Was Star Wars Battlefront’s Walker Assault unbalanced? Are you still asking this question? DICE has closed the discussion, by confirming what went wrong.
Yes, winning Walker Assault was not impossible for the Rebel side, but the odds really were stacked against them too much. In game designer Jamie Keen’s words:
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 so, Keen outlined the changes that DICE has made to make that balance 50/50:
We have changed how the Walkers work. 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.
Still, Keen and the rest of the team at DICE did not overlook how some players actually took to the imbalance:
When you’re running betas, the feedback you’re looking for is that balance stuff. 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.
Overall, the balance would have had to be there, to ensure all the players felt they had a good time, or at least as much of a good time as DICE could make for them.
How did you feel about Walker Assault? Are you going to ask that DICE roll back the changes, or are you willing to try what they do? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Star Wars Battlefront launches on November 17 in North America and November 19 in Europe for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
