Following Battlefield: Hardline‘s beta last month, players provided a substantial amount of feedback to devs on ways in which the game can be improved. In an attempt to resolve residual resentment from the Battlefield 4 launch, EA have stated they planned to go about the Hardline launch much more transparently. In aid of this, not only has the game been updated with the most popular requests, EA have released a concise list focusing on 10 key attributes changed within the gameplay.
The improvements have been lovingly dubbed CMW – Community’s Most Wanted – by EA as they went public this afternoon. Thanking those who took part in the beta and detailing their intent to keep working on the game, the announcement describes how improvements will continue to be made over the course of the next few months.
1. MOVEMENT:
There was a lot of feedback about slow movement speed and feeling “sluggish”. We’ve increased player speed by 10%, and players will get a +10% bonus for running with your pistol out. It feels much faster now!2. SUPPRESSION:
There were a lot of negative comments about the camera “bounce” when suppressed. We’ve changed the way suppression works – your aimpoint is no longer affected, but your situational awareness is.3. SURVIVALIST:
We’ve heard both sides of the argument on the Survivalist gadget, it is pretty polarizing. Some of you hate it, some of you love it – either way, we agree it was overpowered. We’ve changed it to revive you at 1 health and auto-inject after 5 seconds.4. HIGH TENSION – CRANE CAMERA SHAKE:
A number of people called out the camera shake from this event as being too over the top. We’re tuning this down.5. HIGH TENSION – STAIRS IN HIGH TENSION BUG:
Stairs in High Tension should no longer pull players into the wall.6. ELEVATED OBJECTIVES:
We’ve added some feedback to help you find the objective when it’s above or below you.7. SPECIAL VEHICLES:
We’re working on adding more special drivable vehicles like the Fuel Truck into all maps. We’re also working on a handbrake for cars.8. STUCK VEHICLES:
We’re working on the ability to “nudge” vehicles with a melee attack to help get them unstuck or to be able to move past them. No promises, but the early prototype looks promising!9. HEAVY VEHICLE DAMAGE:
We’ve added “weak spots” in the rear of the heavily armored vehicles, making it much easier to bring them down!10. VEHICLE OCCUPANT LIST:
We’re working on adding the Bag Carrier icon to the list of teammates inside your vehicle, so that you can tell when the bag carrier gets in your vehicle.
Although the Battlefield: Hardline beta has ended, there’s no need to despair! If you missed out on a bit of the cops and robbers action, or if you’re just ready for round 2, EA have planned a second beta test coming sometime in Fall. The company is really setting it’s sights on improving it’s relationship with the community, almost making a show of it’s willingness to acknowledge feedback and respond accordingly.
Hopefully all of this market involvement is going to lead to a much smoother launch this time around, but nothing will speak to EA’s supposed reform as much as the game itself will. Battlefield 4 launched as nothing less than a disaster, and proved the company’s disjointed and flippant attitude towards it’s long time fans. Gamers have understandably approached Hardline with a palpable sense of distrust and scepticism, but the beta appears to have lifted spirits somewhat. Preorders and overall interest in the game has increased since the beta went live last month.
We can only hope for the sake of the Battlefield fans that got burnt last time around that EA keep up the community-orientated improvements, and put their all into the Hardline launch this coming October.
