The new map pack coming for Battlefield 4's multiplayer needed a good balance

Mar 14, 2014 00:36 GMT  ·  By

Battlefield 4 is set to receive its Naval Strike map pack this month and developer DICE has talked a bit more about the goals it had and the challenges it met during the development of the new expansion.

Battlefield 4 doesn't exactly have the best of images right now, as even after many months since its November, 2013 launch, it's plagued by issues and problems. Despite the fact that DICE released many different patches and updates for the game, some problems are persisting and users are still very upset with the studio.

Even so, this isn't stopping the developer from working on new expansions for Battlefield 4, as this month will mark the release of the Naval Strike map pack, which brings four all-new levels to the game but also special new experiences like the Carrier Assault mode, which is a throwback to the Titan one from Battlefield 2142.

DICE Gameplay Designer Gustav Halling talked a bit with fans on the Battlefield blog and revealed that, as the name suggests, Naval Strike will have a big emphasis on the naval vehicles in the game and expand on what already makes them attractive in the regular multiplayer campaign.

"The design philosophy behind Battlefield 4 Naval Strike was to expand on what makes naval warfare and water-based vehicles fun in Battlefield 4. We know that there are many fans of Paracel Storm in our community, and with this expansion we wanted to give players who love that map more variations in the naval gameplay."

Of course, there were quite a few challenges with the game's new expansion, including striking a balance between naval and infantry warfare on the all-new maps.

"As always when working with water-based maps the challenge is to give naval units a prominent role on the Battlefield, and at the same time give infantry players enough areas to fight around – and also create space for fast transport vehicles. That is why we focused on making a wide variation of vehicle- and infantry-focused bases on all the maps in Battlefield 4 Naval Strike."

Even so, Halling emphasized that the naval warfare focus for the new expansion means that regular land vehicles won't hog the spotlight, as DICE wanted to really show off its sea vehicles, like the attack boats, the PWC, or the all-new ACV.

Battlefield 4 owners with Battlefield 4 Premium bundles get the Naval Strike map pack in late March but, as of yet, DICE hasn't confirmed an exact release date.