Star Wars Battlefront II appeared to have put its year of inadequacy behind it. Clone Wars heroes and planets made players return in droves. Future plans sparked plenty more excitement. But old habits die hard, and today proved that EA DICE has yet to fully turn the corner.

First, the good news. EA DICE put out a Community Transmission detailing the release of Count Dooku. The hero debuts tomorrow, and he comes with some very impressive powers.

Lightning Stun

“Dooku unleashes a very quick lightning stun that throws all nearby opponents to the ground. The damage is reduced for each extra target, up to a maximum of 5 targets.”

Exposed Weakness

“This ability targets a single opponent and causes them to become affected by a number of detrimental effects. Anyone targeted by Expose Weakness will have their movement slowed down, will receive increased damage from all attacks, and they will become highlighted for Dooku throughout the duration of the ability. Should the target be defeated by one of Dooku’s attacks while Expose Weakness is active, the cooldown is instantly refreshed.”

Duelist

“This ability begins by Dooku raising his lightsaber up to his face and then down to his side, readying himself for combat. Once activated, Duelist will improve his lightsaber attack speed and damage for a short time. While active, Dooku will change his attack sequence, now dueling with one hand behind his back.”

Additionally, Dooku will dodge more efficiently than other Star Wars Battlefront II heroes. He’ll cost a reasonable 35,000 credits and comes with many of his iconic quotes. “I’ve been looking forward to this” is the obvious highlight. 

EA DICE made a few other notable changes. The beautiful Geonosis map will be available in Hero vs. Villains, Arcade, and Blast modes. Players have complained about not getting to see the new map often enough, and the developer answered their prayers. The team also spent a considerable amount of time fixing bugs for the game’s other heroes, maps, and classes.

If the news ended there, the community could rejoice. But this is Star Wars Battlefront II. It can’t all be good news.

EA DICE did not post a single screenshot of the Sith Lord in the transmission. Community manager Ben Walke stated that “the production of [the images] was unable to be completed on time.” The team had two months to take a single picture and failed. That’s an absurd level of incompetence. He called it “unacceptable,” which is an understatement. It’s an insult to the fans they brought back with Grievous and Obi-Wan.

In a vacuum, this wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, players only need to wait another day to see Darth Tyranus in action. However, after the nightmare year they’ve inflicted upon themselves, EA DICE has run out of excuses. They need to be perfect with their PR if they want this game to have any shot of recovering. This was far from perfect.

The team didn’t stop there and committed two other blunders. On New Year’s Day, the team announced that Dooku would be accompanied by an alternate skin and the Coruscant Guard skin for Clone Troopers. Neither will be arriving tomorrow. Dooku’s look, called “Dark Ritual,” will arrive “at a later date” along with a hot fix for the new character. Despite adding zero new substantial content since November, it appears they couldn’t get a single hero correct. We’ll see how buggy he is when he drops tomorrow.

As for the Coruscant Guard, the skins are “being targeted for a February release.” In other words, we may not even get the look then. Based on that comment, the team may just push the Clone skin update yet again.

In summation, Star Wars Battlefront II promised players three pieces of content for January 23. Two aren’t coming, one might be broken, and their PR team failed to provide any visuals after two months of development. That’s the sort of thing you expect from an overworked two-man studio, not an industry giant. I have gone to bat plenty of times for this game, and I truly thought EA DICE had fixed their issues. When they can’t get a simple press release right, they probably don’t deserve any more of our faith.

What do you think of their latest misstep? Will you still give Count Dooku a shot? Should EA DICE even have the Star Wars license? Sound off in the comments below, and follow DFTG on Facebook and Twitter for more gaming news and updates.