Battlefield 4’s Team Play and Field Upgrades Detailed

New details about how team play will change in Battlefield 4's multiplayer mode have surfaced, as well as some new information about Field Upgrades.

A post on the official Battlefield Blog briefs us on the finer points of Battlefield 4's multiplayer. According to Lead Multiplayer Designer Thomas Andersson, the team is "having a blast playing it at work in its current Alpha stage" and that he thinks they're "onto something big" with the multiplayer mode in Battlefield 4.

Andersson also said, "We want to build upon what makes Battlefield 3 great, and one of the areas where Battlefield shines is team play. The way we’re going about it in Battlefield 4 is to highly encourage team play – but never force it. We want to promote team play by creating great gameplay mechanics such as Field Upgrades, Commander Mode, and a new range of gadgets specifically designed to expand co-operation in the field. We have drastically expanded on the tools and benefits of efficient team play, and as a result we feel Battlefield 4’s multiplayer experience is the deepest, most rewarding, and fun experience in the series."

One of the new concepts Andersson mentioned was the Field Upgrade mechanic. Field Upgrades are chained boosts that can give you faster sprint speed, stronger personal armor or more armor. They are similar to the specializations you can find in Battlefield 3 that give boosts to your team.

Field Upgrades will depend on your performance and can be earned through squad healing, completing objectives with your squad, squad resupplies, repairs and other squad actions. In other words, play well with your squad and you will be rewarded. The opposite also holds true, since a squad wipe will results in the loss of some progress for upgrades.

And since the Engineer, Recon, Support and Assault kits will be returning, it shouldn't be too hard to round out a squad and have everyone doing their part to complete objectives and help each other stay alive. DICE has also made it so that the different kits display what they can do, so that players will find them more attractive and play around with each, instead of just sticking to the Assault kit.

What do you think about the new additions and how they'll be tweaking multiplayer? Will you jump into the fray? Let us know in the comments below. Battlefield 4 will be released on Oct. 29 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will be released later in the year.