the New Order. These aesthetic changes help mix things up a bit as you play match after match, as each one has different weapons, vehicles, and more. They’re small changes, but still welcome all the same.