Battlefield 5 – DICE Gives Details About Various Changes and Future Plans In Weekly Debrief

The developers of Battlefield V have been doing a great job of listening to the community’s feedback based on the game’s beta, and they’ve been making the necessary improvements in lots of areas. What’s really admirable in how they are handling this is the way they are maintaining communication with the community by clarifying all of their doubts. In the latest Weekly Debrief that was posted on Reddit, General Community Manager Dan Mitre provided details about some more changes, and also answered fans’ questions about different aspects of the game.

Among other things, we learn that they are keeping the Bleed Out system as it is for now for all game modes, even though some players didn’t want it enabled in some modes. They’ve also promised to provide a visual roadmap regarding the post-launch content for the game. Additionally, the developers will also be providing more information regarding weapons and vehicles in the next week, and information regarding progression and customization will be provided some time in the future.

Many players have also expressed their appreciation for the realistic portrayal of the war, which the developers had earlier promised to look into. In the future, the developers will also be looking into more changes related to the Combat Medic class, apart from some changes that they have already made to this class and to pathfinding. You can find the entire Weekly Debriefing below, or through the link above. All in all, it’s just great to see the developers engaging with the community in this way, and hopefully, this will continue until the game’s release and thereafter. Battlefield V is set to release for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 20.

• What We Learned from Battlefield V’s Open Beta

  • General

    • The community at-large agrees with most of the changes we’re making – they’re solid.

  • Bleed Out System

    • Some players feel this doesn’t make sense to have it on specific modes. Will this be turned off for some modes?
      David Sirland (MP Producer): No, the Bleed Out system is a part of the general death experience.

    • Request to keep the ‘Hold to Skip Revive’. Some players don’t like to hold a button for passive action.
      DS: We are shipping with what is in now (what you saw in Open Beta but tuned the timers.)

  • Vehicles

    • The community feels that the insight was great. Changes are spot on.

    • Some players feel the range of some tanks seems to be too long. Make them shorter.
      DS: Open Beta featured medium and heavy tanks, and they only represent part of the vehicles. These tanks need that range for the larger levels. Tank systemic damage and angular systems for AT ordinance is also different now.

  • Heat Maps

    • The community thought these were fascinating and informative.

  • Pacing

    • In general, the community are fans of the peaks and lulls in gameplay.

    • There are differing viewpoints on Attrition.

  • Visuals

    • Requests to address visual haze.
      DS: If we’re talking about the visual haze we showed in recent dev talk video that was a work in progress and the first test. We will continue to update on the solution we will ship with (as we iterate). We hope to provide more details in future dev talks.

    • Requests to bring back 3D spotting.
      DS: The game pacing, systems, and more tactical approach necessitates the current approach to spotting. We are not bringing it back in any forms not already covered, like the Recon gadgets (spotting flare, etc.).

  • Resupply

    • Holding to resupply or heal is not favored by some. They feel it needs to be quick button tap.
      DS: This has been changed to be a button press.

  • Squad Follow Screen

    • Some want the ability to skip this.
      DS: We are looking closer at how we can improve this, particularly after we ship the game.

  • Servers

    • There is a desire from players that dedicated servers are delivered.
      DS: We’re digging into this. Wish we had more information right now but let us get our plans to a solid state so we can share with you something substantial.

  • Progression

    • Players want to ensure that we don’t force players to purchase multiple version of a gun to customize it several ways.
      DS: Noted. We’ll address in next week’s Weapons & Vehicles focus.

    • Actual stats of upgrades are missing from the UI. Players want to see these.
      DS: Again, hope to provide more detail next week as we focus on Weapons.

  • Customization

    • Are visual customizations going to be class specific?
      DS: No, not at launch. However, there are faction specific things (like Axis/Allies).

  • Netcode

    • Want to see more details on netcode changes.
      DS: We will get into this once we have more to show. It’s still a bit too early to get into the weeds with netcode.

• The Countdown to Battlefield V Launch

  • General

    • Want to see gameplay attached to weekly communications focus.
      DS: Our aim is to prove all claims with more gameplay footage. You’ll see more visual representation in upcoming Dev Talks as well.

  • Game Improvements

    • A lot of detail is being released after launch. Community wants to see how the game is improving and a roadmap as such
      DS: Noted! We know you want a visual roadmap so we’re working on solutions.

    • Ensure prominent information on team balance improvements, addressing latency, and how-to shepherd OOR players.
      DS: Like netcode, we will get into this once we have more to show. It’s still a bit too early to get into the weeds on this one.

  • Community Tools

    • The community wants to know more about Community Tools such as RSP, Platoons, Spectator, Esports, Battlelog/Companion App, VOiP / Team / Prox chat
      DS: Oh yes, we know you need more detail on this. We’ll get into it when we have substantial updates to share with you.

  • Firestorm

    • Requests to ensure that Firestorm has Solo and Duo modes.
      DS: We aren’t quite ready to dive into details here but hope to provide more info in the upcoming Firestorm focus week.

  • Tides of War

    • Players want to see Tides of War roadmap detailing maps, factions, weapons, vehicles, etc.
      DS: Again, we know you want a visual roadmap so we’re working on solutions.

    • Desire to see release pacing details.
      DS: Yup! Working on roadmap details.

    • Want to know duration commitment of live service.
      DS: Although we haven’t confirmed specific duration, we are committed to a multi-year live service.

  • Combined Arms

    • Want more info on Combined Arms.

    • DS: Oh, we know. We’ll get into it when we can.

  • Release Roadmap

    • Want to see a roadmap of when features come online: Combined Arms, Firestorm, etc., and game features such as dragging bodies.

    • Want to see roadmap on cosmetics and customization.
      DS: We’re working on Tides of War roadmaps.

  • Customization

    • More on soldier customization such as slots for clothing, helmets, gear, etc.

    • DS: Stay tuned as we’ll detail out Progression & Customization in future

    • More info on load out slots for soldiers / vehicles / weapons.

    • DS: Info on Weapons & Vehicles coming next week!

  • PC Details

    • Desire for Ansel info.

    • Desire for benchmarking info.

    • Address the following: there was tweet that I saw earlier today, and it mention about the state of Direct X 12, and Multi-GPU configuration profiles. BF1 dropped the ball on dx12 since the first monthly patch which hinder it buggy. Upscaling in multi-GPU wasn’t very favorable as well.
      DS: We will be recording a dev talk around PC specifically, and it will most likely also includes RTX and DLSS goodies too.

  • Weapons

    • Want to hear more about total amount of weapons at launch.

    • Weapons for each class at launch.
      DS: Diving into this next week as we focus on Weapons in an upcoming blog.

  • Maps

    • Showcase size of maps.
      DS: We can make sure this is part of the maps week dev talks with an overlay of all map sizes with Rotterdam as a template. We’ll also ensure we discuss maps at length in an upcoming blog.

• Classes & Combat Roles

  • General

    • Glad to see custom soldiers less of an emphasis. Toning down of customization is boding well but want to see some slight alteration availability.

    • Good to see more authentic WW2 soldiers.

    • Very excited to see this more realistic direction of soldiers.

    • Favoring only two choices in the beginning. Looking forward to post-launch roles.

    • Some like that there is no hard limits of primary weapons or gadgets across Combat Roles within Classes.

    • The defined directions these Combat Roles take will give enough stimulus to players during matches to consciously switch to different ones (Assault Light Infantry vs Tank Buster for example, two completely different paths).

    • There’s plenty of room in each class for more Combat Roles to be added (Grenadier for Assault comes to mind) which should mean a healthy amount more Combat Roles coming with the Tides of War.

    • The Recon Pathfinder Combat Role is extremely interesting as it could be a Role used to break out of a difficult situation. More spawn points might also break the “flag running” meta that spawned with Battlefield 1, as people will be able to choose from a larger selection of map positions rather than just flags and 3 squad mates. The fact this is also a Recon class Role helps break the camping feel of the class and pushes those soldiers into front line action.

  • Questions

    • Can you switch between roles mid combat?

    • Tommy Rydling (Game Designer): You need to be in the deploy screen to do so, i.e. you cannot swap while alive.

    • Are there max Combat Roles per Squad?

    • TR: A Squad of 4 players can contain any mix of Combat Roles without limitations.

    • There’s concern that the Combat Roles don’t see parity with each other. One role is far superior to the other in each class, so rather than have variety between the two roles in Recon, for example, everyone will most likely pick Pathfinder.

    • TR: I think “far superior” is open to debate, but the goal is to cater for different playstyles and situations.

    • If we pick a Combat Role, will we be restricted on loadout choices?

    • TR: No. Combat Role does not affect your loadout of weapons and gadgets in any way whatsoever.

    • Melee Expert Trait needs to be looked at.

    • TR: New design checked in today. Melee Expert has slightly longer melee reach, and slightly bigger takedown acceptance angle than normal soldiers, but not from front.

    • Sniper Combat Role is a rather selfish one; to me it doesn’t play into the Squad Play focus Battlefield V is trying to push. Both traits benefit the player and don’t pass on anything to the rest of the Squad, unless the traits are being used to save squad mates from being killed (Savior Kills etc.)

    • TR: Traits are not the only teamplay items in a Combat Role/Class. Your gadgets within the Recon Class are mostly teamplay oriented, like the Flare Gun, Spotting Scope, and Spawn Beacon.

  • Assault Class Feedback

    • Customization looks great, soldiers look great. This is the soldier customization the community wants to see.

  • Medic Class

    • Melee one-hit kills is concerning a few. Mentions that this could be abused and basically turn a medic into an Elite Class from BF1 if they can run around constantly with 1-hit melee kills.

    • TR: As stated above, new design checked in today. Melee Expert has slightly longer melee reach, and slightly bigger takedown acceptance angle than normal soldiers, but not from front.

    • The increased speed when calling out to downed team mates is seen as good.

    • Recommendations for a Combat Role (future) to have multiple smoke grenades and instant revive syringe – Emergency Medic.

    • TR: This is interesting. We’ll look into it.

  • Recon Class

    • Steadying the scope should not be locked to the Sniper specialization, it should be set to the scopes with high magnification.

    • TR: All Recon Class Combat Roles can do this – Sniper has extended duration. Base duration is on par with BF1.

• Battlefield V Classes & Combat Roles AMAA

  • Main Takeaways

    • TR: For Melee Expert Trait, we need to find a tweak that does not require code changes. So, a new design checked in today. Melee Expert has slightly longer melee reach, and slightly bigger takedown acceptance angle than normal soldiers, but not from front.

    • TR: For Pathfinder Combat Role, after discussing internally, we will limit this to Spawn Beacons only.