Battlefield 2042’s Season 3 already looks quite juicy. EA Dice has released the #3.0.0 update today, which includes a good-looking map and a new specialist with an entertaining specialty: an airburst Launcher that allows Zain to flush out enemies from around and over cover, becoming a situational area denial loadout.
Once again, EA Dice’s actions on recovering Battlefield 2042 are quite evident, as the developer has tirelessly provided content throughout the past 2 seasons. The fans of the franchise can finally agree that the game looks good, and more importantly, it caught the attention of some top-notch streamers.
As for the patch notes for Season 3, check out the section below.
Battlefield 2042 #3.0.0 Patch Notes
WHAT’S NEW IN SEASON 3?
Here is an overview of the new content in the Season 3 Update, alongside highlights for changes and improvements:
- New Map: Spearhead
- New Specialist: Rasheed Zain
- New Vehicle: EMKV90-TOR
- New Weapons: Rorsch Mk-4, NVK-P125, NVK-S22
- New Gadget: Throwing Knife
- New Vault Weapons: XM8 LMG, A-91
- New Battle Pass
WHEN CAN I PLAY?
Season 2 of Battlefield 2042 officially comes to a close on November 22nd at 08:00 UTC, at which point Update #3.0.0 will go live for all platforms. Season 3: Escalation will release on the same day at 12:00 UTC, along with progression towards that content.
Once Season 3 is available for play you will be able to jump into our latest map, Spearhead. We are introducing 24/7 playlists for both Conquest and Breakthrough, and you’ll be able to begin working your way through unlocks within our latest Battle Pass where the all-new Specialist, Weapons, a new Vehicle, Gadget, and loads of Cosmetics await you.
WHEN CAN YOU EXPECT OUR NEXT GAME UPDATE?
Update 3.1 will land before the Holidays, you can expect to see the reworked Manifest map, more Vault Weapons added to All-Out Warfare alongside further fixes and changes. With a brand new Mid-Season Event taking place later in December.
//The Battlefield Team
STAY INFORMED
Follow us on the @BattlefieldComm Twitter account to stay informed on the roll out of our updates. You can also follow along with our tracking of Known Issues and further game changes we’re making via our Battlefield forums.
WHAT’S IN THE 3.0 UPDATE?
NEW MAP: SPEARHEAD
Spearhead is our latest CQC-focused map, nestled within the rocky formations of the Swedish wilderness you will find Nordvik’s manufacturing facilities, capable of manufacturing high-tech weaponry and components for weather machinery.
Inside these manufacturing facilities you can expect frantic close quarter confrontations as you battle it out to reclaim control of The Cubes. Outside, make sure you are carrying explosive ordnance as you’ll be upfront and personal with vehicles roaming over the dense rocky landscape.
POINTS OF INTEREST
A1 & A2: Forward Operating Base
One of the first notable points of interest with Spearhead is the joint Forward Operating Base next to the lake, capturing and maintaining both of these objectives will ensure easy access as you approach the Communications Outpost.
B: Communications Outpost
The Communications Outpost is a medium sized staging area with four communication towers located throughout it. Keep your eyes peeled on the skyline as verticality is at play here.
C1 & C2: Printing Facility
The Printing Facility is one of two Cube structures that dominates the horizon of this particular location. Close quarter confrontations await you as you head into the Weapons Printing Facility, make your own entry points through the walls as you take the fight towards your objectives.
D: Materials storage
As you continue alongside the ever winding lake that splits this location in half, you will find the Materials Storage. Exercise caution as you fight throughout the explosive storage units that supply both Nordvik facilities.
E1 & E2: Painting Facility
The Painting Facility brings out Points of Interest recap to a close, as with the Printing Facility of C2 you can expect similar encounters as you battle through this second Cube building.
NEW SPECIALIST: RASHEED ZAIN
Perseverance and formidability are two characteristics that define Egyptian-born security expert, Rasheed Zain.
Through Zain’s training throughout military and special forces, Zain has become adept at using his XM370A airburst launcher to flush out foes from behind cover, leaving him clear to pick them off as they run for the shadows.
Though that’s not all that Zain has to offer, through his sense of duty above all else and tireless stoic attitude, Zain is able to recover health much faster in the field. Positioning him as a prime candidate for leading from the frontline.
Specialty: XM370A
The XM370A is an Airburst Launcher that allows Zain to flush out enemies from around and over cover, becoming a situational area denial loadout. If you have some foes hiding behind cover and are giving you trouble, the XM370A is the go-to piece of hardware.
Trait: Perseverance
Perseverance allows for Zain to begin recovering health immediately upon taking out an enemy. This effect stops if Zain takes further damage.
NEW VEHICLE: EMKV90-TOR
Positioned at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, the EMKV90-TOR is a Rail Gun Destroyer Tank that is capable of entering alternate modes aimed at arising and responding to different combat situations.
Siege Mode
Siege mode places the EMKV90-TOR into a grounded state, this lowered profile allows for improved stability as well as fire rate from the main Rail Gun turret.
Mobility Mode
Engage the Mobility Mode on the EMKV90-TOR to bring the Rail Gun Tank up from its Siege Mode, allowing you to move swiftly across the landscape and obstacles ahead of you. This mode is perfect to transport yourself and other passengers closer to the objective or insertion points while still being able to inflict significant damage to those around you.
Active Threat Detection
Fresh off the development line, the EMKV90-TOR features a detection system that picks up the source of incoming attacks within a certain range and filters that information back to you on your HUD.
NEW WEAPONS: RORSCH MK-4, NVK-P125, NVK-S22
RORSCH MK-4
The arrival of cutting-edge technology is here with the Rorsch Mk-4. This weapon uses electromagnetic forces to launch projectiles at preposterous speeds.
With powerful armor penetrating ammunition and requiring a short charge up time before each shot this versatile weapon can adapt itself to any situation and change its fire properties by quickly swapping the configuration of its under barrel mounted capacitors.
With the Rorsch MK-4, you have the ability to choose between a powerful single shot to decimate targets at any distance, full auto or burst fire for medium to short range encounters and make the battlefield yours.
NVK-P125
With its unusual Bullpup configuration and its particularly high bullet speed this sidearm is perfect for engaging moving targets at medium distances without compromises, the perfect companion for any sharpshooter.
NVK-S22
Need a shotgun with tactical options? This dual-barreled semi-automatic weapon offers great destructive power in a compact and nimble package. Surprise your enemies and become the dominator of close-quarters combat.
NEW GADGET: THROWING KNIFE
Tactile in every way, an old friend from previous Battlefield titles returns. These deadly knives are used by masters of precision and timing and will deliver lethal damage for the one ready to meet the task at hand. Don’t worry if you miss, you can pick them back up and try again – if you don’t die while doing so.
NEW VAULT WEAPONS: XM8 LMG, A-91
XM8 LMG
Sporting the 100-round Beta-C magazine that allows it a shorter reload than others in its class, this Light Machine Gun variant of the XM8 is dangerous at medium ranges thanks to its very controllable recoil and agility.
A-91
The A-91 offers highly controllable recoil which makes this smaller assault rifle very strong in all situations, just watch out for its horizontal recoil that can make it unpredictable at times.
NEW FEATURE: XP BOOSTS
Within our Season 3 Battle Pass we’ll be including XP Boosts, these are items placed on a set number of tiers which grant you an additional boost in XP for a certain period of time.
While these XP Boosts will be consumed as soon as you earn them, the timer will only count down while you are actively in a match. You can expect to receive your first XP Boost at Tier 18 of Season 3’s Battle Pass.
NEW BATTLE PASS
100 new tiers of Hardware, Cosmetics and Player Card items are available for you to earn in Season 3’s Battle Pass. Gameplay content such as the new Specialist, Rasheed Zain alongside new weaponry like the Rorsch MK-4 are all available as part of the Free Tiers, while the Premium Tiers will grant access to further cosmetic rewards.
Changelog
PING SYSTEM REWORK
We’ve made alterations to how the Ping System functions within Battlefield 2042, these changes aim to reduce the complexity of the existing ping system. Allowing for improvements to the pacing and accuracy of communication between teammates.
- Pressing the ping button once will no longer place a location ping, but instead check for targets such as soldiers, vehicles or objects near the point of that placed ping.
- If a threat is within the radius, it will immediately ping or spot that target for a duration of time.
- Spots are shared to the team, while pings are share to your squad.
- Pressing the ping button twice in a row will still place a danger ping in that location.
- Contextually, pinging targets no longer has any input delay.
- Repeatedly pressing the ping button without the system finding any targets will incur a short cooldown which will prevent spotting.
With these changes in place, we anticipate an increase in communication between your team while reducing out of date pings that may have been placed for a previous encounter.
GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed an issue where Q-spotting was not working as intended when pinging enemy air vehicles from further than 300m away
- Fixed an issue when switching between Borderless from Fullscreen, the game window was not rendering as intended
- Fixed an instance where pressing the ESC button would sometimes show an old Experience Selection screen
- UI subtitles from Tutorial Videos would remain on screen for a short time when returning back to the main menu
- User receives invalid game state error 2:2413J when accepting an invite from a player being in the second part of a Breakthrough game
- The Turn Right/Yaw Right keybind was unable to be unbound unless the user unbinds Turn Left/Yaw Left too. This has now been resolved.
- You will now be presented with a prompt to repair your game installation, if the game detects that you’re missing files from a patch process
- Soldier movement when changing directions will now appear smoother through improved animation physics
- Fix for character models getting stuck outside of vehicles after entering them or changing seats while playing with high latency
- Fix for ping not being positioned correctly for players inside vehicle open seat
- Communication between soldiers equipped with Repair Tools has improved when near vehicles
- A soldier with the Repair Tool equipped will be able to see an icon over vehicles that are needing to be repaired
- A vehicle driver will be able to see an icon over soldiers equipped with the repair tool.
- Added a new HUD option called “Interaction Prompt Scale” which allows adjusting the size of interaction prompts. This option can be found under Display > HUD Icons
AUDIO
- Fixed projectile and firing SFX for the AA rocket for the Attack Helicopters
- Lock-on sounds design overhaul, resulting in improved Air & Ground target lock on sounds
- Weapons Audio sound improvements
- Improved instances of VO when deploying into vehicles
GADGETS
- Resolved an issue where the sprint animation for Launcher Gadgets wouldn’t play as intended in first person
- Fixed an issue where the player could not lock-on using SOFLAM through smoke
- Fixed an issue where broken animations were present on grenades when switching from FXM-33 AA Missile
- Fixed an issue where a broken animation was present on grenades when switching from any main weapon customized with a Bipod
- Vehicles now get an “Hack Warning” indicator from the OV-P Recon Drone EMP weapon when locking on
- Under Options, we have changed the naming of Quick Throw Grenades to better reflect its action within the game. It does not result in throwing grenades quicker, it results in automatically throwing the Grenade when pressed
- C5 throwing distance has been adjusted to be more in line with its Anti-Vehicle intent
PROGRESSION
- Reduced damage threshold for Vehicle Destroy Assist to 1, this will result in more Vehicle Destroy Assists taking place. Teamwork makes the dream work!
- Ranger kills would sometimes incorrectly report incorrect quest progress, this has been resolved
- Mounted Vulcan will now award “Vehicle Damaged” XP events upon destruction
- Changed sorting order of underbarrel shotguns for M5A3, AK24, LCMG, SWS-10
SPECIALISTS
General
- Fixed an issue on previous generation consoles where character models were not rendering properly
- Fixed an issue in Battlefield Portal where BC2/BF3 Characters’ hands do not align with the ladder when climbing in 1P
- Fixed an issue that would often show Specialists’ character hands as shaking while climbing ladders
- We’ve made several changes to improve the responsiveness of Soldiers in Update 3.0, you will notice these improvements particularly around Soldier Movement such as Jumping, Vaulting, Sliding, Entering Ladders and the deployment of Parachutes
- Fixed Specialists having odd movement while attached to a rope while standing ontop of vehicles
Crawford
- Fixed an issue with Crawford’s animation Vulcan Stationary Minigun animation while in death cam
Sundance
- On the first explosion when being killed by Sundance’s Scatter Grenade, the wrong weapon was displayed. It now rightfully calls it out as ‘Scatter’
- Fixed an issue that caused Sundance’s Anti-Armor grenade to be called Scatter
Casper
- Fixed an issue where the “No ammo” prompt was displayed when Casper deploys the OV-P Recon Drone
Irish
- We had spotted instances where Irish’ Deployable Cover was unable to be deployed as intended, we’ve made steps towards improving this
AI SOLDIERS
- AI Soldiers will no longer quickly bleed out when being pinged by the player
- AI Soldiers will no longer immediately re-enter vehicles after exiting due to taking damage
- AI Soldiers have learnt the ability to drive and shoot with the M5C Bolte, always ensure you look both ways when crossing a road
- AI Soldiers will now revive more often than before
- Fixed an issue which resulted in AI Soldiers attempting to climb destroyed ladders
- Improved AI navigation through several maps and modes
MAPS
- Fixed issue where players would not receive damage while in moving elevators on Kaleidoscope, Hourglass, Exposure and Orbital
- Seagulls have begun to migrate, you’ll see less of them in some areas of maps. Do seagulls quack?
- Adjusted birds flying low and popping in and out of view
- Soldiers will no longer appear as though the are spawning in through the ground on maps
- Fixed issue where entering an elevator with the ATV would result in death, driving them off a considerable height may still result in death when they land
- Fixed issue where “Deploy point lost” message was showed on contested points and the player was not able to deploy on objective
- Fixed issue where the tornado was following it’s route through the team’s HQ affecting spawns and gameplay
- Fixed issue with visual glitch on Deploy/Undeploy
- Map Location Icons were displaying incorrectly on Manifest, this has now been resolved
VEHICLES
Categorization of Vehicles has received an overhaul with Update 3.0, providing updates to the classification of Vehicles. Vehicle counts and availability have also been updated depending on Map and Mode requirements.
Vehicle categorization is as follows:
Light Transport – LATV4 Recon, LCAA Hovercraft
Armored Transport – MAV, M5C Bolte
Heavy Armor – M1A5, T28, EMVK90-TOR
Light Armor – EBAA-Wildcat, EBLC-Ram
Air Transport – MV-38 Condor, Mi-240 Super Hind
Attack Helicopter – AH-64GX Apache Warchief, KA-502 Super Hokum, YG-99 Hannibal, RAH-68 Huron, MD540 Nightbird
Fighter Plane – F-35E Panther, SU-57 FELON
With the reworked allocation of Vehicles and their availability, you can expect Maps and Modes to play a part in the amount available to you.
For example with Conquest 128 Players on Spearhead will consist of 4 Light Transport, 1 Armored Transport, 1 Light Armour, 2 Heavy Armour, 1 Air Transport, 1 Attack Helicopter and 1 Jet Per Team alongside In-World Civilian Vehicles.
- Fixed an issue where AT missile could not be fired against SOFLAM painted Aircraft and AA Missile could not be fired against SOFLAM painted Vehicles
- Fixed an issue with absent visual effects on tanks when receiving systemic damage
- Lowered collision damage multiplier at low-med velocity for Bolte
- Fixed an issue where the “Location Revealed” message was not shown for the soldier sitting in a gunner seat
- Fixed an issue where destroyed tanks would disappear immediately after the last hit
- Fixed an issue where Heavy Ground Vehicle crosshairs moved slightly down when resizing the client window
- Fixed an issue where the vehicle crosshair had a random color
- Fixed an issue where the LATV steering was as sensitive after receiving wheel damage as when undamaged
- Removed min dispersion on 50m Air and Ground Cannons
- Fixed an issue where icon opacity while zooming in vehicles would not function correctly
- Fixed an instance of driver model being rendered outside of vehicles
WEAPONS
- Fixed an issue where the MGL Laser beam was not properly aligned with the Ghostmaker R10 and its attachments
- Fixed an issue where the Tactical, Warhawk and Arcom attachments had the same icon on DXR-1
- Avancys is now using the correct bipod
- Fixed an issue with the hands pose being incorrectly placed on the LS-1 Laser Sight on M12
- HE Grenades and Incendiary Grenades now always explode after the arm timer has elapsed, regardless of a player having been hit before or not
- Fixed Scope magnification on the GOL Magnum Sniper not applying properly when switching between weapon attachments and other weapons
- Fixed an issue where the reload prompt was not the same color as the rest of the HUD
- Improved a situation where the weapon would stop shooting in automatic fire under bad network conditions
- Fixed an issue where both the STNR Laser and MGL Laser were seen as red when looking directly at them
- The Ghostmaker R10 is now correctly functioning as a silent weapon
- There was too much dirt on some scopes for the BSV-M, we’ve put a cloth to some of the lenses and they should now be much cleaner
- Improved Aim Assist functionality when fighting vertical recoil
- Fixed an issue where the Laser Sight was passing through walls/objects
- Shotgun pellet count lowered and damage adjusted to compensate
- Fixed issue with suppressors not silencing under some conditions
- Removed the 1x Body Shot range on SWS-10 to match the change on the GOL
- We have noticed a rising trend of using bolt actions in enclosed space and getting advantage of this feature, meant to be used defensively, in an offensive manner
- This change encourages Bolt Actions to be used for medium to long range encounters, allowing for the opportunity to switch to a sidearm on close quarter encounters
- Bolt Action Snipers Hipfire Dispersion increased by ~1 degree in all stances
- Increased AKS-74u Damage drop-off distance, making it better at medium combat ranges
- Lowered Avancys Damage drop-off distance, there will no longer be a 4-Shot Kill range during close range encounters
- Increased NTW-50 Damage against Light Vehicles slightly with Anti Materiel ammo and substantially increased with Anti Materiel High Power ammo
- Body Shot range reduced for NTW-50 from 150m to 100m
- M60E4 damage lowered from 50 to 75 meters. 28 -> 22
- Increased M1911 Damage drop-off distance up to 30m
- Increased MP412 REX Damage drop-off distance up to 40m
- Increased AC42 Bursts per minute. 160 -> 170
- Increased PP-29 Damage drop-off distance under 30m
- SFAR-M GL damage lowered from 50 to 75 meters. 28 -> 22
- Semi-Auto fire mode is back on AK24 after a failed experiment
- Fixed an issue on some Vault Weaponry not getting the correct headshot multipliers when some attachments were active
BATTLEFIELD PORTAL
- Added the new Season 3 map, Spearhead, to the IsCurrentMap selection block
- Added the BF3 gadget, MAV, to the gadget selection block
- Added Charlie Crawford’s Mounted Vulcan Specialist Gadget to the Specialist Gadget selection block
- Added Rasheed Zain’s XM370A Airburst Launcher Specialist Gadget to the Specialist Gadget selection block
BATTLEFIELD PORTAL WEAPONS
- Improved underbarrel grenades zeroing precision
- Adjusted shake on Holo and PKA-S optics
- M416 and AEK will now have improved gunsway
AN94
- Recoil Distance has been decreased for the AN94
M16A3
- Lowered Horizontal Recoil offset by 0.05
G3A3
- We’ve lowered the Vertical and Horizontal Recoil for the G3A3 while increasing the Recoil Decrease rate
ACW-R
- Slightly increased the Recoil Decrease rate
M60E4
- Horizontal Recoil decreased for the M60E4
SCAR-H
- Slightly reduced Vertical and Horizontal Recoil