Published in Gaming

Oh, Battlefield 2142 1.4 patch, where are you?

by on18 August 2007

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The wait continues, with no reason given for the delay


Battlefield 2142
from DICE released a beta version of the upcoming 1.4 patch for users to test and provide feedback about prior to release. The 1.40 patch for 2142 will feature the release of the cross-game map known as “Highway Tampa” which is being co-branded by Intel and will be available for both Battlefield 2, as well as Battlefield 2142. Since the 1.4 patch dropped for testing starting in late June, all news as to the process of testing and when the patch will be released has stopped and, worse yet, no one in the Battlefield 2142 community knows why.

Beyond the new “Highway Tampa Map” the 1.4 patch for 2142 addresses a number of game exploits, minor bug fixes, game play balance issues, slight weapons enhancements, and the long awaited “kit save” modification. One of the major problems with the beta 1.4 version has been that if you choose to download it and update your Battlefield 2142 files to the 1.4 beta without first backing up your Battlefield directory, then you are forced to do a complete uninstall of Battlefield 2142 and reinstall it if you want to be able to play with your friends on ranked servers that are currently only running version 1.25. The uninstalling and reinstalling can be part of any beta process, but things get complicated when you are dealing with both ranked and unranked servers and a lack of compatibility with your friends who are not using the beta version.

While many problems and bugs exist in the 1.4 beta, no time line has been offered by DICE as to how long it is going to take to fix the issues or when we might see a possible release. Players continue to be impatient as many of the exploits have been around for some time now and that, coupled with the bugs, allows players to take advantage of these exploits to run up high scores, as well as sometimes make the game unplayable for others on the server. Many players continue to be upset about bugs as well as game play issues that still exist in the 1.4 beta and they continue to vent their frustration in message after message posted in the official Battlefield 2142 1.4 Beta discussion thread on EA’s Battlefield support forum. Posts in this thread include reports of issues with the 1.4 beta patch, as well as suggestions as how to improve the game. It seems, however, that all of these posts are falling on deaf ears, as no one from DICE or EA is taking time to post any replies to these messages.

There are perhaps two different schools of thought as to what is going on here. One is that DICE has reduced the number of resources available to work on the 1.4 patch, and with the resources that are available to the 1.4 patch it is taking longer than expected to wrap it up and get it out the door. The second possibility is that DICE has learned from past mistakes with rushing patches out the door and they are putting maximum effort into resolving as many problems as possible to make sure that the 1.4 patch improves the quality of the game, rather than creating more new bugs to squash by a hasty release.

We have no idea what is going on because all of our sources have clammed up and seem to be under strict orders not to leak any information to the Battlefield community. We can’t honestly say what purpose keeping the community in the dark will serve when players are clearly using exploits to achieve higher scores and cheat on ranked servers that people are paying for. The time has come for DICE to at least try to keep the community informed. They have a variety of possible available vehicles to do this and we would be happy to post any reply that DICE might have to our comments here on Fudzilla. In the meantime, we will continue to wait for DICE to make contact and finally let the user community know when the current bleeding will end.

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Rumored Second DICE Booster Pack for 2142
Last modified on 18 August 2007
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