Nerf herding — Star Wars: Battlefront gets Twilight Hoth map and more in February update

Have you ever danced with the Darth Vader in the pale moonlight? OK, that’s a Batman quote, but it’s all I can think after seeing the screenshots for the new level in Electronic Arts’ Star Wars game.

The publisher is rolling out an update for Star Wars: Battlefront that introduces a new free level (it’s really a remix of an existing map) along with several other tweaks and fixes. EA’s sci-fi shooter is not exactly bursting at the seams with content, but developer DICE is using updates like these to keep the game feeling fresh. If it can keep players engaged, it increases the likelihood that they will turn around and spend more money on the upcoming paid downloadable content that will introduce even more new levels. With EA shipping 12 million copies of Battlefront, getting a significant portion of that audience to buy into DLC could translate into a lot of revenue.

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To keep Battlefront fans happy until the first paid expansion, Outer Rim, drops in March, DICE and EA are releasing the new Twilight on Hoth map for free today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. This enables players to run through the ice-world level during a snowstorm as night approaches. This is clearly a remix of existing assets, but it sure does look amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vkkxcTaDtM

In addition to the second rendition of Hoth, DICE is also including a new single-player Survival map that takes place in the Ice Caves of Hoth. You can also get Leia’s combat outfit that she wore on Endor near the end of Return of the Jedi.

Beyond that, we’ve got a load of nerfs and other tweaks to weapons. Check those out directly from the patch notes:

Weapon and Star Card Changes

• Primary Weapons: Damage against air vehicles increased by 10%
• Bowcaster: Explosion damage increased from 10 to 15 per projectile and explosion radius decreased from 3 to 2.5m
• Bowcaster: Full charge direct hit from 20 to 40 per projectile and a normal direct hit increased from 20 to 30 per projectile
• Barrage: Damage increased from 50 to 55
• Barrage: Cooldown reduced from 40 to 35s (normal) and from 35 to 30s (upgraded)
• Barrage: First volley of grenades no longer disappear if the user uses the Refresh Power-up and then fires a second volley
• Homing Shot: Lock time decreased from 1.5 to 1.2s
• Homing Shot: Players in the AT-GAR turret now receive on-screen notification when locked on
• ION Torpedo: Speed increased from 350 to 380m/s and turning angle
• increased from 120 to 125 in order to more easily hit air vehicles
• Pulse Rifle: Movement speed while aiming decreased by 30%
• Tusken Cycler Rifle: Movement speed while aiming increased by 40%
• Tusken Cycler Rifle: Bullet speed increased from 300 to 450m/s
• Orbital Strike: Fixed bug where it sometimes would not trigger on button pressVehicle changes
  
• A-Wing: Increased hit box size
• A-Wing: Now properly takes damage when colliding with an AT-ST while having the Shield active
• Slave I: Players can now see the Shield icon on Rebel vehicles when a
• Shield is active
• AT-ST: T-47 Airspeeder kills with a missle while firing the primary cannons at the same time now properly awards a kill (previously registered as a suicide)
• AT-AT: Fixed bug where the Orbital Strike ability would sometimes not have the aiming reticle move
• T-47 Airspeeder: Players will no longer receive an out of bounds message on Graveyard of Giants during Turning Point when a control point is capturedMultiplayer Game Mode Changes
• General: Pre-Round timer lowered from 30s to 20s
• Walker Assault: Fixed Power-up spawns on SoroSuub Centroplex
• Walker Assault: AT-AT health increased by 18% on Outpost Beta, 8% on
• Jundland Wastes, 20% on Forest of Endor, 4% on SoroSuub Centroplex, and 5% on Graveyard of Giants
• Walker Assault: Spawning as an Imperial Hero after the AT-ATs just pass the second set of uplinks no longer despawns one of the AT-ATs
• Walker Assault: The second AT-AT no longer bumps into the wreckage of the other on SoroSuub Centroplex when the first AT-AT is destroyed during the first Uplink
• Droid Run: Correct Objective Notification is now displayed to all players if someone is killed while trying to claim the Droid
• Droid Run: Improved spawn zones on Dune Sea Exchange
• Supremacy: Fixed Power-up spawns on Jundland Wastes, Forest of
• Endor, and SoroSuub Centroplex
• Supremacy: Improved spawn zones on Jundland Wastes, Outpost Beta, and Forest of Endor
• Heroes vs. Villains: Planted turrets on Dune Sea Exchange will now disappear in-between rounds
• Hero Hunt: Improved spawn zones on Ice Caves
• Fighter Squadron: Players are now protected while spawning on
• Graveyard of Giants
• Mission Changes
• General: Both players will now properly see Charge Card pick-ups if
• Player One is using a 3rd Star Card Hand without a Charge Card
• General: Player 2’s changes to control settings no longer update Player 1’s controls when playing Split-Screen
• Battle: Fixed AI Spawn issues on Tatooine
• Survival: Wave 10 on Sullust will now always spawn if the player / co-op team dies and restarts the round or if a player picks up a Collectible during the Wave 9 transition
• Survival: Partner spawns on Sullust will no longer fail if the currently alive player is in a confined area
• Survival: Co-Op players can now unlock the “Complete on Hard Difficulty without spending a life” if one player dies and then waits until the other player completes the wave so they get a free respawnHero changes
• General: Heroes no longer get stuck in a stunned animation state
• Princess Leia: Endor outfit updated – Congrats on completing the Lead the Rebellion challenge!
• Princess Leia: Trooper Bane now only knocks back primary target, not nearby enemies
• Luke Skywalker: Increased Saber Rush’s damage against other Heroes from 2% to 6-8%
• Luke Skywalker: Lightsaber swing hit radius is reduced from 0.3 to 0.25m
• Han Solo: Zooming in no longer sometimes displays a gun scope
• Emperor Palpatine’s Shocktroopers: Modified primary weapon damage to match Leia’s Honor Guards’ primary weapon damage over timeMisc. Bug fixes
• General: Lighting, textures, audio, user interface, text, and collision fixes
• Controls: Legacy control schemes have had their layouts more clearly defined
• Colorblind: Enemy players highlighted with Scan Pulse now have the correct Deuteranopia or Protanopia settings on Graveyard of Giants and Goazan Badlands
• PC only: Fixed a bug where a player would lose functionality with an Xbox 360 controller after inviting a player to a Private Match and then starting the game
• PC only: Air vehicle sensitivity lowered from 0.9 to 0.45 for easier mouse control
• Achievements / Trophies: Updated text on “Impressive. Most Impressive.” and “Survivor” to clarify the requirements
• Achievements / Trophies: “Playing the Objective” now properly awarded