Battlefield 2042: DICE outlines Major Updates And Changes

By Rizwan Choudhury

Updated on Nov 24, 2021 | 08:20 PM IST | 523K

Battlefield 2042, DICE, New Updates, Gameplay

Battlefield 2042: DICE outlines Major Updates And Changes

After its full release on November 19, Battlefield 2042 has already attracted millions of players, but the multiplayer-only Battlefield title has also received a large number of negative reviews on Steam, where it currently has a "mostly negative" review score. Fans have been disappointed by the game's buggy launch and lack of legacy features, but DICE has reaffirmed its commitment to it in a blog post today, promising to "support and evolve it for years to come."

The post lays out a timeline for Battlefield 2042's planned updates and changes, beginning with Update #2, which will be released on November 25.

This update will be followed by an even bigger Update #3 in early December, with DICE stating that a third update will be released before the holidays. Later on, the studio will start revealing details about the game's first season, which will debut in 2022.

The developer also reiterated its commitment to include various legacy features that aren't available in the current version of the game, though no timeline for these features has been set. "End-of-match Scoreboard, Server Browser, and Voice Chat are big topics for us to cover all at once, and we have plenty to say around them," the post reads. "We'll get back to you as soon as we have something to show you, such as details about our long-term vision for certain features and functions."

The blog post goes into great detail about the known issues that will be addressed in future updates, such as performance and server issues, combat balance, and spread issues with specific weapons. The following fixes will be included in Update #2 this week:

The hovercraft, a vehicle that early players discovered had the ability to travel vertically up buildings, will also see some changes in Update #2. "We've seen the Hovercraft become a fan favourite given its high durability and combat effectiveness since the game went live," the post reads. "This vehicle was designed to be a replacement for the LATV4, not an upgrade. We balanced the health of this vehicle in Thursday's Update #2, bringing it more in line with its design and ensuring that its weaponry is appropriately effective."

In the upcoming update, the Nightbird's 20mm Cannons will be nerfed as well. Update #2's full patch notes will be released on November 24, but DICE has already revealed the following changes:

DICE has also released an early version of the patch notes for the much larger Update #3 and has promised that even more fixes will be added to the patch before it releases in early December. Here are the current changes planned for Update #3(Mind you the list is long)

Fixes, Changes and Improvements

User Interface:

Improved the collection screens making them easier to use and clear as to what you’re interacting with

Improved the ways in which you’re able to manage your attachments via the collection screen to reduce the number of interactions you need to have when building your loadouts

Enhancements to our Player Card screen and End of Round (EOR) to provide additional polish

Added new markers to make your newly unlocked items easier to find

Improved screen transitions when entering and returning to the Main Menu

Improved Report a Player flows, specifically around toxicity and cheating reports

Matchmaking & Friends:

Improved the experience between EOR and the Main Menu

Improved Matchmaking reliability and reduced instances of Matchmaking failed

Improved Crossplay invite flows

Fixed Rich presence update issues, ensuring that your friends are better able to track where you are in Game

Addressed servers getting stuck in unresponsive game states, where rounds fail to properly start

Fixes to Friend Invitations for players on PC

Progression and Unlocks:

Introduction of weekly missions, providing set challenges that reward cosmetic unlocks.

Added 1st match bonus of 1000 HZC for HZ

Fixed an issue that was not properly awarding XP for Angel resupplies

Improved overall XP/Rank tracking and reliability

Improved Mastery rank tracking

Improved reliability of Player card tracking

Rendering:

Addressed a variety of visual flickering and stuttering issues

Improvements to water rendering when Aiming Down Sight (ADS)

Addressed multiple graphical issues affecting water reflections

Fixed reflections in Kaleidoscope for late-joining players

Addressed issue with character rendering for late joiners

Improvements to artifacts affecting DLSS implementation

Maps:

Over 150 individual fixes, small changes, and improvements across all of our Maps

Improved level geometry issues across all levels addressing issues such as players getting snagged or trapped

Resolved multiple spawning issues

Visual glitches such as lens flare, visible seams in the skydome

Resolved a large number of collision and placement issues

Addressed issues affecting local audio placement in multiple Maps

Battlefield Portal:

Builder additions

Rush game mode layouts for all 2042 All-Out Warfare maps (through Portal)

New official Vehicle Team Deathmatch template

New official Team & FFA Gun Master templates

New official Infection template

Rules Editor - Added the ability to detect what players were killed with in order to apply additional logic

UX Improvements

Added Server Info for the Pause screen

Added support for server admins to write periodic server messages

Added support for reporting a server from the pause menu

A series of visual, audio, and gameplay improvements to weapons, vehicles, and gadgets

Battlefield Hazard Zone:

Improvements to visual presentation of Hazard Zone currency system in Front End

Added an animation and audio cue when the player's Remaining Balance changes in the Hazard Zone lobby

Modified Squad and Player Screen in Hazard Zone to only show your squad

Modified Scoreboard to no longer show players connected in Hazard Zone to elevate tension experienced

Improved extraction zone smoke visibility

Added additional flares to extraction point offering players better visibility of extraction area, as well as providing additional cover

Added variation in Hazard Zone to preplaced intel locations. Initial Data Capsules now have a chance to contain several data drives

Resolved an issue with persistent scoring in Hazard Zone

Improvements to the Intel Scanner’s accuracy and enemy identification

Resolved an issue where two teams could extract simultaneously in Hazard Zone

Resolved inconsistency in warning to alert players that they’re being scanned in Hazard Zone

Resolved capacity issues with intel collection in Hazard Zone

Made it easier to interact with intel pick-ups

Added distance read-out for next extraction point in Hazard Zone

Improved Hazard Zone end-of-round camera placement

Conquest:

Tuned information spamming in Conquest, reducing the number of messages that appear in the world log. In particular, we reduced messages about flag state changes so that they’re not as distracting

Breakthrough:

Tuned capture times for Breakthrough

Improved out of bounds defender spawning in Breakthrough to ensure that you’re able to more consistently spawn in safety

Improvements to Breakthrough’s UI to enable you to better track round progress in the form of a Game Mode Widget.

The Game Mode Widget is also visible inside the Scoreboard (displaying only when playing Breakthrough, and also on Rush) to put emphasis on sectors and attackers reinforcements

Elapsed time is now added and trackable in both the Scoreboard & Deploy Screen.

Added a pulsating effect on the Team 1 (attacker) score and progress bar when their tickets are =< 25% of their initial tickets. This is also present in the GMW in the HUD, Scoreboard and Deploy Screen for both Rush and Breakthrough

General:

A fix for missing loadouts, sometimes seen when first loading into a server and seeing blank boxes on the deploy screen

Modified Recent Players screen to include everyone from the previous match to allow for easier user reporting

Improved interaction point system. Switched the default "INTERACT" text on multiple interactions to reflect the action you are about to do, i.e. "OPEN CONTAINER", "CALL ELEVATOR" etc.

Kaleidoscope server room lighting issue resolved

Resolved an issue related to the velocity/trajectory while spawning in jets

Improved helicopter animation in level fly-bys during insertion

Improvements to address an issue where players killed in vehicles would fall beneath level geometry

Improvements to streaming assets in deploy screen presentation

Dynamic World Improvements:

Addressed issues for VFX affecting late-joiners

Made improvements to correctly align the bridge behavior on Kaleidoscope for late joiners to the match

Made improvements to correctly align the destructive silos state for late joiners in Renewal and Orbital

Improved interaction of SG-36 Sentry Gun and elevators

Quality of Life fixes and improvements to interact prompts

Tornado and smoke visual effect improvements

Resolved a large number of collision issues with large scale animation events

Improved location-based sandstorm audio experience

Improvements to destruction audio

Adjusted the timing for automatic doors

Vehicles:

Fixed issue where missile countermeasures sometimes didn’t work, causing missiles to not blow up and instead reacquire the same target

Made exit position from vehicles more consistent

Made improvements to controller vibration for vehicles

Fixed an issue where the Nightbird’s rockets hitting the ground can appear frozen

Fixed an issue where a player driving the Hovercraft can not be shot through the front window

Added an option to have vehicle boost as toggle or hold

Fixed an issue where vehicles took double damage when getting hit through glass

Improved TOW Missile Projectiles flying behavior

Balanced Nightbird minigun spread buildup and convergence

Removed blast impulse on Attack Helicopters Anti Vehicle Rocket which caused nudging of vehicles on hit

Fixed the F-35E Panther repair system ability missing from customisation

Fixed instances where vehicles sometimes would become stuck on world geometry

Gadgets no longer pause their cooldown when the player enters a vehicle

Fixed an issue when a player dies in a vehicle which allowed for the camera to go underground

Weapons:

Reduced spread globally when zoomed and moving

Improved stationary zoomed accuracy for many weapons

Spread now decreases faster and earlier when pacing shots. This means more success with single-fire or short bursts

Increased PP-29 vertical recoil to ensure that the weapon does not overperform when engaging outside of its intended combat range

Fixed an issue where spread would be too high when trying to fire while zoomed right after sprinting for some Portal weapons

Reduced effectiveness of the NTW-50 against vehicles

Fixed the 8X Scope having a faster ADS time than the others

Fixed M44 revolver chambering an extra bullet

Fixed an issue where soldier is unable to shoot after getting hacked while in a vehicle

Reduced switch back to weapon delay after throwing grenade

HUD:

Added a UI list that shows nearby players that can revive you within 50m when downed

Added a UI list that shows incoming revivers when downed and pinged by a player that intends to revive you

When low on ammo or health, nearby friendly players within 50m will now show a resource icon above their head indicating that they can provide you with health or ammo

Increased Big Map Resolution for improved navigation

Added health bars on enemy vehicles and enemy soldiers when looked at

All player world icons now scale over distance, making them smaller when far away in an effort to reduce icons cluttering the screen

Time before revive completion is now visible for the downed player when being revived

Fixed an issue where friendly player icons would sometimes not be hidden when behind walls causing a lot of icons to be constantly visible on screen.

Fixed an issue where friendly soldiers are missing their blue UI icons when a player is in a downed state

Fixed an issue where some player names don't show when looking at multiple Soldiers/Vehicles that are next to each other

Changed the visibility behavior of the fire mode icon in the HUD. By default, the fire mode icon is now visible if it is currently possible to change fire-mode. The behavior can be changed to allow the fire mode icon to always be visible (even if it’s not possible to change fire mode) or turned off. The option is called “Fire Mode Indicator” under “HUD” Options

Added an option that allows for the disabling of the button prompts visible in the HUD

Added message about which player healed you when getting healed by other players

Added message about which player shared ammo when getting ammo from other players

Fixed an issue where IFF markers on Squad Members do not change with colorblind option

Improved visibility of IFF marks over distances

Fixed an issue where IFF markers would not be visible when using low video settings

Bots:

Fixed issue where Bots sometimes didn’t revive players

Improved Bots helicopter handling

Improved Bots combat behaviors

Improved Bots gamemode behaviors

Audio:

Improved reliability of various ability sounds when offscreen, such as reiving, SOB-8 Ballistic Shield, flares, wingsuit, vehicle smoke discharges and system repairs

Switched lock-on warning sound with an incoming missile warning sound

Improved weapon mix for enemies firing at the player

Generally tweaked content and mix for distant weapons, improving audibility at the range

Preventing warning sounds and transmission sounds from continuing when a vehicle has low health

Specialists

Sundance: Grenade Belt

Fixed an issue where the Sundance’s Anti-Armor grenade could get stuck circling in air after the targeted vehicle deploys counter-measures or attempt to target another vehicle instead

Adjusted the behavior of Sundance’s splitter fragment grenades to bounce once before detonating

Angel: Loadout Crate

Players that require armor and can receive it now have a white outline around them to indicate that the magnetism will throw the armor to the outlined player.

When using the Loadout Crate, players can now scroll if more than 4 loadouts are available

Visual effects and polish on destruction and despawning of Loadout Crate

The cooldown for the resupply action on the Loadout Crate is now shared between Loadout Crates

Added a unique sound when picking up armor

The player can hold down the specialist ability button to self-apply armour

Loadout Crate can now no longer be called in when underneath tall buildings

Added a hand gesture animation when placing the Loadout Crate

Irish: DCS Deployable Cover

Fixed an issue where the DCS Deployable Cover Minimap Icon was not displayed correctly

Improved reliability of the DCS Deployable Cover’s deployable placement allowing placement on more angled surfaces

Dozer: SOB-8 Ballistic Shield

Fixed an issue where the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield didn’t block bullets when inside an elevator.

Fixed an issue where Dozer would not be targeted by Boris's SG-36 Sentry Gun and AI ignoring the user while having a SOB-8 Ballistic Shield equipped.

Fixed an issue where players couldn’t enter vehicles while the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield was equipped

Fixed an issue where reviving is hard to perform while having the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield equipped

Fixed an issue where killing a player with the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield would also take the victim’s dogtag.

Fixed an issue where players were flung up in the air after being melee’d by Dozers with his shield equipped

Rao: Cyber Warfare Suite

Added a short grace period for Rao's Cyber Warfare Suite when something occludes the target being hacked. This will help most frequently when trying to hack vehicles that may be driving in front of trees

Paik: EMG-X Scanner

Added a sound effect for the victims being scanned by the EMG-X Scanner

The EMG-X Scanner should now be able to spot targets above or below Paik.

Disabled the usage of EMG-X Scanner while inside vehicles

Fixed the EMG-X Scanner’s “target found” audio effect not working for targets beyond 20m

Casper: OV-P Recon Drone

Fixed an issue where the user is unable to deploy the OV-P Recon Drone while in a prone position

Improved the visibility of Enemy Recon Drones; they now have lights making them easier to see

Players now switch back to their previous weapon after exiting the OV-P Recon Drone

Updated OV-P Recon Drone EMP hint message to clarify that firing requires a lock-on

Increased the range of the EMP on the OV-P Recon Drone

Fixed an issue where Casper’s OV-P Recon Drone is sometimes unable to lock onto enemy targets

Increased the OV-P Recon Drone’s movement speed

Increased the OV-P Recon Drone’s hitbox size to make it easier to hit.

Adjusted the “near drone” spotting distance

Adjusted size of the spotting area when controlling the drone’s camera view.

Boris: SG-36 Sentry Gun

The SG-36 Sentry Gun will now be destroyed when the owner dies instead of when the owner is downed

Fixed an issue where Boris’ SG-36 Sentry Gun would not be able to acquire targets that are near a vehicle

Sundance: Wingsuit

Fixed an issue where the repair tool crosshair was visible in the wingsuit when you entered the wingsuit whilst having the repair tool equipped

Fixed an issue when undeploying and then deploying the Wingsuit can cause 1p view while flying

Falck: S21 Syrette Pistol

Added Lock On and Lock Off sounds for S21 Syrette Pistol for when a target is designated by the magnetism of the S21 Syrette Pistol

Players that require health and can receive it now have a white outline around them to indicate that the magnetism will fire at the outlined target.

Added healing VFX for when you’re being healed by the S21 Syrette Pistol

Added sound feedback for when being healed by the S21 Syrette Pistol

Mackay: Grappling Hook

Fixed an issue where the Grappling Hook rope got misaligned in front of the gadget after changing FOV settings

Fixed the vault after the Grappling Hook animation where it could cause camera jerks or provide no animation at all

Gadgets

CG Recoilless M5

Fixed a bug where the CG Recoilless M5 would not lose its lock on to enemy air vehicles when locked on via SOFLAM Designator and the target deployed countermeasures

C5 Explosive

Fixed a bug where the C5 Explosive blast damage was sometimes inconsistent when trying to detonate the C5 Explosive on a moving vehicle

Fixed an issue where the C5 Explosive server and client positions were not correctly synced

Adjusted the deploy time of the C5 Explosive and reduced the delay before allowing it to be detonated to improve responsiveness.

SOFLAM Designator

Fixed an issue where the visual SOFLAM Designator UI elements are still present on the screen when switching to other gadgets while zoomed

Fixed the SOFLAM Designator’s tooltip text being misaligned

Anti-Tank Mine

Fixed an issue that caused Mines and other deployables to not trigger sound effects when deployed from inside a vehicle

Medical Crate and Supply Crate

Fixed issue where the Medical Crate healing cooldown was triggered when at Full HP.

Adjusted Medical and Supply crates' trajectory to align with the animation of the throw and address jitter

Improved responsiveness of Medical and Supply crates deployment. It is now possible to throw them a lot quicker after selecting them

Fixed an issue where the resupply animation would not play when resupplying gadgets from the Supply Crate

Smoke Grenade

Changed the detonation behavior of the Smoke Grenade; it will now bounce once before detonating

Fixed an issue where Smoke Grenades could be destroyed by bullets or explosions

Fixed an issue where the VO was not triggering when an enemy Specialists’ Smoke Grenade has been thrown

Frag Grenade

Ensured that the grenade warning icon does not draw under certain elements of the HUD like the minimap

Repair Tool

Fixed an issue where the Repair Tool can repair vehicles while not facing the vehicle.

Improved the Repair Tool so that it is quicker to equip and put away

Insertion Beacon

Fixed an issue where picking up an Insertion Beacon would not make any sounds.

EMP now blocks spawning on Insertion Beacons

Reduced the delay before the Insertion Beacon is placed after throwing it

FXM-33 AA Missile

The FXM-33 AA Missile reload sound effect will now appropriately fit the animation of reloading

Extended the animation of the FXM-33 AA Missile reload

Soldier

Fixed an issue where attempting to traversal sprint while swimming resulted in a broken swimming animation.

Fixed missing weapon deploy animation when transitioning from water to land.

Adjusted soldier animations when swimming.

Various visual adjustments and fixes for Specialists

Fixed issues where the soldier would sometimes not properly follow the ground when sliding

Fixed an issue where jumping would be buffered if holding jump when trying to stand up from crouch or prone pose

Reduced occurrences where Specialists can be seen with low quality animations in the distance

Adjusted the pose of the legs when falling to avoid legs blocking the view

Addressed issues where players prone on thin surfaces could be seen floating in the air. They will now tend to fall if the surface is not large enough.

Fixed an issue where it is not possible to look up and down enough while prone on a slope

Fixed an issue where character hands were not in contact with ladders when FOV was higher than the default

Fixed an issue where you could turn and see your own headless 1P body while on ladders

Fixed an issue where the user was able to gain velocity by hopping on and off a ladder and hit melee

Fixed an issue where setting the “Always Traversal Sprint” Option would sometimes not allow the player to traversal sprint with the intended speed