After a brief delay, Battlefield 4's Naval Strike DLC has finally arrived on the Xbox One. The DLC was originally set to hit the platform on March 28 for Premium players, but developer DICE announced they were delaying the content to, "address issues in the animation system that hinder players from engaging targets in set circumstances using popular weapon configurations."
Along with addressing the aforementioned issues, the patch brings in numerous other additions. You can check out the list below:
General stability improvements
- Fix for a crash that could occur when players were customizing vehicles.
- Fix for an issue in the Rush game mode where end-of-round screen would always indicate that there were 60 minutes left of the game.
- Fix for an issue where the splash damage for IFV shells, Helicopter rockets, and Mortar rounds was unable to destroy deployed equipment.
- Fix for an issue that could cause the quad bike to explode when it hit indestructible objects.
- Fix for an issue that would cause sniper rifles to display too much bloom when aiming in snowy conditions, especially the outside areas of Operation Locker.
- Fix for an issue where the ECM would sometimes fail to jam incoming missiles.
- Shortened the take-off distances for jets to match the length of the runways in Second Assault maps.
- Fix for going above ceiling exploits in Operation Metro.
- Fix for a new MAV riding exploit.
- Fix for kill camera jittering/strobing sometimes if colliding with other world objects or terrain.
- Fix for soldiers getting catapulted when walking on steep surfaces.
Netcode
- Fix for an issue where the kill camera would display the incorrect killer.
- Fix for an issue where the kill card won't show up when playing on servers which have the kill camera turned off.
- Fixed an issue where other soldiers would appear to fire in the wrong direction when turning quickly.
- Fix for weapons firing twice, or not at all in some instances.
- Fix for an issue where explosions didn't do any damage to infantry and vehicles that were outside of the combat area.
- Fix for an issue where late-joining players wouldn't correctly experience Levolution events on Paracel Storm and Flood Zone.
- Fix for an issue that could cause packet loss.
Progression
- Added Gold Battlepacks as rewards for Class Service Stars, allowing players that have reached the max Rank to continue earning new Battlepacks.
Weapons / Gadgets tweaks
- Increased the damage of the normal buckshot against targets with Body Armor.
- Reduced the vertical recoil of the M4 and M16A4 to give these burst fire weapons a tighter burst accuracy in their mid- to long range role.
- Reduced the side-to-side and first shot recoil of the G36C. This weapon now has the lowest side-to-side recoil of the carbines, giving it a clear controllable low rate of fire role, especially when compared to the AK5C, Type-95B-1 and the AKU-12.
- 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.
Vehicle tweaks
- Significantly improved the suppression from mounted vehicle weapons, including miniguns, HMGs, LMGs, and all shells types for all armored vehicles.
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.
- Adjusted the damage of the 25mm and 30mm cannons for both Stealth Jets and Mobile AA to be equal in Damage Per Second to the 20mm default weapons. These weapons were clearly poorer choices in all circumstances, and their different rates of fire are intended to be the player's choice factor for these weapon systems.
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.
Still no word on when PC gamers will get the DLC.
Naval Strike offers four all-new multiplayer maps set in the South China Sea: Lost Islands, Nansha Strike, Wave Breaker & Operation Mortar. DICE detailed each map last week. The DLC also brings in five new weapons, the new amphibious hovercraft vehicle, and two additional gadgets - 3GL (3 grenade launcher) attachment for the Assault class, and the Anti-Heli Mine; an aircraft disabling projectile for the Engineer class. Finally, it includes a new game mode, "Carrier Assault," a re-imagination of Battlefield 2142's Titan Mode. More on that here.
Naval Strike's general release is set for April 8. Two more DLC packs are scheduled for a release this summer -Dragon's Teeth and Final Stand. Information for Dragon's Teeth is already starting to creep out, and rumors are in the air regarding potential map names and details.