User blog:Apprentice125/Final Stand Revealed; Pre-release Testing Underway in the Community Test Environment



On Monday, DICE finally unveiled Battlefield 4's fifth and final expansion pack, Final Stand. Taking place in the arctic environments of northern Russia, players will encounter the beginnings of technologies and weapons later to be seen in a certain 22nd century war.

As stated by Kristoffer Bergqvist & David Sirland on a recent Battlelog post:

 ''With Final Stand, we knew from the start that we wanted to evolve the Battlefield experience and offer weapons and vehicles that behave differently than anything else on the battlefield. Taking place on the arctic landscape of Russia, where the scientists of today are experimenting with technology that will define the battlefields of tomorrow (Battlefield 2142, anyone?), Final Stand will deliver four maps that are unique and distinct. With its military installations set against a wintry landscape, expect intense, infantry-focused combat.''

The four new maps are Hammerhead, Operation Whiteout, Giants of Karelia, and Hangar 21. New futuristic equipment and weapons have also been unveiled, like the HT-95 prototype hover tank, the TDD motion sensor weapon attachment, the previously seen XD-1 Accipiter, and the Rorsch X1 prototype handheld railgun. As usual, ten more ranks have also been added. Full list of the known new additions:

Maps

 * Operation Whiteout
 * Hammerhead
 * Giants of Karelia
 * Hangar 21

Weapons

 * Rorsch X1 (Battle Pickup)

Attachments

 * TDD

Gadgets

 * DS-3
 * XD-1 Accipiter (Battle Pickup)

Vehicles

 * Snowmobile
 * HT-95
 * SC-42

DICE LA has not given a release date for the expansion, however, in a rather surprising move, the work-in-progress build of Final Stand is currently being tested on the Community Test Environment. As stated in the same blog post:

 ''The amount of feedback we've been getting via the CTE has been incredible, and is a tremendous asset to the team here at DICE LA. That’s why we have decided to bring the community into the process even earlier as we reach the finish line of Final Stand. Starting this week we will run servers with one of the four maps available to play per day – starting Tuesday September 9th. The number of player slots and servers will be limited – so not everyone with access will get a chance to play this time around. This is the first time we have ever done something like this at this early stage – and we hope it will mean a more stable and higher quality release in the end!''

With an update on Tuesday, all Final Stand content was added to the CTE, and the maps are being alternated through testing on a daily basis. Currently, Giants of Karelia is being tested, with Operation Whiteout having been tested on Tuesday. Hangar 21 and Hammerhead are set to be tested in the coming days. Currently, the dev team is looking for feedback on these issues in particular: General Map Feedback, Game mode feedback, Vehicle load outs, control, handling and HUD, Physical cloud layer feedback, New gadget and attachment feedback, and, as always, Bugs and Issues. For those of you with Premium that are not already in the CTE and want to get in on the action, more spots a being opened up for testing, so head on over to the CTE Battlelog and cross your fingers.

For those of you in the CTE, hop on a server, give it try, and remember to leave feedback for devs on the forums. For the rest of you, how do you think things are looking for Final Stand so far? Are happy with the direction DICE LA is taking the expansion? Let us know below!

-20:30, September 10, 2014 (UTC)