After a particularly difficult and divisive launch, EA and DICE are releasing a second update for Battlefield 2042 on November 25, followed by a "substantial" third update in early December, and a fourth update sometime before the holidays. The second and third updates aim to address various technical issues and gameplay balancing.
Here's what to expect in Update #2:
- Improved soldier revives, fixing an issue with not being able to revive a teammate when they die close to a wall or object.
- A "respawn protection system" that will address a bug that leaves players in a downed state for too long.
- Re-enabling Battlefield Portal's UAV-1 interaction after adjusting its overpowered state.
- Vehicle balancing for the LCAA Hovercraft and MD540 Nightbird.
- Dispersion reduced across all weapon types excluding shotguns, resulting in more consistent bullet spread.
- Additional "critical" changes to be detailed later.
Update #3 seems significantly larger in scope, and appears to address a common complaint that the transition from the end of a match to being booted back to the matchmaking menu was inconvenient. It also addresses common issues for player progression, rendering, and numerous balancing issues. The list is far too long to lay out here, but highlights include:
- Improvements to the user interface, including weapon attachment management, collection screens, player card screen, end of round summary screen, and adding "new" markers so you can more easily find items.
- "Improved the experience between EOR and the Main Menu"
- Improved the reliability of matchmaking and reduced failed matchmaking
- Introduction of weekly missions that reward cosmetic unlocks
- Fixed multiple issues with water graphics and rendering, plus stuttering and visual flickering issues.
- "Over 150" small changes across all maps
- A more descriptive interaction system that replaces a generic "interact" prompt with something more specific, like "call elevator."
- Reduced spread for weapons when ADS and moving, applied globally.
- Improved accuracy for stationary weapon ADS. Bullet spread is also reduced when you use single fire or burst fire instead of automatic.
- Added a new UI element that highlights teammates who can revive you when they're within 50 meters. Players who ping to signal they intend to revive you are also listed in a new UI element.
- Improved bot behavior for reviving, helicopter piloting, and combat/game mode behaviors.
- Audio mix improvements, including changes to enemies firing at a player.
Update #3 also includes balancing and technical changes for several specialists, gadgets, and melee combat. You can read the full patch notes here.
EA and DICE say they're also tracking issues related to servers and hardware. Chief among these are rare instances of servers not registering hit markers and rare instances of spawning without your intended loadout. On the hardware side, EA and DICE released a mandatory update for Xbox Series X/S players that addressed systems performing a power cycle during gameplay.
If it seems like an incredibly long list of fixes, that's because it is. The updates will hopefully address some of the most common technical and balancing complaints that have plagued Battlefield 2042 since launch, resulting in it becoming one of Steam's worst-reviewed games despite also being one of its most-played.
You can check out IGN's review of Battlefield 2042 for resident FPS wunderkind Stella Chung's opinion on what the new entry brings to the table and what's sorely missing.
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/mobile blood bag for IGN.
