The latest Battlefield 3 patch, released a few weeks ago, was eagerly awaited by gamers, and it fixed a lot of issues and balanced out some things. However, not everyone is pleased. We all have our opinions on the new patch, and depending on whom you ask, some of the weapons have been nerfed too much, some have been buffed too much, etc. DICE’s Patrick Bach responded to patch criticism in a recent interview, saying:

“The biggest challenge when you release a big patch like this is to wait. Because we know that if you have a favourite gun that we have balanced down or you score in a certain way by doing certain things and then we nerfed that down then you will get upset, period.”

Bach continued, saying that they don’t listen to the individual complaints, but to the community as a whole when it comes to tweaking the battlefield 3 gameplay.

“People do not care and they do not know about the big picture, but we do. Because we don’t care about single individuals, we care about everyone. We try to make sure that everyone has a great time and that the balance is overarching. So we have a lot of statistics, we look at all the data and we try to listen to people and ask ‘is this really an issue?’. And in most of the cases it is not an issue.”

We hear you, DICE, but you still gotta get of your behinds and fix the M26 glitch, pronto. Oh, and consider making the tanks not made out of cardboard.

True to the Battlefield spirit, the latest Battlefield 3 patch fixed a lot of thing, but it also included a few bugs on its own. And you have most likely come across that bug while playing the game: the M26 MASS attachment for the assault class is way overpowered due to a glitch. When the M26 is equipped with DART ammunition and the underslung grenade launcher, each dart deals full damage of the main rifle. Which means instant-kills across most ranges.

But DICE is aware of the issue, and according to Gustav Halling (via Twitter), the M26 glitch will be fixed in an upcoming patch. However, he didn’t give a timeline as to when we can expect the patch. Needless to say, the patch can’t come soon enough, as the M26 glitch is getting out of hand already. Given how long it took for previous patches to be released, it looks like we’ll have to live with this for a little while.

DICE has released a new Battlefield 3 server patch that brings a few fixes to the game, including a fix for AA missiles and an additional fix for the “MAV elevator” glitch”. There is also mention of a tweak to tank armor strength, but there isn’t any mention of how much or what exactly the new tweak does. We expect it to have improved tank armor at least a bit, as tanks are practically useless in Battlefield 3 today. The full patch notes:

• Fixed AA missiles not doing damage to vehicles moving at very high speeds
• Fixed TV Missile doing much more damage than it should (it is no longer a 1-hit kill)
• Tweaked tank armor strength
• MAV elevatoring fix, round 2; proning on the MAV will now disable it
• RCON admin.say command can send to individual players
• A few invalid map+gamemode combinations in maplist.txt could crash the server on startup; these combinations are now rejected instead
• RCON vars.serverDescription was not returning anything in R20 if the string was not set; this has been changed to return “” instead
• RCON player.onChat now reports the target player subset

The patch can be downloaded here by server owners and applied as usual.

The latest Battlefield 3 patch has brought a lot of fixes, tweaks and improvements to the game, however, it did come with a few bugs as well. One such of those bugs is found with the AA missiles, which are currently having trouble locking on a target from time to time. According to DICE’s Gustav Halling (via Twitter), a PC server patch will be deployed next week, which will fix the AA issue, and include several back-end server tweaks as well. The server patch will also be deployed for consoles.

Xbox 360 owners will be pleased to know that Battlefield 3 will receive the expected patch on the console tomorrow, April 3rd. The patch will include the same fixes and tweaks as the PS3 and PC version (see full patch details). The update will also bring the server rental program to the Xbox 360, as well as the “Shortcut Items”. The patch will be released between 9 AM UTC – 1 PM UTC, the official Battlefield blog states.

It’s been a few days now with the new Battlefield 3 patch, which brought a ton of fixes and weapon tweaks to the game. What are your thoughts on the new patch? How has it affected your gameplay so far? Let us know in the comments section! Also, DICE is taking patch feedback on Battlelog, so be sure to drop them a line as well. So far, the biggest complaint seems to be that suppression is too effective.

As for Xbox 360 users, your patch should be arriving this week. Fingers crossed.

Finally, the long awaited PC patch has received a release date: tomorrow, March 29. The patch will include all the fixes we mentioned earlier (see full change log), including the updated mini map, which you can see above. The patch will be around 1.6 GB.

In addition to the updates, PC players will be getting the “Shortcut Items” as well, where players can purchase unlocks instead of having to play to get them.

As promised, the Battlefield 3 patch is now available to download for PlayStation 3 owners. The patch, version 1.04, is quite big, weighing in at 1080 MB. In addition to all the fixes we previously reported, the new patch also includes updates to the Wake Island map, which now supports 5 flags.

The new update also introduces the server rental program for consoles, where servers can be rented for 1 day and up to 90 days. Here are the current console server prices:

• 1 day: $1.49
• 7 days: $6.99
• 30 days: $24.99
• 90 days: $64.99

Game servers are in limited availability at the moment, and according to sources, they’re already sold out.

Shortcut items

Another new “feature” called Shortcut Items is being rolled out with the new patch. It gives players the ability to purchase all unlocks for each class or vehicle, instead of having to play through to unlock everything. There are 3 shortcut bundles: Kit Shortcut Bundle which unlocks everything for all classes. Vehicle Shortcut Bundle which unlocks everything for all vehicles, and Ultimate Bundle,which unlocks everything.

For more details on the patch, check out the full change log.

As promised earlier, the new Battlefield 3 patch will bring a new and improved commo rose command system, pictured above. The new system will change depending on player’s position (inside vehicles, infantry, etc.). Each function called using the commo rose will trigger a voice over action and an icon will appear as well (for instance, when calling for a medic, a medic icon will appear so other players can see you).

In addition to the new commo rose system, the new patch will also include improvements to the mini map, which will give a “clearer picture for players when using the mini-map”. There are now 3 mini map modes available, which you can see above. For more on the upcoming patch, check out the full patch details. The patch will be released on the PlayStation 3 on March 27, while PC and Xbox 360 versions still don’t have a release date.

After some delay earlier this day, DICE announced the release date for the new Battlefield 3 patch. And yet, to make matters more confusing, only the date for the PlayStation 3 patch has been confirmed: March 27. Nevertheless, the full patch release notes have been unveiled as well, and they cover all 3 platforms. Head on after the break for the full list of release notes. READ ON »