Battlefield 3 – Additional PC Patch Notes for March 29th

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you’ll know that DICE has officially announced the Battlefield 3 PC patch to go live tomorrow, March 29th between 9 and 11:30 CET [5am-6:30am EST]. Wondering what additional, PC-specific content will be included this time around? We’ve got you covered.

EA Community Manager Ian Tornay has posted on the official Battlefield 3 blog a list of changes and tweaks that PC users can expect in the upcoming 1.6GB update.

New and improved commo rose:

Some of the new commo rose updates, inspired by community feedback, include:

New global call-outs – “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 rose – “We 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 handling – “The mouse movement is now always tracked from the center of the commo rose, to make navigation more intuitive.”

Quicker activation – “You now activate a call-out simply by releasing Q, which should be snappier than the previous implementation.”

Improved readability – “We 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.”

Call outs will now be context sensitive, meaning actions will change depending on your current situation. Also, “players should keep an eye on the minimap for these icons [below]. If you see them flashing, a team mate is requesting aid via the commo rose.”

Improved Mini Map:

The mini map mode can be change by pressing [B] (though is, of course, mappable). Players can also set their preferred mode in the options menu and can tweak the opacity for satellite textures.

As explained on the blog (visual examples below):

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.

Additional content includes:

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 flares

To 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 flying

One 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 gadget

The 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.

For a list of features that weren’t advertised in the official PS3 patch notes, read our List of Unannounced PS3 Battlefield 3 Patch Notes!

What features are you most looking forward to?

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