Battlefield 4 (Winter Patch)

[Stoney Mason]

[Stoney Mason]

Big Patch Tomorrow. Basically months of CTE patches.




tl;dr: Major Changes to Rush. Most guns require 1 more bullet to kill, Lots of UI customization options, revive timer icon, etc, etc. 

[thisismyusername]

tl;dr: Major Changes to Rush.

Moving a few crate locations around per set isn't "major changes." It helps a little bit, but the shit map design doesn't help the mode at all.

The only worthwhile change is the triage icon. Why that wasn't in BF3 or in BF4 on launch is beyond me.

[Stoney Mason]

It's not perfect but its absolutely better than it was before where some M-Com placements were 100% dead stops with competent teams.

I also think there are plenty of worthwhile changes and bug fixes but opinions and all that.

[thisismyusername]

Bug fixes are nice, yeah. But everyone going "ZOMG RUSH IS IMPROVED" either hasn't played the sets (which I did via CTE) or probably won't touch Rush in general. I've put in enough time to have 100-150 "service stars" in that mode, so around 100 or 200 hours since it takes longer to get stars in that mode than Conquest. I've put up with it since I really like Rush in Bad Company/2 and BF3. But BF4 was supremely disappointing. The "improvements" are small and helpful, sure. But they don't fix some of the design issues that the maps have. A few of the sets don't really change from "dead stops" except into a small tug-of-war where the attackers still lose or the defenders get rolled over due to the lack of changing the map for the mode.

I think a lot of people should temper expectations. CTE is doing "good work" but it isn't a "massive improvement" that a lot of people are thinking.

[Stoney Mason]

I've put in decent time on CTE and I think the improvements overall are nice. Of course we are speaking in relatives. It doesn't fix the overall design focus which was the problematic part of Battlefield 4 but the fix list for bugs is massive and there are a lot of necessary and useful changes. The patch list will be massive and a lot of those are simply bugs or broken stuff. That alone makes it worthwhile if you are someone who was still putting time into vanilla at this point and hadn't moved on.

People will always overhype anything so yes talk of Battlefield 2.0 or youtubers hyping something to inflate views is always going to be overdone but simply fixing a few hundred bugs and bad design decisions is always welcome whether its worth hype or not.

It's a better product because of that.

As far as rush I can only speak for my own experiences. I've won far more often on CTE than I ever did on vanilla. Which doesn't make it ideal if the map wasn't a great design for rush in the first place which afflicts a lot of bf 4 maps compared to Bc 2/bf3. But the second set of old siege of shanghai maps are the exact example of the dumb shit DICE sweden put in the game. That M-Com set was 100% broken before and a dead stop. All the maps were full of decisions like that which were just objectively broken. Like most of the patch in some aspect its better. Whether that's fixing visual recoil, reducing the amount of grenade spam by a hair, or removing some of the invisible walls. It's a mix of fixing annoying bugs and fixing obvious broken mechanics in some cases.

I also like the UI stuff. Maybe minor for some dudes. But being able to customize a lot of that stuff was really helpful for me in a game that often takes place in a state of hud overload.

Battlefield 4 will always be a mixed bag because the design was wrong and misguided in a lot of cases and that's the original sin. But the patch is worthwhile because it fixes some of the 100% even Stevie Wonder could see this wasn't going to work aspects that have been in the game since launch.

[Eel O'Brian]

Classic BF mode sounds good

spoiler (click to show/hide)

no one's gonna play it

[close]

[Stoney Mason]

Classic BF mode sounds good

spoiler (click to show/hide)

no one's gonna play it

[close]

Unfortunately very true.

[thisismyusername]

I can agree with that, Stoney.

And people were playing Classic in CTE. I think it'll get some of the player base. Maybe not on consoles, but on PC? I could see it happening. Though not for me. Not my jam.

[Stoney Mason]

Patch is live for PC. Will be up on other platforms later today.

The following tweaks and bug fixes apply across all platforms. However, PlayStation 3 and PC has unique fixes that you can find on the bottom of the post.

GENERAL
•   Fix for a crash that could occur when entering a vehicle or using a gadget.
•   Improved soldier movement to closely match that of Battlefield 3 while still maintaining animation fidelity of Battlefield 4.
•   Fix for an issue on the Siege of Shanghai where players could make themselves invincible near Flag A.
•   Added pre-round ready state. The minimum player’s ready per team needed for the round to start is calculated from the team with less players.
•   Crosshairs/Optics scale tweaked and visibility against light backgrounds improved.
•   Helicopters and jets now affect trees and bushes which are set up to react to wind.
•   Various collision fixes and other performance improvements have been made to Dragon’s Teeth maps.
•   Uniform soldier aiming allows the use of procedural aim rate instead of the original preset numbers.
•   Fix for elevators on Dawnbreaker being active on the Domination, Squad Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Defuse game modes.
•   High latency indicator tweaked to give players a better idea of when they are experiencing lag.
•   Fixed a rare issue where a second Commander would spawn over the already existing one in a certain scenario, resulting in 2 Commanders on the same team.
•   Fixed the missing kill card issue for hardcore and anytime the killcam is off.
•   Increased the Chain Link game mode round timer to 30 minutes. Ticket bleed rate has also been changed to be 40% slower.
•   Fixed an issue where a player trying to join a full server would get an incorrect error.
•   Added “Classic” Server presets.
•   Increased the gunship cooldown for Commander to 60 seconds.
•   Fixed an edge case where a Commander asset will never get "activated" for a team if the Commander is under a Proxy Attack.
•   Fixed a crash related to the Riot Shield.
•   The high frequency update is now on by default and cannot be turned off. It now also supports PlayStation 3/Xbox 360.
•   Reduced the time it takes to display the incoming damage indicator.
•   Fixed an issue where players joining Lancang Dam after the Levolution event didn’t hear the VO and alarm.
•   Fixed issue where Battle Pickups would sometimes get dropped immediately after picking them up. Also fixed a problem where Battle Pickups can't be picked up when other soldiers are nearby.
•   Made 100 tickets the default Rush ticket value.
•   Fixed an issue where field upgrades would be lost when a player spawned into a vehicle.
•   Tweaked smoke effects. Smoke is now bigger, has higher density and lasts longer.
•   Fixed some materials that would react incorrectly to projectile collision.
•   Fixed an issue where squads would get bigger than the supported maximum of 5 players.
•   Fixed a bug where the Gamertag would not appear correctly in the emblem report screen.
•   Updated player icon to show a shield variant when using the 10% health reduction perk (showing for enemy players only).
•   Fixed an issue where players could get underneath the ship at Objective "E" on Paracel Storm
•   Reduced head flinching on soldiers.
•   Added functionality to be able to shoot when falling (not jumping).
•   Fixed an exploit on Operation Locker.
•   Fixed an exploit near the US base on Metro 2014.
•   Fixed an issue on Dawnbreaker where players could get underneath the map.
•   Fixed an issue where players could get under the map on Hainan Resort on the beach near the US base. Also fixed an issue where players could hide behind a wall and shoot at other players.
•   Fixed an issue where the health/ammo boxes would block the line of sight for the defibrillators.
•   Permanent fix for gadget exploit where a user could equip gadgets from different classes.
•   Fixed an instance where unlocked China Rising or Second Assault assignments were being shown as if they were not unlocked and no progress had been done.
•   Adjusted the red dot reticles for medium and long range sights for the Engineer Class primary weapons.
•   Visual Recoil: Close range sights (except iron sights, IRNV and FLIR) and all Medium range sights have been changed to no longer be affected by animation AKA Visual Recoil. The removed random effect has nothing to do with real weapon recoil and doesn’t affect it.
•   Vehicle hold or press button for boost option added.
•   Added UI options for tweaking the ADS aiming sensitivity. The advanced options are now exposed in a separate advanced control options section.
•   Fixed a Commander issue that could cause the cruise missile not to work properly if a flag received a neutral status while the missile was in the air.
•   Fix for an issue where opposite teams would initially spawn too close to each other on Team Deathmatch, affecting all maps.
•   Obliteration fix for an issue where the round would end while the bomb is armed due to the timer running out.
•   Flashbang now dims the HUD when player gets affected by it.
•   Fixed an issue on Capture the Flag game mode where the team with the highest number of points wins regardless of flag captures (points should only be counted on a draw).
•   Fixed for an issue on Lumphini Garden on Conquest Large game mode where Capturing Flag B while the Commander is under a Proxy Attack will not give the infantry scan asset.
•   Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the customization menu while playing Defuse.
•   Fixed LMG iron sights fires to reflect last few bullets visibility.

CARRIER ASSAULT IMPROVEMENTS
•   When the carrier is opened up the parachute spawn will be available as before.
•   When the first crate is destroyed the defender team is moved back into the boat but the attackers still will only be using the parachute spawn.

DRAGON’S TEETH MAP IMPROVEMENTS
•   General collision fixes.
•   Glitches/Exploit fixes for high places.
•   Added out of bounds for rooftops to support restricted areas and prevent exploits.

JET IMPROVEMENTS
•   Fixed an issue related to the chase camera that could cause a glitchy orientation when the camera was targeted straight up or down.
•   Added new positions for 3P jet cameras.
•   Added weapon reticle to the 3P jet camera.
•   Added an option to turn on/off the rolling (along with the jet) for jet 3P cameras.
•   Fixed an issue with the SU50 and F35 not properly playing bullet impact sounds when under fire.
•   Jet guns visual recoil has been reduced to 30% of what it was before.
•   Improved the “stall” behavior of jets when reaching max vehicle height.
•   Fixed issues where attack jets’ cockpit geometry was clipping/obstructing the HUD

WEAPON TWEAKS AND FIXES
•   Fixed an issue with inaccuracy on the RPG and XM-25 where if after shooting a player very quickly it switches to another weapon then switches back, then the dispersion is large until after the first shot.
•   General weapon tweaks: Reduced suppression recoils. Removed recoil modifier for zoom. Made a 75% reduction in hip recoil.
•   Muzzle Brake: Lowered the overall impact of this attach. Both its positives and negatives have been reduced.
•   Heavy Barrel: Lowered the buff it gave to minimum moving spread, and moved some of that bonus into reduced spread increase. The Heavy Barrel should now be a good option for longer range tap firing.
•   Lasers: Added a small buff to standing hip fire accuracy.
•   Corrected spread increase values that were previously incorrect. (This primarily affects expansion pack weapons).
•   Added missing bullpup modifier to SAR-21.
•   Bullet velocity increases: Improved bullet velocity for Slugs and nearly all suppressed weapons. Selectively improved base velocity for weapons that were too slow for their intended range.
•   Damage model: Many weapons have had their maximum and minimum damage adjusted slightly. It may take one extra bullet to kill at extremely close engagements and long range combat.
•   Trigger Delay: Removed from all revolvers.
•   Desert Eagle: Bullet velocity and minimum damage reduced.
•   Adjustments have been done to slower rate of fire weapons to make them easier to use at longer ranges vs higher rate of fire weapons.
•   Carbines and PDWs now have unique bullpup modifiers that give improved bonuses over the rifle counterpart.
•   Ammo: Gave more ammo to the weapons that were short a mag compared to their counterparts.
•   PDWs: Improved moving minimum spread.
•   LMGs: Improved moving spread of mag fed LMGs vs their belt fed counterparts.
•   DMRs: Audio when being shot at by a DMR has been improved.
•   SKS and M39EMR no longer allow you to hold breath.
•   Bullet velocities increased.
•   Bolt Actions: Some bullet velocities increased. Gol Magnum rate of fire slightly reduced.
•   SMAW: Slight increase to top speed and acceleration.
•   MBT LAW: This underwent a big change based on community suggestion. You will need to aim slightly more accurately to engage the tracking. It is much harder to have it track a random vehicle between you and your target. It will no longer lock on targets behind cover. It has been slowed down slightly. It now begins tracking at 100m instead of 15, this gives the target slightly longer to react to the lock warning.
•   SLAMs: Damage and blast radius reduced slightly. Three Slams will no longer take out a MBT on their own. The disabled MBT will need a single rocket to be finished off.
ANIMATION BUG FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS
•   All pistols: Removed randomization of iron sights fire animation on most pistols per CTE feedback.
•   All automatic pistols: Shortened duration of slide animation during firing animations to prevent slide appearing to not cycle when firing quickly.
•   Automatic rifles: Fixed missing trigger pull animations.
•   Unica 6: Fixed hammer getting stuck on iron sights fire animation. Shortened reload threshold so magazine registers as full, faster.
•   CS5: Fixed magazine going invisible if reload is interrupted. Fixed problem where bolt action animation wouldn’t play when firing near the end of the tactical reload animation.
•   G36C: Fixed charging handle position during full/tactical reload.
•   CZ-805: Fixed charging handle position during full/tactical reload.
•   AWS: Enabled semi-automatic fire.
•   XM25: Fixed fire animation; including reciprocating charging handle.
•   Bulldog: Fixed problem with tiered reload.
•   M60E4: Adjusted reload interrupt branches to match other LMGs; ammo box now stays mounted on interrupt.
•   L96A1: Added missing interruptible reload branches.
•   JNG90: Adjusted reload threshold to prevent bypassing re-chamber animation at the end of empty reload.
•   SR338: Fixed bug where fire animation could be skipped by firing at a certain cadence. Raised reload threshold.
•   L85A2: Adjusted foregrip position so Angled Grip attachment doesn’t clip through the trigger guard; fixed reload animation bug that could cause accessories to shift on the weapon during animation.
•   RPK-74M: Reduced both reload times by .3 seconds to better match animation.
•   HK45C: Removed hammer position mismatch between idle and ADS.
•   ACW-R: Reduced time to register reload.
•   QBU-88: Fixed clipping issue in deploy animation.
•   SR2: Added reciprocating bolt fire animation.
•   SR2: Fixed missing bolt on empty reload animation, fixed sprint pose clipping issue in water.
•   870: Fixed blending issue after zoom fire/pump action animation.
•   M16A4: Fixed mismatched bipod pose, broken dust cover on model.
•   RFB: Removed extra shell that moved when firing with a bipod and iron sights.
•   MK 11 MOD 0: Opened dust cover to prevent jamming. Removed incorrect rotation during bipod fire animation.
•   All DMRs, M82A3 Battle Pickups: Fixed bipod fire issue that skipped fire animation at higher rates of fire.
•   M412 Rex, .44 Magnum: Adjusted fire animations for new trigger delay values, corrected trigger discipline while running.
•   All belt-fed LMGs: Added “last few rounds” ammo visibility system to ADS fire animations.
•   AWS: Fixed foregrip position to be on-rail in 1st person.

GRENADES
First grenade balance pass.

Highlights:
•   Reduced initial capacity of RGO and v40 Minis by one.
•   Reduced blast radius of RGO and v40 Minis requiring more accuracy for full damage.
•   Increased the time it takes to refill explosives from ammo sources.
•   These changes are an indirect buff to the Offensive and Grenadier specialization.

Detailed list:
•   Reduced RGO capacity 2->1
•   Reduced RGO inner blast radius 1.65->1
•   Reduced v40 capacity 3->2
•   Reduced v40 blast radius 7->6
•   Reduced v40 inner blast radius 2.5->1
•   Increased ammo bag pickup time for grenades:

Flashbang 5s->9s
RGO 7s->25s
v40 8s->13s
Handflare 1s->6s
M18 5s->9s
M34 8s->25s
M67 5s->25s
XM25 DART 1s->3.5s (5->4 rounds)
XM25 3.5s->6s (2->1 rounds)
40mm 3GL 8s->18s
40mm Smoke 2.5s->5s (matching flashbang now)
40mm LVG/HE 8s->9s

UI TRIAGE (HUD TWEAKS AND FIXES)
•   Added advanced options for adjusting HUD icons.
•   HUD icons transparency support.
•   Aim down the sight (ADS) now causes auto transparency for HUD icons.
•   Added a new option for whether tapping spot button should give attack/defense orders.
•   Game mode bar on top of the mini map now also display objective squad order status.
•   Fixed issue with having space between the mini map and the Team Deathmatch game mode info bar.
•   Fixed the minimap world directions not showing in the Chinese version of the game.
•   Added advanced gameplay options sliders to control the transparency of the HUD elements.
•   Adjusted the red dot reticles for medium and long range sights for the Engineer Class primary weapons.
•   Added an advanced gameplay option to change the size of the minimap
•   Added an advanced gameplay option to make the minimap icons auto size along with the minimap scale
•   Added an advanced gameplay option to set the default minimap scale

REVIVE IMPROVEMENTS
•   Revive timer has been added. It will show timers on teammates so that the player can choose who to revive.
•   Added a sound when defibrillators are 100% charged (giving the revived player 100% health back).
•   Fix for an issue that could cause the HUD to disappear when the player brought up the game menu while in a revive state.
•   Added initial implementation of revive timers for soldiers in man down state. It will now show timers on a teammate so that the player can choose who to revive.
•   Fix for a bug when you were able to revive teammates by only rubbing the defibrillators.
•   Fix for issue that would sometimes occur when two players on a team equipped defibrillators at the same time next to each other and are about to revive another team player, the player who is reviving gets no score and the other player gets score instead.

RUSH IMPROVEMENTS
DICE <3 RUSH is an ongoing Battlefield 4 Community Test Initiative with the intent to improve Rush on base-game maps. This initial release includes new layouts and rule sets implemented on:

•   Flood Zone
•   Golmud Railway
•   Hainan Resort
•   Lancang Dam
•   Operation Locker
•   Paracel Storm
•   Rogue Transmission
•   Siege of Shanghai
•   Zavod 311

Improvements to Dawnbreaker and further tweaks to the above maps will be looked at.

•   Disabled Commander on the Rush game mode for all maps

OBLITERATION COMPETITIVE IMPROVEMENTS
•   Reduced radar sweep on home bases to 40 meters.
•   Bomb does not have to be planted in a sequence anymore.
•   Reduced the time it takes to plant a bomb from 10 to 8 seconds.
•   Raised Obliteration Bomb icon over the bomb carrier's head.
•   Reduced the combat area on Operation Locker based on player feedback.
•   Reduced the combat area on Golmund Railway and tweaked the spawn points.
•   Fixed bomb out of bounds on Golmund Railway.
•   Blocked pipe access to rooftops on Zavod 311.
•   Reduced the combat area on Zavod 311.

PLATFORM SPECIFIC FIXES

PC
•   Fix for a game crash.
•   Added FOV slider (option) for the chase cameras of all vehicles.
•   Fix for an issue where Users where unable to rebind gadgets to slot 1.
•   Fixed an issue where the chat log settings wouldn’t properly function after a player exited the game.
•   Tweaked latency indicator.
•   Better post-processing for medium graphics settings.
•   Fix for when the text input form clears when switching between EOR camera and scoreboard. The text now remains in place regardless of the game actions.
•   Added an option to turn off the jets auto throttle feature.

PS3
•   Fix for a game crash
•   Fix for a crash that could occur during the end of round screen.

SERVER FIXES
•   Fixed an issue where taking damage indicators (the red wedge) where pointing in the wrong direction.
•   Lowered frame history time on all platforms to improve on ‘out of region’ player issues.

[Dickie Dee]

So is this maybe worth getting now? I just bought a PS4 and want a good multiplayer game to go with it

[thisismyusername]

So is this maybe worth getting now? I just bought a PS4 and want a good multiplayer game to go with it

It's been "worth getting" for months now, bro. The problems at launch haven't been problems for a while. The game has "game-design" issues now. But they're no where as bad as Hardline's.

[Beezy]

Haven't played this since I bought it smh (pc version). I should try it tonight.

[Stoney Mason]

So is this maybe worth getting now? I just bought a PS4 and want a good multiplayer game to go with it

I would wait for a sale price but yeah if there was ever any time to get it this is probably a decent time to do it. There will be another biggish patch in a few months for another big initiative called Team Play but that's still a good ways out.

[Rahxephon91]

If you wait, there's bound to be a core game+premium pack.

[Stoney Mason]

There is something about Mantle that absolutely hates my videocard even though its an ati card. Always crashes it. Even with latest patch and drivers. Annoying.

[Eel O'Brian]

I just sat down to play this on XB1 (EA Access version). Haven't played at all since the big patch. I'm going to have to relearn how to play, all the changes threw me way the hell off after having gotten used to the way things were before when I was playing on PS4. I was flailing around blindly at least 50% more than I usually do, haha. Checked out the options, and Jesus, it's almost too much to keep up with. Sucks having to unlock everything again

[Stoney Mason]

Most of the necessary UI changes are on by default and with the extra stuff, there are videos out there that show you the setup for popular youtubers but for the average gamer the default setup is still fine. I changed stuff on mind to try to help me focus on the enemy soldiers and just went in a few games and played around to see what each setting did. 

[Stoney Mason]

The last BF 4 DLC unless the rumoured bonus DLC comes out.

[Stoney Mason]

Actually kinda digging these maps after not expecting to. I'm generally not a fan of massive maps but these maps have areas where I can still be effective as an infantry player.

And this scared the shit out of me.

http://gameclipscontent-d3003.xboxlive.com/asset-bddcb89e-a6f6-4e11-84c4-7162298fde0b/GameClip-Original.MP4?sv=2012-02-12&st=2014-11-19T02%3A09%3A59Z&se=2014-11-19T03%3A14%3A59Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=qppoSYDc1XtRacciD41woQ3KMe82dcQrZYTwnpWf11k%3D&__gda__=1416366899_3575449465817d8c730d6b22fa53a346

[bork]

PC version (digital download key) for five bucks at Gamestop:

http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/battlefield-4/108897?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&cid=afl_10000087&affID=77777&sourceID=lw9MynSeamY-AdgVK0a5oSxajKkpicyBHQ&affID=77777&sourceID=je6NUbpObpQ-3PEB4Zp7tySMdKL98stTWw

[Rahxephon91]

The Final Stand maps are fantastic.

[Stoney Mason]

So the Winter patch arrives today.


http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/news/view/improving-battlefield-4-the-winter-update/
http://static.cdn.ea.com/battlelog/customcontent/winterpatch/Patchnotes_WinterPatch.pdf

I'll fully admit they've won me over. That is DICE LA at least. And I have to give credit to EA. I think most big companies after releasing BF 4 in the state they did would have done the minimum and left it at that. They've done a lot to this game over time and continue to support and make amends. If they hadn't that might have been the end for me with the Battlefield franchise but I'm satisfied they realize what a fucked up job they did. Hopefully Battlefront doesn't end up the same way on launch.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I'm in for this.

Gotta love Dice LA.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Any of you stay at home borians process this patch yet?

Afraid they are going to fuck something up, I am.

[Stoney Mason]

Played for a good number of hours this evening. Had a really fun time.

As far as the patch the most important things I would say are.

A.) They fixed the shit where tiny little ledges everywhere would hang you up. This has been a bad problem since launch and it got worse with the last patch. Its finally fixed. I didn't get hung up on little ledges while running around anytime during the play session and it easily happened a half dozen times or more during any play session for me before.
B.) They did some stuff with the high frequency hit detection that is welcome. This video will explain it better than I could but it was noticeably better to me tonight.




C.) You can now customize your hitmarkers. So you can make headshots a different color. And you can make the killshot a different color hitmarker. These sound like small minor things but they are so welcome. It's instant feedback as you play instead of having to guess when you get the kill or the headshot. Small but very welcome.
D.) On consoles the DLC maps can now be part of a rotation with regular maps. This has always been the case on PC, but on console the DLC map packs were setup aside into their own thing which means they never got played. Now I'm actually playing DLC maps because they are part of the official rotation on certain servers.

There are lots of other little things but those are the ones that stood out for me.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Thanks, will D/L tonight and get some time in if I can.

[thisismyusername]

Wait, consoles didn't have the DLC maps in official/"DICE", "EA", "P#" servers? After Battlefield 3 did that?  WTF EA/DICE?

The colored hit markers and reticles is the best thing to come from the patch. No more white blending into the sun.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I don't think the patch is out for XBONE yet unless it automatically downloaded. I was not given a prompt to install it.

[thisismyusername]

You should've auto-installed. It's been out on all platforms since Tuesday.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

You should've auto-installed. It's been out on all platforms since Tuesday.

Perhaps it did when I was away. Guess it does that with downloads now.