EA has dropped the patch notes for Star Wars Battlefront's January update, and they include a variety of rebalances and tweaks. Players who have grown fond of one of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunters should brace themselves, as Boba Fett is a little less deadly.
Along with Han Solo, Fett's weapon damage over distance has been lowered. That's not all, however. His missiles no longer lock on, so players will need to pay more attention to aiming. The explosive radius of Fett's wristlaunchers has shrunk from 4 to 2.5 meters, though the area in which it deals out max damage has slightly increased (by .2 meters). Even Slave One has taken a hit, with its health decreasing by 20 percent. In short, he's not quite as powerful as he was before. Look at the bright side: It still beats fumbling your way down into a giant mouth.
Other highlights include Hoth outfits for Luke Skywalker and Solo, which were previously available in a holiday community mission, private-match functionality, daily challenges, and a host of new spawn points and measures to prevent spawn camping.
For more information on what's coming to Star Wars Battlefront, be sure to take a look at our recent story. It outlines the upcoming maps and more.
And for a complete look at what's changing in the game after the update, you can read the complete patch notes on the following page.
[Source: Star Wars Battlefront]
Our Take
Balancing a multiplayer game is critically important, even if it means your favorite character or weapon takes a hit in the process. That doesn't mean that changes like these don't sting, though.
Here are the patch notes, specific to PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One for the January update, directly from EA:
Additional Content/Functionality:
- Multiplayer modes added to the Tatooine Survival map (Blast, Droid Run, Hero Hunt, Heroes vs Villains, Drop Zone)
- Hoth Luke Skywalker skin added
- Hoth Han Solo skin added
- Private match functionality added
- Daily challenges added
- Setting for actively choosing server site added
Weapon and Star Card changes:
- EE-3 Explosive shot damage decreased from 10 to 4 per shot
- SE-14C Explosive shot damage decreased from 10 to 5 per shot
- Homing Shot lock on time increased from 0.4 to 1.5
- Homing Shot lock on distance decreased by 10 meters
- Homing Shot projectile speed decreased from 30 to 23
- RTC-97 overheat value is increased by 8%
- Bowcaster replenish time tweaked (Normal 18 to 25 and Upgrade 15 to 20)
- Flash Grenade replenish time tweaked (Normal 16 to 20 and Upgrade 12 to 15)
- ION Torpedo replenish time tweaked (Normal 15 to 25 and Upgrade 12 to 20)
- Thermal Detonator replenish time tweaked (Normal 15 to 20 and Upgrade 10 to 15)
- Impact Grenade replenish time tweaked (Normal 16 to 25 and Upgrade 12 to 20)
- Explosive Shot active time tweaked (Normal 7 to 5 and Upgrade 10 to 7)
- Scan Ping recharge time tweaked (Normal 8 to 10 and Upgrade 5 to 8)
- Cycler Rifle bullet dropoff reduced
- Cycler Rifle damage increased from 90 to 100 at close range (10 meters)
- DL-44 overheat tweaked and fire rate changed from 250 to 180.
- Bounty Hunter trait card Level 3 reward percentage lowered from 100% to 85%
- Fully charged (5 shots) Bowcaster damage per projectile decreased from 50 to 15, otherwise (1 or 3 shot) bowcaster damage per projectile decreased from 50 to 10
- ION Torpedo lock on range decreased from 600 to 500 meters
- Smart Rocket lock on range changed from 1000 to 500 meters
- RTC-97 spread is increased when firing for a longer period
- Scan Ping tweaked to have 50% shorter spotting time
- Scan Ping active time decreased from 7 to 2 (is this what the above refers to?)
- Barrage recharge times increased, Normal from 18 to 40 and Upgrade from 15 to 35
- Explosive Shot active time decreased, Normal from 7 to 5 and Upgrade from 10 to 7
Vehicle Changes:
- Starfighters pickups have a 20 second respawn delay
- T-47 Airspeeder pickups have a 10 second respawn delay
- Millennium Falcon and Slave I health decreased by 30%
Game Mode Changes:
- Removed a turbolaser on Sullust which could be used for spawn killing
- Turbolaser respawn time has been increased with 15 seconds
- New friend zones and additional spawn points for Supremacy maps
- New friend zones and additional spawn points for Walker Assault maps
- New friend zones and additional spawn points for Turning Point on Jakku
- Bugfix for crashing instantly when spawning in a vehicle on Jakku
- Fighter Squadron hero vehicle pickups have more randomized timing
- Fixed a Heroes vs Villains bug where players could use their cards in pre-round that got corrected by server
- Updated spawn management between big and small game modes
- Reduced the match bonus for Blast from 2000 to 1000
- Reduced the Win bonus for Blast from 750 to 500
- Increased the Match bonus for Hero Hunt from 1000 to 1750
- Reduced the Win bonus for Hero Hunt from 500 to 250
- Reduced score for dealing damage to AI X-Wings and AI TIE Figthers from 20 to 10
- New game mode minimum player count thresholds:
- Walker Assault 20
- Supremacy 20
- Dropzone 4
- Blast 4
- Cargo 4
- Fighter Squadron 4
- Hero Hunt 4
- Droid Run 4
- Heroes Vs Villains 4
- Turning Point 20
Hero Changes:
- Han Solo weapon damage over distance is lowered. Damage goes from 70 (was 75) to 30 (was 35) between 10 (was 20) and 25 (was 40) meters
- Boba Fett weapon damage over distance is lowered. Damage goes from 30 to 20 (was 25) between 30 and 60 (was 80) meters
- Boba Fett wristlauncher explosion radius decreased from 4 to 2.5, maxiumum damage increased from 1 to 1.2 meters
- Boba Fett missile doesn't lock on anymore
Bug Fixes:
- Stun inducing attacks now properly trigger stun animation loop
- Fixing an issue where melee'ing at nothing completly stopped your movement
- After the transition from the AT-AT the user screen could remain black, this is now fixed
- Several instances of rocks that players could get stuck on have been fixed
- Speederbike - Inconsistence between the range when you see the prompt button and when you could actually use the vehicle
- Survival weapons behaved differently than MP, now brought in-line
- Jakku - Invisible collision located on the landed Rebel transport ship
- Users with the most kills will now not be prevented from get the Trophy / Achievement ”Playing the objective” in Blast