Oh, Battlefield 4. You're such a fun game but such a tortured one. Not only are gamers constantly fighting in-game crashes, bugs and connectivity issues, but you're still unbalanced as hell. But there's good news on the way, of a sort. The next game update for BF4 will include numerous tweaks in order to balance things, making a few of the more powerful vehicles less so and changing the impact of certain weapons.
As detailed on the latest Battlefield blog, there's a lot to change with the next update, which will also hopefully include some more stability fixes for the multiplayer. The people who will be most happy will be the helicopter jockeys, who will have much more fun evading mobile anti-aircraft vehicles and utilizing a more powerful gunner cannon.
As you look at the massive and detailed list of tweaks below remember that DICE wants to know what you want next, and has a survey up on their blog to see what the community thinks of all of the possible changes. One day they'll get it right...
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.
