Last weekend saw the second and final run of the Battlefield 6 Open Beta come and go, allowing hundreds of thousands of fans to playtest Electronic Arts (EA) and DICE's upcoming large-scale multiplayer FPS one last time ahead of its scheduled October 10 launch. Though its player count didn't skyrocket quite as high as it did during the first weekend, the second playtest was still immensely popular across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5.
Naturally, a flood of players like that is guaranteed to lead to a veritable mountain of feedback, and that's exactly what Battlefield developers got with this Open Beta. And now, nearly a week after Weekend 2 of the beta ended, DICE has published a lengthy overview of changes coming to the shooter that have been made in response to that feedback.
Notably, these will be tested in upcoming Battlefield Labs events ahead of the game's full release, so further balance adjustments and tweaks are likely to come before Battlefield 6 arrives on October 10.
"With the insights gathered during the Open Beta play sessions, we will be introducing in-game adjustments in upcoming Battlefield Labs events. Stay tuned for progress updates and future opportunities to get involved," wrote the Battlefield team in its post. "Lastly, thanks again for joining the Battlefield 6 Open Beta. Your feedback and participation made it an incredible experience."
Of all the changes, the most significant are adjustments made to movement. Specifically, horizontal momentum carried from sliding into jumping has been reduced, with consecutive jumps also giving you progressively lower jump heights, and both jumps and slides now incur a greater inaccuracy penalty. The physics of parachutes have also been tweaked, and their initial acceleration has been lowered to improve directional control; no more zooming across the map at chopper speed.
DICE says "these changes are designed to make sliding and jumping more situational" and "will contribute to a gameplay pace that rewards skillful movement without becoming too fast or unpredictable."
Given that a common complaint during the beta was that the gameplay often felt too fast and arguably Call of Duty-like, I'm not surprised to see that the ability to zip around has been nerfed. Battlefield has always been a grounded FPS, after all, and while this change will frustrate fans of a faster, more chaotic pace, I do think the devs are making the right call here. It's important for Battlefield to stick to its identity, especially in the wake of the disappointing Battlefield 2042.
The Battlefield team is also making weapon tweaks "to deliver a more consistent and rewarding gunplay experience," including a pass on recoil and other factors that contribute to how weapons feel to use. Notably, some changes have been made to encourage a more disciplined trigger finger with tap and burst-firing, and the M87A1 shotgun primary in particular now needs more pellets to land a kill.
One piece of feedback the developers didn't act on is criticism that the Rush mode is too small. Traditionally, it's largely been 16v16, but Battlefield 6's iteration is 12v12; DICE asserts that "we’re lowering the default player count for Rush to improve the flow of combat and restore the tactical, methodical experience that defines the mode," and encourages players that want larger team sizes to experiment with them in Portal custom games.
Personally, I'd like to see at least a 16v16 run of Rush tested, but it seems like the devs are holding firm with 12v12 for now. Perhaps a test like that will eventually come if players continue to clamor for larger player counts, though.
Beyond this, DICE has also said it's working to patch exploits that players took advantage of to reach and camp in out-of-bounds areas, and that map-specific balance adjustments are coming for the attack/defense Breakthrough mode that will hopefully achieve a balanced 50/50 win ratio between Attackers and Defenders.
It's also been noted that Breakthrough will either have 24v24 or 32v32 team sizes, with the player count dependent on the map being played. You can expect larger teams on "open, dynamic maps," with smaller ones present in "denser maps." Team and Squad Death Match, Domination, and King of the Hill will all feature small 8v8 player counts.
Overall, I think Battlefield 6's developers are responding well to feedback thus far, though it is a bit frustrating that they're firmly sticking to their guns about Rush and its 12v12 format. The Custom Search feature also isn't perfect as a replacement for the official server browser that the game doesn't have, and I'm hoping we do eventually get a full browser at some point.
Still, the changes that are being made sound like they'll have a sizable, positive impact on the overall experience, and they make me even more excited to jump into the full Battlefield 6 experience once it's out in October. And hey, while you're waiting, you can always play some Battlefield 2042 to earn BF6 rewards.
Note that the game is available to preorder now across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam, Epic Games, EA), and PS5 for $69.99. Though some were concerned it would be $80, EA has gone on record saying it's steering clear of that price for the time being.
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