Battlefield 2042 players can expect smaller maps going forward and significant reworks to the current map pool.
The map design in Battlefield 2042 is the first area the developers are focusing on improving, and they’ve highlighted five key areas they’ve identified as “the current problems” impacting gameplay.
The first core issue is Traversal, as the developers have heard the community’s frustration about how long it takes to move between flags or from a spawn point to a flag. The maps were designed to accommodate 127 players and are some of the largest areas in Battlefield history, resulting in gameplay being spread throughout a large area. The term “walking simulator” has been used to describe the in-game experience, and the devs agree it takes too long to move around the map. They’ll address this issue by moving the base spawn and closest flags and will listen to community feedback about what other maps need adjustments.
Another issue is Intensity, specifically combat intensity that can be overwhelming because of the large player count and a significant amount of vehicles. The developers are considering lowering the number of vehicles to give infantry a more important role and are considering dropping Breakthrough from 128 to 64 players.
Line of sight is another issue as players often complain about constantly taking long-distance fire from enemies. Traversing large open areas is challenging, resulting in many players focusing on long-range fighting. Kaleidoscope is one of the most notorious maps for this issue, but the problem is also present on other maps. The developers plan to add more cover in open areas to reduce the focus on long-range fights and prevent players from having to carry this type of weapon.
The team is already working on fixing Kaleidoscope and adjusting the Breakthrough experience to move through areas with a healthy amount of cover.
The paths between objectives is another issue as attackers often take “enemy fire from all angles” while pushing into an area, and defenders are often overwhelmed by enemies pushing from all directions. The team is working on improving the paths in each map to “make clearer and more defined paths while traveling between objectives in order to keep combat focused and make it easier to understand how to get from one objective to the next.”
The final area of improvement involves cover, and the team is working on adding more obstacles and protection in large open areas to make it easier to move around the map.
The developers are already working on these changes, and the first updates will be for Kaleidoscope. These updates are expected to release in Season One. Future maps will also implement these changes and will be smaller than most of the already released maps. The developers are considering reducing the number of sectors and capture points for 128 lobbies, and the new maps will also likely have a rectangular shape like previous Battlefield games.
Players can check out the official blog post for more information and how they can communicate with the team.
