Do you miss the tight, infantry-focused maps (like Operation Locker, Operation Metro) in past Battlefield games not being available in Battlefield 2042? Well, that’s about to change soon, as DICE revealed more details regarding the Battlefield 2042 new map in Season 2, and it’s confirmed to be focused on infantry warfare!

During today’s Battlefield 2042 development update, the studio gave fans a sneak peek at the new map! Check out the confirmation that it’s an infantry-focused map by Battlefield Community Manager Kevin Johnson:

Infantry focused. Smaller layout.
Intense moments in and around the ship.

We'll be showing off more around this particular location later, at the reveal moment of Season 2 for #Battlefield 2042

But for now, here's a little tease. pic.twitter.com/1WnhLXXwyN

— Kevin Johnson (@T0TALfps) August 22, 2022

Alongside this tease, DICE not only dropped the bombshell that Specialists will be reworked to play more like classes, but that Season 2 will see two new primary weapons, and a new sidearm! In addition to that, two Battlefield Portal weapons will also be making its way to All-Out Warfare too as Vault Weapons!

Here are some of the changes and new content players can expect from Season 2:

Being our first Season, there was plenty of opportunity for us to learn from you all about the experience you had progressing through the Battle Pass, how our new content affects existing balance, and how the changes that we made for this Season specifically changed the experience that you have with the game.

• You want more Hardware. We hear you and we’ll be introducing 2 all new Primary Weapons, and 1 New Sidearm at the start of Season 2, alongside our first two Vault Weapons – beginning our journey for bringing content from Battlefield Portal into the All-Out Warfare Arsenal.
• You enjoyed Kaleidoscope’s rework, and you want to see more of our original maps to be updated faster. In Season 2 we’ll be bringing refreshes for both Renewal, and Orbital. We’re presently planning for each of these refreshed maps to drop in subsequent updates following the release of Update 2.0, which itself will bring an exciting new map to the Battlefield.
• With our first run of Weekly Missions nearing completion, we’ve been able to learn from, and refine our weekly missions to ensure that we have a better balance across mission variety and difficulty.
• We have also reworked the main menu to make it easier to see what’s happening across the game, without needing to go into the different areas of All-Out Warfare, Hazard Zone, and Battlefield Portal.

As for Vault Weapons, read on for how players will be able to acquire the M16A3 Assault Rifle and M60E4 LMG from Battlefield 3!

Vault Weapons (bringing Battlefield Portal weapons to the 2042 armory)

In Season 2, you’ll encounter the first of our Battlefield Portal migrations, with Battlefield 3’s iconic M16A3 Assault Rifle, and the M60E4 Light Machine Gun being the first to make the move. They’re being added to the Base Game for Battlefield 2042 as a part of Update 2.0, and not on the free tiers of Season 2’s Battle Pass. You’ll be unlocking these via Assignments, a new system that we’ve developed which will grow as we bring more of Battlefield Portals arsenal into the 2042 armory, and these assignments will remain open and accessible for all players to unlock, no matter when they jump in to play.

Assignments will be familiar to players who have played Battlefield titles in the past. Each weapon will be unlocked through completion of a fixed set of challenges, which when complete will unlock the weapon in your Armory.

From here, you’ll be able to add the weapon into your loadouts the same as you would any of 2042’s other weapons, set them up with their Vault Attachments, and work towards earning their mastery badges.

As an example of those assignments, here’s an example of how you’ll unlock these first two Weapons.

M16A3

• 30 Kills and Assists with Underbarrel Grenade Launchers
• 100 Kills and Assists with M16A3 or SFAR-M GL

M60E4

• 100 Kills and Assists with the M60E4 or PKP-BP
• 100 Teammates Resupplied with Ammo

DICE has confirmed that these Vault Weapons will not have unlockables or purchasable cosmetics, nor any Mastery Appearances. The reasoning behind this was the studio opted to increase the speed at which new Vault Weapons can be added in future updates, and doing this lets the devs focus on gameplay balance,

As part of later Season 2 updates, DICE also plans to introduce weapons such as the P90, AKS-74u and the M98B, with more planned as well.

For the reworked maps, DICE has both Orbital and Renewal incoming for Season 2 with major changes in implemented.

Maps (evolving Renewal and Orbital)

We’ll be following the reworked Kaleidoscope with two new maps during Season 2. In our last Development Update, we were able to show you the work that we were doing on Renewal, 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.

Our next map to be revised will be Orbital. Also featured during Season 2, and planned for release in October, Orbital is taking on some big changes that will help to bring it inline with our improved set of standards. With Orbital being one of the maps that was first developed for the game, we know that it’s going to benefit from this attention, and improve the experience that you have on the map.

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.

Finally, DICE has confirmed that we’ll be getting a new Specialist in Season 2, and that future seasons will have the same amount of content, which means expect one new map and one new Specialist per season, alongside bug fixes, new weapons and more.

Note that this is not the full blowout for Season 2. Once we have the trailer for that alongside the other info, we’ll share that ASAP.

Source: EA