EA/DICE ran a Battlefield 2042 beta program earlier this month, and they have now processed the results and feedback to come to some meaningful conclusions and a reasonable path forward. The beta provided access to Battlefield’s massive-scale 128 player battles, competing in large team and smaller squad play, across a large map set in French Guiana dubbed Orbital.
One of the more controversial decisions the developers made with ‘2042’ was to move away from the traditional Battlefield character class system and introduce Specialists. In the blog post about the beta results, the developers stick to the line that the Specialists are an evolution of the class system. However, there were some complaints that it just didn’t facilitate the same degree of team work synergies as the earlier class-based system in Battlefield games prior to this one.
EA/DICE reckons that perception is going to change with the reveal of all ten of its specialists, which effectively puts “all the cards on the table”. The first five specialists (each with a speciality and trait) broadly covered the traditional classifications of Assault, Medic, Support, and Recon, and there were flexible loadouts too – for further nuances. The new Specialists, doubling player choices to 10, are detailed in the video embedded below.
- Navi Rao – recon, with cyber warfare specialist (weapon and tech hacking) and Trojan network trait
- Santiago “Dozer” Espinoza – assault, with ballistic shield speciality and blast resistant trait
- Emma “Sundance” Rosier – assault, with smart explosives speciality and wingsuit trait
- Ji-Soo Paik – recon, with hostile locations scanner and threat perception highlighting trait
- Constantin “Angel” Anghel – support, with loadout crate speciality (resupply) and trauma specialist (healing) trait
The dedicated Battlefield 2042 specialists page has been updated with all the new Specialists, so you can head on over there for a recap.
EA/DICE have made a number of other significant changes in the wake of the beta, based on user feedback and bug reporting. Key changes to expect are with the UI, maps, movement system, mission entry and exit points, accessibility, and many code-side and server-side adjustments.
The developers also want to highlight to beta testers that maybe weren’t that impressed by the action, that in the full developed game loadouts will be fully customisable and more specialised hardware will become available as one progresses.
In summary, it looks like DICE have listened very carefully to gamer feedback, but it was indeed a mountain of feedback to work through and take on board. Hopefully it has been enough to help prime Battlefield 2042 for mass consumption on 19th November…
