'Star Wars Battlefront' Getting More Free Content, 'Bespin' Expansion Slated For June

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By Derek Forrest
published

EA Games announced that over the next few months, Star Wars Battlefront players will see a plethora of new (and free) in-game content that includes new events, Hutt contracts and more. The company also revealed details of its upcoming paid expansion, Bespin.

We discussed EA’s roadmap for its paid add-on content, and with Outer Rim already out, Bespin is the next expansion on the list. Starting in June, season pass holders will be the first to see the new content, which takes players to Cloud City with four new maps for all of the game’s most popular modes. In addition, there will be more blasters, Star Cards and a new game mode, with two legendary Star Wars characters along for the ride – Lando Calrissian and Dengar, the bounty hunter.

Star Wars Battlefront players that haven’t bought into the season pass or individual expansions still have plenty of free content to look forward to in the next few months, including new Hutt contracts that can unlock Star Cards like the Berserker Trait, Bacta Bomb and Ion Neutralizer. Expect to see more double score weekends, community missions and special log in events that reward players with increased experience, credits and items. Also, May the 4th (be with you) is Star Wars Day, and Battlefront has undisclosed plans for the celebration that it plans to announce soon.

EA also confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront will top out at eight accessible heroes for season pass players. Greedo and Niem Nunb were released with the Outer Rim expansion, and the company confirmed that each of the remaining two expansions (Death Star and an unnamed fourth expansion) will keep with the two-heroes-per-expansion scheme. In addition, EA revealed that it is developing ways to give players more offline game options, but it wasn’t specific on how or when.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Derek Forrest on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes hardware news and reviews gaming desktops and laptops.
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dstarr3
    Too bad more content can't take a fundamentally bad game and suddenly make it good.
    Reply
  • Herr_Koos
    Played it online several times now with my brother and a few friends. Had a metric crapton of fun. Isn't that what really counts in a game?
    Reply
  • sirstinky
    Hopefully there's a campaign mode...
    Reply
  • ubercake
    This game looks and sounds fantastic, but once I got past the Star Wars and the nostalgia and what not, I can't find it all that fun no matter how hard I've tried. I maxed out my level (50) the 3rd or 4th week after the game was released and they didn't have the first DLC until 4 or 5 months later accompanied by a level max increase, hutt contracts and new weapons, etc... (although the free rekku map was available in Dec).

    It definitely lacks the fun factor of previous SW Battlefronts even though it looks so darned good. How is that? Maybe they should introduce elements of Titanfall by which there are AI stormtroopers or rebels to shoot at (as with the Fighter Squadron mode)? Maybe they could introduce common group missions such as those from Destiny?

    I think what they attempted to do with this game is to make it a nerfed Battlefield game with limited weapons and different skins and they just rolled with it.

    Like I said, the game looks and sounds fantastic, I just don't feel compelled to stick with it for more than a round or two every couple of weeks now.
    Reply
  • sirstinky
    17816375 said:
    This game looks and sounds fantastic, but once I got past the Star Wars and the nostalgia and what not, I can't find it all that fun no matter how hard I've tried. I maxed out my level (50) the 3rd or 4th week after the game was released and they didn't have the first DLC until 4 or 5 months later accompanied by a level max increase, hutt contracts and new weapons, etc... (although the free rekku map was available in Dec).

    It definitely lacks the fun factor of previous SW Battlefronts even though it looks so darned good. How is that? Maybe they should introduce elements of Titanfall by which there are AI stormtroopers or rebels to shoot at (as with the Fighter Squadron mode)? Maybe they could introduce common group missions such as those from Destiny?

    I think what they attempted to do with this game is to make it a nerfed Battlefield game with limited weapons and different skins and they just rolled with it.

    Like I said, the game looks and sounds fantastic, I just don't feel compelled to stick with it for more than a round or two every couple of weeks now.

    I'm a big Star Wars fan and was really excited for this game. Once I read reviews and got my have on it and some game time, I realized that it's nothing like the older Battlefront. I like the game overall, but I am also dissapointed by the lack of a campaign mode and more maps (no space battles!). I didn't play the Battlefield games hardly at all but I played Battlefront 2 a lot. I keep hoping that EA listens and fills out a DLC with campaign mode (abs split screen) so I'm not playing the save thing over and over (multi-player gets old). I'm sure that those will be added eventually but who knows when or if it will be in this release.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    17816968 said:
    ...
    I'm a big Star Wars fan and was really excited for this game. Once I read reviews and got my have on it and some game time, I realized that it's nothing like the older Battlefront. I like the game overall, but I am also dissapointed by the lack of a campaign mode and more maps (no space battles!). I didn't play the Battlefield games hardly at all but I played Battlefront 2 a lot. I keep hoping that EA listens and fills out a DLC with campaign mode (abs split screen) so I'm not playing the save thing over and over (multi-player gets old). I'm sure that those will be added eventually but who knows when or if it will be in this release.

    I agree. A good campaign mode would be a lot more fun than the current single-player survival mode. BF3 and BF4, while having short campaigns, still had solid fun games.

    Also, I think the single thing I can't get past with SWBF is the fact that damage almost immediately heals. Because of this, I wish there were a hardcore mode in SWBF.

    It sounds like we're asking for a lot, but I mean seriously if they are going to charge us BF4 money for this game, we should expect nothing less than BF4-type content. In BF4, even if you aren't a K/D god, you can effectively contribute to your team in multi-player conquest mode primarily because the maps are so large and spread out allowing you to sneak to cap a flag. In SWBF, I feel like half of the time I'm sitting on the barrel of an enemy blaster with my spawns when playing 'Blast'.
    Reply
  • surphninja
    Lack of content isn't the biggest issue. If they're not fixing the gameplay, then all of the free content in the world won't make a difference. Take away the Star Wars branding, and you have one of the worst designed shooters of the last decade.

    It's basically like a terrible hot dog stand in a great location. Even if you have the worst hot dogs in the world, if you set up your stand in times square, you're still gonna make bank.
    Reply
  • sirstinky
    Yes, the inclusion of campaign move would make me buy the season pass, but for now I'm holding off. It's not worth it now for $60 to get more weapons and maps, but it's still more of the same. The Hutt contracts are nice, but unless you're really good at the game and have lots of time to play then it's a lot of effort to get a new blaster or trait. I miss the old Battlefront. They made it challenging and fun, but the new one is frustratingly difficult. I agree that you can't sit still for more than 30 seconds without being killed. Maps are too small and crowded and they need to bring back campaign modes. All of the other Star Wars titles did. This really is just a reskinned BF4 with no campaign mode and less weapon customization.
    Reply
  • Avus
    Star Wars license is one of the series with most stories... making a multi-player ONLY game with no campaign/storyline is a big waste. Only the retard EA will keep trying to put (stupid) stories in Need for Speed series but do the opposite for Star Wars.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    Another problem with the PC version and multiplayer...

    Not enough players to start a round. I tried walker assault, supremacy, droid run, and drop zone for around an hour this morning. I sat in the lobby waiting for enough players to join. While waiting, I got up, did some things around the house sat back down and then changed to the next mode. I gave each around 20 minutes of lobby time.

    There are simply not enough players of this game on PC to even start a multi-player round and it's been out for half a year. Compare this to BF4 when a year and a half later, you can still find a game any time of the day and you know there are simply elements of Battlefront that make it so most people really don't want to play it a whole lot.
    Reply