Battlefield 4 Patches

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://blogs.battlefield.com/2014/01/bf4-balancing-vehicles/

 

 

UPCOMING VEHICLE TWEAKS

Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
 

1) Reduced the total amount of missiles carried by the Mobile Anti-Aircraft vehicles from 6 to 4. The total carried missiles were making it impossible for helicopters to use counter measures to avoid the MAA’s attacks.

 

2) Reduced the velocity of the MAA’s default 20MM CANNON from 1200m/s to 800m/s to match the 30MM CANNON. This reduction reduces the distance projectiles will travel and should prevent situations where the MAA could engage enemy vehicles without leaving its protected home base. The damage of the cannons remains unchanged, and aircraft, especially helicopters, should remain wary of getting too close to a MAA.

 

3) Reduced the physical impact of all Anti-Aircraft missiles to prevent helicopters from flipping uncontrollably when hit. The damage values have not been changed.

 

4) Reduced the cone in which ACTIVE RADAR missiles search for targets, making them require a higher level of skill in predicting where a target will be when the missile is fired. The missiles were previously too easy to aim at long range, making them a guaranteed hit and a clear advantage over the other missile types.

 

5) Increased the direct damage done by the Attack Helicopter’s gunner cannon. The gunner will be better able to assist the pilot in taking down vehicle targets with this change.

 

6) Increased the direct hit damage of the Zuni Rockets for Attack Helicopters. The rate of fire of these rockets combined with their smaller magazine pool made them a poor choice over the other two rocket types.

 

7) Reduced the splash damage and maximum splash damage range of the Scout Helicopter 25MM CANNONS. These weapons were too effective against infantry with a higher splash, making them a clear choice over the 7.62 MINIGUNS in all combat situations. The 25MM CANNONS are intended to give the Scout Helicopter some measure of effectiveness against vehicles, at a clear trade off in effectiveness vs. infantry.

 

Tanks and Anti-Tank

1) Reduced the “intelligence” of the MBT LAW missiles, requiring the player to aim the missile closer to their target before the smart projectile will activate. Additionally, the MBT LAW now reloads slightly slower. This keeps the MBT LAW in its role of an easy to use, fire and forget weapon available to all Engineers, while also balancing it with the other rocket launchers in favor of skilled AT shots. Finally, a bug where the MBT LAW would pass through an ACTIVE PROTECTION shield has been fixed.

 

2) Fixed an issue where ACTIVE PROTECTION and the MP-APS did not properly stop 12G FRAG rounds.

 

3) Reduced the range where the M2 SLAM will do maximum damage to vehicles from 6M to 3M. Players will now need to be craftier when placing the M2 SLAM in order to get the full damage potential of this ambush anti vehicle weapon. This change is to primarily counter a tactic of placing 3 mines in the same spot to guarantee a kill on any vehicle passing within 6m. The range was deemed to be too large, making the M2 SLAM far superior to the M15 AT MINE.

 

4) Reduced the damage the STAFF shell does to all targets by 25%. This should balance the ease of use of the STAFF shell with its damage potential.

 

DX told me about this patch earlier today.

 

I'm glad the Mobile AA is going to be nerfed. It could shoot anything in the air from any distance with no bullet drop. It was insane how quickly it could destroy anything. But it only has 6 total missiles that is being reduced to 4? I never noticed it would run out of missiles.. I wonder if that is per the life of the vehicle or per person who enters it. Could we just jump out of the vehicle and re-enter it to get all the missiles restocked?

 

I enjoy getting in a helicopter, but if the other team has a mobile aa, then i wouldn't even bother trying to get in the air. I thought some of these upgrades already went into effect because I was in a scout helicopter yesterday and the 25MM cannon hardly did any splash damage to infantry. Then again I was lagging, maybe it was a server issue at the time.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I don't know what DICE did to Air Superiority since I downloaded the Second Assault DLC.. that game mode is fun now. lmao. Helicopters seem to be able to take 2 heat seekers and a round of gunner seat fire and still recover. If attack helicopters worked this good on conquest, I would love it.

 

DICE needs to patch this game mode. I got 5 kills in a jet and no ribbon. I'm not even getting the kills for the jets on battlelog.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

DICE must be doing some active balancing. Attack Helicopters yesterday were horrible, but I was able to enjoy them on numerous matches today. I'd still get shot down, but I wasn't getting instant locked on everywhere I went. Maybe the stingers had their range reduced? Also, the UCAV now resupplies itself without needing to sit on an ammo box. This makes the gadget completely useable now. Now that I can shoot one off while playing the objective, as long as I stay alive for another 1:30 I can shoot off another. This should help eliminate UCAV campers.

 

Tank weapons have been rebalanced again. It looks like guided shells come with 2 at the spawn now and it reloads faster. The transition between HE shells and canister shells seems a bit faster now too. Everything I experienced tonight with the game was very positive. I hope they keep these changes.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2955065226050471362/

 

The most noticeable changes to me:

 

The server browser has been fixed.

 

DMRS have been buffed again. lmao. People who know how to use these DMRs will be even more beastly now.

 

The RGO impact grenade has been rebuffed and the Mini grenades have been nerfed.

 

The MTAR and MP7 have been nerfed.

 

Boats can now be pushed back into the water if they were beached.

 

And the big ones:

 

The Attack Helicopter gunner has been buffed.

 

The Mobile AA has been nerfed again.. decreased max heat seekers from 6 to 4. The 20MM cannon has been significantly reduced in range from 1200 to 800. And the impact from the heat seeker missiles has been reduced so that helicopters wont fly out of control upon being hit.

 

Ok.. I think Attack Helicopters could be enjoyable in this game now.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2979150493892912380/

 

Biggest changes to me:

 

-Fix for an issue where the ECM would sometimes fail to jam incoming missiles.

 

Wow. I've been using ECM for helicopters since I unlocked it. This is a big improvement. I evaded 2 stingers in one helicopter easily thanks to this fix. I had no idea the ECM jammer was failing more than half the time because I could never stay in the air long enough to realize it.

 

 

 

-Tweaked the detonation time of the 40mm LVG so it bounces less before going off. The maximum damage has however been reduced to 80 like the RGO.
-Reduced the number of how many 40mm HE and LVG rounds players can carry, from 4 to 3.
-Increased the time it takes to get new 40mm round from ammo boxes. The time is longer for HE and LVG grenades and shorter for utility grenades like SMK and FLASH.

GRENADE TWEAKS
-Increased the time it takes to get new RGO IMPACT, V40 MINI, M84 FLASHBANG and M18 SMOKE grenades from ammo boxes. Since the player now carries more of these grenades, the resupply delay needed to be longer to prevent grenade spamming.

 

 

This should make metro and locker more enjoyable instead of being an explosion fest.

 

VEHICLE TWEAKS
-Significantly improved the suppression from mounted vehicle weapons, including miniguns, HMGs, LMGs, and all shells types for all armored vehicles.

 

 

This was needed.

 

AIRCRAFT TWEAKS
-Further reduced the repair rate for the Scout Helicopters and the Transport Helicopters.
-Significantly increased the damage of Transport Helicopter miniguns.
-Changed the flight ceilings on Gulf of Oman, Caspian Border and Operation Firestorm to better match the height of the structures in those levels.

 

 

The repair rate on scout helicopters has been significantly nerfed. I was in one today repairing. I timed one entire usage of the repair torch till cool down time to see the change in the repair speed. I managed to repair maybe 40 points of damage. The torch was in cool down still by the time the second stinger was hitting us. But if there were two people repairing there would have been no issue at all for the helicopter.

 

 

AC-130 GUNSHIP TWEAKS
-Increased the splash damage and the range at which the JDAM bombs can achieve max splash damage. The JDAM's power was not properly balanced with its difficulty to use. The JDAM remains a primarily anti-vehicle weapon, though this change will increase the effectiveness against all targets.
-Increased the accuracy and direct hit damage of the AC130 40mm cannons. 40mm cannons can now be used to fire pinpoint shots in 2-3 round bursts, enabling them to provide accurate fire on infantry and vehicle targets. Their velocity has also been marginally increased to aid their accuracy.
-Increased the splash damage and range of the AC130 25mm cannons. These cannons now do approximately 50% more damage, in a slightly increased area of impact. The increased damage as well as increased suppression effects will allow the 25mm cannon to fill its role as an area of effect weapon against infantry.

 

 

This was definitely needed.. but holy f*ck it is overpowered on maps without jets. I wanted to destroy that damn gunship, but on a map with no jets and the helicopters have a capped ceiling so they can't get within shooting range of the gunship.. its nuts. You can't stinger it from the ground. The only thing you can do is get a helicopter close enough and Stinger / SRAW it out of the sky. On any other map the gunship perks are great.. but without a jet to take it out.. get inside a building if the other team controls it.