Battlefield 2042’s latest update is a welcome U-turn for the series
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A year after the release of Battlefield 2042, EA announced some great updates ahead of the Season 3 release of this battle royale shooter.
The most exciting feature is coming Battlefield 2042 will be the return of the lessons. Consisting of the roles of medic, reconnaissance, support, and attack, each offers you different weapons and abilities that allow a team to forge a game-winning strategy – but those aren’t all the changes they have in store for us, as the game takes the free-to-play route.
Call it back
In addition to the prospect of a new map being added in Season 3, we’re also getting tweaks to two existing maps: Manifest and Breakaway. Manifest will see the removal of excess leeway and bring HQ flags closer to the action, an update similar to the ones we saw in the Kaleidoscope, Renewal, and Orbital maps. Breakaway’s biggest change is to bring the rig closer to the action.
In addition to these updates, the game will also become free-to-play in Season 3, adding a new Specialist, a brand new battle pass, an event, hardware and continuous updates to the quality of the game. It looks like this will be a great step forward for Battlefield 2042. If you want to learn more about all the new features, check out the latest Battlefield 2042 Update Brief.
One of the most controversial original changes to Battlefield 2042 was the removal of classes. DICE’s choice to remove the specificity of gadgets made the choice between classes such as reconnaissance or attack almost meaningless. If you could choose any primary weapon, regardless of class, what made a class unique? I can only think of the synergy between specialist gadgets and secondary gadgets, which doesn’t have a huge impact.
The die is cast
While some thought this gave the player more autonomy, others wondered why DICE decided to drop a feature that wasn’t broken. Like most shooters, Battlefield 2042 seemed to be in an identity crisis.
This was a minor flaw with many studios desperately trying to match the popularity of new games such as Fortnite and Apex Legendsand so the personality of a game shifted to these great games.
DICE seemed to borrow elements from Call of Duty and Apex Legends, with one of the biggest similarities between Battlefield 2042 and Apex Legends being the abilities of certain specialists; I’m looking at you, MacKay.
By trying to mix up the Battlefield 2042 formula, DICE may have forgotten why so many players loved the series. People don’t play Battlefield because it reminds them of Apex Legends; they play it because they love what makes Battlefield unique. While it’s important to grow and adapt to the current situation, it’s nice to see DICE going back to basics with lessons.
Back to basic
Battlefield 2042 multiplayer didn’t have the easiest start in life. Shortly after its release, it was bombarded with over 30,000 negative reviews on Steam, making 74% of total reviews negative. Unfortunately, these stats have not improved, with a whopping 117,593 negative reviews on Steam.
The crux of the matter was that many players found Battlefield 2042 unplayable. Whether it was server crashes or stuttering, many felt let down by DICE and EA. However, with this new update, it looks like DICE is finally paying attention to the needs of its player base.
“We heard you,” says DICE in the video explaining the update, “your feedback has helped us develop and improve the game.” The return of classes likely stems from an effort to get people back into Battlefield 2042 and grow the player base.
We don’t know if these changes will ease things for disgruntled fans a year after the game’s release, but if games like Cyberpunk 2077 can come back from the brink with great updates and user engagement then there’s no reason why Battlefield 2042 should be counted.