Thereās a lot to fix, and DICE hopes to have an update out āat the end of next weekā
Itās been a tumultuous launch for Battlefield 2042, to put it lightly. This isnāt a particularly easy fanbase to please in the best of circumstances, but this yearās high-stakes Battlefield is having an even rougher go than normal, and depending on who you ask, it could take a long time ā and a lot of critical updates ā for 2042 to reach its big-battle potential.
Some players, like me, are struggling to find the fun on some of these sprawling maps but keep trying to capture those ridiculous Battlefield moments when we can. Others dipped their toes in with the trial only to quickly peace out. Today, after a week of early access, Battlefield 2042 officially launched. So where are we at with some of these fixes?
DICE has a site up for known issues, though thereās more work being done beyond whatās listed there. A recent thread from the official @BattlefieldComm account spoke about other problems with Battlefield 2042 that are in the mix along with a rough ETA:
- Soldier Revives ā āWeāre confident that weāve identified the cause of the issue that was preventing you from always getting off a revive, particularly when a player is in close proximity to nearby geometry. A fix for this is on the way.ā
- Soldier Revives (pt. 2) ā āSeparately weāre closing in on a possible server-side fix for players who in rare circumstances find themselves unable to respawn. If that server-side fix doesnāt stick, we already have a further solution lined up for our upcoming update.ā
- UAV-1 Interaction ā āWe temporarily removed this whilst we could evaluate the best way to keep it balanced, and fun. That work is now complete and weāll be looking to re-enable this alongside the next update.ā
- Missing Loadouts ā āA rare issue that could sometimes cause a data call to fail on our end now has a fix developed, and is presently in testing. Weāre keen to roll this one out to you all and make sure that you donāt have that frustration of needing to reconnect to a server.ā
- Vehicle Balancing ā āThe LCAA Hovercraft will be re-equipped with lighter armor, lowering its health, and weāre tuning down some of its weaponry. The MD540 Nightbird will have similar tuning done on its weaponry too. Weāre keeping a close eye on early balance for future changes.ā
āWeāll keep you updated here on further fixes, and changes we have coming in our next updates,ā said the Battlefield Direct Communication account. āThese changes, and more, are presently scheduled for deploy at the end of next week.ā
Off the top of my head, I have struggled with āpersistence dataā errors (that prevent me from even reaching the main menu), rubberbanding (that isnāt strictly unplayable but really messes up the feel of longer-range gunplay in particular), bugged revives (that are the bane of my existence as mainly a medic), and broken loadouts (that keep me from quickly switching to gadgets and guns to respond to certain threats, like vehicles).
Thatās to say nothing of larger (potentially harder-to-resolve) game design issues that some players have expressed with Battlefield 2042. Funnily enough, the game runs quite well for me on PS5, though Iāve heard complaints about the PC version. For me, itās a flawed but sometimes fun experience at best right now, even without lots of bugs. Iām nervous about how DICE may (or may not) take playersā wider feedback to heart.
I know I should stick with the classic 1942, Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3 experiences in Portal, as theyāre the most reliably fun ways to engage with 2042, but I kind of canāt change the fact that I want to like the main All-Out Warfare modes. Thereās something here ā itās just that the awesome squad-based antics can feel so few and far between.
Iāll say this much: the whiplash I experienced going from an average round of Battlefield 2042 to my first (immensely satisfying) Oddball match in Halo Infinite was eye-opening.
Published: Nov 20, 2021 12:45 AM UTC