'Battlefield 4' Problems And Balancing Patch: EA DICE Says 'BF4' Multi-Platform Bugs And Balance Fix Is Expected January 2014

Community managers at Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) and its Swedish subsidiary DICE have sent out a short note indicating that an update for its 2013 multiplayer first-person shooter, “Battlefield 4” is expected to come out sometime later in January 2014.

While full patch notes for this multi-platform “BF4” patch have yet to be released, “Battlefield 4” fans are speculating about what the upcoming “BF4” patch may contain, based off tweets from EA DICE developers.

Some developers from EA DICE have hinted at certain aspects of the multi-platform “BF4” patch on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). EA DICE developer Alan Kertz sent this tweet out Wednesday hinting at balance changes for “Battlefield 4” weapons and vehicles:

The designated marksman rifle (DMR), V40 mini, RGO, and flashbang grenades, mobile anti-air, helicopters and hand flares are on the list of weapons to be balanced and modified, according to the tweet by Kertz.

Among the list of “BF4” vehicles and weapons to be balanced, the active radar AA missiles of the mobile anti-air infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) have drawn the most complaints since the release of “BF4” on PC, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360, Xbox One, Sony (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 3 (PS3) and PlayStation 4 (PS4).

Helicopters have faced a similar problem, with the scout variants feeling grossly “overpowered” due to ease of reparability by passengers. In comparison, the attack helicopters such as the American AH-1Z Viper and the Russian Mi-28 Havoc have been likened to flying boats, which tend to get quickly shot down after being hit only once.

In regards to weapons, “Battlefield 4” DMRs overall have been considered “underpowered” by most players in comparison to DMRs in “Battlefield 3 (BF3).”

What other parts of “Battlefield 4” are expected to receive attention in the next patch? “BF4” multiplayer developer Dennis Brännvall chimed in about spectator mode:

In addition to teasing information about upcoming “BF4” balance and patch changes, EA DICE developers have also been actively communicating with the “Battlefield 4” community in order to get feedback before the balancing portion of the upcoming patch is publicly implemented. Kertz sent this tweet out on Thursday:

While these few communications from EA DICE don’t necessarily indicate all features of the “Battlefield 4” patch slated for the end of January, hopefully this signals a positive-change for “BF4,” which has been inundated with controversy since its release due to game-breaking bugs and crashes across all platforms.

The controversy grew to be such a problem for “Battlefield 4,” that EA DICE and Electronic Arts had halted work on all “BF4” expansions and future projects, such as “Star Wars: Battlefront,” until the game-breaking problems with “BF4” were fixed.

Will the next “Battlefield 4” patch sufficiently address many of the community’s complaints with bugs and balancing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.