Tanks are making overtures in Battlefield V's first big update
They think it's all overture
It is a good day for tanks. Though now that I think about it, the tanks themselves in Battlefield V's freshly released Overture update are doomed to an eternal cycle of being murdered, then plucked from silicon heaven to fight one of humanity's damnable wars once more. It's a good day for people who would like to blow up tanks.
After yesterday's launch hiccup, the tanks have now rolled out. This first 'Tides of War' update includes a new vehicle-focused multiplayer map, a vehicle-focused singleplayer 'War Story', and a practice range that should probably have been in the game from the get go.
The new map, Panzerstorm, takes Battlefielders to the Belgian countryside so they can pretend they're fighting in the first proper tank battle of the war. You'll be fighting amongst the husks of tanks who got their a bit too early and exploded already, which is nice. Whenever my squad spawns in a tank I tend to wander off and do my own thing, too frustrated by my firing angles being determined by whoever nabbed the driver spot before me. I'll be the one sneaking around with the dynamite.
It sounds like that won't be an option in the singleplayer mission, which follows the German crew of a Tiger named Stefan. As well as being the title of my upcoming children's book, the Tiger named Stefan will roll around the Rhine-Ruhr fending off US Shermans and infantry troops.
Along with the tank stuff and the practice range - which I might actually boot up so I can have a go in a plane - the update also brings a host of behind the scenes balance changes. These patch notes talk about how the 'time to kill' hasn't been fiddled with yet, but you might think it has because of some weapon tweaks. You'd think that would be the same as 'time to death' though the devs insist they're just "closely linked".
Two things are going on here. Any actual differences between TTK and TTD revolve around the server feeding players different information. The faster the refresh rate (or tick rate) of the server, the closer those values get to being the same. The perception of TTD, though, can be changed by any number of tweaks to audio and visual feedback. Dice say they're "investigating all elements that play into TTD, from netcode to damage feedback/other components that influence TTD perceptions".
You're not sated for patch notes yet, are you? I can tell. Here are the most recent, which mainly cover changes to vehicles and the squashing of some particularly irritating bugs. That in-game menu that broke everything shouldn't do that anymore, aiming down turret sights should work properly now, and those infinite rounds should finally come to a close.
Most importantly, squishy humans can now duck down when they're in top-gunner tank positions.