After generating plenty of excitement from the community last summer, Battlefield 2042 had one of the worst launches the franchise has ever seen and is still trying to recover months later. For most, Battlefield 2042 completely missed the mark, leaving both longtime fans and newcomers disappointed. Although DICE announced an unfortunate delay to Battlefield 2042's first season as it continues to release new updates, the community has seemingly lost hope as older Battlefield titles have quickly surpassed the active player counts.
While most fans have issues with the overall design decisions of Battlefield 2042 such as the various character class, which almost seem like something out of a hero shooter, DICE continues to attempt to improve and update the other aspects of the game that can be fixed. Already, the studio has released numerous patches, with one of the latest ones finally adding a scoreboard into Battlefield 2042, so that players can see how they're doing in a match. However, the studio is preparing one of its largest updates yet, with balancing, fixes, and massive map overhauls as well.
In a new blog post, the Battlefield Community Lead provided an update on how the studio is applying feedback to improve the map designs in Battlefield 2042. DICE has distilled the feedback into five different points of contention from traversal and intensity, to line of sight, pathing, and cover.
For Traversal, DICE has heard plenty of feedback regarding overall map sizes and how long it takes to move between flags or just getting back into the action after respawning at a base. Part of the issue stems from Battlefield 2042 having the biggest maps DICE has ever created to support 128 players, which has also had the side effect of spreading the gameplay out over a larger area. In order to fix this, DICE is reworking the positions of flags and the bases, and shows an example of the Breakthrough map where each sector has had its flags repositioned to be closer and more consistent with player movement.
DICE considers Line of Sight and Cover to be closely related, with players indicating that there are currently too many open and flat spaces where players can be shot from. Naturally, this leads to more long distance engagements between objectives. DICE is aiming to reduce the focus on long range combat by redesigning portions of each map and adding cover spots for those who may be running between objectives. This also includes more clear and defined paths to help move between the various objectives.
Finally, DICE is also taking a look at reducing the chaotic intensity of 128 player matches in modes like Breakthrough. During certain pushes for objectives, Battlefield 2042 players have indicated that combat can get too hectic and overwhelming to assess what's going on between vehicles, players, and abilities being used all at once. Part of that review process is potentially reducing the overall player numbers down to 64, something that seemed to be popular when the limited time mode was tested back in December.
While the proposed changes should please fans, DICE warns that these plans are still very early on and require substantial development time to achieve. Thankfully, these changes are already being applied to future Battlefield 2042 maps, so the wait won't be quite as long once the game's seasonal structure is finally launched.
Battlefield 2042 is available right now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: EA