Battlefield 2042’s Biggest Problems Need to Be Fixed Before Launch

Battlefield 2042 isn’t technically scheduled to launch until November 19, but the game’s Early Access period has already revealed a series of problems that have fans worried about the game’s upcoming release.

While Battlefield 2042‘s beta strongly suggested the game was going to suffer from an array of the usual technical problems we’re treated to whenever a modern online multiplayer game launches (bug, glitches, disconnects, etc.), the game’s Early Access players are disappointed by not only some of the title’s larger problems but the fact they had to pay a premium for what seems to be an extended beta.

While there is no way that Battlefield 2042 will be a perfect game at launch, these are some of the title’s more significant issues that have to be addressed before it is released to the general public.

Battlefield 2042 Has No “Traditional Scoreboard”

Battlefield 2042 breaks from some franchise traditions in notable ways, but the apparent decision to remove a “traditional” scoreboard from the game already feels like one of the shooter’s worst design deviations.

Battlefield 2042’s scoreboard lets you view squad rankings and squad stats, but it doesn’t let you view the stats of anyone who isn’t on your squad, and it doesn’t let you view how many times another player has died. For that matter, the scoreboard UI is so cluttered and confusing that it makes it difficult to quickly analyze what information is there at a glance.

It feels like this decision may be part of an attempt to reduce toxicity by deemphasizing the social value of K/D ratios (which is a move we’ve seen other developers make in the past), but since early reports suggest that isn’t really happening, the current lack of this seemingly standard information just feel like more of an oversight than a feature. 

Battlefield 2042 Frequently Crashes On Xbox

Battlefield 2042 is currently suffering from a variety of connection/server issues as well as a healthy amount of smaller bugs and glitches, but the title’s biggest technical problems so far can mostly be found on the Xbox. 

The Xbox Series X version of Battlefield 2042 reportedly crashes at an alarmingly frequent rate. While not every Xbox Series X user is experiencing this issue, those that have experienced it so far report that the problem is so bad that it causes the console to shut down entirely.

Thankfully, the Battlefield 2042 team has already stated that they’re aware of this issue and that it appears to be related to a platform-wide problem. They hope to fix it with an upcoming November 17 update. 

Battlefield 2042 Has No Built-In Voice Chat

In a shocking move, the Battlefield 2042 team decided to release the game into Early Access with no built-in voice chat options available.

At present, Early Access players are relying on Discord servers and the game’s Apex Legends-like “ping” system to communicate with each other. While it’s technically possible to play the game in that way, the fact of the matter is that not being able to communicate with your teammates with relative ease is a huge gameplay roadblock. 

Sadly, the 2042 team has already said that they do not expect the game’s built-in voice chat options to be available when the game launches on November 19. Interestingly, it’s still not clear what the problem with this system is, and it’s also not clear when, exactly, it will be made available. 

Battlefield 2042’s Attachments Are Not Unlocking Properly

Numerous Battlefield 2042 Early Access players are reporting that they’re simply not able to unlock the game’s various weapons attachments.

This is clearly the result of a bug, but given how important attachments can be in Battlefield 2042, it’s a pretty big bug. Some players are reporting that they’re able to fix this problem by restarting/reinstalling the game but many more players are left without any clear solution. 

Weirdly, this is a problem that also affected Call of Duty: Vanguard’s launch. 

Battlefield 2042’s Recoil and Weapon Bloom Make Aiming a Gamble

Like pretty much every other multiplayer FPS game ever made, Battlefield 2042 uses weapon recoil and “bloom” to add a little chaos to help ensure weapon crosshairs aren’t 100% accurate.

The problem at the moment is that 2042’s aiming system makes no sense. Bullets stray so far from their intended targets that there is really no way to account for where they’ll actually end up. Your crosshair can be aimed directly at the widest part of an opponent, and your shot will still stray to the left or right of them for no clear reason. 

It feels like 2042’s bloom system is a largely “intended” mechanic meant to help balance the competitive playing field, but the specifics of the mechanic just feel off at the moment and will likely need to be tweaked sometime in the near future. 

Battlefield 2042’s Weapon Balancing Is a Bit of a Mess

Battlefield 2042’s relative lack of available weapons is kind of a problem in its own right (more on that later), but the bigger issue with the game’s guns at the moment is that the weapon balancing is simply off. 

At the moment, Battlefield 2042’s sniper rifles and DMRs are so strong that it’s really hard to justify using anything else. The DMRs are a particularly big issue at the moment as they’re so accurate and powerful that they essentially throw off the intended basic functionality of the AR and SMG weapon classes.

I hope that the 2042 team will release a day one or pre-release patch that fixes some of the more glaring balance issues, but it might take a little while to properly address some of the core balance problems between these weapon classes.

Battlefield 2042’s Hovercraft is Absurdly Powerful

Ok, so this problem is admittedly quite hilarious, but it should be noted that Battlefield 2042’s hovercraft is ridiculously overpowered. 

See, it turns out that you’re able to climb buildings with the hovercraft due to what we can only assume is a glitch. That ability combined with the overall power level of the Hovercraft means that it is essentially more powerful than the game’s actual tanks. 

Honestly, you’ve got to see this thing in action for yourself to appreciate how ridiculous it is…