Battlefield 2042 is Bringing Back Classes, Season 2 Coming with New and Revamped Maps Soon

Following a near-disastrous launch, Battlefield 2042 is slowly starting to find its feet, and Season 2 and a new round of content and changes is approaching quickly. So, what can we expect? According to a Battlefield 2042 development update, Season 2 will bring another Specialist, new and classic weapons, an original map that “builds upon the strengths of Exposure,” and revamps of the already-existing Renewal and Orbital maps. Ultimately though, the biggest news is that DICE is answering fan demands and bringing back traditional Battlefield classes, although those won’t arrive until Season 3. You can check out a Battlefield 2042 development update video, below.

On the subject of classes, the game’s current Specialists aren’t being eliminated, but they are having some new restrictions put on them and filed under one of four headings – Assault, Support, Engineer, and Recon. Here’s how the current lineup of Specialists will be categorized.

• Assault – Mackay, Sundance, Dozer
• Support – Angel, Falck, Season 2 Specialist
• Engineer – Lis, Boris, Irish
• Recon – Casper, Paik, Rao

Here’s a bit more detail on how the new class/Specialist system will work…

• Classes: Classes will introduce new restrictions on Gadgets, enabling you to better assess the threat and understand who may be carrying what in their arsenal, as well as assigning new Class Traits to the Specialists that help them to better support their role on the Battlefield.
• Weapons: Weapons will remain unrestricted, as we continue to find that players prefer to have the freedom to choose the loadouts that best suit their playstyle. Naturally the Class Traits we introduce will encourage the familiar style of gameplay known to best suit certain approaches to combat, that will see Recon roles enjoy more success with more long range weaponry, and Support have more effectiveness with heavier weaponry.
• Audio/Visual Improvements: We’re continuing to bring visual and audio improvements to our Specialist Roster. This includes work on their Voices, Body Posture, and Facial Expression changes. We started this work already during Season 1, and will continue to release updates on this throughout the year.

And here’s some information on the changes coming to Renewal and Orbital…

Renewal: “We’re trimming down the playspace to give the map better focus, and flow, alongside making big changes to the terrain to ensure that you’re better able to move across the map as Infantry. We’ve also worked to improve the playspace’s look and feel, changing spaces such as the Solar Station to feature a lot more fortifications, as well as updating the Synesco Building to create more of an entrenched stronghold for players to both attack and defend. These changes to Renewal won’t launch with Season 2, but will feature in the 2.1 Game Update that is planned to release later in September.”

Orbital: “The map is taking on some big changes that will help to bring it inline with our improved set of standards. The first note to share with you is that we’ve moved the two HQ’s closer into the Battlefield, switching Radar and Checkpoint for their corresponding teams HQ’s, and enabled teams to attack the remaining flags on the Battlefield much faster, instead of racing into these two flags first, and not getting into the action faster. Both areas have been revised with new cover, and new looks similar to our work on Renewal and Kaleidoscope, helping to better set the tone for the fight ahead.

Down at the Refinery, we’ve done similar work to update both of these two capture points with new cover, and transformed the connecting tunnel to be a space you can look forward to fighting over, instead of being a space where you just hoon a vehicle through from point to point. The reworked tunnel also provides you with a new exit point, allowing you to duck out, or interrupt a firefight in progress. Above the tunnel, you’ll also discover a new Capture Point on 128 player layouts, called Security Checkpoint. This playspace connects through to the Tunnel below, and helps to create more movement between the Refinery flags, and the Crawlerway.

Over at the Crawlerway, you’ll notice that the team have done a tonne of work to update this playspace, providing much more of a battle-scarred atmosphere that helps to improve the experience of moving across this previously open space. Cover at D1, and D2 has been increased, helping to up the intensity at both of these popular infantry flags, with way more natural cover present on the Crawlerway itself to help the fighting between B and E.”

Battlefield 2042 is playable on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. A specific Season 2 launch date has yet to be locked down, but it will arrive sometime in September. The Renewal revamp will be available at the launch of Season 2, while the Orbital redo will drop sometime in October.