As of April 19, 2022, Update 4.0 went live on the Battlefield 2042 servers. Although VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is the main highlight of the patch, there are also hundreds of bug fixes and quality of life improvements. But after the disastrous launch and diminishing player numbers, could it be too little too late? Check out the details about the voice chat feature and key fixes to Battlefield 2042 below.
Voice chat for pre-existing teams
Electronic Arts and DICE have been slowly churning improvements since the game was released. While anticipation for Battlefield 2042 was high, the enthusiasm from players has died down over the last few months. Much of this can be attributed to the multiple issues that became apparent when the game went live.
There is no downtime, and you can continue playing while we make it available 🎮 We’ll let you know once it’s live across all platforms 🙌 pic.twitter.com/b9lQuO4Vmg — Battlefield Direct Communication (@BattlefieldComm) April 19, 2022 Voice chat was a glaring omission during the November 2021 launch. This made communication extremely awkward and slow. Update 4.0 will add the feature, but the caveat is that only pre-existing parties and in-game match squads will have it. Although this limitation may irk some players, it is a reasonable compromise, given how large teams in this game can be. There will also be simplified keybinds to activate and use voice chats and VOIP. Players can navigate to the menu in order to toggle which will be the VoIP default settings. Aside from the limited voice chat feature, Battlefield 2042’s Update 4.0 will also include the following QoL enhancements:
General gameplay improvements
Added a number of improvements to Kill Assists. Damage Assists will now trigger from a lower damage threshold. This improves the consistency and clarity when it triggers. EMP Grenades will now trigger Assists more consistently and reliably. Assists can now trigger by providing cover with smoke when a teammate kills an enemy and either of them were within the area of effect. EMP effects persisting on screen have been fixed. Fix to a bug where equipping a weapon attachment from the item reveal menu. Previously, some scenarios would reset the full customization on that weapon back to defaults. Bug fix to joining a server where the player’s saved customizations would sometimes reset to defaults. Keybinds to switch weapon for Gunner can now be properly bound. The Options Menu will now include Airplane and Helicopter sensitivity settings.
Matchmaking and social improvements
Bug fix to a matchmaking error that unintentionally happens after quitting a Hazard Zone server. The matchmaking information will now be visible in the Player Card screen. Bug fix where a user experiences a matchmaking loop and gets sent back to the lobby. Disbanding a party before joining will no longer inadvertently show the “Remove EA Friend” prompt.
Battlefield progression and Ribbon unlocks
Ribbons have been adjusted to make them easier to unlock across all modes, including Rush Mode. Logistics - Increased progress earned from repairing friendly vehicles. On the other hand, progress earned from healing and resupplying has been reduced. Objective - Kills or Assists while fighting for objectives in Breakthrough will now add to the progress. Intel - Hitting enemy vehicles with EMPs will now have double the previous progress. Combat - Destroying an enemy Ranger will now reward Ribbon progress. Combat and Wingman - Kills and Assists on enemy Players in Hazard Zone have higher progress than before. MAV, Mi-240 Super Hind, and MV-38 Condor Master will now progress as intended when teammates spawn in these vehicles. Unlocking new cosmetics and weapon attachments will now be correctly tagged as New. XP received from support actions has been increased. To balance this, XP gained from objective actions has been decreased. XP event has been added for killing a downed enemy in Hazard Zone. Repairing Ranger will now properly trigger the repairing XP event. XP gained from Enemy Disrupted with EMP increased from 10 XP to 20 XP. XP gained from Projectile Destroyed with Irish’ APS-36 Shootdown Sentinel increased from 5 XP to 10 XP. XP gained from Equipment Destroyed increased from 5XP to 10 XP. XP gained from Healing increased from 5 XP to 20 XP. XP gained from Resupply increased from 5 XP to 20 XP. XP gained from Repairing increased from 5 XP to 20 XP. XP gained from Ranger Destroyed increased from 25 XP to 75 XP. XP gained from Objective Neutralized increased from 250 XP to 200 XP. XP gained from Objective Captured increased from 375 XP to 200 XP. XP gained from Sector/Objective Defended increased from 15 -> 10 XP.
There are also fixes to the UI refresh of the Battlefield 2042 scoreboard, various map fixes, changes and improvements to specific specialists, gadgets, weapons, and maps. These will apply to all available platforms (Playstation, Xbox, and Windows PC). Battlefield 2042 has suffered big drops in its initial numbers due to the gameplay issues. Will these enhancements make up for it? It’s certainly going to be an uphill battle just to get to its first season. The full list of updates in Update 4.0 after April 19 can be found on the official Electronic Arts Battlefield 2042 portal. The next major update is slated for release sometime in May 2022.
