Four classes, each with restricted loadouts to return to the franchise.

Among the many shortcomings in Battlefield 2042, one in particular has stood out. No, I'm not talking about the bugs, nor the map design, nor the lack of maps, nor the lack of weapons, nor <insert anything from the laundry list of items here>. I am, of course, talking about the Specialists.

Players have lamented the removal of the Battlefield staple of having distinct classes. With the Specialist system, any character could use any weapon and any piece of gear with one exception being made for Lis (she cannot equip a shoulder mounted RPG as her unique item already is one). For months DICE has said that they are sticking with the Specialists for Battlefield 2042 and that if you wanted classes, you would have to fire up Portal to play older Battlefield content where they still existed.

Today, DICE has changed their tune. In the latest Core Feedback feature, DICE is taking a look at Specialists. One of the biggest changes outlined in today's piece is the fact that Specialists will now fall into one of four unique Classes. These Classes will restrict the gear and equipment the Specialists have access to as determined by which Class they fall under.

Continuing on, DICE details now what each Class will get access to as far as equipment, gadgets, and throwables are concerned. For instance, Casper is part of the Recon Class. He will always spawn in with an Insertion Beacon. He can select between the T-UGS, Proximity Sensor, SOFLAM, C5, or Tracer Dart Gun Class gadgets. Casper, as a Recon, will also be limited to the grenades he has access to. For example, Recon has access to Frag, Smoke, EMP, and Incendiary grenade types. Meanwhile, someone playing as Boris (Engineer Class) will spawn in with a Repair Tool and will be able to equip a Recoilless M5, which wasn't possible before.

Something you may have noticed here is that there are some old Battlefield items being added to the base Battlefield 2042 gear. Things like Claymores, the EOD Bot, and Tracer Dart Gun will now be options available to players engaging in the core All Out Warfare modes.

One thing that won't be restricted to Class types are the weapons available. DICE says that this is "an area of the game that we're currently happy to leave as it is." Meaning, you will still be able to equip any primary and secondary weapon regardless of which Class your chosen Specialist falls under.


Beyond the return of Class types to Battlefield, DICE is working on refining a lot of the Specialists' unique abilities. However, DICE did not mention any specific changes that they are looking at yet.

DICE isn't done with changes to Specialists with the above improvements either. They say that they are still working on further revisions to the looks of Specialists that will be rolled out in the coming months. They are also recording new voice over lines for the Specialists "that enable us to better represent the tone that we want you to experience when playing the game." Whether or not this will be an improvement over the now mute characters at the end of rounds remains to be seen. The voice work changes and more will be deployed later on and more details about these changes will be revealed closer to when they are finished.

Other areas of improvement for the Specialists include better animations, poses, and facial expressions that better match the tone of this global war they find themselves in.

Unfortunately, while all of these changes sound fantastic, they won't be added to Battlefield 2042 for quite some time. In fact, DICE says that the Class System is planned for Season 3, which is planned for launch later this year. Specifically, they hope to deploy these changes as part of Update 3.2 in the second half of Season 3, so we might not even see the Classes implemented until early 2023.