Battlefield 2042 gets antsy about whether 128 players is a good idea after all

pcgamer.com:

Battlefield 2042 has had a rocky old launch, with publisher EA saying it «didn't meet expectations» before, in a rather muddled fashion, denying it blamed Halo Infinite for the game's cool reception. The long-and-short is that no-one's happy. Players aren't happy, the publisher isn't happy, and it doesn't seem like DICE is over the moon either.

A new blogpost on 'core feedback' details some of the substantial improvements that DICE intends to make in the game, focusing initially on the game's map design. It identifies five key areas to work on in the game's maps: traversal, intensity, line of sight, objective paths, and cover.

Traversal is fairly self-explanatory: players are frustrated about the travel times between flags and spawns, something that is undoubtedly exacerbated by 2042's new 128 player limit. «We’ve seen you use terms such as 'Walking Simulator' to describe how this feels in-game,» writes DICE CM PartWelsh. «We understand that this isn’t a satisfying experience and agree that there’s too much overall travel time.»

So: base spawns and flags will be moved. DICE is already working on the most «obvious candidates» but is also asking players for their feedback on which maps are the biggest offenders in this regard.

The problem categorised as 'intensity' is especially interesting as, much like the spawns, it seems linked to that 128-player cap. «We know that during certain pushes for the objective, it can get too chaotic when fighting over Flags; either there are too many players, or vehicles, and sometimes the overall chaos can make it feel overwhelming when accurately trying to assess what’s happening around you.»

In terms of solutions, DICE is looking into permanently reducing the player cap on Breakthrough