DICE has released a new patch for Star Wars Battlefront, introducing a bunch of long overdue balance changes and bug fixes, alongside some free content just to sweeten the deal.Most notably, for users of this site, the annoying achievement for getting the most kills in a game of Blast will now pop correctly. You will no longer have to get the most kills and have the timer run out. At last!Indeed, there's a strong feeling of "at last!" to many of the changes introduced by the patch, including a nerf for the criminally overpowered DL-44. Han Solo's blaster, equippable by anyone, has had its fire rate reduced.Also on the receiving end of DICE’s balance wand was Boba Fett. The bounty hunter’s weapon range has been reduced, his wristlauncher explosion radius has been decreased and his missile no longer locks.Poor old Boba’s ship, the Slave 1, has had a 30 per cent health reduction in Fighter Squadron Mode too. The Millennium Falcon’s health has also been reduced by the same amount. Hopefully, the days of single-life hero runs in Fighter Squadron are over.It’s funny, isn’t it? Most of the problems addressed in this patch have been glaring since launch. Yet the fix comes months after release. Similarly, the Battlefront Season Pass was only detailed yesterday, a million years after it went on sale. And some of that content won’t even hit until 2017! Crazy.Still, the grumbles are undercut somewhat by the arrival of some free new stuff, including Hoth skins for Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, the addition of a bunch of game modes to the Tatooine Survival map, and the inclusion of private matches. You can get details of everything below, courtesy of EA. STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT JANUARY PATCHAdditional Content/Functionality: Multiplayer modes added to the Tatooine Survival map (Blast, Droid Run, Hero Hunt, Heroes vs Villains, Drop Zone) Hoth Luke Skywalker skin added Hoth Han Solo skin added Private match functionality added Daily challenges added Setting for actively choosing server site added Weapon and Star Card changes: EE-3 Explosive shot damage decreased from 10 to 4 per shot SE-14C Explosive shot damage decreased from 10 to 5 per shot Homing Shot lock on time increased from 0.4 to 1.5 Homing Shot lock on distance decreased by 10 meters Homing Shot projectile speed decreased from 30 to 23 RTC-97 overheat value is increased by 8% Bowcaster replenish time tweaked (Normal 18 to 25 and Upgrade 15 to 20) Flash Grenade replenish time tweaked (Normal 16 to 20 and Upgrade 12 to 15) ION Torpedo replenish time tweaked (Normal 15 to 25 and Upgrade 12 to 20) Thermal Detonator replenish time tweaked (Normal 15 to 20 and Upgrade 10 to 15) Impact Grenade replenish time tweaked (Normal 16 to 25 and Upgrade 12 to 20) Explosive Shot active time tweaked (Normal 7 to 5 and Upgrade 10 to 7) Scan Ping recharge time tweaked (Normal 8 to 10 and Upgrade 5 to 8) Cycler Rifle bullet dropoff reduced Cycler Rifle damage increased from 90 to 100 at close range (10 meters) DL-44 overheat tweaked and fire rate changed from 250 to 180. Bounty Hunter trait card Level 3 reward percentage lowered from 100% to 85% Fully charged (5 shots) Bowcaster damage per projectile decreased from 50 to 15, otherwise (1 or 3 shot) bowcaster damage per projectile decreased from 50 to 10 ION Torpedo lock on range decreased from 600 to 500 meters Smart Rocket lock on range changed from 1000 to 500 meters RTC-97 spread is increased when firing for a longer period Scan Ping tweaked to have 50% shorter spotting time Scan Ping active time decreased from 7 to 2 (is this what the above refers to?) Barrage recharge times increased, Normal from 18 to 40 and Upgrade from 15 to 35 Explosive Shot active time decreased, Normal from 7 to 5 and Upgrade from 10 to 7 Vehicle Changes: Starfighters pickups have a 20 second respawn delay T-47 Airspeeder pickups have a 10 second respawn delay Millennium Falcon and Slave I health decreased by 30% Game Mode Changes: Removed a turbolaser on Sullust which could be used for spawn killing Turbolaser respawn time has been increased with 15 seconds New friend zones and additional spawn points for Supremacy maps New friend zones and additional spawn points for Walker Assault maps New friend zones and additional spawn points for Turning Point on Jakku Bugfix for crashing instantly when spawning in a vehicle on Jakku Fighter Squadron hero vehicle pickups have more randomized timing Fixed a Heroes vs Villains bug where players could use their cards in pre-round that got corrected by server Updated spawn management between big and small game modes Reduced the match bonus for Blast from 2000 to 1000 Reduced the Win bonus for Blast from 750 to 500 Increased the Match bonus for Hero Hunt from 1000 to 1750 Reduced the Win bonus for Hero Hunt from 500 to 250 Reduced score for dealing damage to AI X-Wings and AI TIE Figthers from 20 to 10 New game mode minimum player count thresholds: - Walker Assault 20 - Supremacy 20 - Dropzone 4 - Blast 4 - Cargo 4 - Fighter Squadron 4 - Hero Hunt 4 - Droid Run 4 - Heroes Vs Villains 4 - Turning Point 20 Hero Changes: Han Solo weapon damage over distance is lowered. Damage goes from 70 (was 75) to 30 (was 35) between 10 (was 20) and 25 (was 40) meters Boba Fett weapon damage over distance is lowered. Damage goes from 30 to 20 (was 25) between 30 and 60 (was 80) meters Boba Fett wristlauncher explosion radius decreased from 4 to 2.5, maxiumum damage increased from 1 to 1.2 meters Boba Fett missile doesn't lock on anymore Bug Fixes: Stun inducing attacks now properly trigger stun animation loop Fixing an issue where melee'ing at nothing completly stopped your movement After the transition from the AT-AT the user screen could remain black, this is now fixed Several instances of rocks that players could get stuck on have been fixed Speederbike - Inconsistence between the range when you see the prompt button and when you could actually use the vehicle Survival weapons behaved differently than MP, now brought in-line Jakku - Invisible collision located on the landed Rebel transport ship Users with the most kills will now not be prevented from get the Trophy / Achievement ”Playing the objective” in Blast
