So this happened today.

In addition, DICE published its new roadmap for Chapter 4 of its ongoing free live service Tides of War.

I'm still sorting through my feelings about this game after having made an enormous 180º turn on it in the past couple of weeks. 2016's Battlefield 1 is one of my favorite games of all time, but Battlefield V... I can't think of a time when I was more crushingly disappointed by a game. Apropos of nothing, I gave it yet another shot last month after stepping away from it shortly after launch. And I haven't stopped playing since.

I wanna write something about both games at some point, if only to help myself fully understand the path the series has taken over the last few years. But I will say that this trailer has me more excited than any other game announcement so far this year.

One of the cooler things to come from this surprise trailer drop has been seeing the Battlefield community completely revitalized and hopeful for the game again. I don't put too much stock in those folks since I never seem to see eye-to-eye with them on this series, but the collective excitement has been great to see. I can only imagine how relieving it is for DICE as well.

I actually just got BFV a week ago...I think I like it? When I'm on a hot streak it feels great, almost as good BF1, but something still feels off. I think I'd be more willing to devote time to the game if the studio was more communicative about future plans--will that second Greece map make a Greece grand operation? How much of that video, labelled Tides of War Chapter 4, will actually be in Tides of War chapter 4?

I wanna like this game. I love where the ballistics are at, the MMGs are cool, and the maps are good enough. But it still feels...unfocused. I can't quite put my finger on why.

DICE has done a rubbish job of communicating up until this point but finally they have been reasonably explicit with the dates of those Tides of War. We have two more weeks of chapter 3 then chapter 4 begins. The dates for maps are always at the end of the months. Al Sundan is June 26/7 and Marita is July 27 or there abouts. I have no doubts all this stuff will land in Chapter 4. However Chapter 4 is extremely long so that gives them a lot of rope. Seeing as Chapter 5 begins with the Pacific that means the Operation Underground map is part of Chapter 4. So chapter 4 goes from June til the end of October. It's not an official channel but if you want to know what is actually going on I recommend you follow Battlefield Bulletin on twitter as well as a dataminer called Temporyal. Both have been the only source of good news up until this very nifty trailer today.

They should just make a Wake Island. Too many maps on OG BFV where too infantry focused IMO, gimme a aircraft carrier and a way too small island with a couple off tanks on it.

Is there a substantial pc population for this game?? Been interested in EA access for some other games and wouldnt mind getting into BFV if there were servers. By the end BF1 was so empty on PC...

I still want to try the BR mode in this but I never managed to get past the single-player missions. For some reason the toggle to crouch never worked right for me on PC, which is...a big issue.

I liked BF5 but dropped of hard. It took them 6 months to intro a new map and when there are only 4 good maps in the base game imo that's unacceptable.

I don't like Battle Royales so the Firestorm update didn't move the needle for me. Looking forward to checking the game out again now.

@rorie: By default toggle crouch and hold crouch are seperate keybinds (ctrl for hold crouch and X for toggle if I recall) so make sure those are set up to your liking. That said if you only played the SP I wouldn't be surprised if they had something funky going on.

@mikemcn:I can't speak to the PC version because I play on PS4, but I suspect the upcoming updates and map releases will bring players back.

@theflamingo352: I know what you mean. BFV doesn't feel like it has much of an identity as a World War II game. That might contribute to it.

@hayt: The datamining done by that person has been pretty crazy. It definitely played a role in bringing me back to the game.

@soulcake: I would loooove to see Wake Island come back. I miss that map.

@rorie: Firestorm is worth checking out if you can get that issue figured out. The map is beautiful and it plays pretty well.

@zombie2011: I hear you. BF1 had a similarly long wait for DLC. I love nearly every base map in that game though so I didn't mind.

I just picked it up on sale, and it rules. I haven’t played a Battlefield game in awhile, but this might be the best one I’ve played since 2. The gunplay feels fantastic, even on a controller.

@bobobones: I think I preferred how pistols and SMGs handled in BF1, but generally speaking I would agree. I just wish they could make the tanks feel better to use!

I only play once a week to finish that week's challenges, so maybe 2sh hours. I really enjoy it for those couple hours, but any longer and I start to feel the lack of maps and the grind of assignments start to wear thin.

BF5 has been good since December, they just need more maps. The campaign was a mistake, it was a waste of time and resources.

BFV has so many aggravating issues that drive me up the wall constantly added pointless new game modes with firestorm being a major waste of time and I don't think assignments should be in the game period especially in their current form, but the trailer has me pumped when RSP comes back I'm there having Metro with the other smaller conquest maps in rotation is gonna be bliss.

@thepanzini: I've never been big on any non-Conquest modes in Battlefield, but the Outpost mode they recently added is pretty cool. It's like a modified Conquest where the flags are radio towers that need to be destroyed and rebuilt for your team.