Battlefield 6: Changes for release and future possibilities

The released version of Battlefield 6 will certainly get future updates and new content. But it’s not the version of the game that gamers who took part in the open beta playtests will have seen. The Battlefield 6 available on launch day will be slightly, but intentionally different, and EA will be hoping that, after player feedback, it will be for the better.

There are now 200 confirmed day-one changes, so we can’t cover them all. However, below, we’ll go through the key changes you need to know about, and some you may have missed. We’ll also look at what we may see in the near future as Battlefield 6 hits its stride. We know the BF6 devs are weighing up player thoughts and feedback, too, which is great.

As confirmed in an official October 6 Battlefield Community update, at release, all launch maps will be available across playlists. Additionally, available playlists will be both single-mode (e.g, just Breakthrough) and combined (mixed-mode) playlists. So Conquest and Escalation will be together, as will Breakthrough and Rush. 

The devs’ thinking is that by placing similar modes in a single playlist, gamers are less likely to leave matchmaking. However, specific modes can still be found via the Custom Search option and the Server Browser. This seems to make a good amount of sense, offering the best of both worlds for player interest and devs keeping players moving match-to-match.

There’s even some news here for closed weapons fans. Briefly, at launch, the playlist rotation will include:

There’s additional news for custom experiences, too. Battlefield Portal will now be referred to as “Community” in the main menu. It’s here that you’ll find the Server Browser, and the devs say the browser will be “easier to find and use.” Also, in the Server Browser, Breakthrough, Conquest, and Rush will be “verified modes, allowing official Hardcore experiences.”

A lot of the open beta feedback was around player movement, with some criticism that movement was “too CoD-like”. This was initially addressed in an August 21 community update: It was stated that a “penalty for consecutive jumps” would lower jump height, slide momentum would be reduced, and firing while jumping/sliding would produce greater inaccuracy. 

What’s clear is that player movement is an ongoing area of focus and balance. According to the latest October community post, the Battlefield 6 release date patch will make player movement feel “more responsive”, thanks to changes to pacing and tweaks to movement issues. We’ll have to see how this one plays out and whether further changes are planned. 

Another significant area for feedback during the open beta tests, the devs haven’t stated any changes have been made to TTK (time to kill), but recoil, tap-firing, and burst-firing mechanics are tweaked. For launch, recoil has been “rebalanced” for automatic weapons, so long-range firing is more rewarding with tap firing and burst control.

Another change, which may be divisive depending on your view, is that the M87A1 shotgun will require more pellets to put down an enemy. During the BF6 closed beta, some players felt the gun was overpowered, but the other view is that…well, it’s a shotgun. This change was confirmed quickly after the beta and will be retained on launch. 

The following changes are listed in bullet points by the Battlefield 6 devs for gadgets. Each of these makes sense given that smooth and immersive gameplay is key. Anything breaking the immersion isn’t exactly ideal, and reducing spawn beacon use here feels right:

You may have missed it, but after player feedback from the open beta, there was a big discussion around Rush. In previous BF titles, Rush could be a large-scale war (64 or 128 players). The early feedback from the devs was that these “intense, fast-paced moments” also brought overwhelming defences, stalled frontlines, plus games ending in the first sector.

This writer is biased, because I absolutely loved large-scale Rush and, to quote the devs, trying to “arm the M-COM while more than 20 opponents are defending”. For launch, both Rush and the larger-scale Breakthrough mode have been “revised”. The aim is a better balance of attack and defence, as large-scale Rush may be a custom Community creation.

We’re bundling a few things in here before we move on, with the devs having looked at “updated overlays, animated pings, and new minimap options” for a clearer and more useful UI and HUD, plus more easily usable loadout and deployment screens. We didn’t spot any glaring issues in beta, but more clarity and usefulness sound sensible.

Among a selection of settings changes, “sprint bob reduction” and “camera roll toggle” will have sliders for improved accessibility, which is ideal for gamers wanting further control. Additional refinements across platforms include the addition of voiceover sliders. Audio should be cleaner, too, from pings to weapon sound effects and vehicles. 

Finally, for players who experienced network issues, there may be help on launch day. Netcode improvements have been made to help reduce desync, address “invisible damage”, and to hopefully make TTD (time-to-death) feel fairer. This seemed pretty quick in the beta for some, so improvement could be a real positive.

We know that a new Traverser 2 ATV is arriving as part of the Season 1 Roadmap on October 28, but there is a hint that Battlefield 6 may get further vehicles moving forward, even if not at launch. The Battlefield 6 devs have referred to calls for a “certain fan-favourite little helicopter”, and we’d love to see something other than an Attack Helicopter in the skies. 

It’s possible we may even see boats in the future. After all, Battlefield 4 was known for its Attack Boats, and according to the October 6 community update, “requests for naval warfare have not gone unnoticed”. While making the launch-day version of Battlefield 6 great is ideal, such future additions could help to build the idea of a greater conflict if done well. 

Another honourable mention in the October 6 community update was platoons. Present in Battlefield 3, 4, 1, and V, community calls for the feature remind us that BF games can be social as much as they can be chaotic and immersive. Platoons can add an extra sense of belonging or genuine connectedness, where players feel more tightly knit. 

While Platoons definitely won’t be available at launch, that’s not a huge issue, as they could be added later. However, with up to 100-150 players inside platoons for older BF games, matches featuring more coordinated ‘factions’ versus random players may cause issues. I’m on the fence about whether I’d like to see it, but I understand the desire.

This one is just on my ‘hoped-for’ list, because having seen the Season 1 Roadmap, the initial focus seems to be on smaller game modes. Hopefully, this will be balanced by new or limited larger game modes or a focus on newer large-scale experiences. I suppose that Community creations and the BF6 Battle Royale will help here, though. 

Battlefield 6’s development teams have clearly been busy since the open beta, attempting to improve, balance, and tweak the title for launch. That work no doubt continues, with post-launch feedback hopefully benefiting the game in a (fingers-crossed) similar way to the confirmed changes coming at launch. 

There’s plenty of potential for future changes beyond balance, UI, and technical aspects, though. Hopefully, content and community-focused elements will be well-implemented and well-received, helping Battlefield 6 become the most enjoyable BF title yet. That’s a rather large wish, but here’s hoping the launch-day changes set the standard.