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.
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.
Nice of DICE to include an image of a helicopter flying on Operation Firestorm, a map that isn't even out on the PC version of Battlefield 4 yet. Good job.
There is a rumor going around that the MTAR is getting a distance nerf and the DMRs are getting some changes as well.
MAN, its going to be an entirely different game. I hate when they make so many changes at once.
UPDATE: Its on the blog as well:
1) Increased the damage of all DMRs across all ranges. Specifically, damage has been increased at long ranges to allow three-hit kills against unarmored opponents. Additionally, reduced the penalty to accuracy for sustained DMR fire, allowing more rapid follow up shots in combat. The amount of the damage increase varies from weapon to weapon, according to its intended range, rate of fire, and damage. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of DMRs in combat, and determine if additional action is needed to make DMRs a viable mid to long range weapon.
Pump Action Shotguns
1) Increased the accuracy of pump action shotguns (870 MCS, HAWK 12g, SPAS-12, and UTS 15) while on the move and aiming. The accuracy has been approximately doubled. These weapons did not have any available barrels or grips that would allow a player to enhance their aimed accuracy. This change should make the use of pump action weapons with slugs much more viable at medium and close range by allowing more accurate fire.
Carbines
1) Reduced the long range damage of the MTAR to bring it in line with the rest of the Carbines.
General
1) Adjusted the way inaccuracy is handled when transitioning from Hip fire to Aimed fire. Previously, if a player began firing before aiming, he would keep his hip inaccuracy while aimed, until he stopped firing. This was especially obvious with LMGs on the move. Players will now only be subject to the maximum aimed inaccuracy after the transition. While still terribly inaccurate, this allows for substantially more accurate fire than the old method and should allow players with LMGs to panic fire in close quarters, provided they are aiming.
2) The Heavy Barrel’s Accuracy bonus now also applies on the move, at a reduced bonus. This should give the Heavy Barrel a wider role for players who desire accuracy while aimed in all situations.
3) Synchronized the timing of the aim down the sights animation of sniper rifles with their ability to fire with full accuracy. Players no longer need to wait for additional time after the aiming animation plays to get accurate shots. There is still a delay to achieve full accuracy, so Quick Scoping is still not possible.
I think my top questions would be:
-Why are there always such widespread "adjustments" of weapons after release?
-What is the best way to provide feedback and where?
-How was the server refresh rate chosen and any plans to increase it?
-Why not more snow and night maps?
-Hit detection...whats up with that?
One thing that freaks me out a bit; A LONG time ago, deep in forumfield, I posted a suggestion to put the commander supply crate in the test range so that explosives could be reloaded and so that there was an easier way to change kits. I also mentioned how it would allow people to associate this to it and learn how to use it as well, something like that.
Well, after this patch they took out the ammo desk and put in the supply crate. Im sure others have mentioned it as well, but I never really ran across another thread or post on it, but I like to think that I did that
I also like to think that myself and someone else put the dogs in CoD. Somewhere in the TotalCoD section is a post about adding dogs to multiplayer as a perk. Next CoD game had it