Soldiering On: Battlefield 3 Patched Up

Battlefield 3 has patched itself on PC now. Remember when we all used to scream and shout about games that needed patching after release? It was this massive faux pas, and we'd all condemn any who released a game "unfinished". And now sites report the "news" that a patch is forthcoming for a game, as if it's a free DLC bonus feature for us lucky players. Well, hey. That's what you get when you don't revolt in the streets. So it is that the free bonus patch for BF3 is now out for PC, and brings with it a raft of changes, which I've meticulously repeated below.

Of course, that doesn't quite apply to online games. There you want refinements to come in reaction to how the game is being played, how it's being exploited, and what needs nerfing. But of course if you read through the list below you'll see as many game tweaks as you'll see bug fixes, which we just let sliiiiide by these days.

Perhaps the biggest change is the Squad Refinements, and you can read all about that on the official BF3 blog, with pictures! But it's basically about streamlining the experience, making it easier to join squads. Should you feel the need you can now share your stats via Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, because goodness knows, everyone needs to hear that. And they've somewhat smoothed out the need for multiple logins to use both Battlelog and Origin, with the former now automatically signing you in to the latter.

Apparently these aren't the full patch notes, which can only be seen on Battlelog, and since I don't have BF3 in my Origin account I'm not allowed to see that. Smooth. But their selected highlights are:

Selected improvements in the Nov 22 Battlefield 3 client-side update

• General performance and loading time improvements
• "Black Screen" fix for an issue occurring on some PC configurations
• Stereo and rendering support for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards
• Fixed several crashes that occurred when joining multiplayer and co-op sessions
• Fixed a problem with high speed mouse movement (aka "negative mouse acceleration")
• You should no longer be able to damage a friendly vehicle when sitting in an open position
• Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it (dangerous in Hardcore mode!)
• You should no longer spawn too close to enemies in TDM, SQDM, or Conquest
• A large number of damage and range tweaks on a number of weapons to fine-tune overall balance in the game
• Added round duration and ticket summary at End of Round screen
• Fixed a problem regarding key bindings while playing
• Significant changes to the Join Squad interface, detailed at the bottom of this post

Selected improvements in the Nov 22 Battlefield 3 PC server-side update

• EOD Bot exploit fix
• Several crash fixes
• Anti-stat padding measures taken, disallowing ranked servers to run obscure settings
• Improved team kill kick configuration
• Support for unranked servers. Unranked servers do not report players' scores to Battlelog, but server administrators can freely control all settings

Newly added Battlelog functionality – Share your stats

• Ability to share your Profile and Stats pages to Facebook, Google+, and Twitter
• User Profile and Stats pages on Battlelog can now be accessed without being signed in to Battlelog if you know a user's URL
• Single sign on from Battlelog to Origin. If you're not logged in to Origin and join a game server, Battlelog will automatically sign you in to Origin in the background and join the game server

Quick notes on Squad changes in the Nov 22 update

• Removed FIND ME A SQUAD option
• Allow players to join empty Squads alone, thus having 1/4 squad members
• Change order of options to LEAVE SQUAD, INV A FRIEND, SWITCH TEAM
• Disable Privacy flag when 1 man squad
• Reset Privacy flag from Private to Public when squad drops to 1 player
• All occupied Squads will now show up colored blue on the Squad Selection screen
• Players who choose not to join squads will also show up as Blue in the "Not in a Squad” line
• Squads that are currently empty will display as white -- if you wish to join an empty Squad, you can choose the first one marked with white text