In the run up to Battlefield Hardline’s release, Visceral Games (the developer) and EA promised players that it wouldn’t repeat Battlefield 4’s mistakes. Unfortunately, a DDoS attack on Hardline’s Xbox One servers meant that the launch didn’t go as smoothly as EA and Visceral would have hoped. But moving past that, a new patch is being release to make sure that the two companies deliver on those promises.
The main fix incoming with this patch is a change to Team Deathmatch spawning as “friendzones have been adjusted”. Spawning is a problem for most first person shooters, but for Battlefield Hardline it was one of the most highly requested changes. Players don’t want to find themselves spawning right in front of an enemy – if they get killed they want to have a fighting chance at least – so it’s good news that this is being dealt with.
There are also lots of adjustments for Hardline’s weapons too, which may see players having to customize their loadouts. The Saiga and the PRT will have reduced recoil (to match Cop faction DMRs), the HCAR and the HK51 also get reduced recoil stats (to match the SCAR-H and the SA-58) while the FMG-9 will have an increased damage stat and the .410 Jury will do more damage per pellet.
Meanwhile, Battlerifle minimum damage has decreased to 25, the AKM’s minimum damage will be 24 and the K10’s minimum damage will be 8 with a maximum damage of 33. There’s also bad news for people using RPGs to level up quickly in Hotwire as they will only have 1 RPG round when firing from the back of cars, but this is good news for everyone else as it was another highly requested fix.
In addition, there are several fixes for server crashes and party invites, which should hopefully lead to less waiting around for a game. On Xbox One, there’s a fix for players using invites to join friends after quickmatching, on Xbox 360 there’s a fix for players who are unable to invite friends while playing Rescue, the developer has fixed a server crash in Rescue, and all platforms have received “miscellaneous low frequency crash fixes”.
Fixed a server crash in Rescue
Increased the character limit in the MapList to support up to 150 maps in a rotation
You can now set the time limit to 0 and it disables the time limit instead of instantly ending the round in Blood Money
Various fixes for server crashes with rental servers (multiple issues addressed)
Fix for the timer in Conquest freezing when the user set the time limit higher than 800
Fix for MP squad join issue where after the squad leader gets disconnected, a new leader cannot kick members or disband
Fix for the patch awarded in released game for reaching Rank 10 in the Beta
Fix for Derailed Levolution where players were teleported to origin of Point B and killed in some circumstances
Fix for crash if the UI is disabled in the .cfg file
Fix for Bloodmoney exploit in HH where players could access the money pile through the floor/roof
Fix on XB1 for players using invite/join on friend after Quickmatching
Fix for the Uzi’s weapon license cost, setting it to the correct value of $50,000
Fix for X360 players being unable to invite friends while playing Rescue
Fix for a rare crash in the Customize screen
All platforms, miscellaneous low frequency crash fixes
GAMEPLAY CHANGES:
Conquest tickets increased (CQL 999, CQS 600)
Greatly decreased nearby bullet impact flinch; your aimpoint will not shift from rounds striking the environment near you
Fixed some issues with FLIR/IRNV
RPG reduced to 1 ammo from back of cars, with smaller explosion radius overall thus requiring more skill to use effectively
TDM friendzones have been adjusted for better spawning
Rescue / Crosshair exploit where players could skip the round start time by hitting START or ESC has been fixed
Couch health reduced and repair rate decreased to a miniscule amount, making the Couch the one-off it was intended
Player should no longer Quickmatch into servers with unsupported numbers of players
K10: Reduce max damage to 33 and min damage to 8
Saiga and PTR: reduce recoil to bring more in line with Cop faction DMRs
HCAR and HK51: reduce recoil to bring more in line with SCAR-H and SA-58
.410 Jury: Increase damage per pellet to become more effective
FMG-9: increase damage per round to 25 and push out falloff start range to make these weapons more effective
Battlerifle min damage increased to 25 across the board
AKM min damage reduced to 24
While the patch doesn’t cover everything (players are still able to see their killer’s feed in modes like Rescue, for example) it is a good start. Battlefield Hardline’s lead multiplayer designer, Thaddeus Sasser, also states that they are “working hard every day to improve the experience” and are “always listening to feedback” which bodes well for the future.
The patch hasn’t been dated yet as it has yet to pass certification, but it should be arriving in the “near future”.
What does Battlefield Hardline need to improve next? How has your experience with the game been?
Source: Battlefield Forum
