While DICE has already revealed a TON of things regarding the upcoming Battlefield V beta, the studio isn’t done just yet! Not only did the studio lay out what we should expect in the beta, but the good guys and gals over at DICE even detailed the changes they’ve made from the BFV alpha!
Word of warning, though. This is one super comprehensive list, and as such, don’t expect to read it here in one go. We’ve outlined some of the key points below like weapon tweaks, new weapons that players can expect and more.
Weapon Changes (General)
- Weapon Recoil
Changed the way recoil decreases on automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Initial recoil is much slower now. Previously recoil decreased very quickly from the first frame, which made it possible tap fire weapons close to their maximum rate of fire with significantly reduced recoil. While you will still have a bit less recoil now, the result is adequate for the loss in rate of fire.
- Dispersion/Spread
Completely changed the way dispersion (AKA “spread”) works. For the player, the most obvious effect will be a different behavior of your crosshair when shooting in hipfire. Besides that, small details in weapon handling have become more graceful. For example, you will no longer be stuck at terrible dispersion if you fire before or while going ADS, your weapon can regain some accuracy if you stop moving while firing and firing single shots too quickly can no longer build up unnecessarily large amounts of dispersion.
- SMGs are now stronger at medium range. While still the worst weapon class [at this range], we moved out damage drop-off to allow medics to be somewhat competitive at medium range.
Weapon Changes (Specific)
StG 44
We increased vertical recoil on this weapon to better balance its potential. Damage is unchanged to make sure it does not get crushed between SMGs, Semi Autos and SLRs.
- Increased initial vertical recoil from 0.45 to 0.57
- Decreased maximum vertical recoil from 0.87 to 0.78
Gewehr 43
Like on the StG, we increased vertical recoil to be more adequate for its power. We also removed its ability to kill with one head shot and one body shot at any range. This is necessary to make sure the ZH-29 is not outclassed by the Gewehr 43 at range.
- Moved to Assault class
- Increased initial vertical recoil from 1.0 to 1.2
- Increased vertical recoil increment from 0.25 to 0.4 per shot fired at maximum ROF
- Increased maximum vertical recoil from 1.5 to 2.0
- Decreased minimum damage to 34. Maximum range at which one head and one body shot are lethal is now 50 meters
EMP
Besides damage, changes are minor. The EMP has become slightly harder to use in preparation for weapon progression upgrades. Its sustained fire accuracy has been increased slightly. The biggest issue of this gun in the alphas was it being an SMG with a 1x sight on a map where range mattered.
- Moved to Medic
- Increased initial vertical recoil from 0.38 to 0.46
- Increased maximum vertical recoil from 0.57 to 0.66
- Decreased horizontal recoil from 0.4 to 0.35
- Increased 6 hit kill range from 35 to 50 meters
- Increased 7 hit kill range from 50 to 70 meters
MP40
Besides damage, changes are minor. The MP40 has become slightly harder to use in preparation for weapon progression upgrades.
- Increased initial vertical recoil from 0.34 to 0.40
- Increased maximum vertical recoil from 0.51 to 0.60
- Increased 6 hit kill range from 35 to 50 meters
- Increased 7 hit kill range from 50 to 70 meters
Bren
The Bren was noticeably underperforming in the first closed alpha. While this was improved with higher damage in the second alpha, we decided to keep the damage of the first alpha and instead improved its accuracy in sustained fire. We think this is a more consistent solution and a better fit for a ranged LMG.
- Decreased aimed stationary dispersion from 0.3 to 0.2
- Decreased horizontal recoil from 0.6 to 0.38
- Firing after sprinting now takes 300 instead of 400 ms
Kar98k
We think the trajectory changes of the second alpha were a bad fit for the Kar98k specifically. We will keep the trajectory of the first alpha, which is very similar to the M98B of BF3 and BF4 in terms of where leading and drop compensation starts to matter. We will use velocity as a differentiating factor between the Kar98k and other sniper rifles, like the Lee-Enfield. Other sniper rifles will have a trajectory similar to the Kar98k of the second alpha. Maximum damage and damage drop-off end were reduced slightly to reduce the amount of body shot kills on wounded players.
- Reduced maximum damage from 80 to 75
- Reduced damage drop-off end from 80 to 60 meters
P38 Pistol
Rate of fire was too low and has been increased. Aimed accuracy has been increased.
- Increased rate of fire from 299 to 359
- Decreased aimed stationary dispersion from 0.4 to 0.3
- Decreased aimed moving dispersion from 0.45 to 0.4
New Weapons in the Open Beta
Turner SMLE: Semi Auto Rifle that fires faster than the Gewehr 43 but has a weaker bullet at range.
M1A1 Carbine: Very fast firing Semi Auto with a rather weak bullet. Best used within 50 meters.
STEN: The easier to control twin of the MP40.
Suomi KP/-31: Very hard to control, fast firing SMG. It starts off a bit weak, but benefits more than other SMGs from progression. Highest damage output weapon on the medic kit.
KE7: Medium rate of fire LMG.
FG-42: Very fast firing automatic rifle with a small magazine. Highest damage output weapon on the support kit.
M30 Drilling: A triple barrel combination gun that leaves you more flexible than you would think. Use it as a double barrel shotgun in close quarters or change fire mode to the rifle barrel for medium range shots.
Lee-Enfield No.4: Very fast firing sniper rifle. Its bullet is significantly slower than that of the Kar98k, making it preferable for medium range.
ZH-29: A hard-hitting self-loading rifle that can kill with only two hits.
Ruby: This fast firing pistol can be switched to very quickly. Its bullet loses strength fast over distance.
Core Gameplay
Health Changes
Some changes have been made to the way health is distributed in the game.
- You no longer regenerate all your health.
- You can no longer just be inside the radius of a health crate to regenerate health. You now instead need to go up to the health crate or station and interact with it.
- You do automatically regenerate 30 pts of health still, as long as you are out of combat, though.
- As a soldier you also now have the ability to pocket a health pouch for later use. (As seen next to the health bar.) You start without one however, and need to go pick one up. You apply the stored health pouch by holding 5 (PC) or D-PAD UP (Console).
- There are several ways to restock your health pouch and start regeneration health in the game:
- Medics can throw you a health pouch, which gives you a pouch AND starts your full health regeneration. One or the other or both if you need it. You need to stay out of combat for regeneration to start.
- Medics equipped with it, can pop down the health crate, from which you get a health pouch AND start health regeneration.
- Health supply stations populate the levels and works just like the health crates.
- Supply drops can be called in by the squad leader and works like health crates too.
- As a medic, you always have health pouches to distribute, or use.
- They are equipped as a gadget and distributed with the gadget 1 key.
- The medic can also self apply pouches the same way any other soldier does it.
- There is a slight cool down for throwing out too many pouches in quick succession.
Attrition
Ammunition for your weapons and gadgets will not automatically be resupplied in Battlefield V. Nor will you be able to stand inside the radius of an ammo crate and automatically be resupplied. Just like with health, you must interact with the ammo crate or ammo supply station.
- The ways to acquire more ammunition for primary weapons and side arms are:
- Interact with an ammo supply station.
- Interact with an ammo crate deployed by a support class player.
- Have a support player throw an ammo pouch to you.
- Walk over an ammo pouch that has been dropped by a dead player. (No need to interact with that one. It will be picked up automatically.)
- The ways to acquire more ammunition for your gadgets are:
- Interact with an ammo supply station.
- Interact with an ammo crate deployed by a support class player.
- There is a slight cool down after interacting with the ammo crate or ammo supply station before it can be interacted with again.
- The way a ground vehicle resupplies itself with ammunition, is by driving close to the vehicle supply station, and the holding the ‘self repair’ button when it says ‘resupply’. This will both repair and resupply the vehicle.
- The way an airplane resupplies is by flying close to the airplane resupply point, marked with a supply icon in world This will resupply ammunition. Repairs are conducted by holding the ‘self-repair’ button anywhere.
Classes and Combat Roles
There are four classes in Battlefield V. Each of them comes with a ‘combat role’ A combat role is something you select with your class. In this beta there is one per class, but in the end product there will be more to pick from, so you can give your play style an edge.
- The Assault
- Mobile and and offensive
- Carries the rifle grenade launcher
- Access to stand-off anti tank weapons and explosives
- Combat role: Battle Hardened
- You auto re-generate 40 pts of health instead of 30 when critically wounded (counting from 0).
- The Medic
- Lightly armed but with a smoke grenade for cover
- The ability heal and revive any friendly on the field.
- The new ability to distribute health pouches for other players to keep
- Can equip the deployable medical crate.
- Combat role: Syringe revive
- Everyone can bring back a squad mate with the ‘buddy revive’. But only the medic can bring back any team mate with the faster syringe revive.
- The Support
- Armed with powerful machine guns or shotguns
- Has access to anti-tank mines
- Has the ability to distribute ammunition or deploy ammo crates, that also re-supplies gadgets
- Combat role: Fortifications expert
- Can build all fortifications and also the heavy items like machine gun nests and tank traps.
- Builds faster than the other classes.
- The Recon
- Armed with a bolt action sniper rifle or a light faster self loading rifle
- The only class with access to the spotting scope and flare. The only item that can relay spotting information to the whole team, including aircraft, that can see spots farther away now
- Access to the spawn beacon, for forward deploying the squad
- Combat role: Tactical retreat
- Will sprint faster when critically hurt.
In our closed alpha testing we also had a 5th class in the game called the ‘machine gunner’. It has since been removed and rolled into the support class. What made the machine gunner special was the primary weapon – the medium machine gun. This is an all new weapon class for Battlefield. There are still light machine guns, that work like in previous games. This medium machine gun however is a different beast. And you will see it in the full game.
- Medium machine guns are poor in hip fire. This is a trade off because…
- Medium machine guns are really great when deployed from prone or against a support with the bipod out. In that stance they have 0 deviation and kick
- They overall have very high fire rate and ammunition capacity
The medium machine gun gameplay is about positioning and anticipation. A defensive weapon if you will. Very powerful, but with one great weakness, you cannot fire on the move and it takes time to get into a stable firing position.
This gives the support class new purpose and is also the reason we have given the main stand-off anti-tank capability to the assault class.
Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to read up on the entire list of changes, and what the reasoning was behind ’em, check the
forum post.In other Battlefield V news, don’t forget that the upcoming beta won’t require PlayStation 4 gamers to be PS+ members, but that won’t be the case for Xbox One players (
we’ve jotted down the beta client size too).
