The development team at DICE and publisher Electronic Arts have long promised that support for Battlefield 4 will continue to be extensive even as the game ages, and with the launch of the new The Final Stand downloadable content, the two companies have kept their promise by delivering an extensive patch that’s designed to significantly improve the core game experience.

The fixes are linked to both the copies of the shooter that gamers have on their drives and the servers that power it, and after applying the patch, players should be seeing a smoother experience and a number of modifications to how the balance of weapons works.

The list of changes is extensive and deals with everything from the speed of the hit indicator, which is now closer to Battlefield 3, to a set of fixes that are specific to the major platforms on which the shooter is offered – the PC, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

Presumably, most fans will not read all the changes and it would have been nice for the development team at DICE to offer a concise summary and to explain how they will impact the actual mechanics of the title.

The Final Stand and the future of Battlefield

At the moment, the Final Stand DLC is only available for those who subscribe to the Premium service for Battlefield 4, and the general population will get access to it on December 2.

The package introduces four new maps for gamers to fight on, called Whiteout, Hangar 21, Giants of Karelia, and Hammerhead.

All of them are set in the Russian Arctic and allow gamers to use a range of new futuristic weapons, including a railgun, and vehicles also play an important part in the new environments.

Apparently, The Final Stand is supposed to be the last piece of DLC for Battlefield 4, but there are rumors that a DICE subsidiary is preparing to reveal another package that should arrive in early 2015.

The core developers at the studio are currently focused on Star Wars Battlefront, which is expected to be launched in the fall of 2015 on the PC, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

A small team at DICE is also working with Visceral Games to improve the delayed Battlefield Hardline and make sure that it delivers a solid experience when it is finally out in March.