Late 2008 Class Changes

The class system received a major change in the final months of development. These changes center around the Heavy and Melee classes. As these changes are not fully understood, the respective pages use the original layout and this page includes all known information and theories regarding the changes. 
In June 2008, this appears in the release notes:
*Unlocked the minigun weapon on all heavy class infantry at the start of the game
In the original design, the minigun was a Level 1 weapon, which meant the player would need to acquire points before getting access to the weapon. As the Rocket Launcher is not suitable for infantry combat, getting the minigun was likely a difficult experience.
In late July 2008 (after milestone 27), these HUD icons were made:
File:Clonecommander rkt s.png
File:Heavytrooper mini s.png
File:Battledroid mini s.png
File:Wookie warrior mini s.png
File:imperialofficer_mini_s.png
The HUD icons always show a character's primary weapon. From this, we can understand several things:
* The Clone Commander's primary weapon changed from a Power Lance to a Rocket Launcher.
* The Clone Heavy Trooper's weapon primary weapon changed from a Rocket Launcher to a Minigun.
* The Wookiee General's primary weapon changed from a Combat Staff to a Minigun.
* New soldiers enter the battlefront - a Minigun Droid and an Imperial Officer.
There are no icons created for the Magnaguard or Royal Guard. A character list from 7 August 2008 lists the following classes for each side.
* clonetrooper_blas / battledroid_blas / rebelsoldier_blas / stormtrooper_blas
* heavytrooper_mini / superbattledroid_rkt_c / rebelvanguard_rkt / shocktrooper_rkt
* clonesharpeshooter_snp / assassindroid_snp / rebelmarksman_snp / scouttrooper_snp
* clonepilot_arc / pilotdroid_arc / rebelpilot_arc / imperialpilot_arc
* imperiaofficer_mini
Here we notice that the fifth class is no longer melee-focused, but using a minigun. However, the Republic heavy class has the _mini suffix. This exception can be disregarded by analyzing the leaked November 2008 footage and the following concept from October 2008:
File:Pixels1.png
File:Oct2.jpg
We see the Clone Commander (red clone with visor) is now the unit used for the Heavy class. Additionally, the Melee class is now named Specialist. In the concept, each class tab has its own color. These all match the markings used by the Republic classes. Indeed, the Clone Heavy Trooper, now the Specialist clone, who had red markings originally, is seen with orange ones.
File:Pixels2.png
File:Pixels3.png
File:Pixels4.png
It must be noted that in Multiplayer footage, orange clones use the minigun and red ones (with a visor) use the rocket launcher, while the opposite happens in Campaign.
Therefore, we can confirm with certainty that that the Melee units were removed from Multiplayer and that the original Heavy (rocket launcher/minigun) was split into Heavy (rocket launcher) and Specialist (minigun).
The removal of the Melee class likely happened because it was difficult to attack enemies with ranged weapons without the help of the Force.
There is one unanswered question - what happened with the level unlocks for these new classes? 
There is no information showing if the Level 2-5 unlocks were changed in any way. The Level 1 unlock, which is the secondary weapon, cannot be figured out using the existing footage. Technically, we do not know if the level system remained in the game or if each class started out with all its equipment.There are three theories on the secondary weapons:
Theory One:
* Heavy - Pistol
* Specialist - unknown
Theory Two:
* Heavy - Shotgun
* Specialist - Pistol, same weapon used by the Melee class it replaced
File:Pixels6.png|The Clone Heavy is seen with a shotgun.
File:Pixels7.png|The CIS Heavy is seen firing a shotgun-like blast, similar to the Tri-Shot in the previous Battlefront games.
Theory Three:
*Soldier - Pistol
*Heavy - Shotgun
*Specialist - no secondary
This theory works off of a 2007 version of the class system, where Melee did not have a secondary. The 2007 version of the Soldier, which had the Sonic Charge Launcher as its secondary, became the Clone Skytrooper and as such is not taken into consideration. 
The removal of all melee weapons creates a gap in the weapon selection, meaning that a new weapon has to be created, a weapon has to be reused or a class will only have one weapon. As of now, there is no way to answer with certainty what was decided.
==Trivia==
File:deployable_shield.png|In July 2008, a personal deployable shield was created. It is likely this would be given to the Specialist class, as the Melee class only had Concussion Grenades. Characters could walk through the shield but their shots would only pass through it if they were firing from inside the shield.
File:Cis minigun concept 24 07.jpg|The Super Battle Droid's Minigun was its wrist blaster. With the class changes, the Minigun was relocated to the Specialist. While a CIS minigun is not referenced in the release notes (up to July 2008), concept art was made early on.
File:Wookie warrior rkt s.png|When the HUD icons were made, there was also one for a Wookiee with a Rocket Launcher. 
File:PixelsEnd.png|However, in the leaked footage, the Wookiee General is seen with a Minigun. Perhaps the rocket version was meant for Hunt.
Category:Classes
Category:Heavy Class
Category:Melee Class