Every other day, there seems to be some kind of a problem for Battlefield 4 across varying platforms. The China Rising DLC released yesterday, and many were reporting they were unable to download it. Second Assault had similar problems on the Xbox One. Add in a wide array of various other glitches and setbacks, and Battlefield 4 ultimately seems like a sinking ship, but not one that the developer is ready to give up on. DICE and EA are calling on all staffers to pitch in and start baling water, resulting in a full stop on the game's remaining DLC additions.
That's exactly what an EA spokesman told Polygon in the following statement:
"We know we still have a ways to go with fixing the game - it is absolutely our No. 1 priority. The team at DICE is working non-stop to update the game. Since Battlefield 4 China Rising expansion pack was already in the final stages of development by the time issues began with Battlefield 4, we decided to fulfill our promise to deliver it this week, but we're not moving onto future projects or expansions until we sort out all the issues with Battlefield 4. We know many of our players are frustrated, and we feel their pain. We will not stop until this is right."
It's unclear if "future projects" refers specifically to Battlefield 4 DLC, or upcoming titles from EA, but that's what IGN seemed to suggest. The progress of exact titles or if they would be delayed as a result was explicitly stated by EA, but when the outlet asked about the new Star Wars Battlefront and Mirror's Edge games, the EA rep responded, "We haven’t announced a ship date for Battlefront but right now the team is focused on fixing Battlefield 4." Not exactly a confirmation or denial, but it doesn't sound good. Keep your fingers crossed.
Since announcing the halt, DICE is making some progress. The developer rolled out another update for the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game earlier today, which fix the one-hit-kill bug. You can see the complete patch list for each version below:
PS4
- Fixed the "one-hit kill" bug where damage from a single bullet sometimes was applied multiple times. This could lead to firefights where normal rifles sometimes dealt one-shot kills, which is not as designed.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when having a very large amounts of Friends
- Enabled audio in PS4 video captures
PS3
This patch is mainly focused at increasing game stability and contains a number of crash fixes. Accumulated, these fixes should help increase stability overall in the game.
- Reduced the risk of a crash when transitioning from one multiplayer round to another
- Fixed a crash that could occur when creating decals (bullet hit effects, etc.)
- Fixed a crash that could occur when leaving vehicles
- Fixed a crash that could occur when moving outside of the intended play area
- Fixed a crash that could occur when firing the MBT and IFV gunner incendiary weapon
- Fixed a crash that could occur when opening the Options menu
- Fixed a problem with weapon accessories using up too much memory, which in turn could lead to crashing
- Fix for stuck in infinite loading screen
- Fix for flares exploit where you could deploy flares faster by leaving and re-entering a vehicle
- Moved an infantry spawn point on Rogue Transmission at first base that was previously positioned outside of combat area
- Adjusted AT weapon at first base on Rogue Transmission from second floor barrack to outside on ground. Previously, players had to destroy a wall in order to reach the weapon
- Performance fix when firing upon large destruction objects (mostly after Levolution events)
- Minor performance optimizations
- Fix for destroyed object parts still being visible in the game world
- Smoother movement of networked objects (like vehicle turrets)
- Fix for audio randomly dropping out when driving a US tank
- SP/South China Sea: Added collision for place where player could get stuck
* Improved Hit Sync - We previously removed interpolation of damage events (like you taking damage from someone shooting at you) to make them feel more responsive, but that made the damage sync suboptimal. We are committed to tweaking the sync so that it will stay more true to what you are actually seeing. The first step towards this is taken in this patch, so you should see some improvement on this now. We will continue to work on improving hit sync in the game. This change is already live on PS3, PC, and PS4, and will go live on Xbox One and X360 in upcoming patches.
* Field Upgrades Reactivated - We have now fixed the Field Upgrades "Indirect Fire" and "Perimeter Defense" that were crashing the game. These Field Upgrades were previously deactivated as a workaround to this very frequent crash. With this fix in place we are now reactivating the Field Upgrades in question.
* One-hit Kill Bug Fixed - Fixed the "one-hit kill" bug where damage from a single bullet sometimes was applied multiple times. This could lead to firefights where normal rifles sometimes dealt one-shot kills, which is not as designed.
Despite the fixes, gamers are still reporting glitch similar to one-hit kill bug. DICE is insistent that this is "another issue that we are working on addressing." The patches are currently out everywhere except North America, but the team is working on making it live in the region "as soon as possible."
It's unknown if the halt will affect the general availability of the China Rising DLC, or how it will affect the game's future DLC packs; Naval Strike, Dragon's Teeth, and Final Stand, if at all.
It was suggested by the EA spokesperson that players keep an eye on the Battlefield 4 Control Room regarding updates on the game, and we'll keep you abreast of any other developments.