In Battlefield 2042’s next update, version 4.1, DICE has elected to remove the version of Breakthrough which supports 128 players, opting to make it 64 players going forward.
Going live tomorrow, May 19, this update partially removes a feature that was a major part of DICE’s marketing, leading up its original launch.
The new update also provides a number of quality of life upgrades, balance changes to some Specialists, and of course plenty of bug fixes where needed.
DICE explains the change to remove the 128 player version of Breakthrough in the patch notes, saying it felt that a 64 player mode offered a more tactical experience, rather than the chaos caused in the 128 player version.
“When reviewing the available experiences in All-Out Warfare, we felt that the 128 player modes are better suited for Conquest where gameplay spaces are larger, and where you have a more natural fit for sandbox gameplay.
In Breakthrough’s 128 player mode, we feel that the value and impact of an individual player, and squad is reduced due to the increased intensity and chaos of the combat.
When reviewing Breakthrough, we noted that the 64 player version represented a more tactical experience.
Reducing our player count here helps to remove some of the chaos from the experience, and in combination with the reductions that we have made to the number of available combat vehicles, it means players are better able to hold frontlines more effectively.
Players will also find more space to work together and fulfill their individual roles.
As a result, squads in Breakthrough 64 have a better opportunity to work together, to flank the enemy, place a spawn beacon, use their plus menu to attach suppressors, then clear, and hold a point – one squad helping turn the tide as an example.
We believe that the move to 64 players will bring back the pacing that helps celebrate these moments of teamwork and PTFOing, and will be keeping a close eye on how our changes help to improve the experience ahead of the start of Season 1.”
On the Specialist front, Boris’ sentry gun has been given a nerf, and Angel can no longer give teammates armour plates from his supply bag.
You can check out the rest of the patch notes from update 4.1 arriving tomorrow, here.
Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1 Patch Notes
Fixes, Changes, and Improvements
General
- Vehicle Aim Sensitivity and Transport Vehicle Freelook Sensitivity Controller settings now always correctly apply their effects
- Aim Assist has been improved while aiming at moving targets
- Aim Assist should no longer incorrectly acquire targets through thin obstacles
- When not ranking up, you should no longer see the “You have been promoted screen” during End of Round
- Delivered improvements that help to reduce input lag
- Adjusted Trigger Weight to ensure that inputs feel more responsive when applying successive inputs
Audio
- The Announcer Voice Over for Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 3 experiences has been remastered, and now includes new radio sound effects
Battlefield Portal
- Specialists will now correctly display animations during the End of Round screen while in Battlefield Portal modes
- Made the following changes to Hardcore Templates within the Battlefield Builder to align them with our Featured Experience offerings.
- Enabled HUD in Hardcore Templates
- Disabled Mini-map and Compass in Hardcore Templates
Gadgets
- Hitting enemies with EMP effects now correctly triggers Player Disrupted XP
- Removed placement delay for deployable gadgets so they now appear instantly
- Deployable gadgets are now easier to deploy
Insertion Beacon
- The size of the Insertion Beacon has been increased so it’s easier to see
- The Insertion Beacon is now visible from further away
Further Changes
- Breakthrough 64 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S now have set map sizes for specific maps:
- Discarded, Manifest, Orbital, Kaleidoscope will play the 128 player version
- Hourglass, Breakaway, Renewal will play the 64 player version
Soldier
- The Compass now expands while in ADS to improve its readability
Specialists
Angel
- Angel will no longer be able to grant Armor Plates via his Supply Bag
Boris
- Spotting via the SG-36 Sentry Gun now highlights spotted players via a red dot, and spotted enemies are now also visible for friendlies
- The SG-36 Sentry Gun will no longer track players behind walls
- Overall damage and health for the SG-36 Sentry Gun has been lowered
- RPM reduced from 450 -> 250
- Start Damage 16 -> 10
- End Damage 10 -> 7
- Fall Off Damage Range 50 -> 40
- Projectile Speed 960 m/s -> 500 m/s
- Health 200 -> 150
- Lock-on time increased by 0.3 seconds
- Target Forget Time 2 -> 1.5 seconds
- Target lock-on range 65 -> 50m
- Reload Speed 5.2 -> 4.2 seconds
Dozer
- Bashing with the SOB-8 Ballistic Shield while inside smoke should now always deal damage
Irish
- Fortification System recharge rate reduced from 25 -> 20 seconds
Weapons
- Update 0.4.0 introduced an unintended change to the behavior of some weapons via incorrect values on their damage tables. In this update we’re restoring performance to its intended design and you should feel an overall improvement to weapon performance
- The impact of recoil affecting attachments has been lowered, while base weapon recoil has been improved to compensate. This means weapons without attachments now handle better
- Bolt Action Sniper breath control now lasts a max of 5 seconds, with an added 5 second penalty if used entirely
- Underbarrel Attachments no longer affect weapon deploy speed
- Overall horizontal recoil for DMR’s has been reduced
- Sidearms are now faster to deploy
AC42
- Increased the AC42 distance damage dropoff at higher ranges
AK24
- Removed the AK24 Semi Auto fire mode
- Increased AK-24 Burst Mode rate of fire to 900RPM
NTW-50
- Improved the NTW-50 effectiveness against vehicles
- Added an additional damage multiple versus tank tracks
PKP-BP
- Increased PKP-BP vertical recoil, and added a new horizontal recoil profile
SFAR-M GL
- Improved the SFAR-M GL damage at short to medium range
- Taking down an enemy now requires 5, instead of 4 bullets while at 20m
- Decreased the SFAR-GL distance damage dropoff
SVK
- Reduced SVK’s Horizontal recoil to make it easier to land follow-up shots
- Increased the SVK distance damage dropoff past 40m
- SVK’s High-Power Rounds damage lowered past 150m
- Taking down an enemy now requires 3, instead of 2 bullets
Vehicles
- Fixed a bug for no XP being rewarded when capturing an objective in a vehicle that wasn’t spawned via the Deploy Menu
Following the release of Update 0.4.0, we’re continuing to make balance adjustments to vehicle gameplay by updating the total number of vehicles that can be active at any time across maps in Conquest and Breakthrough.
Conquest 128:
- Kaleidoscope – Reduced each teams light ground vehicle allocation by 1
- Manifest – Reduced each teams light ground vehicle allocation by 1
Breakthrough 64:
- Breakaway
- Adjusted Sector 4 to reduce the Attackers number of Transport Air Vehicles by 1, and reduced the number of Heavy Ground Vehicles for Attackers and Defenders to 1
- Manifest
- Adjusted Sector 3 to remove the Defenders allocation of Transport Air Vehicles, and also reduced the number of Heavy Ground Vehicles for Attackers and Defenders by 1
- Hourglass
- Adjusted Sector 4 to reduce the Attackers and Defenders allocation of Heavy Ground Vehicles to 1, removed the Defending teams allocation of Transport and Combat Air Vehicles
- Renewal:
- Adjusted Sector 4 to reduce the Attackers and Defenders allocation of Heavy Ground Vehicles to 1
- Orbital
- Adjusted Sector 4 to reduce the Defenders allocation of Heavy Vehicles to 1
MAV
- The MAV is now part of the Transport vehicle category
M5C Bolte
- The M5C Bolte’s Missile Launcher no longer deals unintentional increased damage to air vehicles
- The M5C Bolte is now part of the Armored vehicle category
Source – [DICE]