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On one hand this is not the final patch, only “suggestions”, but in my experience 19 out of 20 patch notes make it into the game. DICE will only change it if there is a massive reaction from the community and I doubt there will be on this one.
Important class/weapon changes
I start with the very general conclusion that the reasons to play other classes than assault got even lower after this patch.
Start with engineer, the only reason to play engineer is the RPG and it actually got nerfed from 3 things at the same time. Explosive radius from RPG towards infantry has been slightly reduced, flak (explosive resistance) is now more effective in reducing damage and there is a reduction in number of rockets as well.
Recon, all main weapon shotguns got substantially nerfed, from 12 to 9 slugs per shell. That is one big damage reduction. Add to this that the USAS got an additional nerf on top of this. I think this pretty much is a nail in the coffin for shotgun play. Regarding AS VAL I am not sure, the accuracy got reduced but now you can add an extended mag to AS VAL. Nerf? Snipers got a buff though, chest shots will now be one shot kill in CC with some sniper rifles. PDW-R and P90 got some buffs also, might be worth a try now for CC recon play.
Support, this class got some buffs. Suppression will now reduce accuracy more than before. Bipods also got buffed, it will now increase accuracy further and will also go quicker to deploy. This combination could make it interesting for defense, corridor on metro comes to mind for instance.
Assault over all got buffed. Medical crate got a buff. M26 mass and slug got buffed, buckshot will also spread less if fired in iron sight view. AN-94 and F2000 got buffs, M16A3 remains the same and all other assault rifles got nerfed. Most noteworthy, AEK got higher initial recoil = weaker medium/long range.
The sum of this makes am argument for M16A3. AEK get 2 nerfs (higher recoil+frontgrip) and M16A3 remains the same. Also MASS and buck gets boosted making it a good option for CC which is the weak point of M16. Or try out the AN-94/F2000.
Weapon addons
- Laser sight got buffed, will increase hip accuracy even more.
- Foregrip increase the accuracy less for AEK, F2000 and FAMAS (additional nerf for AEK).
- Heavy barrel over all got buffed. Effects vertical recoil less than before, higher long range accuracy and still reduces the weapons horizontal bullet spread. Over all makes it strong medium and long range. Penalty to hip accuracy however. This should be solvable though, never play no scope with main weapon and use MASS/320 buck in CC. Could be a strong combination if you learn how to use it.
- Silencer: Not entirely sure about this one, as far as I get it, a little weaker midrange, weaker in CC and a bit stronger long range. Over all I think it is a nerf but it is not entirely clear. Dice describe it as “worse hip accuracy and range but reduced recoil and much improved stealth”.
- Flash suppressor: Buffed. Reduces vertical recoil but gives a small hip accuracy reduction as well. Reduces muzzle flash also obviously.
So for me it would stand between laser sight and heavy barrel. Laser sight which already is good gets even better or the heavy barrel which gets a significant boost.
Other
Fall damage has been reduced.
Finally a weird but interesting change, an increase in spawn protection from 1 to 2 seconds. What is more that you now actually can look around without breaking the “protection”. Meaning that if you spawn in a CC situation and just don’t move your “feet” you can actually take aim for 2 seconds. Which is plenty of time to make a headshot aim.
Then there are 100 other changes plus all the conquest changes but this was the most important ones from a SR perspective.
PS. I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY DID NOT FIX THE SQUAD RUSH SQUAD BUG!
