Dice

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 has seen a massive increase in player activity and interest in the last year. The Rise of Skywalker update and this week's addition of BB-8 as a playable character highlight just how far the Star Wars-themed multiplayer shooter has come since its rocky launch. Developer Dice was able to remove its initial (and controversial) loot box mechanics while also adding a ton of free characters, maps and game modes, and it continues to regularly balance the game. With all of the changes the developer has made over the last two years, players have been giving the game a second chance, and this time they're sticking around. Next month the developer is adding stuff from the original trilogy to both the Coop and Supremacy modes. However, there are still a number of features I'd like to see come to the game this year.

More hero outfits

Dice

Playing as iconic characters from the Star Wars franchise is one of this game's best features. Dice has been releasing new hero skins based on current Star Wars film at a great pace, but there are still a number of heroes in the game with no alternate skins.

Popular sequel trilogy characters like Rey and Kylo Ren have received different skin styles around those newer films, meanwhile other longtime favorites like Darth Maul only have their default outfit. Even when you ignore the number of outfits Darth Maul has across the Star Wars spinoffs -- which include The Clone Wars series, Solo: A Star Wars Story and the Star Wars Rebels series, he wears two different outfits in The Phantom Menace alone.

And Maul isn't alone, Emperor Palpatine could also use a few more sinister options for players to choose from -- both natural and perhaps a little more... unnatural depending on the movie.

Hopefully with the upcoming film hiatus, Dice can focus on giving some nonsequel trilogy characters some love.

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Player profile expression

Most shooters give players lots of ways to express themselves from emotes, skins, player icons and more. However, Battlefront 2 is lacking in the player expression department. The game lets you equip different skins, emotes and voice lines, but that's about it. There currently are no player icons or banners, or other cosmetic items to equip to your profile like you can in Destiny or Call of Duty.

Imagine being able to equip banners depicting scenes from your favorite Star Wars films, or having a cool Ewok avatar that your opponent is forced to stare at once you've eliminated them. A feature like this would be a great addition to the game and would give players more to grind for when playing casually or during special events.

Card loadouts

Dice

In Star Wars: Battlefront 2 you increase the power of your various troopers and heroes by leveling them up and unlocking cards. Cards have various effects from increasing the amount of health your heroes have, to making the grenades' blast radius larger. However, some classes have a bunch of cards, and you are only able to equip three on any given unit at a time.

If you want to create a new build, you have to unequip all of your cards and equip new ones, which can be very tedious in the middle of a game. It would be great if Dice could implement a system where players could create and swap between different card loadouts on the fly, which would do wonders for players who might want to change their character's build in the middle of a match.

More starfighter assault support

Dice

There's a lot to love about Starfighter Assault: The mode rekindles memories of the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter titles, and lets you fly your favorite ships from across the saga. Unfortunately, it hasn't seen much love since The Last Jedi update more then two years ago.

There have been a handful of new maps added to the mode, and the occasional hero ship release, but for the most part it remains kind of stagnant. Which is a shame because it's personally one of my favorite modes to play in the whole game. If I have one wish for this game mode in the coming year, it's that it will receive some love in the form of maps, ships and objectives.

More single-player content

I would love to see Dice add more to the single-player mode, even if it's a big ask. Battlefront 2 shipped with a campaign that received mixed reviews from players and critics. Shortly after the launch, the Resurrection story DLC was released as an epilogue for the campaign storyline. With EA and Dice saying they currently have no plans for a Battlefront 3 any time soon, it would be nice to see small single-player stories come to the game periodically. Imagine being able to log in every so often and have a new small single-player story waiting for you.

More trooper customization

Dice

Since launch Dice has added a few trooper skins to the game that players can swap out. Most of the skins added to the game are for the Clone Troopers, however, leaving pretty much every other era with the default skins from launch. It would be nice if players had more control over the appearance, clothing and accessories my troopers are wearing. It would also add a lot more stuff into the game for players to grind for, such as new belts, jackets, hair styles and pants. Not only would this be great for player expression, but a great asset for long term replayability in the form of unlocks.

Hero queue

Dice

One of the biggest problems with Battlefront 2 is not being able to play as heroes when you have the appropriate amount of battle points, which you earn throughout your current match. Some players will go as far as to wait in the menu and tap the select button on a hero just waiting for the opportunity to play as them. When they use this tactic, it means that they aren't actively playing and helping the team, instead sitting in a menu waiting for a hero on their team to die so they get a chance to snag one. This means that even if you're a decent player and can rack up enough points for a hero, you might never actually get to play as one.

It would be great if Dice created a hero queue feature, where players could spend their points on a hero and reserve a space in line, then once a hero on your team dies, you'd receive a notification to respawn as your selected hero. This would help others have a chance to play as heroes during a match, but also cut down on people just sitting and spamming the X button in a menu.

Hopefully these seven features can eventually make it into Battlefront 2 at some point in 2020 or beyond. Is there another game feature you would like in the game? Add them and discuss in the comments.

Originally published last week.