Battlefield 2042 had an interesting open beta to say the least. While fans were excited to finally get their hands on the newest iteration of the popular series, the beta also sparked debate about many of EA's design choices, particularly the introduction of Specialists.
In a lengthy new blog post meant to share takeaways from the recent open beta, EA pushed back against the feedback that Specialists — characters with unique traits that upend the traditional class system — hampered teamwork. Battlefield 2042's developers also explained that the decision to use an older build for the beta was mostly down to stability, and also discussed some of the more granular changes that are being implemented as a result of the feedback.
In response to criticism of the Specialists, EA argued that Battlefield's teamwork was actually being hampered by features that hadn't yet been implement, such as the ping system. "First, we recognize that numerous improvements to the user interface, identifying between friend and foe, the ping system, and in-game team communication that were missing during the Open Beta (and are all explained in detail below) are vital to team play. You didn’t get to experience all of those, and so today we want to help talk you through the many different changes that you'll experience in the full game."
EA continued, "Second, you weren’t able to go hands on with all Ten of our Specialists, and see them all in action on the Battlefield. Now that all the cards are on the table, let us know what you think!"
Much of the criticism around Specialists has centered around the duplicate characters. One Reddit poster noted how jarring it was to walk around a corner and see "McKay stabbing McKay while McKay is looking to the other side." Others felt that Specialists were simply better suited for a smaller-scale shooter like Rainbow Six Siege as opposed to a larger-scale experience Battlefield.
While EA doesn't plan to remove the ability to pick Specialists or loadouts at will in All-Out Warfare, it did say that squad composition would be much tighter and more limited in the new Hazard Zone mode, and that players would have more customization options at launch to help differentiate themselves. For those who are adamant about returning to the older style of Battlefield, there's Battlefield Portal, where they can customize their rules at will.
The five final specialists revealed
In addition to touching on the community's reaction to Specialists, EA revealed Battlefield 2042's final five characters in a brand new trailer. They include the following characters:
- Navin Rao, an Indian recon specialist and hacker.
- Santiago Espinoza, a Mexican assault specialist with a very large shield.
- Ji-Soo Paik, a South Korean scout and spotter.
- Constantin Anghel, a Romanian medic.
- Emma Rosier, a French explosives expert.
The rest of the blog post goes into detail about how EA is dealing with the open beta's bot-heavy servers, the user interface, and the overall performance. The whole thing is certainly worth a read if you're a Battlefield fan who's feeling anxious after the open beta.
Battlefield 2042 is scheduled to enter early access release on November 12, with the full release date on November 19. Check out our first look at Hazard Zone, where we talk about how it's an indicator that Battlefield 2042 is shaping up to be one of the boldest entries in years.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN