The hugely massive patch for Battlefield 3 is now live! The huge patch features over 227 fixes including several things that weren’t previously advertised like the ability to quit between matches! You can see the huge amount of details here!
There are also a few other highlights besides weapon balancing and they are gripes that beefers have had about other things in the game, such as a horn for the jeeps, and planes starting out with IR flares. Here is a list of new things from the official Battlefield Blog:
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 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 PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live.
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 PC and PlayStation 3 updates that are live.
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 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.
