If you partook in the public beta for Star Wars: Battlefront, then you’re probably aware of how one-sided things got for the Rebels in Walker Assault mode. Essentially, the Imperials had AT-ATs, AT-STs and spawned closer to Power-Ups and stations necessary to call in Y-Wings. The Rebels had gumption but that’s not exactly helpful for victory, even if the Imperials ultimately won the battle in the film.
Lead hero designer Jamie Keen discussed the imbalances and how DICE approached them to Eurogamer. “The interesting thing that happened is that it was imbalanced and then people were like, ‘It should be–it’s about the Walkers assaulting Hoth!’. That thematic story stuff you don’t expect, but it is such an evocative franchise.
“It actually isn’t supposed to be unbalanced. It should be 50/50 in terms of success ratio; that’s what we’re gunning for. It’s interesting, people’s receptiveness that it would be unbalanced. It was fun to see people taking it that way!”
And while there have been several changes made, Keen gave the example of the AT-ATs and weak points which have been added. “We’ve got weak points on them now, so it’s not a question of turning them into a bullet sponge. There have been general balancing tweaks like the damage levels from various weapons, different ion bursts and what they do to the walkers. It’s not one specific area, it’s across the board.”
Star Wars: Battlefront is out on November 17th in North America and November 20th in Europe.