DICE QA Fails Again - Latest Server Update Broke Respawns in Battlefield 4 - Read for Workaround

[Shawn Zipay]

Apparently, the server update that was released today for Battlefield 4 completely and totally broke the game for many players. Go figure! Today's server update prevents players from respawning, introduced new crashes, players unable to cap flags, and scoring doesn't always work.

Nice.

There is at least one workaround out there for players being unable to respawn that has worked for some players. That fix? Manually update Punkbuster. No, I'm not joking.

Head on over to the Punkbuster download page and get the client that applies to your operating system. Run it, add your install of Battlefield 4 to the game list, and click on "update."

Also, if you get a message about punkbstrA missing, head over to your Battlefield 4 folder and reinstall pbsvc.exe.

This is seriously unbelievable how something like this can happen. It's especially damning after the mess that preceded all of this.

[CptainCrunch]

The PB update thing is working for MANY people. I was on one server all evening and people were updating, coming back, and able to play.

[Shawn Zipay]

Yep. A shame so much else is still completely broken.

Someone I normally play with that has never rage quit as far as I can remember just rage quit tonight for how bullshit a lot of the game is and has become. Also, it's SUPER great seeing enemies kill you that supposedly have 0 health remaining or not getting credit for knife kills. Client side hit detection is also some of the biggest shit they need to sort out if they ever want me to play another one of their games again.

Good luck on Battlefront, DICE, because you sure as hell are going to need it.

I also sure can't wait for every future EA title to utilize Frostbite so that every game with an online component can be full of the same bugs and same crap netcode.

[CptainCrunch]

Yeah, I have to say up until a few weeks ago 2142 was still the most buggy release, but now I think BF4 has taken that crown away.

The other day I was looking at all the components of the game and they all have several issues. Battlelog, the commander ap, the game, the stats app for phones. All have a lot of bugs.

Im still having a good time on it, but I do shake my head now and again.

[Stev0esque]

I've been shaking my head recently over people saying its the worst release ever but I realise I am the wrong person to ask, as I haven't got the game yet and my favourite games include some of the buggiest, such as STALKER.

That and I am playing another Playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas with a ton of mods so I am definitely the wrong person to ask. Crashes for me in that game have become no longer an annoyance: they're a fact of life for me now...

[CptainCrunch]

I've been shaking my head recently over people saying its the worst release ever but I realise I am the wrong person to ask, as I haven't got the game yet and my favourite games include some of the buggiest, such as STALKER.

That and I am playing another Playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas with a ton of mods so I am definitely the wrong person to ask. Crashes for me in that game have become no longer an annoyance: they're a fact of life for me now...

I disagreed the last month or so and 2142 was a huge bug fest, but I really think because of the patches breaking more stuff and things like that, its probably taken over the most bugs.

Of course Im also counting the Battlelog issues as well. That tends to add up a bit.

It really is a no win situation now. Anything DICE does that causes the slightest issue just causes a huge stir up of problems. Im not saying that these new issues are "slight" because they are not, but most everyone is expecting a patch to fix everything at once and its just not going to happen.

Im also not surprised that their patches are breaking other things or re-breaking something. Im sure a lot of things are tied together.

[Shawn Zipay]

I've been shaking my head recently over people saying its the worst release ever but I realise I am the wrong person to ask, as I haven't got the game yet and my favourite games include some of the buggiest, such as STALKER.

That and I am playing another Playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas with a ton of mods so I am definitely the wrong person to ask. Crashes for me in that game have become no longer an annoyance: they're a fact of life for me now...

STALKER has nothing on this release. I've rage quit BF4 more times than I care to count due to some of the most insane BS and bugs out there.

Im also not surprised that their patches are breaking other things or re-breaking something. Im sure a lot of things are tied together.

No, all this shows is that they don't have a QA department, and if they do, it's staffed by a bunch of rocks. There's simply no reason why they're rushing these "patches" out the door without thoroughly testing them ahead of time. It would be different if a thing broke for only a handful of users, but things like having to manually update Punkbuster just to respawn?! Come on! That's just inexcusable.

[K-16]

I completely agree with Zips. It's one thing to deal with minor issues after patching (fixing one thing breaks the other cliché), but it's another to be in the mindset of tolerating Electronic Arts' and DICE's current incompetence with something that prevents you from enjoying the game, unless you do a little research and get involved in fixing the problem yourself. Their damage control is flat out mind boggling and is hampering EA's ability to compete against Activision. It's interesting how Ben Kuchera points out how EA trained some of us to tolerate broken products based on repetition and conditioning. I never realized I'm willing to buy broken stuff until he mentioned it (scroll down to "WHY IS THIS OK?"). If this was a television, appliance, or a car there would've been a voluntary product recall, but somehow games can be released unfinished and fixed later in order to take advantage of the proper release seasons (Ashes Cricket 2013 was admittedly surprising given how rare recalls happen for games).

One thing is for sure, EA is going to have a ****ing field day on the next presentation with the media when the next installment of Battlefield gets announced. While primarily for EA Sports titles, EA uh... Has a uh... Tendency to bash last year's titles to glorify and justify the current year's release. And they're not afraid to do it to non-sports games as they already criticized Battlefield 3 for the unlocks apparently. Obviously this was to a lesser extent than the sports titles, as it was merely Lars Gustavsson saying “We shipped Battlefield 3, which we should be slapped for, with probably the worst set ups ever.” But my point is, I would love to see what they're going to say about SimCity and Battlefield 4 when they showcase the next installments of both games, since the damage control is taking way too long for any of us to forget about it as easily as the past.