Everything new in Battlefield 1 December update: Spectator Mode, aim assist changes, balance, more

The list of what the December patch is bringing to Battlefield 1 is quite a list.

The second big patch for Battlefield 1 has been rolling out today on all platforms. Much like the November patch, this one is not short on new features, fixes, balance changes, and everything in between.

The patch of course added a free map, Giant's Shadow. Pre-order customers and Premium members can play it starting today, whereas everyone else can join on December 20. Outside of the new map, the patch added the long awaited Spectator Mode, complete with the ability to join servers as a spectator.

A new custom game mode called Standard Issue Rifles has also been added, due to go live later today.

As for the changes, they're quite massive, but we'll go over some of the headline changes below. First, soldier movement has been improved, and you'll now be able to sprint out of crouch and prone. Soldier controls should feel more responsive now, according to DICE.

Aim assist is another mechanic that's seen some tweaks. Aim assist will now only kick in if the player is actively giving aim input. This prevents instances where your crosshairs would track a target you were strafing around. If you want, you can now tweak individual aim details such as the dead zone.

The update has introduced a fix for an issue that would sometimes spawn you as a Tanker, Pilot, or Cavalry without the proper vehicle. This should also prevent spawning into vehicles with incorrect kits.

As for tanks themselves, it was previously possible to shoot over objectives your tank turret can't go over by going into third-person view, otherwise know as “head-glitching”. This has now been fixed, and both viewpoints should now report the same angle.

The Landship tank has seen a major buff in the update. It now has the same health as the Heavy Tank, and you'll be able to spawn on teammates in the Landship the same way you could with a Heavy Tank.

Detailed vehicle changes:

TankGewehr now does increased damage, from 120-150 to 160-180. Change is on both the Landship and Tank Hunter. Damage against planes is virtually unchanged
Landship mortars have had their range increased slightly
The Mortar Pattern of the Landship now has 5 seats, adding two additional side LMG seats to the package
The Squad Support Pattern of the Landship now features a front firing 20mm cannon like the Light Tank Flanker Pattern, instead of an LMG
The Landship now takes the same damage as the Heavy Tank
Decreased amount of health restored by emergency repairs on the Heavy Tank from 30% to 20%
Increased the amount of health restored by track repairs on the Landship from 15% to 20%
Decreased amount of health restored by emergency repairs on the Landship from 30% to 25%
Decreased damage of Case shells against planes by 50%
Reduced stationary AA range from 400 m to 334 m
Fixed inconsistent damage of plane rockets against other planes
Reduced plane rocket impact damage from 120 to 100
Increased plane rocket initial speed and reduced time to live
Reduced Ranken Dart damage against planes
Made bombers take 20% more damage from bullets
Increased Dogfighter and Trench Fighter MG damage by 4% and slowed down the overheat
Increased Bomber Killer MG damage by 3%
Decreased Airship Killer MG damage by 18%
Decrease plane tail gunner damage by 23% (far) to 42% (close) and sped up damage drop-off slightly
Reduced boat torpedo range to approximately 400 m, matching the behemoth AA range

As for weapon balance, shotguns have seen a general nerf, though some have been buffed. The biggest change affects the Model 10-A Hunter and Factory, M97 Trench, and the Sawed Off Shotgun, reducing their maximum range. The M97 now shoots an extra pellet regardless of variant. Effective range of the Backbored variants have been improved.

The accuracy of the 12g Automatic has been increased as well. This also comes with a tweak to the shotgun crosshairs to make landing shots more consistent. For LMGs, DICE tweaked the amount of inaccuracy you get when firing an aimed LMG to prevent variants with optics from having a disadvantage unless a bipod was used. Now, the second shot has the same accuracy for all variants of any one LMG.

As for Bayonets, you'll now be able to initiate a bayonet charge while reloading or when out of ammo.

Detailed weapon changes:

Reduced reload time for the Lewis MG from 3 to 2.85 s and 4.5 to 4.2 s for fast and slow reload to better match the animations
Slowed down Lewis MG overheat from 35 to 50 bullets
Increased Madsen MG fast reload from 2.45 to 2.65 s to better match the animations
Reduced tactical fast time for the BAR from 2.9 to 2.8 s to better match the animations
Increased MG15 reload time from 4.3 to 4.45 s to better match the animations
Corrected an error where LMGs and rifles zoomed in too fast when used with iron sights and 2.00x magnification
Increased the throwing velocity of the Light AT Grenade to the same value as used by the Frag Grenade
Improved accuracy and recoil of M1903 Experimental
Made revolvers and the Howdah Pistol recover faster from dispersion
Flares no longer set the player on fire immediately after firing them while looking down
Reduced the damage of mortar shells when hitting an object immediately after firing
Fixed Martini-Henry dealing too much damage to most body parts. It is now affected by a 0.9 multiplier to the lower torso and upper arms and a 0.75 multiplier to the legs and forearms, like the other rifles with sweet-spot mechanics
Martini-Henry now resupplies 5 bullets at a time
Reduced No.3 revolver reload time from 2.666 s to 2.3 s
Increased No.3 rate of fire from 150 rpm to 164 rpm
Reduced Repetierpistole M1912 aimed stationary dispersion from 0.4 to 0.3
Reduced Repetierpistole M1912 horizontal recoil from 0.8 to 0.5
Increased Hellriegel first shot recoil multiplier from 1.8 to 2.0
Increased Hellriegel horizontal recoil from 0.76 to 0.8
Reduced MP18 first shot recoil multiplier from 2.1 to 1.8
Improved shotgun crosshair size and scaling
Sawed-Off shotgun now resupplies 4 rounds at a time
Reduced 12g Automatic dispersion increase per shot from 0.3 to 0.15
Fix for dispersion of Model 10-A Hunter decreasing too quickly
Fix for dispersion of Model 10-A Factory decreasing too slowly
Moved up damage drop-off from M97 Trench Gun Hunter, Model 10-A Factory and Hunter by 1
Reduced 12g Automatic post reload delay from 0.5 to 0.3
Improved hip fire of M1903 Experimental
Changed SMGs and LMGs to use damage curves
Huot, Lewis, M1909 and BAR minimum damage increased from 21 to 23
LMG damage drop-off happens at farther distances
Reduced effect of suppression on LMG vertical recoil
Changed LMG base ADS dispersion increase per shot from -0.12 to -0.085 so they are slightly more accurate on the first shots
Reduced Lewis horizontal recoil from 0.36 to 0.34
Reduced Huot horizontal recoil from 0.32 to 0.16
Reduced M1909 horizontal recoil from 0.3 to 0.24
Changed post reload delays on Gewehr 98 from 0.4 to 0.8 to better match animations
Changed post reload delays on SMLE from 0.8 to 0.6333 to better match animations
Changed post reload delays on M1903 from 0.8 to 0.7 to better match animations

The revive Syringe is another gadget that received some tweaks in the patch. There's now a short cooldown between uses, though that can be negated if near an ammo crate. This should prevent “revive trains” but will have no effect on single soldier revives, according to DICE.

In other gadget changes, the ammo and medical crates should now be easier to deploy. Their effectiveness has also been increased. Mortars are now slightly more accurate when placed, and similarly during sustained fire. The damage output is the same, however.

If you've witnessed teammates destroy your tripwires thinking they belong to the enemy, you'll be happy to know that the explosive icons should now reflect the team that placed them.

Hardcore mode was also the recipient of many changes. The large map is now available, but it'll not show the position of objectives, players, etc. Similarly, you'll now be able to see how many grenades you have left, but not how many bullets left in the magazine. You'll now also be getting confirmations when killing teammates.

Bullet damage in Hardcore has decreased from 200 percent to 125 percent. This should prevent bolt action rifles for having one-hit kill potential at all ranges.

Stability and performance

Fixed an issue that caused a hang when pressing J/K/L on console keyboard
Added a new Framerate Limiter option that limits the maximum framerate the game will run at to a specific amount. Limiting your framerate to a lower number can help improve performance if you are experiencing high CPU usage
CPU optimization to improve high framerate operation on high end video cards where there is no VRAM pressure
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes crash when loading levels
Fixed an issue where the game would sometimes crash when dying in a vehicle
Fixed a server crash related to trip wires
Fixed an issue where outdated game clients could still connect to EA servers without receiving an error
PC: Forced v-sync to on during loading movies on PC to prevent screen tearing and stutters
PC: Fixed some issues that could lead to GPU hang on DX11
PC: Fixed ghosting issues
PC: Borderless full screen now works as intended
PC: Fixed an issue with full screen causing other windows to be resized and/or moved around
Xbox One: Fixed a rare VOIP related crash
Console: Tweaked dynamic resolution min cap scaling to improve GPU performance over loss of resolution

Gameplay

Monte Grappa, Suez, Ballroom Blitz & Argonne Forest – Made tweaks to certain areas of the map where attackers had a very difficult time capturing specific sectors
Fixed an issue where players could get team kills when killing an enemy who has joined on a friend in your team
Netcode improvements to apply pose changes faster. Before it was only applied when standing and going from stand to crouch. Now it is applied for all pose transitions and while walking as well
Wrecked Airship parts left behind by a destroyed airship should no longer occasionally kill soldiers
Fixed rubber banding issues and non-smooth movement of airplanes in MP
Slightly adjusted the matchmaking ruleset for Operations to reduce the chance of entering an Operation that is about to end
Re-worked how the behemoth enters the map in Operations game mode. The Behemoth will no longer appear if a team is in a significant lead. This affects both attackers and defenders in Operations
Defenders will no longer get a behemoth on a new level if attackers are on their last battalion
Reduced attacker behemoths to prevent them from getting one on each retry on second and third maps
Increased score difference between teams needed for behemoth to appear
Fixed camera jitter during deploy transition to airborne vehicles
Binoculars in Single Player are now working if click-to-zoom option is selected. In multiplayer if click-to-zoom is selected, the zoom clicks are not lost anymore if happening during weapon switch or reload transitions
Added kick of player if spawning with restricted weapons to prevent usage of weapons not allowed in Custom Games
Split the click/hold-to-zoom weapon option into separate ones for vehicles and soldiers
Fixed an issue where the player was not being awarded score for capturing a conquest point after exiting and reentering the capture area
Reduced mortar dispersion increase per shot from 3 to 2.75
Prevented the possibility to spawn with the wrong class when switching class at the time of deploy
Fixed an issue where grenades didn't rotate correctly or at all when thrown from the player
Fixed an issue with camera transitions when dying
Fixed an issue with horse twitching from explosives
Fixed an issue where trying to place a limpet charge on a door resulted in a crooked, floating charge instead
Fixed an issue where prone aiming constraints were not properly applied after respawn
Fixed an issue where players sometimes became invisible when exiting certain vehicles
Fixed an issue where soldiers would get stuck on top of vehicles
Fixed an issue where captured flags could be stretched by shooting them with shell projectiles
Fixed 3p stuttering of Behemoth when viewed from the ground
Fixed an issue with the placed collision on the tunnel ceiling on Monte Grappa
Fixed an issue where the rifle on cavalry would appear with the sabre animation
Fixed an issue where destroying turrets on behemoths with explosives would sometimes disable the wrong turrets
Fixed an issue which caused part destruction on airships to not work as intended
Fixed an issue where Elite Classes in vehicles or stationary turrets took the same amount of damage as normal soldiers
For players using the click-to-zoom option, sprint is now properly interrupted on zoom and re-engaged on un-zoom
Fortress turret wrecks now stay forever, or until a new turret respawns to prevent issues with vehicle and soldier collision
Minor adjustments to Ballroom Blitz battlement gate damage behavior
Destruction tuning to avoid floating lamps
Adjusted Sinai desert rock bridge debris damage and health for consistency
Fixed object on Ballroom Blitz that improperly caused collision damage to tanks
Fixed strange looking enter animation on QF1 AA Stationary Weapon
Added more spawn variations to the C flag in Conquest on Empire's Edge
Soldiers can no longer enter the tower on Ballroom Blitz after it has been destroyed
Grenade throws will no longer be canceled by pressing Zoom while holding the grenade button. Instead they can be canceled with Reload
Fixed flare projectiles penetrating aircraft
Flare projectile now breaks glass
Soldiers can no longer switch to rifle grenades when they are out of ammo. The C96 Carbine now automatically switches to secondary when out of ammo
Fixed the beam reticle for the Cei-Rigotti showing the cross reticle instead
Corrected occlusion and collision issues on Ballroom Blitz
Resized the Ring Reticle for improved shooting experience
The mortar can no longer be deployed on bushes
Fixed an issue where sometimes matchmaking from recommendation did not show the loading screen
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes be taken to an earlier check point when rebooting the console while playing the campaign

UI

Improved overall UI performance and stability
Fixed an issue of Medics not seeing 3D revive/minimap death icons of team mates who died behind them until they look at the body
Hardcore now shows team kills in the score log
Made it simpler to report offensive emblems by adding reporting functionality in the EoR scoreboard
Improved latency in End of Round when scrolling through the scoreboard
Fixed an issue where vehicle crosshairs would disappear in Hardcore when using the Armored Train or Dreadnaught
Gadgets now take priority if pressing dpad up and dpad left or right at the same time
Fixed an issue with the Operation Outcome screen that caused it to display the wrong information about the result of the Operation
Crosshair visibility can now be adjusted in the gameplay options
Fixed an exploit where a player could steal Squad Leader status from an active squad leader
Fixed an issue with the number of service stars always showing as zero in the customize screen
a gas mask in stationary weapons and other vehicle seats where it was previously hardcoded
Fixed an issue where customization submenus would automatically close while selecting equipment
Fixed an issue with the current soldier not displaying in the squad screen in Team Deathmatch
Squads with players in a party now stay unlocked if there are only two players in the party
Prevent squads having too many players when running map rotations with mixed game modes
Joystick now works without setting the controller layout to Custom
Fixed an issue causing delays in game chat
Fixed an issue where hints would get stuck on the screen
Skins unlocked from Battlepacks now properly indicate they are for all patterns of a specific weapon
Fixed an issue where friendly mortars would sometimes appear as deploy points
Player can now select squad spawn points with the dpad
Fixed an issue where a tech hang was caused by joining an Operation's session while in progressive installation
Fixed an issue where no error messages were displayed when accepting a Multiplayer invite during progressive installation while playing
Singleplayer.
Fixed an issue where joining a multiplayer game invite resulted in a black background
Fixed an issue where no queue information was provided after accepting an invite to a full server, while on another server with the option menu open
Fixed an issue where the round bonus score bar in EoR personal tab was counting up and then disappearing
Fixed an issue where spamming the options button in EoR lead to a technical hang in the next round
Fixed an issue with Model 10-A Slug that was tracked as Artillery kills in the EOR screen
Fixed an issue where the EoR countdown stopped when quickly navigating through tabs
Fixed an issue where a tech-hang was caused after selecting the shovel and bayonet in Weapons and gadgets
PC: Added server info in the “…” menu
PC: Pressing “ESC” while in customize now properly takes you back to the deploy screen
PC: Exposed Gas Mask key bind in vehicle section. This allows you to rebind the button to put on
PS4: Fixed an issue where User Created Media Restricted users were able to see server names created by other users
Xbox One: Fixed an issue where the LB/RB buttons had no functionality in the news menu

Audio

Fixed so that master and music volume fades nicely to the saved settings when starting the game
Fixed an issue with in-world sound heard briefly when going into the Deploy Screen