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Battlefield 2042 gets some key changes following beta feedback

Following Battlefield 2042‘s recent beta, the game’s developers are implementing some changes based on player feedback. These changes range from small details, like edits to the game’s UI, to larger ones, including an increase in the number of tanks players will find on the map Orbital.

Today’s changes were revealed in a blog post on EA’s website, along with a new trailer showing off Battlefield 2042‘s remaining five specialists. The game’s specialists are also receiving some changes. While the post says that players were concerned about how specialists were “limiting teamwork” it isn’t immediately clear how they’ll be different once the game launches. One specific change is coming to Maria Falck, the specialist who can heal players from a distance with her syringe gun. The syringes now magnetize toward friendly troops, making it easier to heal targets.

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Players will still be able to choose between any specialist they want in the game’s All-Out Warfare mode, while Hazard Zone players won’t be able to have duplicate specialists on the same squad.

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Critically, some things will be much faster to do in Battlefield 2042 once the game launches. Some of the game’s enter and exit animations have either been shortened or removed completely, and reviving other players is now quicker to do across the board. The game’s plus menu, which lets players swap weapon attachments on the fly, is also being improved. Players will be able to set attachments before they deploy into the battlefield and shouldn’t run into that annoying bug that removed every attachment on each spawn.

Battlefield 2042 is set to launch on November 19 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Otto Kratky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…
Battlefield 2042 Season 1 is an improvement, but a late one
A specialist holds Battlefield 2042's new crossbow weapon.

Battlefield 2042's launch didn't go quite as planned for EA. While it was poised to be the publisher's next live service hit, it floundered at launch due to an overwhelming number of bugs, a controversial ability-driven specialist system, maps that felt way too big, and more. While Digital Trends' reviewer loved the base game, many players didn't, so EA spent months fixing it. As a result, Season 1: Zero Hour was pushed back all the way to June 9, over six months after the game's launch. Ahead of its release, I got the opportunity to try out some of Season 1's new content a see if Battlefield 2042 has really changed for the better. 
This primarily consisted of going hands-on with the new Specialist Ewelina Lis on the new map Exposure. Is Battlefield 2042 in a better state now than it was at launch? Yes. Will it make enough compelling additions and changes to bring you back if you're not a hardcore Battlefield fan? Not really. 
Battlefield 2042 | Season 1: Zero Hour Gameplay Trailer Premiere
What's new?
The main additions coming to Battlefield 2042 at the start of Season 1 are a new rocket launcher-wielding specialist named Ewelina Lis, a new map set in the Canadian Rockies called Exposure, new weapons including a crossbow and marksman rifle, and a battle pass containing lots of free and paid unlockables. It's definitely the meatiest batch of content Battlefield 2042 has received since launch, but it doesn't revamp or fix every core problem with the game. 

Starting with the battle pass, don't expect any wild crossover or crazy outfits, just a lot of new realistic looks for your specialists, vehicles, and weapons. It is challenge-based, which Halo has shown the downsides of, but thankfully 30 tiers of it are free and the only things unlocked by paying up are cosmetic. That means everyone will be able to try the new specialist Ewelina Lis. She is a helpful Engineer Specialist as she always has a rocket launcher at her disposal to help destroy vehicles.
While I found the new Ghostmaker R10 Crossbow and BSV-M Marksman Rifle to be too slow and not powerful enough to be very useful in a game with such a quick time to kill, Lis may be a useful specialist that will stick around on most squads. She's particularly useful on the brand-new map Exposure.
When previewing the new season, I got to try out both Conquest and Breakthrough on Exposure, a map that supports both 128-player and 64-player matches. As it takes place in and around a base built into the side of a mountain, it has one of the most distinctive and vertical layouts of any new Battlefield 2042 map. The tensest firefights took place in a spot nestled on the side of the mountain, as players could flank from within the mountain on foot or from the skies in new stealth helicopters. While I enjoyed those moments and attacking the base in the helicopter, it still felt a bit too big to traverse on foot outside of that base, a common problem with all of Battlefield 2042's maps. 

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A squad of four members in Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone mode.

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An operator uses a headset microphone in Battlefield 2042.

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https://twitter.com/BattlefieldComm/status/1516068203922919428

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