DICE continues to plug away at Battlefiled V and progress has moved along so nicely that the game is now ready for it’s next step, and the developers are using lessons learned from the game’s closed alpha to make the experience much better.
DICE confirmed that the Battlefield 5 open beta will start sometime in early September, but did not reveal any details regarding content or a specific launch date, in their official blog post.
Here are some key takeaways:
Revives
Battlefield V has a refined revive system compared to previous games. After the Alpha, we will be adjusting both the Medic revive and the buddy revive. It will overall feel less clunky and we’ll also fix some delays – such as when you were done reviving and couldn’t move for a full second. We’ve already made the buddy revive around 2.5 seconds faster and we will also assess if we need to adjust the Medic revive accordingly. We’re also aware that it could sometimes take quite a while before a player could initiate a revive and that the revive icon tended to be delayed. We are actively working on the issue.
Ammunition
When it comes to ammunition, we saw that players in general liked the war of attrition and having a limited number of bullets when deploying. We will tweak these numbers slightly for some weapons to get an optimal balance. There are other factors that affect ammo availability, too. For instance, the possibility of looting dropped ammo from dead players benefits certain classes more than others, and we’ll need to adjust the balance accordingly.
Reinforcements
In the Closed Alpha, we gave you the chance to call in two of the several Squad Reinforcements of Battlefield V: the Churchill Crocodile Tank and the V-1 Rocket. Players had fun with these powerful weapons, but some aspects will be adjusted. For example, it was way too easy to be reinforced with the V-1 Rocket in Conquest, and though matches are supposed to escalate with these reinforcements at the end of a match, we will tone this down. Furthermore, details like blast radius and how you can be warned of (and potentially counter) the V-1 Rocket are being investigated.
Time to Kill (TTK)
When it comes to the Time to Kill, or TTK, we’ve seen some polarizing feedback where some players felt they were being killed very fast when encountering enemies, while others felt the TTK was just right. This is something we will keep tweaking.
It’s worth mentioning that TTK is not just determined by how powerful weapons are. For instance, it’s also related to how fast the game lets you react to being fired at. We’re looking at how fast can you assess a threat and understand from where the fire is coming. Giving you good communication on enemy fire will let you fight back and survive longer. We’re also fine-tuning the amount of camera shake that occurs when you’re hit. If these adjustments aren’t enough, we’ll look at tweaking the damage of weapons.
Other factors affecting TTK (or “Time to Death” in this case) include what game mode you’re in. If you’re defending a sector in Breakthrough, you’ll often experience fire from one direction. Defending the same area in Conquest will present threats from different directions, but on the other hand, this is a mode where you are less likely to run into a higher number of people attacking you simultaneously. The visibility of other players, the new spotting system, and other variables will all need to be tweaked to get a TTK that we and the community are happy with. Finally, as a general tip: observing more, choosing your engagements, and playing as a squad will always keep you alive longer!
The Map and the Modes
The Closed Alpha took place on the map Arctic Fjord, featuring the Conquest mode and two modes of a Grand Operation: Airborne and Breakthrough.
Regardless of mode, the map was designed to have clear “lanes” where you engage with enemies and objectives, and thanks to this we saw many nice fights between the bridge towards the mountain side. The telemetry image above shows you the most popular places for players to be.
The valley saw less action, though some players used it for shortcuts. We were also happy with how the Fortifications could be used on the map – not only by defenders holding an objective, but also by attackers getting from A to B.
When it comes to the Airborne mode, we learned many things on how players take the ground and start pushing for objectives. The image above shows how much great data we got on where players paratrooped down and where they landed – and we’ll use this info to adjust flight paths and the control and characteristics of the parachutes.
Gunplay and Weapon Balancing
We were thrilled to see that you enjoyed the gunplay in the Battlefield V Closed Alpha and your feedback has been valuable. For instance, we’ve already tweaked the recoil of some weapons, meaning it will require a bit more effort and pacing between shots to be effective.
For Battlefield V, we want a system that clearly shows the player what happens with the weapon at any time. In contrast to previous games, bullet spread is now converted to recoil, and we’ve improved the clarity on how controllable your weapon is when firing. In Battlefield V, you will learn what’s going on with the weapon faster. The gunplay will be tighter, you will have more control, and it should feel more physical.
Our hope is that players should be able to truly master their weapons; the more time you spend with a certain gun, the more you will learn how it behaves. You will learn something new from each engagement. Even if you miss, you should feel that it’s not the gun’s fault.
We’re pleased to add a useful single-fire mode to certain Battlefield V weapons. This adds a layer of decision-making to gunfights where the player potentially could switch firing mode to be most effective, rather than using full auto only. Obviously, we’ll keep an eye on how this affects shooting behavior and the overall weapon balance.
Important to note is that the Closed Alpha had a limited pool of weapons and when we add more, the overall balance will change. The arsenal that was tested in the Alpha was a small subset and more passes will be made to it and all the other Battlefield V weapons and gadgets.
We’ve touched on the Closed Alpha’s major gameplay areas in this article, but there are many other aspects that we’ll keep working on. Vehicle controls, the amount of camera shake, the volume of footsteps, and various bugs will all be addressed.
NEXT STEPS
There will be several more tests of Battlefield V – internal and external – before the October launch, and we will be using our learnings from the first Alpha to test further and fine-tune the experience.
There will be a new build of Battlefield V at Gamescom, too, and then there is the Open Beta in early September to look forward to. Thanks again for helping us make Battlefield V the best it can be.
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