Armory Staff

Since the release of Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand, a very popular subject has been the be or not to be of a 5 flag Wake Island for consoles. Here’s Gameplay Designer Gustav Halling with the inside story on how the new 5-flag layout came into existence. View the full article

Battlefield 3′s Battlelog will be getting a new feature soon: the ability to see live scoreboards before joining a server. … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-c5wpCa93jpZvszslDw7vJGFQ_Y/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/-c5wpCa93jpZvszslDw7vJGFQ_Y/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/CRuIRLyfosM View the full article

The Battlefield 3 update for Xbox 360 goes live today and includes plenty of fixes, balancing tweaks, and the possibility to rent your own server! Read on for the full details. As you are reading this, the Battlefield 3 game update for Xbox 360 should be rolling out. This update is identical to the PlayStation 3 update that went live the other week. That means you get a lot of fixes, balancing tweaks, and some new functionality – including the addition of horns in all jeeps! You can find the change list in this previous blog post. Below are some of the highlights in this massive game update. If you have studied the update on PS3 or PC previously, a lot of this information will be familiar to you. Your server, your rules!Like the PlayStation 3 update, this also marks the start of the Rent a Server functionality on Xbox 360. This means you can rent your own server and create your personal gaming experience. Check out the trailer below for an idea of the possibilities of this program. To ensure a robust experience, we are launching this feature at a limited capacity and ramping up in the coming days. If you are unable to rent a server, try again at a later date. Beep beep! We have horns!Yes! We have added horns to all jeeps in the game! Nothing says “Get in and man the machine gun so we can take back the airfield!” like three short beeps of the horn. Just press [LB] to make your presence known to friendly forces. Warning: Beeping also heard by opposition. Suggest limiting beeping when in enemy territory to keep vehicle in working order. This feature is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. Giving all players IR flaresTo balance the battlefield and give budding pilots a fighting chance from day 1, we are now giving IR flares to all players. These will be automatically available to you in all air vehicles in the game. So if you’ve had a hard time staying up in the air previously, it should be easier to dodge incoming threats from now on. We hope this small but significant change will mean more players take to the skies and mix up their play style. This feature is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. More awards for skillful heli flyingOne of the balancing items we have done in this game update is to better reward skillful heli pilots. To do this, we have increased the pilot’s score for transporting passengers who make kills from the heli. The assist score for heli pilots is now 50 points/kill. In a fully loaded transport, four passengers who make 1 kill each will give the pilot a sum total of 200 points. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. Making the SOFLAM a passive income gadgetThe Recon gadget SOFLAM (laser target painter) has been given a new feature. Now, when a Recon player places it and then leaves it, it will continue to paint targets entering its area of control, continuously giving the Recon player a passive points income. This means a Recon player can place a SOFLAM in a strategic position, then leave it to find a good sniping spot. Combined with fixing a few scoring error in the SOFLAM, it should now be a much more viable source of experience points for Recons. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 update that are live. Suppressing is team play, too!Another balancing change that reflects how we want every player to be able to contribute to the overall effort is the lowered threshold for achieving the Suppression Ribbon. From a previous requirement of 7, players now only need to perform 3 suppressions in a game to be rewarded the Suppression Ribbon. This means the Support Kit player can rack up scores by skillful use of his LMG. We’ve always know suppression helps – now we are more generously rewarding those team players who help disorient the enemy so we can move in for the kill. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 update that are live. Source: View the full article

The Battlefield 3 update for Xbox 360 goes live today and includes plenty of fixes, balancing tweaks, and the possibility to rent your own server! Read on for the full details. As you are reading this, the Battlefield 3 game update for Xbox 360 should be rolling out. This update is identical to the PlayStation 3 update that went live the other week. That means you get a lot of fixes, balancing tweaks, and some new functionality – including the addition of horns in all jeeps! You can find the change list in this previous blog post. Below are some of the highlights in this massive game update. If you have studied the update on PS3 or PC previously, a lot of this information will be familiar to you. Your server, your rules!Like the PlayStation 3 update, this also marks the start of the Rent a Server functionality on Xbox 360. This means you can rent your own server and create your personal gaming experience. Check out the trailer below for an idea of the possibilities of this program. To ensure a robust experience, we are launching this feature at a limited capacity and ramping up in the coming days. If you are unable to rent a server, try again at a later date. Beep beep! We have horns!Yes! We have added horns to all jeeps in the game! Nothing says “Get in and man the machine gun so we can take back the airfield!” like three short beeps of the horn. Just press [LB] to make your presence known to friendly forces. Warning: Beeping also heard by opposition. Suggest limiting beeping when in enemy territory to keep vehicle in working order. This feature is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. Giving all players IR flaresTo balance the battlefield and give budding pilots a fighting chance from day 1, we are now giving IR flares to all players. These will be automatically available to you in all air vehicles in the game. So if you’ve had a hard time staying up in the air previously, it should be easier to dodge incoming threats from now on. We hope this small but significant change will mean more players take to the skies and mix up their play style. This feature is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. More awards for skillful heli flyingOne of the balancing items we have done in this game update is to better reward skillful heli pilots. To do this, we have increased the pilot’s score for transporting passengers who make kills from the heli. The assist score for heli pilots is now 50 points/kill. In a fully loaded transport, four passengers who make 1 kill each will give the pilot a sum total of 200 points. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live. Making the SOFLAM a passive income gadgetThe Recon gadget SOFLAM (laser target painter) has been given a new feature. Now, when a Recon player places it and then leaves it, it will continue to paint targets entering its area of control, continuously giving the Recon player a passive points income. This means a Recon player can place a SOFLAM in a strategic position, then leave it to find a good sniping spot. Combined with fixing a few scoring error in the SOFLAM, it should now be a much more viable source of experience points for Recons. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 update that are live. Suppressing is team play, too!Another balancing change that reflects how we want every player to be able to contribute to the overall effort is the lowered threshold for achieving the Suppression Ribbon. From a previous requirement of 7, players now only need to perform 3 suppressions in a game to be rewarded the Suppression Ribbon. This means the Support Kit player can rack up scores by skillful use of his LMG. We’ve always know suppression helps – now we are more generously rewarding those team players who help disorient the enemy so we can move in for the kill. This balancing change is also present in the PC and PlayStation 3 update that are live. Source: View the full article

The Battlefield 3 update for Xbox 360 goes live today and includes plenty of fixes, balancing tweaks, and the possibility to rent your own server! Read on for the full details. View the full article

We are happy to report that the latest Battlefield 3 patch will be released for Xbox 360 on the 3rd of April between 9 AM UTC – 1 PM UTC. This patch includes gameplay tweaks, improvements, and balances, many suggested by you, our loyal community. The full list of changes and updates is as follows. This update will also bring the Rent a Server functionality to Xbox 360 . GENERAL GAMEPLAY FIXES -Players should no longer take fall damage from short falls.-Players now get up from Prone slightly faster, allowing better odds of getting away from a grenade or threat when prone.-Fixed some situations that would unintentionally make a player unrevivable.-Reduced the black screen fade in time on spawn. The fade is still necessary for properly streaming in loading content at spawn, but it has been substantially reduced.-Increased the spawn protection time from 1sec to 2sec. The protection will still be immediately canceled as soon as the player moves or shoots.-Spawn protection will no longer be canceled by the player looking around.-Increased the speed at which a player regains accuracy when aiming after moving for a more responsive experience. Firing before fully zoomed will still result inaccurate fire.-Increased the inaccuracy and recoil added when a player is fully suppressed.-Shotgun Buck and Flechette rounds now have a less suppressive effect at medium to long range.-Tweaked the damage levels of Buck and Flechette rounds to balance them with other weapons.-Improved the suppression of the .44 magnum, .357 magnum, and the 5.8x42mm DAP88 rounds from the Type88 sniper.-Attempting to Crouch (like Prone) will now properly interrupt Sprint.-Increased the effectiveness of Suppression Resist Specialization.-Parachutes now respond to turn and throttle inputs more quickly.-Switching from primary weapons to sidearms and back now takes less time.-Increased the effectiveness of explosive resistance.-Tweaked bipod deploy settings so players can no longer deploy a bipod in places higher than chin level.-The bipod should now be more reliable when deploying on top of sloped objects like cars and rocks.-Fixed several issues with vaulting objects, especially for thin railings.-The Knife now only takes two swipes to kill when attacking from a position where a takedown is not possible.-CRAM weapons on Carriers now count towards stationary weapon awards. VEHICLE FIXES -The A10 properly gives Jet score again.-Unguided tank rounds and RPGs will now instantly destroy Jets, Attack Helicopters, and Scout Helicopters.-Increased the damage the MBTÂ’s primary weapon does to the front and side armor of other main battle tanks. Primarily this means 1 less shot to the front, and very good hits to the side can result in a 1 hit to disable.-Slightly reduced the repair speed of the repair tool.-Increased the damage done by TOW weapons to armored vehicles.-Increased the rate of fire and minimum damage of the Coax HMG.-Increased the damage mounted gunner .50cal HMGs do at long range.-Increased the power of the repair tool when killing soldiers or destroying vehicles slightly.-Fixed a problem when locking on to two nearby targets, the locking should no longer jump rapidly between multiple targets. This applies to all locking weapons and Laser Designators.-Increased the damage of the Javelin and Air to Ground missiles against laser designated targets.-Javelin missiles fired without Laser targeting now do more damage to the side and rear of MBTs.-Slightly reduced the locking time of all weapons vs Laser Designated targets.-Laser Guided missiles can now be distracted by Flares.-Increased the locking distance for AGM Missiles for Jets when locking on laser designated targets.-Reduced the locking time for the AGM Missiles for Jets to make them more viable against ground targets.-Reduced the locking time for AA Missiles for Jets to make them more viable against air targets.-Flares will no longer break the lock of a vehicle that is locked on, it will only distract the missiles.-Flares now more reliably distract missiles, especially for Helicopters.-Flares for Jets and Choppers now reload at 11 seconds again, except for the gunner, which remains unchanged at 20sec.-AA Missiles are more difficult to dodge in Jets, this was unintended behavior that created an imbalance against skilled pilots.-AA Missiles should no longer kill the pilot instead of the vehicle.-AA Missiles should no longer detonate before hitting their target or a Flare/ECM chaff cloud.-Reduced the damage AA missiles do to jets to 45%.-Fixed the SU-35 firing Air to Air missiles at a lower rate of fire than other vehicles.-The IGLA and Stinger now lock on much more quickly and disable an attack aircraft in 1 hit, but have significantly reduced range. This should allow Stingers to mount an effective close range point defense, without dominating an entire airspace.-Increased the speed of the Helicopter AA missiles lock on to reduce the tedious nature of Helicopter dogfights and improve the HelicopterÂ’s defensive abilities vs Jets.-Slightly reduced the damage of Jet cannons against Aircraft. Damage is now only slightly higher than it was originally at launch.-Increased RPG and SMAW damage against aircraft.-Guided Rockets will now only track ground targets, as originally intended.-Reduced the direct damage done by Attack Helicopter gunners vs Armor.-Helicopter guns should now suppress correctly.-Improved the accuracy of the Attack HelicopterÂ’s Rocket Pods, both guided and unguided.-Slightly increased the damage of Attack HelicopterÂ’s Rocket Pods vs Infantry and other Helicopters.-Additional fixes have been made to the TV missile to prevent it from blowing up the lauching vehicle.-The Mi28 has received upgrades to its climbing and yawing abilities.-Fixed an issue where guided rockets from the Mi28 did not follow the crosshair properly.-Improved the accuracy of the Mi28 gun to match the AH1 gun.-Increased the direct hit damage of the APFSDS rounds for the IFVs.-Decreased the locking time of the IFV Guided Missile to make it more viable as an unlock.-Miniguns and Helicopter Gunners now more quickly destroy parked cars.-Increased the power of explosions from cars and other explosive static objects.-Dying from the explosion of a car or other explosive static object should now correctly credit the player who caused the explosion.-Adjusted the F35′s Center of Mass and Hover Engine for more stable, level flight in all flight modes.-Updated the F35 weapon systems to be consistent with the other Jets.-The F35 will now only attempt to enter Hover at low altitudes, though it will maintain the hover until forward flight is resumed, even if it reaches high altitude.-The F35 and SU35 now properly have Ejection seats to prevent players from being killed when exiting the vehicle.-Changed the Kornets to TOW launchers on Wake Island and moved the spawn position of the AAV to a more level position.-Fixed several bugs with air vehicles colliding with objects at high speeds and taking no damage.-Players will no longer receive suicides or team kills if they crash their vehicle (dying is punishment enough).-The MAV will no longer destroy vehicles that run into it, instead it should be destroyed.-Jet and Helicopter collisions should now properly result in the death of both vehicles.-You can now spot with the EOD bot.-Increased the base accuracy for AA guns and added a decrease in accuracy over the course of a burst.-Reduced the damage AA guns (both mobile and stationary) do to infantry.-The carrier based CRAM stations are now properly tracked as stationary weapons.-CRAM and Pantsir stationary AA weapons now have Air Radar equipped by default.-Improved the sound feedback for damage to help players better understand the amount of damage their vehicle is taking.-The A10′s extinguisher should now function properly.-Disabled vehicles now have an increased reverse speed to help escape to cover after being disabled.-The T90′s crosshair now more accurately represents the trajectory of the main gun.-Toggle and Hold zoom settings now also apply to soldier controlled turrets on jeeps, transport helicopters, boats, and IFVs port guns.-The AAV now has zoom and a 3P camera when using the turret.-Tweaked the AAVÂ’s turret controls to be more useful when the vehicle is moving.-The Z11w now properly functions with Below Radar.-Below Radar will now also prevent the lock on of Stinger and IGLA missiles.-Added Horns to all Jeeps.-Tanks can no longer drive into the water and cross the Wake Island lagoon completely submerged. WEAPONS Several weapons have had recoil or accuracy adjusted in orer to balance these weapons in effectiveness and also increase the feeling of individuality in each gun-Added Extended Mags to the ASVAL. The Extended Mags can be unlocked at 200 kills with the AS VAL.-Reduced the recoil of the SKS rifle and increased its maximum damage at close range.-Fixed aimed firing max accuracy on the Pecheneg to be consistent with other LMGs.-Semiautomatic and automatic shotguns firing FRAG rounds now do slightly less splash damage.-The M26 MASS frag and slug rounds are now the more effective pump action versions.-The M26 MASS and M320 now benefit from the Laser Sight when mounted with an Underslung Rail.-Fixed the bolt action timer on the L96 that would cause an animation glitch.-9x39mm rounds no longer benefit from the Sniper headshot bonus.-Increased the damage of the 9x39mm rounds at long range.-Fixed the AKS74u damage at max range, it was incorrectly higher than other carbines.-Increased the damage of the .357 and .44 magnum rounds at max range.-All semiautomatic and bolt weapons, including all shotgun slugs, now have their maximum damage out to 15m.-Semiautomatic weapons will no longer “jam” if the player presses fire faster than the weapon is capable of shooting. Some semi-automatic weapons have had their rates of fire adjusted to fit this change.-Bolt action sniper rounds now have a chance to kill at close range if the player ilalalala in the upper chest.-Semiautomatic sniper rifles, Assault Rifles, LMGs, and shotgun slugs now have more consistent damage over long range. At maximum range shots to the legs will not require more hits to kill.-The spread for Flechette rounds has been reduced slightly on all shotguns.-The spread for Buckshot has been reduced on the M1014, DAO-12, and S12k. These weapons have an accuracy advantage over the USAS12 but are not as accurate as the 870.-Zooming shotguns with Buckshot and Flechette loads will now result in a slightly tighter cone for the pellets.-Reduced the delay time between quick knife attempts slightly. Attacks with the knife drawn are still significantly faster.-Fixed the Rate of Fire when the USAS and MK3A1 are equipped with FRAG rounds. All other shotguns correctly had a reduced rate of fire with frags, except the USAS and MK3A1.-Fixed an Accuracy bug when the MK3A1 shotgun is equipped with FRAG or Slug rounds.-Shotguns equipped with slugs will no longer automatically begin reloading if the weapon is zoomed when the clip is empty. This allows players to see where the slug lands before reloading.-Fixed 12g FRAG rounds not breaking glass at long range.-Players can now earn the shotgun Ribbon using the M26 MASS.-The underslung grenade launchers for Russian rifles now properly report GP30 in the kill log.-Fixed the AEK971 40mm shotgun round listing itself as FRAG in the kill log.-Fixed the 40mm smoke grenade so it no longer passes through soldiers and unbroken objects before it detonates.-M27 IAR: No change. The M27 is a heavier version of the M416, giving it good all-around performance though it has worse performance on the move.-RPK-74M: Reduced the initial recoil and vertical recoil. The RPK-74M is a more stable firing platform than the comparable M27, though it lacks the M27′s higher rate of fire.-M249: Added an initial recoil. The M249 is the fastest firing belt fed LMG, giving it superior suppressive and damage abilities. The initial recoil makes it a bit harder to run and gun, while making little overall impact on performance.-Type-88: Slightly increased the initial recoil, reduced muzzle drift. The Type88 fires the slowest of the medium caliber LMGs, though what it lacks in rate of fire it makes up for in controllability.-PKP: Reduced recoil but added a slight initial recoil, increased damage at max range. The Pecheneg has a heavy vertical recoil with a hard hitting round and little drift, this makes it excellent at sustained fire.-M60: Reduced the initial recoil, increased damage at all ranges. The M60 has a very low rate of fire that makes it the most controllable with the powerful 7.62x51mm round.-M240B: Added an initial recoil, increased damage at all ranges. The fastest firing medium MG, the M240 has a substantial muzzle kick and drift that makes all that power difficult to control.-QBB-95: Reduced the total recoil but increased muzzle drift and initial recoil. The QBB-95 should now kick harder but settle into full auto fire better, combined with the bullpup hip fire bonus this makes the QBB-95 a highly mobile LMG.-MG36: Added an initial recoil. The MG36 fires at a fast 750rpm and makes a nice middle ground between the controllability of a clip LMG and the sustained firepower of a belt fed LMG.-870: No change. The 870 is a popular and highly effective weapon.-DAO-12: Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The DAO-12 has a high magazine capacity with a slow reload that makes it a solid all around shotgun.M1014: Increased the rate of fire from 200 max to 210 max. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The M1014 was underperforming compared to the USAS12 and 870, it should now be more viable in CQB thanks to a higher rate of fire.-S12k: Increased extended mag from 8 rounds to 10 rounds. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The S12k larger extended magazine but slower rate of fire should make it stand out against the M1014, while the DAO-12 has a higher capacity over all, but a slowe reload.-MK3A1: Increased magazine capacity to 8 and 12 for normal and extended mag respectively. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The MK3A1 has a lower ROF than the USAS12, giving it slightly more ammo makes this an edge vs the USAS.USAS-12: Increased the initial recoil. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The USAS 12 has a higher ROF than other shotguns, this recoil change better balances that advantage and the pellets balance its damage output.-M4A1: No Change. Well-rounded carbine, with good rate of fire and controllable recoil.-M4: Increased vertical recoil, reduced horizontal recoil. The Burst only M4 should now feel different to its automatic sibling, the reduced horizontal recoil emphasizes the greater control you have in burst fire.-AKS-74U: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The AKS-74uÂ’s low rate of fire is paired with great controllability. The overall increase in sustained fire control should help this carbine stand out, while the first kick gives it character.-SG553: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The SG553 is a lower rate of fire carbine with greater controllability than the G36C. The change to initial recoil should better highlight this difference.-A91: No Change. The A91′s high rate of fire and bullpup from the hip accuracy is offset by a poor controllability on full auto.-G36C: Reduced initial recoil. The G36C is a well-rounded carbine, with a medium rate of fire and a medium recoil. The 2 round burst mode gives this weapon an edge at mid-range.-SCAR-H: Increased damage at maximum range and increased max range. The SCAR-H fires a heavier round than all other carbines, giving it better stopping power at range at the cost of a low fire rate that penalizes it in CQB.-G53: Reduced recoil and drift, recoil settle times now similar to other carbines. The HK53 is a short carbine with a lot of initial kick but a stable recoil pattern and a medium rate of fire. The changes give it more character compared to the G36.-QBZ-95B: Reduced muzzle sway, recoil settle times now similar to other carbines. A bullpup like the A91, the QBZ-95B is steady on the move with a lower rate of fire for controllable shots at longer range. The built in foregrip is now properly reflected in the weaponÂ’s stats.-AK-74M: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The AK-74M sacrifices rate of fire for controllable automatic fire, the initial recoil was negatively affecting the feeling of controllability.-M16A3: No Change. The M16 (both A3 and A4) provide a well-rounded stable firing platform with a high rate of fire that is relatively controllable.-M16A4: Increased vertical recoil, reduced horizontal recoil. The Burst only M16A4 should now feel different to its automatic sibling, the reduced horizontal recoil emphasizes the greater control you have in burst fire.-M416: No change. The M416 is the middle ground AR, blending a medium recoil and rate of fire.AEK-971: Increased initial recoil, reduced aimed accuracy slightly. The AEK has a very high rate of fire, and also a large muzzle drift that makes control difficult. The low initial recoil allowed a player to kill before the weaponÂ’s weaknesses kicked in while the reduced accuracy highlights its close range role.-F2000: Reduced vertical recoil, increased zoomed accuracy slightly. As a bullpup, the F2000 has a bonus to accuracy on the move and from the hip while its high rate of fire sacrifices controllability for saturation. The previous changes were an overreaction, this is a corrective update.-AN94: Reduced vertical recoil. The AN94′s 2 round burst mode is incredibly accurate, but it suffers from a low rate of fire on fully automatic. The recoil in full auto has been reduced somewhat to offset this penalty and make the AN94 more attractive.-G3A3: Increased damage at all ranges, reduced vertical recoil. The G3A3′s heavy recoil and heavy round are offset by a low rate of fire and a small magazine. The G3A3 was clearly outclassed at all ranges.-KH2002: No Change. The KH2002 is locked to burst fire, with a high rate of fire and a large muzzle drift the weapon favors accurate mid-range fire.-L85A2: Increased accuracy, reduced muzzle drift. The L85 differs from other bullpup style ARs by having a low rate of fire, the accuracy and controllability were too low to offset the rate of fire.-FAMAS: The FAMAS combines an extreme rate of fire with extreme recoil making it very difficult to use at anything other than close quarters combat. Due to update restrictions, the FAMAS had different stats on all 3 platforms. The FAMAS is now uniform on all platforms and now has the correct 25 round magazine.-PP2000: Reduced the initial recoil. The PP2000 has a lower ROF than other PDWs and needed the controllability to be balanced.-UMP45: Reduced accuracy loss during full auto. The UMP45 hits hard and has a controllable recoil at the cost of a heavy initial recoil kick.-MP7: No Change. The MP7 has a very low recoil and a high muzzle drift that favors longer bursts than the P90.-AS VAL: Increased vertical recoil, reduced first shot recoil, reduced accuracy on the move. The AS VAL fires a long range, highly accurate, high damage projectile that favors short bursts or single fire when stationary. While still quite good from the hip, the AS VAL will suffer if fired while moving and aimed.-PDW-R: Reduced the initial recoil. The PDW-R has high recoil and favors burst fire, the added initial recoil was making it less effective in small bursts.-P90: Reduced the initial recoil. The P90 favors a run and gun play style using long bursts to control muzzle drift, the initial recoil was making bursting ineffective.-PP-19: Slightly reduced the initial recoil when firing, increased base damage. The PP-19′s high initial recoil was over penalizing the burst fire needed to be effective on the low damage, high capacity weapon. SCOPES -Fixed the 7x scope not zooming to the full 7x on all weapons.-Corrected the M39′s laser sight so it points at the point of impact and aligns with scopes when zoomed.-Fixed a misaligned scope crosshair on the G3A3 using the Rifle Scope 6x.-Fixed the PKA and PKA-S scopes on the M416 having swapped zoom levels.-The L96 Straight Pull bolt now functions properly.-The L96 ironsights have been adjusted for a clearer aiming picture and correct use of the integral front sight.-The L96 now properly shows scope glint when using the 8x, and 12x scopes.-Tweaked IRNV to be more consistent across all levels.-Fixed a rendering issue with IRNV view when taking damage.-Tweaked the IRNV zoom times and scope visible areas to be the same across all weapons (some were faster than others).-Fixed the QBU-88 sniper and the L96 IRNV scopes to use the proper sniper reticule BIPOD -The Accuracy increase and Recoil reduction of the Bipod has been significantly improved for Assault Rifles and Carbines.-The Bipod now provides similar Accuracy and Recoil benefits no matter if the weapon is fired while aiming or without aiming for all weapons. Previously only LMGs were worked this way. This especially improves the speed at which snipers can make follow up shots, and also allows effective unaimed suppressive fire with Assault Rifles and Carbines.-Increased the Speed at which a bipod is deployed, allowing the user to obtain the bipodÂ’s bonus sooner after the deploy has started and allowing the weapon to be aimed in a far shorter time. The speed has been increased 40-50%, depending on the weapon and animation. HEAVY BARREL -The Vertical Recoil penalty of the Heavy Barrel has been reduced. The value has been changed from a global percent increase to a weapon specific value.-A small Hip Accuracy penalty has been added to the Heavy Barrel to represent the added weight of the accessory, as well as focus the attachment on accurate mid and long range fire. The exact penalty amount is a weapon specific value.-Several weapons with low default bullet speed now have their bullet speed increased when the Heavy Barrel is equipped. This is in effect for the A91, G3A3, AKS-74u, G36C, M4A1, SCAR-H, SG553, G53, and QBZ-95B.-The Heavy Barrel is now also paired with Match Rounds which increase the maximum range of the weapon. The minimum and maximum damage are unchanged, weapons with the Heavy Barrel will be more effective in mid range.-The Aimed Accuracy bonus provided by the Heavy Barrel has been increased. This will increase the effectiveness of the Heavy Barrel for small bursts, as originally intended. IRNV FIXES -Tweaked IRNV to be more consistent across all levels.-Fixed a rendering issue with IRNV view when taking damage.-Tweaked the IRNV zoom times and scope visible areas to be the same across all weapons (some were faster than others).-Fixed the QBU-88 sniper and the L96 IRNV scopes to use the proper sniper reticule. FOREGRIP -The Horizontal Sway reduction has been changed from a global percent reduction to a weapon specific value reduction. For most guns this means very little change, for guns which have a large horizontal recoil the change is more substation. The FAMAS, F2000, and AEK971 are most effected, the AK-74, M16, and M416 are nearly unchanged.-A small long range Aimed Accuracy penalty has been added to the foregrip. Players who generally find themselves fighting at mid to long range may want to change their accessory, while players fighting in CQB will go largely unaffected. Combining the Foregrip with a Silencer or a Heavy Barrel will offset this penalty. LASER SIGHT -The Hip Accuracy bonus provided by the Laser Sight has been increased. Some PDWs have had their crouch and prone base stats adjusted to prevent hip firing being more accurate than aimed fire when using a laser sight.-The bonus is now a weapon specific value instead olalalalobal percentage, some guns receive larger or smaller bonuses, though all bonuses are better than they were previously. SUPPRESSOR -The Suppressor no longer reduces the maximum damage of a weapon when equipped. Instead the Suppressor reduces the minimum and maximum range of the weapon, making it ideal for CQB and Stealth. This change will make the Suppressor slightly more effective at long range, where the bullet drop and speed makes shots difficult already, and reduces the power of the suppressor at mid range slightly.-The SuppressorÂ’s recoil bonus remains unchanged at a global 10% decrease. This is less than the Flash SuppressorÂ’s bonus for all weapons.-The Hip Accuracy penalty of the Suppressor has been changed from a global percentage to a per weapon value. Generally this penalty is higher now, but not for all weapons. Specifically, the belt LMGs and bolt Snipers do not have any additional hip fire penalty, as their penalty is already at the maximum possible value.-Reduced the Aimed Accuracy bonus of the Suppressor from 50% to 25%. A Suppressor and Foregrip combo will have similar accuracy to a weapon without any Accessories, at the penalty of worse Hip Fire Accuracy and Range and with the benefit of much improved Stealth and reduced Recoil. FLASH SUPPRESSOR -The Flash Suppressor no longer reduces accuracy for Automatic Fire.-The Flash Suppressor now also works as a recoil compensator, reducing the Vertical Recoil by a weapon specific value. This bonus is larger than the bonus provided by the Suppressor.-A small Hip Accuracy penalty has been added to the Flash Suppressor to represent the added weight of the accessory. The exact penalty amount is a weapon specific value. GADGETS -Reduced the spot times on C4 and Claymore projectiles from 30 to 15 sec.-Tweaked the controls and physics for the EOD bot to improve its handling and aiming capabilities.-The Radio Beacon, Mortar, MAV, EOD bot, T-UGS, and SOFLAM should now be much easier to deploy.-The MAV will now be destroyed when running into a soldier or vehicle at high speed. It is still possible to strategically sacrifice your MAV on a soldier; it will be destroyed in the process.-The MAV now properly shows up in the Kill Feed. Previously it simply displayed “KILLED.”-The MAV can no longer be used as an elevator.-Matched the motion sensor sweep frequency and range on the MAV to the TUGS.-Players will no longer auto enter SOFLAM, MAV, and EOD bots after they are deployed.-Players may now use their knife to destroy enemy equipment.-C4 will no longer be detonable after a player respawns, if the player is revived within 5 seconds he can still detonate his C4.-The player may now have a maximum number of mines which will persist after the playerÂ’s death. Deploying more than the maximum of 6 mines will remove a previous mine from the world.-Claymores now live up to 5 seconds after a player dies, the player can have a max 2 claymores planted at the same time.-Claymores can now detonate from vehicles and can be used to disable jeeps or kill the passengers in light jeeps. Claymores will not do any damage to heavy vehicles.-Ammobags now stay until the user redeploys them like Medkits.-Ammobags resupply bullets more quickly, but explosives resupply more slowly, especially 40mm grenades.-Slightly reduced the effective blast radius of the RPG, SMAW, and 40mm grenade projectiles against infantry.-Reduced the total number of RPG and SMAW missiles carried from 5 to 4. Players desiring more rockets will want to use the Explosive spec.-Slightly increased the heal rate of the Medical Crate.-The MAV now will also descend by pressing the Crouch Toggle key. (PC)-The M224 Mortar can no longer be deployed in an area that is out of combat for another team like a home base or other protected spawn.-Tweaked M224 exit points so the player faces in the direction of the mortar when he exits.-Mines, Claymores, C4 and other deployable items will now only appear on the minimap when spotted by a teammate. TEAM DEATHMATCH -Fixed a bug where players would spawn close to the enemy team at the start of the round.-Tehran Highway playable area has been doubled and is now the same as the Squad Deathmatch set up. Spawn points have been tweaked, and an extra spawn zone has been added north of the footbridge.-Kharg Island has a new spawn zone layout, along with a bigger playable area and new cover objects. Spawn points have also been tweaked.-Strike at Karkand spawns zones have been tweaked to improve player flow. Spawn points have been tweaked to improve safety upon spawning.-Sharqi Peninsula spawn zones have been adjusted to optimize player movement. Spawn points have been tweaked so players spawn more safely.-Seine Crossing spawn zone set up has been improved. There is a new spawn zone by the alleyway to the northwest with additional spawn points.-Caspain Border spawn zones have been tweaked slightly. SQUAD DEATHMATCH -Fixed a bug where players would spawn close to the enemy team at the start of the round.-Damavand Peak layout and spawn zones have been tightened to reduce the spread of players across the map-Tehran Highway now features an extra spawn zone north of the footbridge, along with tweaked spawn points.-Noshahr Canals spawn zones have been tweaked. Removed unsafe spawn points in the Northeast corner, and in the middle of the container area to the Southwest. Source: View the full article

Xbox 360 owners will be pleased to know that Battlefield 3 will receive the expected patch on the console tomorrow, … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/32wE4NdVY5xOyjPlDzBE5PvnXC0/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/32wE4NdVY5xOyjPlDzBE5PvnXC0/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/nJyfc2ex7Qw View the full article

It’s been a few days now with the new Battlefield 3 patch, which brought a ton of fixes and weapon … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WAxCUVLZbgW9-5Qqll9Yj76ugz8/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WAxCUVLZbgW9-5Qqll9Yj76ugz8/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/Ds8_qnwez4E View the full article

http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/frag.pngFollowing up on his last “Inside DICE” post, Alan Kertz returns with the inside story on the much discussed Battlefield 3 USAS 12 shotgun and FRAG rounds: Where the inspiration came from, how it was balanced shortly after launch, and how we’re rebalancing it based on community feedback. I often get the question “who thought 12g FRAG rounds were a good idea?” Well, that would be me. 12 gauge FRAG rounds stem from two places. First, like nearly everything in Battlefield, FRAG rounds are inspired by an authentic shotgun ammunition (developed for military use and tested by the USMC). A FRAG round is a 19mm High Explosive round, making it of a similar caliber to the rounds fired by the cannons on the F-18! The second inspiration comes from an Easter Egg weapon for developers in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The developers (or anyone who picked up their kit) could fire 12g FRAG rounds, with a similar ballistic performance as a standard shotgun slug, though slower. So popular was the round with developers and players alike that the FRAG round was made an unlockable ammo type for shotguns in Battlefield 3. The addition of suppression in Battlefield 3 as a gameplay mechanic gave 12g FRAG rounds a clear target design. FRAG rounds would allow players with shot guns a round with limited combat effectiveness but the capability to harass and suppress opponents at longer distances. It almost worked. Straight out of the gate, as players ranked up a bit of fun was had with FRAG rounds in the first unlockable shotgun, the 870. As players continued to rank up, the FRAG rounds were put to the test in the semi-automatic shotguns, with greater but still limited success. Enter the USAS-12. Arguably the FRAG round was developed primarily for combat shotguns, especially automatic weapons capable of quickly putting multiple rounds on target, since each round is of limited damage itself. It was clear that in order to remain balanced, and despite it not being completely authentic, the automatic and semi-automatic shotguns would need to have their own version of the FRAG round. It was quickly patched in, for balance. And so it seemed that all was well again, at least for a time. The FRAG rounds are an interesting bit of study, statistically speaking. On the PC, USAS-12 kills account for just 1.8% of all kills (all ammo types are included in that figure, not just FRAG rounds). On the PS3 that number climbs to just over 3% and on Xbox 360 it climbs to nearly 4%. This is a unique behavior, as not only are the FRAG rounds and the USAS identical on all three platforms, but only the stats for USAS-12 and 870 vary so drastically between platforms. Furthermore, the 870 is most popular on PC and then drops in the same order of PS3 and 360. I’ll let everyone draw their own conclusions as to why this is, though I certainly have my suspicions. Statistically, there is a worst case scenario of dying from the USAS-12 1 out of every 25 deaths. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BF3_Close_Quarters_Ziba_Tower_007.jpgIt’s important for us to fine-tune shotgun balancing at close range, especially with the upcoming expansion pack Battlefield 3: Close Quarters this June. So why does it feel so frequent? Primarily, the FRAG rounds are most effective in Battlefield 3 exactly where they would be in real life: close quarters, urban combat. When broken down by map and mode, the USAS-12 is clearly more popular in TDM and CQB maps like Grand Bazaar and Operation Metro. Players in those modes are more likely to be killed by FRAG rounds than players who run around on Kharg Island Conquest.And what do I plan to do about it? Well, one very little, but very effective change will take place in the near future. On all other shotguns, using FRAG rounds reduces the effective rate of fire. For semiautomatic shotguns this rate drops from 200-220 rounds per minute to 180rpm, a 10% reduction. The USAS simply did not have this reduction in place. As of the next update, it will have its 275rpm reduced significantly to 200rpm. I’m actually a bit worried it’s too much, and I’m eager to hear how players react to the change. Shotguns are easily the most difficult weapons to balance in Battlefield. Given the wide range of combat distances in Battlefield 3, shotguns must feel powerful up close, without being over powered, and weak at medium distance without being under powered. Furthermore, each map has a unique combat distance feeling, yet the performance of the weapons must feel consistent. The relatively random nature of pellet spread, or FRAG round accuracy, makes this especially difficult. The update also includes some more minor tweaks to try and help players consistently identify the effective range of their shotgun by reducing the random factors involved.Rest assured, this won’t be the last update for balance issues in Battlefield 3. I’ll be monitoring the situation closely, and working directly with the team to make additional updates and tweaks to keep the Battlefield balanced. Let me know what you think of the latest balancing tweaks here in the comments section on the blog. Alan KertzCore Gameplay Designer Source: View the full article

The PC Battlefield 3 update goes live tomorrow. It includes a smattering of fixes, tweaks, and additions. Read on for the full details.On March 29, we are rolling out the big Spring game update for Battlefield 3 on PC! The focus of this massive package is to make the game more stable, fairer, and more balanced. You can find a comprehensive change list in this earlier post.The ~1.6GB update will start rolling out at around 9AM UTC / 11 AM CET March 29. Below are some of the highlights.New and improved commo rosehttp://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/commorose.jpgThis update sees a number of improvements to the commo rose on PC, partially based on feedback from the community. Some of the tweaks we have made are detailed below:New global call-outsWe have added a number of new commo rose call-outs that you can make to the entire team whenever you want. Where you previously had to look at a Support player to get the option to request ammo, you can now use the commo rose at any time to request ammo, health, or repairs. Using these requests will trigger appropriate icons on the minimap.Moved orders to commo roseWe moved orders so that they are now exclusive to the commo rose. This means that you will no longer accidentally place an order when you in reality wanted to spot an enemy standing near a flag, for example.Improved mouse handlingThe mouse movement is now always tracked from the center of the commo rose, to make navigation more intuitive.Quicker activationYou now activate a call-out simply by releasing Q, which should be snappier than the previous implementation.Improved readabilityWe tweaked the layout and design of the commo rose to improve readability and give clearer and quicker confirmation of which call-out is currently highlighted.The available call-outs in the commo rose is context sensitive and will change depending on what you are currently doing in the game – for example, vehicles and infantry each have separate call-outs. Each function should trigger appropriate voice messages as well as icons on the minimap for increased team play possibilities. Players should keep an eye on the minimap for these icons. If you see them flashing, a team mate is requesting aid via the commo rose.http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/callout.jpgLook for these flashing icons on the mini map. They mean your team mates are trying to tell you something!Improved minimapAfter listening to community feedback, we have implemented alternative new ways to display the minimap. You can now choose between Map, Satellite or Hybrid view mode. Map mode shows the most important tactical geometries such as buildings, objects, roads and water. Satellite mode displays a top-down photograph of the level for increased terrain detail. Hybrid mode combines the Satellite view with a Map overlay, offering a mix of quick tactical awareness and terrain detail. You can change the minimap mode on the fly by pressing (this key is mappable). You can set your preferred default map mode in the Options menu, where you can also alter the opacity level for the satellite textures. See below for an example of how these map displays compare.http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Minimap-Modes-2.png Select the minimap display that suits your map and play style. Beep beep! We have horns!Yes! We have added horns to all jeeps in the game! Nothing says “Get in and man the machine gun so we can take back the airfield!” like three short beeps of the horn. Just press [sPACE] to make your presence known to friendly forces. Warning: Beeping also heard by opposition. Suggest limiting beeping when in enemy territory to keep vehicle in working order. This feature is also present in the PlayStation 3 update that went live yesterday (activated by L1). Giving all players IR flaresTo balance the battlefield and give budding pilots a fighting chance from day 1, we are now giving IR flares to all players. These will be automatically available to you in all air vehicles in the game. So if you’ve had a hard time staying up in the air previously, it should be easier to dodge incoming threats from now on. We hope this small but significant change will mean more players take to the skies and mix up their play style. This feature is also present in the PlayStation 3 update that went live yesterday. More awards for skillful heli flyingOne of the balancing items we have done in this game update is to better reward skillful heli pilots. To do this, we have increased the pilot’s score for transporting passengers who make kills from the heli. The assist score for heli pilots is now 50 points/kill. In a fully loaded transport, four passengers who make 1 kill each will give the pilot a sum total of 200 points. This balancing change is also present in the PlayStation 3 update that went live yesterday. Making the SOFLAM a passive income gadgetThe Recon gadget SOFLAM (laser target painter) has been given a new feature. Now, when a Recon player places it and then leaves it, it will continue to paint targets entering its area of control, continuously giving the Recon player a passive points income. This means a Recon player can place a SOFLAM in a strategic position, then leave it to find a good sniping spot. Combined with fixing a few scoring error in the SOFLAM, it should now be a much more viable source of experience points for Recons. This balancing change is also present in the PlayStation 3 update that went live yesterday. Suppressing is team play, too!Another balancing change that reflects how we want every player to be able to contribute to the overall effort is the lowered threshold for achieving the Suppression Ribbon. From a previous requirement of 7, players now only need to perform 3 suppressions in a game to be rewarded the Suppression Ribbon. This means the Support Kit player can rack up scores by skillful use of his LMG. We’ve always know suppression helps – now we are more generously rewarding those team players who help disorient the enemy so we can move in for the kill. This balancing change is also present in the PlayStation 3 update that went live yesterday. New to the game? Get a flying start with our new shortcut itemshttp://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Shortcut-Items.jpgToday, we are also offering 10 different shortcut items for sale for Battlefield 3 on PC. If you’re new to the game, this is the perfect way to gain some ground on the veterans online. Or if you’d love to get your hands on those AA missiles for jets instantly, this is for you. The 10 shortcut items are available now from Origin and include:Kit Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items unique to the four playable classesVehicle Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items for all vehiclesThe Ultimate Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items from all other available shortcut packs We hope you enjoy the contents of this game update. As always , had to the Battlelog forums or discuss the update with us right here on the blog. See you on the battlefield! Source: View the full article

Finally, the long awaited PC patch has received a release date: tomorrow, March 29. The patch will include all the … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wwbKfAoAP-xPgT7UTiExnvfS6O4/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wwbKfAoAP-xPgT7UTiExnvfS6O4/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/eJj8_j9QnWA View the full article

If you had problems with the Battlefield 3 user interface, well, you’re not alone. The massive waste of space on … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fiRM6np6UmsXSZaTBq2kgKn_xGI/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fiRM6np6UmsXSZaTBq2kgKn_xGI/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/oM6gJlsfrWo View the full article

As promised, the Battlefield 3 patch is now available to download for PlayStation 3 owners. The patch, version 1.04, is … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UAf6dbNJ8D_mpCuHWCxYETbeIqQ/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UAf6dbNJ8D_mpCuHWCxYETbeIqQ/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/ZJKosqKJo4k View the full article

We know you’ve been eagerly awaiting our PlayStation 3 game update, and now it’s here! As you read this, the update should be live in all territories except Japan. Read on for the full details. Today is a great day for Battlefield 3 on PlayStation 3. First and foremost, we are rolling out our massive PlayStation 3 game update. Containing more tweaks, fixes, and additions than you can shake a stick at, the focus of this update is to make the game more stable, fairer, and more balanced. The update is live today in all territories except Japan (Japan will get this update on April 4th). Just start your game to get automatically prompted for this ~1GB update. You can read the change list here. Wake Island alternative 5-flag layout on PS3 http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Wake-Island1.jpgIncluded in today's update is a new 5-flag layout for Wake Island, based on community feedback. Enjoy! After a lot of constructive feedback about how we can improve your Back to Karkand experience, we have added a 5-flag Conquest Assault variant for PS3 on Wake Island. This new flag layout will offer a more tactical gameplay where key bases can turn the tide of the battlefield! Another change in this variant is that the mobile Anti-air now spawns at the Beach base. This now makes the Beach base a very important tactical advantage to own, besides the close distance towards the airfield. To find this new layout on PS3, search for Conquest Assault and Wake Island and look out for the “CQA Day 2” item in the server details. Rent your own server on PS3! http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Rent-a-Server-PS3-640x360.jpgYour server, your rules. Create a personal gaming experience by renting your own server. Starting today, you can rent your own Battlefield 3 server on PS3! This option is available from the “RENT A SERVER” menu and gives you a lot of exciting new options that the community has been asking for. Having your own server gives you the power to create your personal gaming experience. You can either tweak every setting or choose a preset configuration and publish your server in just a few seconds. What maps and modes do you want to play? Do you want to show the mini map or not? Do you want to turn off HUD elements and tweak respawn times and tickets? You can rent your server for 1, 7, 30, or 90 days starting today. Customize your server by giving it a name, description and custom logo. Please note that in order to provide a robust and stable experience, we will be rolling out this functionality incrementally throughout the following week. This means we will have limited availability today, ramping up towards maximum capability in about one week’s time. If you try and rent a server and the option is grayed out, it means we are currently at peak capacity. If so, please try again later, as we will ramp up capacity every day. Pricing for renting your own server is $1.49 / $6.99 / $24.99 / $64.99 (for 1, 7, 30, and 90 days). New to the game? Get a flying start with our shortcuts! http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Shortcut-Items.jpgToday, we are also offering 10 different shortcut items for sale for Battlefield 3 on PS3. If you’re new to the game, this is the perfect way to gain some ground on the veterans online. Or if you’d love to get some more air time in the jets but want to equip those AA missiles straight away, this is for you. The 10 shortcut items are available now from the PlayStation Store and the in-game store and include these:Kit Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items unique to the four playable classesVehicle Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items for all vehiclesThe Ultimate Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items from all other available shortcut packs Don’t forget to re-download Back to Karkand on PS3We hope you enjoy this massive game update with its many fixes and additions. One more thing: If you are a PS3 player and Back to Karkand owner and you have not re-downloaded Back to Karkand – please do so now. The new revision of Back to Karkand that went live March 13 contains a bug fix that fixes the weapon animation bug on Back to Karkand maps. It also has some critical fixes to our back end code that ensures a smooth compatibility with future expansion packs such as Close Quarters and Armored Kill. See you on the Battlefield! Source: View the full article

When designing the multiplayer suite for Battlefield 3 it was important to appeal to a diverse player base with different competitive preferences. With a game mode as established as Deathmatch and its variants, the multiplayer team set out to provide a familiar experience that also retained the Battlefield... View the full article

We’ve been hard at work collecting and working on your feedback and suggestions, and are now happy to report that the next patch for Battlefield 3 will be released for PlayStation 3 on the 27th of March. More information on Xbox 360 and PC will come soon. View the full article

We know you’ve been eagerly awaiting our PlayStation 3 game update, and now it’s here! As you read this, the update should be live in all territories except Japan. Read on for the full details. View the full article

When designing the multiplayer suite for Battlefield 3 it was important to appeal to a diverse player base with different competitive preferences. With a game mode as established as Deathmatch and its variants, the multiplayer team set out to provide a familiar experience that also retained the Battlefield aesthetic deep into the core design. In this week’s Inside DICE article, level designer Diego Jimenez explains one of the ways we’re continuing to fine-tune and improve on that design. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BF3B2Kscrn_2-640x360.jpg With Battlefield 3, the multiplayer team at DICE was eager to bring back Deathmatch to the series after a long hiatus. We wanted to provide players with a simpler, more focused combat experience that still retained the unique flavor of Battlefield. While we were quite happy with the end result, spending lots of time playing the game online as well as listening to the community’s feedback made it clear to us there were specific areas with room for improvement. Spawning too close to enemies when playing Team Deathmatch or Squad Deathmatch has been a common point of feedback, and is an area we’re improving. This is how we’re going about it. Team Deathmatch Spawning 101Due to the stripped-down nature of Team Deathmatch, a player spawning system that effectively shuffles players about the map as they die and respawn becomes absolutely critical for a good gaming experience. This system includes both the spawn system game code as well as the individual spawn points and spawn zones the level designer places by hand. Rather than trying to alter the level layout, we knew we had to focus on these items in order to improve the experience.The way the spawn system works in Battlefield 3, the whole map is divided into different spawn zones corresponding to areas of the level that a team will naturally fall into or attempt to defend. As combat progresses, the system tracks which team controls which zone and attempts to spawn players close to their team mates. A good level layout will naturally encourage teams to move constantly throughout the map, while the automated spawn system ensures that, whenever possible, as players die they respawn near their team mates. The idea is to have the teams fighting each other around focused frontlines that ebb and flow as the combat rages on. The first step: Back to KarkandAs the level designer responsible for the different Deathmatch setups in our levels, I had some lingering concerns in the weeks and months following the release of Battlefield 3. These problems centered around a few of the maps which were either showing an unacceptable rate of players spawning close to nearby enemies, or were prone to certain players spawn-camp opposing team members. Players would often die soon after they respawned into the game, making for less than enjoyable combat. On a personal level, watching someone putting up YouTube clips where they spawn-camped some poor player over and over in say, Noshahr Canals, made me cringe. We want people to have fun, and if they don’t, we have to take it upon ourselves to improve our design.The first step we took to address these issues was rolled out on the client and server updates that came with the Battlefield 3: Back to Karkandupdate back in December. Our spawn system is designed to randomly consider any potential spawn points within a given zone and reject those that include nearby enemies within each spawn point’s so called ”Protection Radius”. Since this radius was relatively big for some of the smaller levels like Noshahr Canals and Kharg Island, we decided to reduce it by half in order to avoid one wandering enemy suddenly invalidating a large amount of potential spawn positions for a given zone. Another big improvement came from redrawing the spawn point configuration on Caspian Border, Damavand Peak, Noshahr Canals and Kharg Island — we essentially pulled a lot of unsafe spawns away from the high-traffic central areas of the map and shifted them towards the safer zones in the periphery. The challenge: Kharg IslandWhile the Karkand update generally improved the spawning-related issues for the aforementioned maps, we felt over the following weeks that Kharg Island was still not up to par. Players proved to continue experiencing some issues in the form of spawning close to enemies, or being forced to engage in combat uncomfortably soon after spawning.Here are two overview pictures contrasting the version of this map shipped with Battlefield 3 (picture 1.1) with the one included in the Back to Karkand update (picture 1.2). Spawn zones are denoted by colored geometries, while the yellow circles mark potential spawn locations. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Kharg_TDM_BF3_zones-640x465.jpgPicture 1.1: Battlefield 3 version of Kharg Island (TDM) http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Kharg_TDM_Karkand_zones-640x465.jpgPicture 1.2: Back to Karkand update of Kharg Island (TDM) As you can see above, we decided to remove almost all of the spawn positions in the container area — aiming to discourage players from spawning in high traffic areas. We also took away one of the spawn zones (shown yellow in the picture) to reduce the density of players on the northern end of the map. The next stepAfter we rolled out the Back to Karkand update, we continued to monitor how players reacted to the changes. With Kharg Island, for example, we could see tangible improvements from the aforementioned changes. But the experience of spawning into the map still didn’t feel up to the same level as some of the other maps, and so we got right back into it. One of the proposals we had involved to further distance the spawn zones from each other in order to avoid players meeting hostiles too soon after spawning. As such, the new version of the layout we came up with involved opening up a previously blocked off area on the west end of the map (see picture 1.3 below). The extra space allowed us to add a new spawn zone on the southwest (colored as light brown below), bring back the yellow-colored spawn zone, and simultaneously shift the original blue zone farther to the west. We have been play testing this setup internally as of late and have found it to both significantly improve the flow of the level and relieve the spawn-related issues some players have been experiencing. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Kharg_TDM__zones-640x465.jpgPicture 1.3: Upcoming update of Kharg Island (TDM) Bigger or smaller playable areasAside from Kharg Island, we have also been busy with improvements on other maps. As far as post-release updates go, altering the playable area is one of the most drastic changes we do, as this can have the knock-on effect of affecting the game in unforseen ways if you are not very careful. Sometimes the characteristics of a map necessitate a bigger area — and the added frontlines and spawn zones that come with it — while others benefit from compressing the effective size of a layout in order to bring players closer together. Tehran Highway is a good example of the former. Our feedback was indicating a general repetitiveness of combat due to a limited amount of available frontlines to fight on, and a lack of rotation among the different spawn zones — teams would often spawn and fight in the same areas. Through our recent playtests we’ve found this to be much improved by allowing access to the western half of the map and effectively establishing spawn locations on the other side of the highway. As players can now engage each other across the highway, or fire from elevated positions like the pedestrian overpass or the construction site, the action feels more unpredictable and caters to a wider range of playing styles. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Highway_TDM_Karkand_zones-640x879.jpgPicture 1.4: Original version of Tehran Highway (TDM) http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Highway_TDM_zones-640x879.jpgPicture 1.5: Upcoming version of Tehran Highway (TDM) The opposite approach proved effective when dealing with the Squad Deathmatch layout on Damavand Peak. In order to address community concerns about the fighting being too spread out due to squads spawning too far from each other, we have now play tested a version of this level that removes two spawn zones we judged to be too out of the way (see the now removed orange and dark green areas on the pictures below). http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Damavand_SQDM_Karkand_zones-640x465.jpgPicture 1.6: Original version of Damavand Peak (SQDM) http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Damavand_SQDM_zones-640x465.jpgPicture 1.7: Upcoming version of Damavand Peak (SQDM) Looking forwardWe have also managed to fix a code bug where a small amount of players would spawn within a cluster of enemies at the start of the round, and I have been busy with a whole slew of tweaks to individual spawn points and spawn zones for other Team Deathmatch setups in maps like Seine Crossing, Strike at Karkand, and Sharqi Peninsula. You can similarly expect significant improvements on the Squad Deathmatch layouts for Noshahr Canals and the aforementioned Damavand Peak. Refining the Team Deathmatch and Squad Deathmatch experience remains a learning experience for myself, and for the whole multiplayer crew here at DICE. I strongly believe Deathmatch is a valuable addition to the Battlefield repertoire, and I am committed to continuing to listen to feedback from the community regarding Deathmatch game modes moving forward. Diego JimenezMultiplayer Level DesignerNote: To vote on the section below you need to visit this link. (The Battlefield Blog | Fine-tuning the Deathmatch Experience in Battlefield 3) Which is your favorite Deathmatch level in Battlefield 3? Noshahr Canals Kharg Island Operation Métro Grand Bazaar Seine Crossing View Results Source: View the full article

As promised earlier, the new Battlefield 3 patch will bring a new and improved commo rose command system, pictured above. … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yLhKnpGydA_Ir-aN4Xabjn6Eos/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yLhKnpGydA_Ir-aN4Xabjn6Eos/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/uKGP_SXmTn8 View the full article

WeÂ’ve been hard at work collecting and working on your feedback and suggestions, and are now happy to report that the next patch for Battlefield 3 will be released for PlayStation 3 on the 27th of March. More information on Xbox 360 and PC will come soon.This patch includes many gameplay tweaks and balances; several suggested by you. The full list of changes and updates is as follows. This update will also bring the “Rent a Server” functionality to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. For more updated information on this functionality, check back next week. FIXES FOR PC SERVER OPERATION- Having the same map occur multiple times in the maplist now works properly- If adding a new map to the servers maplist after a clear and then running “mapList.runNextRound” the server will ignore any remaining rounds on the map that it still run since before the clear and move to the new first map in the list. The server will now have reset the current rounds per map and run the map in the list for the number of rounds stated when adding the map.- Maplist can contain up to 1000 entries now- mapList.list will return at most 100 entries. To get the entire list, perform mapList.list repeatedly with increasing offsets (like banList.list) GENERAL GAMEPLAY FIXES-Players should no longer take fall damage from short falls.-Players now get up from Prone slightly faster, allowing better odds of getting away from a grenade or threat when prone.-Fixed some situations that would unintentionally make a player unrevivable.-Reduced the black screen fade in time on spawn. The fade is still necessary for properly streaming in loading content at spawn, but it has been substantially reduced.-Increased the spawn protection time from 1sec to 2sec. The protection will still be immediately canceled as soon as the player moves or shoots.-Spawn protection will no longer be canceled by the player looking around.-Increased the speed at which a player regains accuracy when aiming after moving for a more responsive experience. Firing before fully zoomed will still result inaccurate fire.-Increased the inaccuracy and recoil added when a player is fully suppressed.-Shotgun Buck and Flechette rounds now have a less suppressive effect at medium to long range.-Tweaked the damage levels of Buck and Flechette rounds to balance them with other weapons.-Improved the suppression of the .44 magnum, .357 magnum, and the 5.8x42mm DAP88 rounds from the Type88 sniper.-Attempting to Crouch (like Prone) will now properly interrupt Sprint.-Increased the effectiveness of Suppression Resist Specialization.-Parachutes now respond to turn and throttle inputs more quickly.-Switching from primary weapons to sidearms and back now takes less time.-Increased the effectiveness of explosive resistance.-Tweaked bipod deploy settings so players can no longer deploy a bipod in places higher than chin level.-The bipod should now be more reliable when deploying on top of sloped objects like cars and rocks.-Fixed several issues with vaulting objects, especially for thin railings.-The Knife now only takes two swipes to kill when attacking from a position where a takedown is not possible.-CRAM weapons on Carriers now count towards stationary weapon awards. VEHICLE FIXES-The A10 properly gives Jet score again.-Unguided tank rounds and RPGs will now instantly destroy Jets, Attack Helicopters, and Scout Helicopters.-Increased the damage the MBTÂ’s primary weapon does to the front and side armor of other main battle tanks. Primarily this means 1 less shot to the front, and very good hits to the side can result in a 1 hit to disable.-Slightly reduced the repair speed of the repair tool.-Increased the damage done by TOW weapons to armored vehicles.-Increased the rate of fire and minimum damage of the Coax HMG.-Increased the damage mounted gunner .50cal HMGs do at long range.-Increased the power of the repair tool when killing soldiers or destroying vehicles slightly.-Fixed a problem when locking on to two nearby targets, the locking should no longer jump rapidly between multiple targets. This applies to all locking weapons and Laser Designators.-Increased the damage of the Javelin and Air to Ground missiles against laser designated targets.-Javelin missiles fired without Laser targeting now do more damage to the side and rear of MBTs.-Slightly reduced the locking time of all weapons vs Laser Designated targets.-Laser Guided missiles can now be distracted by Flares.-Increased the locking distance for AGM Missiles for Jets when locking on laser designated targets.-Reduced the locking time for the AGM Missiles for Jets to make them more viable against ground targets.-Reduced the locking time for AA Missiles for Jets to make them more viable against air targets.-Flares will no longer break the lock of a vehicle that is locked on, it will only distract the missiles.-Flares now more reliably distract missiles, especially for Helicopters.-Flares for Jets and Choppers now reload at 11 seconds again, except for the gunner, which remains unchanged at 20sec.-AA Missiles are more difficult to dodge in Jets, this was unintended behavior that created an imbalance against skilled pilots.-AA Missiles should no longer kill the pilot instead of the vehicle.-AA Missiles should no longer detonate before hitting their target or a Flare/ECM chaff cloud.-Reduced the damage AA missiles do to jets to 45%.-Fixed the SU-35 firing Air to Air missiles at a lower rate of fire than other vehicles.-The IGLA and Stinger now lock on much more quickly and disable an attack aircraft in 1 hit, but have significantly reduced range. This should allow Stingers to mount an effective close range point defense, without dominating an entire airspace.-Increased the speed of the Helicopter AA missiles lock on to reduce the tedious nature of Helicopter dogfights and improve the HelicopterÂ’s defensive abilities vs Jets.-Slightly reduced the damage of Jet cannons against Aircraft. Damage is now only slightly higher than it was originally at launch.-Increased RPG and SMAW damage against aircraft.-Guided Rockets will now only track ground targets, as originally intended.-Reduced the direct damage done by Attack Helicopter gunners vs Armor.-Helicopter guns should now suppress correctly.-Improved the accuracy of the Attack HelicopterÂ’s Rocket Pods, both guided and unguided.-Slightly increased the damage of Attack HelicopterÂ’s Rocket Pods vs Infantry and other Helicopters.-Additional fixes have been made to the TV missile to prevent it from blowing up the lauching vehicle.-The Mi28 has received upgrades to its climbing and yawing abilities.-Fixed an issue where guided rockets from the Mi28 did not follow the crosshair properly.-Improved the accuracy of the Mi28 gun to match the AH1 gun.-Increased the direct hit damage of the APFSDS rounds for the IFVs.-Decreased the locking time of the IFV Guided Missile to make it more viable as an unlock.-Miniguns and Helicopter Gunners now more quickly destroy parked cars.-Increased the power of explosions from cars and other explosive static objects.-Dying from the explosion of a car or other explosive static object should now correctly credit the player who caused the explosion.-Adjusted the F35′s Center of Mass and Hover Engine for more stable, level flight in all flight modes.-Updated the F35 weapon systems to be consistent with the other Jets.-The F35 will now only attempt to enter Hover at low altitudes, though it will maintain the hover until forward flight is resumed, even if it reaches high altitude.-The F35 and SU35 now properly have Ejection seats to prevent players from being killed when exiting the vehicle.-Changed the Kornets to TOW launchers on Wake Island and moved the spawn position of the AAV to a more level position.-Fixed several bugs with air vehicles colliding with objects at high speeds and taking no damage.-Players will no longer receive suicides or team kills if they crash their vehicle (dying is punishment enough).-The MAV will no longer destroy vehicles that run into it, instead it should be destroyed.-Jet and Helicopter collisions should now properly result in the death of both vehicles.-You can now spot with the EOD bot.-Increased the base accuracy for AA guns and added a decrease in accuracy over the course of a burst.-Reduced the damage AA guns (both mobile and stationary) do to infantry.-The carrier based CRAM stations are now properly tracked as stationary weapons.-CRAM and Pantsir stationary AA weapons now have Air Radar equipped by default.-Improved the sound feedback for damage to help players better understand the amount of damage their vehicle is taking.-The A10′s extinguisher should now function properly.-Disabled vehicles now have an increased reverse speed to help escape to cover after being disabled.-The T90′s crosshair now more accurately represents the trajectory of the main gun.-Toggle and Hold zoom settings now also apply to soldier controlled turrets on jeeps, transport helicopters, boats, and IFVs port guns.-The AAV now has zoom and a 3P camera when using the turret.-Tweaked the AAVÂ’s turret controls to be more useful when the vehicle is moving.-The Z11w now properly functions with Below Radar.-Below Radar will now also prevent the lock on of Stinger and IGLA missiles.-Added Horns to all Jeeps.-Tanks can no longer drive into the water and cross the Wake Island lagoon completely submerged. WEAPONSSeveral weapons have had recoil or accuracy adjusted in orer to balance these weapons in effectiveness and also increase the feeling of individuality in each gun-Added Extended Mags to the ASVAL. The Extended Mags can be unlocked at 200 kills with the AS VAL.-Reduced the recoil of the SKS rifle and increased its maximum damage at close range.-Fixed aimed firing max accuracy on the Pecheneg to be consistent with other LMGs.-Semiautomatic and automatic shotguns firing FRAG rounds now do slightly less splash damage.-The M26 MASS frag and slug rounds are now the more effective pump action versions.-The M26 MASS and M320 now benefit from the Laser Sight when mounted with an Underslung Rail.-Fixed the bolt action timer on the L96 that would cause an animation glitch.-9x39mm rounds no longer benefit from the Sniper headshot bonus.-Increased the damage of the 9x39mm rounds at long range.-Fixed the AKS74u damage at max range, it was incorrectly higher than other carbines.-Increased the damage of the .357 and .44 magnum rounds at max range.-All semiautomatic and bolt weapons, including all shotgun slugs, now have their maximum damage out to 15m.-Semiautomatic weapons will no longer “jam” if the player presses fire faster than the weapon is capable of shooting. Some semi-automatic weapons have had their rates of fire adjusted to fit this change.-Bolt action sniper rounds now have a chance to kill at close range if the player ilalalala in the upper chest.-Semiautomatic sniper rifles, Assault Rifles, LMGs, and shotgun slugs now have more consistent damage over long range. At maximum range shots to the legs will not require more hits to kill.-The spread for Flechette rounds has been reduced slightly on all shotguns.-The spread for Buckshot has been reduced on the M1014, DAO-12, and S12k. These weapons have an accuracy advantage over the USAS12 but are not as accurate as the 870.-Zooming shotguns with Buckshot and Flechette loads will now result in a slightly tighter cone for the pellets.-Reduced the delay time between quick knife attempts slightly. Attacks with the knife drawn are still significantly faster.-Fixed the Rate of Fire when the USAS and MK3A1 are equipped with FRAG rounds. All other shotguns correctly had a reduced rate of fire with frags, except the USAS and MK3A1.-Fixed an Accuracy bug when the MK3A1 shotgun is equipped with FRAG or Slug rounds.-Shotguns equipped with slugs will no longer automatically begin reloading if the weapon is zoomed when the clip is empty. This allows players to see where the slug lands before reloading.-Fixed 12g FRAG rounds not breaking glass at long range.-Players can now earn the shotgun Ribbon using the M26 MASS.-The underslung grenade launchers for Russian rifles now properly report GP30 in the kill log.-Fixed the AEK971 40mm shotgun round listing itself as FRAG in the kill log.-Fixed the 40mm smoke grenade so it no longer passes through soldiers and unbroken objects before it detonates.-M27 IAR: No change. The M27 is a heavier version of the M416, giving it good all-around performance though it has worse performance on the move.-RPK-74M: Reduced the initial recoil and vertical recoil. The RPK-74M is a more stable firing platform than the comparable M27, though it lacks the M27′s higher rate of fire.-M249: Added an initial recoil. The M249 is the fastest firing belt fed LMG, giving it superior suppressive and damage abilities. The initial recoil makes it a bit harder to run and gun, while making little overall impact on performance.-Type-88: Slightly increased the initial recoil, reduced muzzle drift. The Type88 fires the slowest of the medium caliber LMGs, though what it lacks in rate of fire it makes up for in controllability.-PKP: Reduced recoil but added a slight initial recoil, increased damage at max range. The Pecheneg has a heavy vertical recoil with a hard hitting round and little drift, this makes it excellent at sustained fire.-M60: Reduced the initial recoil, increased damage at all ranges. The M60 has a very low rate of fire that makes it the most controllable with the powerful 7.62x51mm round.-M240B: Added an initial recoil, increased damage at all ranges. The fastest firing medium MG, the M240 has a substantial muzzle kick and drift that makes all that power difficult to control.-QBB-95: Reduced the total recoil but increased muzzle drift and initial recoil. The QBB-95 should now kick harder but settle into full auto fire better, combined with the bullpup hip fire bonus this makes the QBB-95 a highly mobile LMG.-MG36: Added an initial recoil. The MG36 fires at a fast 750rpm and makes a nice middle ground between the controllability of a clip LMG and the sustained firepower of a belt fed LMG.-870: No change. The 870 is a popular and highly effective weapon.-DAO-12: Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The DAO-12 has a high magazine capacity with a slow reload that makes it a solid all around shotgun.M1014: Increased the rate of fire from 200 max to 210 max. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The M1014 was underperforming compared to the USAS12 and 870, it should now be more viable in CQB thanks to a higher rate of fire.-S12k: Increased extended mag from 8 rounds to 10 rounds. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The S12k larger extended magazine but slower rate of fire should make it stand out against the M1014, while the DAO-12 has a higher capacity over all, but a slowe reload.-MK3A1: Increased magazine capacity to 8 and 12 for normal and extended mag respectively. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The MK3A1 has a lower ROF than the USAS12, giving it slightly more ammo makes this an edge vs the USAS.USAS-12: Increased the initial recoil. Reduced the total pellets fired from 12 to 9. The USAS 12 has a higher ROF than other shotguns, this recoil change better balances that advantage and the pellets balance its damage output.-M4A1: No Change. Well-rounded carbine, with good rate of fire and controllable recoil.-M4: Increased vertical recoil, reduced horizontal recoil. The Burst only M4 should now feel different to its automatic sibling, the reduced horizontal recoil emphasizes the greater control you have in burst fire.-AKS-74U: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The AKS-74uÂ’s low rate of fire is paired with great controllability. The overall increase in sustained fire control should help this carbine stand out, while the first kick gives it character.-SG553: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The SG553 is a lower rate of fire carbine with greater controllability than the G36C. The change to initial recoil should better highlight this difference.-A91: No Change. The A91′s high rate of fire and bullpup from the hip accuracy is offset by a poor controllability on full auto.-G36C: Reduced initial recoil. The G36C is a well-rounded carbine, with a medium rate of fire and a medium recoil. The 2 round burst mode gives this weapon an edge at mid-range.-SCAR-H: Increased damage at maximum range and increased max range. The SCAR-H fires a heavier round than all other carbines, giving it better stopping power at range at the cost of a low fire rate that penalizes it in CQB.-G53: Reduced recoil and drift, recoil settle times now similar to other carbines. The HK53 is a short carbine with a lot of initial kick but a stable recoil pattern and a medium rate of fire. The changes give it more character compared to the G36.-QBZ-95B: Reduced muzzle sway, recoil settle times now similar to other carbines. A bullpup like the A91, the QBZ-95B is steady on the move with a lower rate of fire for controllable shots at longer range. The built in foregrip is now properly reflected in the weaponÂ’s stats.-AK-74M: Reduced initial recoil and vertical recoil. The AK-74M sacrifices rate of fire for controllable automatic fire, the initial recoil was negatively affecting the feeling of controllability.-M16A3: No Change. The M16 (both A3 and A4) provide a well-rounded stable firing platform with a high rate of fire that is relatively controllable.-M16A4: Increased vertical recoil, reduced horizontal recoil. The Burst only M16A4 should now feel different to its automatic sibling, the reduced horizontal recoil emphasizes the greater control you have in burst fire.-M416: No change. The M416 is the middle ground AR, blending a medium recoil and rate of fire.AEK-971: Increased initial recoil, reduced aimed accuracy slightly. The AEK has a very high rate of fire, and also a large muzzle drift that makes control difficult. The low initial recoil allowed a player to kill before the weaponÂ’s weaknesses kicked in while the reduced accuracy highlights its close range role.-F2000: Reduced vertical recoil, increased zoomed accuracy slightly. As a bullpup, the F2000 has a bonus to accuracy on the move and from the hip while its high rate of fire sacrifices controllability for saturation. The previous changes were an overreaction, this is a corrective update.-AN94: Reduced vertical recoil. The AN94′s 2 round burst mode is incredibly accurate, but it suffers from a low rate of fire on fully automatic. The recoil in full auto has been reduced somewhat to offset this penalty and make the AN94 more attractive.-G3A3: Increased damage at all ranges, reduced vertical recoil. The G3A3′s heavy recoil and heavy round are offset by a low rate of fire and a small magazine. The G3A3 was clearly outclassed at all ranges.-KH2002: No Change. The KH2002 is locked to burst fire, with a high rate of fire and a large muzzle drift the weapon favors accurate mid-range fire.-L85A2: Increased accuracy, reduced muzzle drift. The L85 differs from other bullpup style ARs by having a low rate of fire, the accuracy and controllability were too low to offset the rate of fire.-FAMAS: The FAMAS combines an extreme rate of fire with extreme recoil making it very difficult to use at anything other than close quarters combat. Due to update restrictions, the FAMAS had different stats on all 3 platforms. The FAMAS is now uniform on all platforms and now has the correct 25 round magazine.-PP2000: Reduced the initial recoil. The PP2000 has a lower ROF than other PDWs and needed the controllability to be balanced.-UMP45: Reduced accuracy loss during full auto. The UMP45 hits hard and has a controllable recoil at the cost of a heavy initial recoil kick.-MP7: No Change. The MP7 has a very low recoil and a high muzzle drift that favors longer bursts than the P90.-AS VAL: Increased vertical recoil, reduced first shot recoil, reduced accuracy on the move. The AS VAL fires a long range, highly accurate, high damage projectile that favors short bursts or single fire when stationary. While still quite good from the hip, the AS VAL will suffer if fired while moving and aimed.-PDW-R: Reduced the initial recoil. The PDW-R has high recoil and favors burst fire, the added initial recoil was making it less effective in small bursts.-P90: Reduced the initial recoil. The P90 favors a run and gun play style using long bursts to control muzzle drift, the initial recoil was making bursting ineffective.-PP-19: Slightly reduced the initial recoil when firing, increased base damage. The PP-19′s high initial recoil was over penalizing the burst fire needed to be effective on the low damage, high capacity weapon. SCOPES-Fixed the 7x scope not zooming to the full 7x on all weapons.-Corrected the M39′s laser sight so it points at the point of impact and aligns with scopes when zoomed.-Fixed a misaligned scope crosshair on the G3A3 using the Rifle Scope 6x.-Fixed the PKA and PKA-S scopes on the M416 having swapped zoom levels.-The L96 Straight Pull bolt now functions properly.-The L96 ironsights have been adjusted for a clearer aiming picture and correct use of the integral front sight.-The L96 now properly shows scope glint when using the 8x, and 12x scopes.-Tweaked IRNV to be more consistent across all levels.-Fixed a rendering issue with IRNV view when taking damage.-Tweaked the IRNV zoom times and scope visible areas to be the same across all weapons (some were faster than others).-Fixed the QBU-88 sniper and the L96 IRNV scopes to use the proper sniper reticule BIPOD-The Accuracy increase and Recoil reduction of the Bipod has been significantly improved for Assault Rifles and Carbines.-The Bipod now provides similar Accuracy and Recoil benefits no matter if the weapon is fired while aiming or without aiming for all weapons. Previously only LMGs were worked this way. This especially improves the speed at which snipers can make follow up shots, and also allows effective unaimed suppressive fire with Assault Rifles and Carbines.-Increased the Speed at which a bipod is deployed, allowing the user to obtain the bipodÂ’s bonus sooner after the deploy has started and allowing the weapon to be aimed in a far shorter time. The speed has been increased 40-50%, depending on the weapon and animation. HEAVY BARREL-The Vertical Recoil penalty of the Heavy Barrel has been reduced. The value has been changed from a global percent increase to a weapon specific value.-A small Hip Accuracy penalty has been added to the Heavy Barrel to represent the added weight of the accessory, as well as focus the attachment on accurate mid and long range fire. The exact penalty amount is a weapon specific value.-Several weapons with low default bullet speed now have their bullet speed increased when the Heavy Barrel is equipped. This is in effect for the A91, G3A3, AKS-74u, G36C, M4A1, SCAR-H, SG553, G53, and QBZ-95B.-The Heavy Barrel is now also paired with Match Rounds which increase the maximum range of the weapon. The minimum and maximum damage are unchanged, weapons with the Heavy Barrel will be more effective in mid range.-The Aimed Accuracy bonus provided by the Heavy Barrel has been increased. This will increase the effectiveness of the Heavy Barrel for small bursts, as originally intended. IRNV FIXES-Tweaked IRNV to be more consistent across all levels.-Fixed a rendering issue with IRNV view when taking damage.-Tweaked the IRNV zoom times and scope visible areas to be the same across all weapons (some were faster than others).-Fixed the QBU-88 sniper and the L96 IRNV scopes to use the proper sniper reticule. FOREGRIP-The Horizontal Sway reduction has been changed from a global percent reduction to a weapon specific value reduction. For most guns this means very little change, for guns which have a large horizontal recoil the change is more substation. The FAMAS, F2000, and AEK971 are most effected, the AK-74, M16, and M416 are nearly unchanged.-A small long range Aimed Accuracy penalty has been added to the foregrip. Players who generally find themselves fighting at mid to long range may want to change their accessory, while players fighting in CQB will go largely unaffected. Combining the Foregrip with a Silencer or a Heavy Barrel will offset this penalty. LASER SIGHT-The Hip Accuracy bonus provided by the Laser Sight has been increased. Some PDWs have had their crouch and prone base stats adjusted to prevent hip firing being more accurate than aimed fire when using a laser sight.-The bonus is now a weapon specific value instead olalalalobal percentage, some guns receive larger or smaller bonuses, though all bonuses are better than they were previously. SUPPRESSOR-The Suppressor no longer reduces the maximum damage of a weapon when equipped. Instead the Suppressor reduces the minimum and maximum range of the weapon, making it ideal for CQB and Stealth. This change will make the Suppressor slightly more effective at long range, where the bullet drop and speed makes shots difficult already, and reduces the power of the suppressor at mid range slightly.-The SuppressorÂ’s recoil bonus remains unchanged at a global 10% decrease. This is less than the Flash SuppressorÂ’s bonus for all weapons.-The Hip Accuracy penalty of the Suppressor has been changed from a global percentage to a per weapon value. Generally this penalty is higher now, but not for all weapons. Specifically, the belt LMGs and bolt Snipers do not have any additional hip fire penalty, as their penalty is already at the maximum possible value.-Reduced the Aimed Accuracy bonus of the Suppressor from 50% to 25%. A Suppressor and Foregrip combo will have similar accuracy to a weapon without any Accessories, at the penalty of worse Hip Fire Accuracy and Range and with the benefit of much improved Stealth and reduced Recoil. FLASH SUPPRESSOR-The Flash Suppressor no longer reduces accuracy for Automatic Fire.-The Flash Suppressor now also works as a recoil compensator, reducing the Vertical Recoil by a weapon specific value. This bonus is larger than the bonus provided by the Suppressor.-A small Hip Accuracy penalty has been added to the Flash Suppressor to represent the added weight of the accessory. The exact penalty amount is a weapon specific value. GADGETS-Reduced the spot times on C4 and Claymore projectiles from 30 to 15 sec.-Tweaked the controls and physics for the EOD bot to improve its handling and aiming capabilities.-The Radio Beacon, Mortar, MAV, EOD bot, T-UGS, and SOFLAM should now be much easier to deploy.-The MAV will now be destroyed when running into a soldier or vehicle at high speed. It is still possible to strategically sacrifice your MAV on a soldier; it will be destroyed in the process.-The MAV now properly shows up in the Kill Feed. Previously it simply displayed “KILLED.”-The MAV can no longer be used as an elevator.-Matched the motion sensor sweep frequency and range on the MAV to the TUGS.-Players will no longer auto enter SOFLAM, MAV, and EOD bots after they are deployed.-Players may now use their knife to destroy enemy equipment.-C4 will no longer be detonable after a player respawns, if the player is revived within 5 seconds he can still detonate his C4.-The player may now have a maximum number of mines which will persist after the playerÂ’s death. Deploying more than the maximum of 6 mines will remove a previous mine from the world.-Claymores now live up to 5 seconds after a player dies, the player can have a max 2 claymores planted at the same time.-Claymores can now detonate from vehicles and can be used to disable jeeps or kill the passengers in light jeeps. Claymores will not do any damage to heavy vehicles.-Ammobags now stay until the user redeploys them like Medkits.-Ammobags resupply bullets more quickly, but explosives resupply more slowly, especially 40mm grenades.-Slightly reduced the effective blast radius of the RPG, SMAW, and 40mm grenade projectiles against infantry.-Reduced the total number of RPG and SMAW missiles carried from 5 to 4. Players desiring more rockets will want to use the Explosive spec.-Slightly increased the heal rate of the Medical Crate.-The MAV now will also descend by pressing the Crouch Toggle key. (PC)-The M224 Mortar can no longer be deployed in an area that is out of combat for another team like a home base or other protected spawn.-Tweaked M224 exit points so the player faces in the direction of the mortar when he exits.-Mines, Claymores, C4 and other deployable items will now only appear on the minimap when spotted by a teammate. TEAM DEATHMATCH-Fixed a bug where players would spawn close to the enemy team at the start of the round.-Tehran Highway playable area has been doubled and is now the same as the Squad Deathmatch set up. Spawn points have been tweaked, and an extra spawn zone has been added north of the footbridge.-Kharg Island has a new spawn zone layout, along with a bigger playable area and new cover objects. Spawn points have also been tweaked.-Strike at Karkand spawns zones have been tweaked to improve player flow. Spawn points have been tweaked to improve safety upon spawning.-Sharqi Peninsula spawn zones have been adjusted to optimize player movement. Spawn points have been tweaked so players spawn more safely.-Seine Crossing spawn zone set up has been improved. There is a new spawn zone by the alleyway to the northwest with additional spawn points.-Caspain Border spawn zones have been tweaked slightly. SQUAD DEATHMATCH-Fixed a bug where players would spawn close to the enemy team at the start of the round.-Damavand Peak layout and spawn zones have been tightened to reduce the spread of players across the map-Tehran Highway now features an extra spawn zone north of the footbridge, along with tweaked spawn points.-Noshahr Canals spawn zones have been tweaked. Removed unsafe spawn points in the Northeast corner, and in the middle of the container area to the Southwest. DISABLE ANTI-ALIASING ON PS3 TO REDUCE INPUT LAGPlayStation 3 players may now turn off anti-alias in the options menu to reduce input lag. IMPROVED COMMO-ROSE FOR PChttp://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/commorose1-640x164.jpg As has been rumored for some time, we are making some improvements to the commo-rose on PC. This is partially based on feedback from the community. Please be aware that the commo-rose will change depending on your current position – vehicles and infantry each have separate call outs. Each function should trigger appropriate voice messages as well as icons on the mini map. http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/callout.jpg Each button should trigger appropriate voice messages as well as icons on the mini map. Players should keep an eye on the mini map for these icons that will flash when a team mate is requesting aid via the commo-rose. IMPROVEMENTS TO MINIMAPwe are also adjusting the level of detail to give a clearer picture for players when using the mini-map. The three new mini map modes are:http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/minimaps1.jpgSource: View the full article

http://blogscdn.battlefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Capture1.pngTonight, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is deciding this year’s best in video games and Battlefield is nominated for several awards.Battlefield 3 has been nominated for three awards: Audio Achievement – We won! Congratulations to Stefan Strandberg, Bence Pajor, and Carl Vikman here at DICE! Online Multiplayer - We won! Congratulations to Lars Gustavsson, Alan Kertz, Patrick O’Shaughnessy here at DICE! GAME Award of 2011 (Public Vote) – We won! Thank you to all of our great fans that helped us win! Three nominations and three wins! We’re very happy to have won and we know that we couldn’t have done it without you, our loyal Battlefield fans. Thank you so much!You can watch the awards live here (link) and cheer Battlefield 3 on to victory! Source: View the full article

After some delay earlier this day, DICE announced the release date for the new Battlefield 3 patch. And yet, to … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yqZllEnJmYk6Vs5N3fiDH5b0DE8/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yqZllEnJmYk6Vs5N3fiDH5b0DE8/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/yk41F7xQiMU View the full article

DICE have released a back-end update for the Battlefield 3 platform, which adds a more complete server browser and playlist … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/btKTz6V_xaVOSTnwPTXA74oRXZM/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/btKTz6V_xaVOSTnwPTXA74oRXZM/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/4xYLM8_9G0c View the full article

The new Battlefield 3 DLC will include improved destruction called “Destruction HD”, and DICE have released a new time lapse … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uJzwUa3-nHtA_C_7ZInP2B_KmMU/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uJzwUa3-nHtA_C_7ZInP2B_KmMU/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/iRNKvQ6jEko View the full article

After the announcement of 3 DLC packs a few weeks ago, many Battlefield 3 fans complained that it was too … Read on → http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kbJCj_f7Vjous9f2x0PiBUvqAjc/0/di http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kbJCj_f7Vjous9f2x0PiBUvqAjc/1/di http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BF3Blog/~4/nC_JcRsVwHQ View the full article