Battlefield 4

Scott Tortorice

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
7,663
Reaction score
99
Location
The shadows
Country
llUnited States
A rarity these days, a developer using "expansion pack" instead of DLC ;)
Good catch! I didn't notice that choice of vocabulary.

Oh, and some things don't change:

From DICE:

WE ARE AWARE THAT THE BATTLEFEST 2XP EVENT HAS NOT LAUNCHED. AS WE LOOK INTO THE ISSUE WE ASK THAT YOU REMAIN PATIENT. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES.
 

kawaiku

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2005
Messages
2,536
Reaction score
73
Location
Mars... the planet
Country
llUnited States
Good catch! I didn't notice that choice of vocabulary.
I would like to see a return of the use of "expansion pack" as well because DLC most of the time seems like it's a glorified patch lol. Anyhoo, why did they go this route with the game? I haven't been following the production of it so I'm out of the loop.


Oh, and some things don't change:

From DICE:
WE ARE AWARE THAT THE BATTLEFEST 2XP EVENT HAS NOT LAUNCHED. AS WE LOOK INTO THE ISSUE WE ASK THAT YOU REMAIN PATIENT. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES.
Hahahaha
 

Scott Tortorice

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
7,663
Reaction score
99
Location
The shadows
Country
llUnited States
The last Final Stand DLC pack is revealed:

[video=youtube;uqDy6D9DZz8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqDy6D9DZz8[/video]

As I wrote in my blog, BF4 might have gotten off to a horrible, horrible start, but it has now matured into a solid PC shooter. Coincidentally, this past week I have been putting in a bunch of hours into the game (I think I finally hit the 90 hour mark - which is slower than other BF titles) and have really been enjoying the game in a big way. The game seems to definitely have hit its stride earlier this year. If you haven't tried it yet, BF4 is now part of Origin's 48 hour Game Time where you can try it before you buy. If you've been on the fence, check it out.

This pack looks like a nice change from the jungles and seaside resorts of the other map packs (I love the snow!). It also looks like a return of the Russians! My only concern is that the pack is described as "infantry-focused" - I am hoping like heck this isn't going to be another map pack like BF3's dreadful CoD clone map pack that was called CQB. That was so bad most servers never ran it.

Lastly, the appearance of a hovertank, and the suggestion that other futuristic weaponry is going to be present - clearly indicates that EA/DICE are still shadowboxing against CoD with their Advanced Warfare title. As I wrote earlier in this thread(?), clearly "modern warfare" is now done, and every shooter now needs to be futuristic. Sigh.
 

Scott Tortorice

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
7,663
Reaction score
99
Location
The shadows
Country
llUnited States
Nice to see DICE still working on the fundamentals in addition to new content:

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/news/view/bf4-fall-patch-coming/

Tweaks and fixes incoming! We are happy to inform you that the anticipated Fall Patch for Battlefield 4 is right around the corner. The certification has started on several platforms and the Fall Patch is targeted for release at the end of September.

Community Test Environment Update
Our focus for the Fall Patch on the CTE (Community Test Environment) has been to stabilize and finalize the build and this has meant less updates than normal. We’d like to thank you all for your patience during this time – we appreciate you sticking in there.


Fall Patch Highlights
So what are we improving? First of all: the final fix list for the Fall Patch is fairly massive and will be released when the patch goes live. The full patch notes will contain all changes in more detail. In the meantime however, here are some of the Fall Patch highlights that you can expect:


Game modes
- Rush (All base game maps except Dawnbreaker), Obliteration, Capture the Flag, and Carrier Assault. Added the Obliteration Competitive sub-game mode


Sight Improvements
- Close & Medium range sight reticles no longer affected by weapon firing animation, AKA “Visual Recoil”
- Improved visibility for red glowing reticule pieces against bright backgrounds


Player Movement
- Now almost identical to BF3 movement – with BF4 animation sets
- Dampened third person hit reactions for player head


HUD clarification pass
- De-cluttered and made customizable a plethora of HUD options to make BF4 look the way you want it to (within reason)


Revive mechanic
- Made revives much more robust, easier to understand with new UI art and included a new “fully charged” paddle sound.


“Netcode”
- Lowering the setting for how much time difference is allowed when damaging other players (addressing trade kills and behind cover kills where high pings are involved)
- An automatic High Frequency Update setting is now the default for all users
- Added High Frequency update support to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms
- Additional improvements to bullet damage delays between clients compared to Netcode Patch


Weapon attachment changes
- Muzzle Brake: Reduced the overall impact of this attachment. Both its positives and negatives have been reduced
- Heavy Barrel: Lowered the buff it gave to minimum moving spread and moved some of that bonus into reduced spread increase. Should be a good option for longer range tap firing
- Lasers: Small buff to standing hip-fire accuracy


Weapon changes
Note that this list contains an excerpt – the upcoming patch notes will have a detailed list.


- Bullet velocity increases: Improved bullet velocity for Slugs and nearly all suppressed weapons. Selectively improved base velocity for weapons that were too slow for their intended range
- Damage Model: Many weapons have had their maximum and minimum damage adjusted slightly. It may take 1 extra bullet to kill at extremely close engagements and long range combat
- Trigger Delay: Removed from all revolvers
- Adjustments to slower rate of fire weapons to make them easier to use at longer ranges vs higher ROF weapons
- Carbines and PDWs now have unique bullpup modifiers that give improved bonuses over the rifle counterpart
- Ammo: Gave more ammo to the weapons that were short a mag compared to their counterparts
- DMRs: Audio when being shot at by a DMR has been improved
- SKS and M39EMR no longer allow you to hold breath
- Grenade capacity lowered and resupply times increased.


Start of the Teamplay Initiative!
The new Teamplay Initative on the CTE, which will be implemented in our coming releases, will focus on the teamplay aspects of Battlefield 4. Our goal is to improve, simplify, and make playing the objective (PTFO) more rewarding than it has ever been.


This initiative will span more than one release, as there are many things to look at. We will of course continue looking at the previous remaining issues and fixes in the areas of Netcode, Core Gameplay and balance as we go on.


For the Final Stand release, we will try and get these things addressed in time on the CTE:


- Gameplay objective scoring re-balance (make playing the objective more desirable)
- Health and ammo pack re-balance
- Fix for Neutral/Friendly roadkills exploit and getting killed by own vehicle
- Distance Spotting changes to make spotting at a distance more precise
- Footprint sound and random callouts improvements


This small list of features only scratch the surface of what we want to look at. A full list of our goals with this initiative will be published on the CTE this week if you are interested what we’ll be working on in following releases.


Taking part of the CTE
To experience early content and test features and improvements in the CTE, you currently need to own Battlefield 4 on PC and be a BF4 Premium member. To sign up, visit http://cte.battlelog.com. Hurry while there are still open slots available!


And as always – a big Thank You to all the players who have helped or is helping making us make Battlefield 4 a better game to play!


David Sirland
Battlefield 4 Live Producer
 

Scott Tortorice

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
7,663
Reaction score
99
Location
The shadows
Country
llUnited States
Another pleasant surprise from DICE:

FINAL STAND IS NOT THE END

With Battlefield 4 Final Stand released, we hope and believe that you will enjoy it together with the rest of the game for a long time. However, there is one thing we want to assure you: there is more content coming for Battlefield 4.

We will share details on exactly what this new content will be, and when it will arrive, in the near future. We understand that this may lead to even more questions about our plans, but rest assured that we’ll get back to you on the future of Battlefield 4 when the time is right.

GIVE US YOUR INPUT ON CLASSIC MAPS

We’re aware of – and humbled by – the many requests of re-creating classic Battlefield maps within the Battlefield 4 universe. Now we have a question for you: if a reimagining of a Battlefield classic map was to happen, which map would that be?

We’re really curious about your input on this topic, so head to this poll to share it: https://sv.surveymonkey.com/s/VMRMP3X

Note that you can vote on several maps from several Battlefield games.
This is smart and goes to one of my current annoyances with modern gaming: how game devs are releasing solid, ambitious titles, but then quickly abandon them to move on to remaking the game, but with slightly better graphics. Now, to be honest I don't think DICE would be doing this if the next Battlefield wasn't delayed, but I will still take it. Makes my game + premium purchase have better long term value.

BTW: I've been so out of video games lately that I didn't even realize the last expansion was released! THREE WEEKS AGO! Wow, that is proof positive right there!
 

zalan.reilly

Recruit
Joined
May 23, 2020
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Country
llAlgeria
Umm...yawn?

Nox Vidmate VLC
Nothing in that vid impressed me. It looks like a campaign expansion for BF3, rather than an entirely new entry to the BF franchise. Yet another scripted campaign; yet another series of hanging by your fingertips/having big objects fall on you; yet another bump in graphics to no good purpose. Boooring. About the only thing that caught my eye were the squad commands - reminds me a bit of Op Flashpoint...but, of course, Op Flashpoint had an open, sandbox campaign. Guess DICE was too busy bumping up the graphics to really offer anything new in terms of a SP campaign.

I find it ironic that the early comments on this video are all along the line of "this is going to kill COD!". Umm...how? As we've seen over the course of BF3 development, BF is slowly morphing into COD. Scripted campaigns with over-the-top action sequences; EA/DICE pumping out new BF/Medal of Honor entries to the series every other year; DLC that is dripped-dripped-dripped out to get every last dollar from the fanbase before rushing off to the next entry to the series. I know PC gamers like to pretend that BF3 is a proper PC game (I say pretend because BF2 was the last true PC entry to the franchise), but barring graphics, EA's handling of BF is now almost indistinguishable from how Activision is handling CoD. While BF3 was quite the jump from BF2 (but not that big a jump from Bad Company 2), BF4, based on this vid, seems to be an almost indistinguishable step.

I'll keep an open mind, especially since I haven't seen anything of the all important MP yet, but the SP campaign is not making me excited.

If BI can get their act together by putting together a decent MP component into Arma 3 (I mean an MP mode that has lots of public servers with standard gameplay modes like conquest, etc. that CoD and BF players will instantly recognize), I think there is a big opportunity for that game to become the new, preferred FPS experience.
It'll be huge! Do you know PC minimum requirements?
 
Top