Battlefield 2042's massive early December update will bring back a few missing features, fix UI clutter
Battlefield 2042's third post-launch update is one of the most exciting.
DICE has offered a detailed look at Battlefield 2042's third post-launch update, set to go live in early December. This is going to be the game's biggest patch by far, and it's one that includes a tonne of fixes and the return of many missing features.
In a roadmap-style blog post, DICE not only offered a better look at the patch coming to the game tomorrow - which includes fixes for excessive weapon bloom, a nerf to the Hovercrafts, fixes for revive bugs and more - the developer also revealed the more substantial, more impactful update coming early in December.
The blog post covers a wide range of fixes, gameplay changes, UI additions and much more. There are too many to count, but we wanted to highlight several welcome additions.
One of the bigger contributors to the lack of team play in Battlefield 2042 is the game's UI and HUD. The December patch will make it so the downed screen can show you players who can revive you within 50 meters, as seen in other Battlefield games. If you ping a downed player as a someone with the ability to revive, they will get notified that a "medic" is on the way.
The annoying bug that makes it so you don't know if you're surrounded by enemies or friendlies in a downed state has been fixed, meaning friendly players will be appropriately highlighted. Speaking of which, you'll now see revive progress as a downed player when someone is reviving you.
If you run low on ammo or health, the UI will now highlight teammates nearby who can replenish those, so you can beg them to heal/resupply you. In fact, the game will tell you who healed/resupplied you to improve team play even more. Health bars in general will now be more prominent for enemy infantry and vehicles, to give you a better idea of their status.
Player world icons will now thankfully scale depending on their distance to you, which should help declutter your screen. Friendly player icons should now also be hidden when behind walls, which will further help with icon clutter.
The list of quality of life improvements extends to upping the resolution of the big map, which will make it easier for everyone to find out where they are. The fire mode indicator will now be visible by default, for weapons that allow fire mode selection. You can toggle it to be always-on, regardless of whether the weapon offers it or not.
Audio is another area getting touched up in this patch. While DICE didn't directly address the game's overall muffled soundstage, the developer is making tweaks to at least address how game audio affects gameplay.
Various sounds, such as reviving, shield deployment, flares, wingsuits and vehicle countermeasures will now be more audible when they happen off-screen. It should also be much clearer when you're getting shot at, as that audio will now be higher in the mix. Overall, audio for distant weapon fire should be more readable.
If you're a fan of the addition of AI bots, you'll be happy to know that they, too, are getting some boosts to their brain power. They will now revive you more consistently, fly helicopters better, and generally be more aware of the game mode they're playing.
DICE is also continuing to make changes to Battlefield 2042's gunplay. Following on from tomorrow's patch, the December update will address a few other sticking points. For one, switching back to your weapon after throwing a grenade should now be faster.
The NTW-50 sniper rifle, which was found to be more effective against vehicles than the M5 rocket launcher, has been nerfed. The M44 revolver should no longer chamber an extra bullet. The 8x scope, which had a faster ADS speed than lower-zoom scopes, should now take a bit longer to zoom in.
Vehicles will also see several adjustments and fixes, including a fix for that annoying bug that sometimes causes countermeasures to be entirely useless, allowing missiles to regain lock.
The Hovercraft will be further nerfed thanks to a fix that will allow players to shoot through the front window more consistently. There's also an assortment of other vehicle fixes, such as improvements to exiting positions for infantry, the removal of screen shake (for pilots) when firing rockets from a helicopter, a fix for the camera glitching through the ground sometimes, and some updates to the TOW Missile flying behaviour.
For players who like rewarding progression, the December update will add weekly missions that award cosmetic unlocks when completed. This is good news because the Collection screen should now be more responsive and intuitive, requiring fewer clicks to navigate.
Beyond that, there's a significant list of Specialist-specific changes, which you can read at the link.