Battlefield V developer DICE has taken to Reddit to respond to the player base’s concerns about upcoming changes in patch 5.2.
In a lengthy post on Reddit (seriously, it’s more than 5,600 words long), Battlefield V developer DICE has responded to player concerns about update 5.2, which will be coming to the game in December. When the developer first posted the details about the upcoming changes to the game, there was some spirited discussion in the comments about how people felt they would impact the game.
The two primary areas of concern are perceived changes to time-to-kill (TTK), and what some players interpreted as a return of 3D spotting. While DICE went into great detail to answer specific questions they’d received from players, they also broke both main points down into shorter explanations in an attempt to clear up any confusion about what was happening.
Concerning time-to-kill, DICE confirmed that no effort is being made to change the time-to-kill in the game, but that rebalancing how different weapons perform at different ranges is an essential aspect of the game’s design. “We are honest when we state that we’re focused on balancing how each and every weapon across a range of classes and weapon types behave at different ranges,” DICE said. “Changing the base time to kill is not our goal, and these changes are far broader and more advanced than the blanket damage reduction that we briefly implemented late last year.”
3D spotting, a system that allows you to highlight the presence of enemy players to your teammates by marking them with a small chevron on screen, has a somewhat contentious history in the series. Some players love it, while others consider it a step too far, and somewhat immersion breaking. DICE are trying to meet both groups in the middle, looking to soothe the hurt of those who are tired of getting cut down by almost invisible players, while not intruding on the immersion of those who prefer a clearer screen.
According to DICE, the system they will implement with the update is not an attempt to introduce a new 3D spotting system. “The introduction of improved enemy identification is not targeted at creating a new form of 3D Spotting,” they said. “Our principal objective is to help to reduce the frustration felt by players who find themselves ‘deleted’ by players that they had no awareness of in close combat ranges.”
Since the launch of Battlefield V, many players have felt there is a massive communication problem between the community and the developers, so it is great to see DICE going to some lengths to assuage people’s worries about the upcoming changes. The success, or failure, of the system will be determined by the community come December.
