Battlefield's been gone a long time, at least, not literally. Fans of EA's large-scale and destruction-oriented shooter franchise have had to deal with the series' short hiatus after Battlefield 5, regardless of whether or not they enjoyed the most recent entry in the shooter. Whether it was the largely negative reception to Firestorm, the time-to-kill changes, or the general bugs that numerous players experienced at launch, Battlefield 5 was marred with multiple shortcomings despite it's popularity. The return of the modern setting with Battlefield 2042 seems set to revitalize the franchise, borrowing from past entries, but that's not without its own fair share of criticism.

Beta access for the latest entry went live at the beginning of October, and to many Battlefield fans, the game was a less-than-positive surprise. Many found that Battlefield 2042's beta seemed particularly unfinished, regardless of the fact that DICE developers have been assuring players that the beta build was "a few months old." Even putting aside any and all bugs or glitches, many fans were quick to note missing features from previous Battlefield games, issues with enemy readibility without factions, and lackluster specialists that didn't feel like a proper replacement of classes. This week, DICE have outlined how beta impressions will shape Battlefield 2042's launch.

RELATED: Battlefield 2042 Open Beta Impressions

Battlefield 2042: Overarching Concerns Addressed By DICE

battlefield-2042-specialists

In a blog post published this past week on the official EA Battlefield 2042 website, DICE directly addressed many of these criticisms, beyond just the bug fixes and improvements coming at launch. Here's the rundown of everything DICE's news update discusses, giving players a final clue as to what the release version of Battlefield 2042 may look like.

Firstly, DICE partially addresses the role of Specialists in Battlefield 2042, alongside the reveal of the last five combat roles coming to the game. Primarily DICE states that without the additions in the final build of Battlefield 2042 (specifically the UI, poor enemy identification, no ping system, in-game communication, more on that later) prevented Specialists from promoting teamwork in the build. However, the blog post does not go in-depth about what's changing with Specialists in particular, and how they can promote teamwork similarly to (or better than) traditional solider classes.

DICE also addressed players' concerns with performance, backing up a previous comment by EA's community manager about Battlefield 2042's open beta being "a few months old." The post was relatively candid about the beta's status as a build dating back from August, separated from the in-development release build of Battlefield 2042. DICE stated that they knew the beta would "not showcase where we're at today with polish and how the game plays, not benefitting from all the additional work that's been done."

Beyond that, DICE also talked about the prevalence of Bots in servers, instead of rotating and filling in spots with new players mid-match. Some players had noticed that Bots were a bit more prevalent than necessary in several matches, which DICE has apparently addressed here. DICE also mentions an issues with players matchmaking into incorrect regions and causing high ping, of which they "ironed out a great deal of those creases in time for launch," and will continue to monitor.

Major Battlefield 2042 Changes Coming At Launch

Then there were the more specific gameplay changes coming to Battlefield 2042 as a result of the open beta. DICE addressed issues with the user interface, squad composition and tactics changes across all modes, as well as some additional changes to enemy visibility and disparity.

First was UI, of which some features were not present due to bugs with the experience. The primary example of such was the "Big Map," or otherwise the ability to bring up a map in-game. The ability to bring up the map in-game was removed, and DICE's post infers that it was causing in-game performance issues. Commorose, the in-game communications feature that was absent from the beta, is implemented in the full game. Contextual UI like the kill feed, points allocation, support points, and other notifications like previous Battlefield games have also been updated in the full release. Other changes like colorblind settings and text size are being addressed as well.

DICE also discussed how team play is expanded in the full release, and how individual progression will feed into Specialists and squad teamwork. Weapon and specialist customization will be available prior to spawning in-game and will be saved, while individual attachment, equipment, and ability upgrades will unlock like typical Battlefield rank progression. In terms of squad composition, there will be dedicated pre-game time to discuss squad comp. with allies if desired, and modes like Hazard Zone will not allow duplicate Specialists. This pre-game timer also allows for Specialist and loadout customization as well, giving players time to gear up.

Other than larger changes, the beta post also points out more specific, microcosmic changes. Firstly, the number of tanks on Orbital (the beta's sole map) have increased from four to eight total. Movement changes include the ability to strafe while sliding from sprint to crouch, vaulting "on moving objects," sped up entry/exit animations from vehicles, and adding movement penalties to constant jumping. Enemy grenades now have an on-screen indicator, as well. Additionally, changes to the lighting and visual distinction of enemies has been adjusted, as well as unique icons will be applied to both ally and enemy, with new restrictions on when player identity is revealed.

RELATED: Why Some Players Want Battlefield 2042 Delayed Again

Hope For Battlefield 2042, Lingering Issues Aside

Battlefield 2042 Pyotr Guskovsky tank

There are quite few key takeaways from DICE's post; in that some much-need adjustments have either been improved or otherwise addressed in the final game, while other requests don't align with Battlefield 2042's deliberate design.

In particular, other than reinforcing the development team's adherence to the Specialist design, team and squad composition will be much more open to all players. As opposed to traditional classes that gave distinct combat roles with benefits/drawbacks, Specialists are still a free-form design that blurs the line between all soldiers. The problem with greater freedom in player customization comes less inherent teamwork, which in turn, generally de-incentivizes teamwork in the first place. Specialists are here to stay in Battlefield 2042, and it's impossible to say whether or not the greater number of Specialists will encourage teamwork, but the beta's Specialists did not.

That being said, there are some encouraging changes in this update as well. Improvements to enemy readibility were a much-requested change, with many fans wishing distinct factions would return to Battlefield 2042 to remedy the issue. Higher contrast highlighting of enemies, alongside more lenient visual indicators, should hopefully alleviate the issue without affecting the Specialist character designs all that much. Similarly, all of the expanded UI changes are much needed compared to Battlefield 2042's beta, which did not provide nearly enough of the info necessary.

Overall, there are some encouraging updates in DICE's post-beta rundown for Battlefield 2042. Given that there's several months time between the open beta build and Battlefield 2042's release build, there is the possibility that the game is markedly improved. While issues with the Specialist design may still remain at launch, hopefully all the other quality of life adjustments can still make Battlefield 2042 a worthy addition to the franchise.

Battlefield 2042 releases on November 19, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Source: EA