With the new year now in full swing and development resumed on Battlefield 2042, DICE has detailed the first set of updates heading to its beleaguered shooter over the coming weeks, promising the likes of Portal XP changes and a Scoreboard UI overhaul.
DICE detailed its plans in a series of tweets on the Battlefield Direct Communication feed, noting the first of its updates will arrive tomorrow, 20th January.
Update 3.2, as it's known, will offer smaller fixes and improvements focussed on stability, plus adjustments to XP in Portal mode that will "enable more servers and game types to progress on Mastery and Weekly Missions".
More specifically, the per minute XP cap across all Portal modes will, from tomorrow, increase to 300 - "Obtaining XP usually comes in bursts, and our intent for this change is to reduce the frequency of XP bursts being capped during gameplay", DICE notes - while items available to earn in Mastery and Weekly missions will now be determined by modifiers used, and whether the Rules Editor, Damage/Health modifiers, or AI are enabled.
Digital Foundry - Battlefield 2042: PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S.
After that is Update 3.3, currently expected to arrive some time between the middle and end of February, introducing a refreshed Scoreboard UI and a number of other changes implemented since Battlefield 2042's development resumed following the festive period.
More is coming beyond those initial two updates, and DICE touched upon some of the other work it's doing to improve Battlefield 2042, including game performance.
In every update, we'll be delivering changes big and small that aim to tackle the issues and improve your experience.".
It has, of course, been a bumpy few months for Battlefield 2042, with the shooter launching in a state that quickly saw it become one of Steam's worst-reviewed games of all time.
Eurogamer's Martin Robinson went as far as to call its launch "a disaster", writing, "Since Battlefield 2042 went live on Friday, I've endured hard crashes, server problems and whole nights where the whole thing is simply unplayable...This is another Battlefield that's launching in a sorry state, and it's up there with Battlefield 4's infamously sorry start.".
DICE has continued to massage the experience with a succession of updates released since then, but it's still managed to draw ire for other questionable choices made post-launch, including its decision to remove the fan-favourite Rush mode from Portal's featured playlist earlier this year - a move it quickly reversed after a significant backlash.
Away from the game's smaller updates, players are still awaiting word on when they might finally be able to experience Battlefield 2042's first season of post-launch content - particularly given complaints around its currently limited roster of activities - with dataminers suggesting it isn't likely to begin until March.
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