Dear everyone,

Thank you very much for your feedback on our forums and social channels. We receive an immense amount of messages per day — and although we don’t have time to answer each and every one of them, we do take time to read them and address the most important issues you bring to us.

Battlefield 3: Armored Kill has been a huge hit, but we know that the gunship we introduced has been a bit overpowered in some situations. The bulk of our next server update on September 20^th is directly based on community feedback from the past two weeks, aimed at re-balancing the gunship.

Following this server update on September 20th, there will also be a short planned downtime at 8:00 UTC where online gameplay on PC will not be available. We expect this outage to be 15 minutes long.

Gunship balancing in server update R31 on September 20th (all formats)
• Stationary and mobile AA cannon damage has been reduced by 30% versus the gunship.
Rationale: This fixes an issue where it was too easy for players to use stationary or mobile AA to shoot down the gunship from the other side of the map.

• Jet cannon damage has been reduced by 50% versus the gunship.
Rationale: In Conquest mode, jets have been able to single-strafe a gunship and destroy it. This re-balance will require more skill from pilots to take it down.

• The delay before moving the gunship forward to a new base in Rush mode has been increased from 15 to 30 seconds.
Rationale: Previously, the gunship was moved to the next base so quickly that it was possible to parachute from it into the base before defenders were able to prepare. This tweak will give defenders time to fall back and protect the valuable M-COM stations as intended.

• The Delay between gunship spawns has been increased from 90 to 120 seconds in Rush mode.
Rationale: After destroying the gunship in Rush mode, it reappeared too quickly to be well-balanced. With a 50% increase in spawn time for the gunship, defenders will now have more time to focus on the crates and less of a constant overhanging threat from the gunship.

• Initial delay before the gunship spawns in Rush mode has been increased from 15 to 60 seconds.
Rationale: Before this update, the gunship gunners could find the enemy before the round and instakill them when the pre-round timer ran out. Now, it will take a full minute before the gunship will spawn, giving defenders ample time to prepare.

Other changes in the server update
• Fixed a bug where a new squad leader wasn’t chosen when the current squad leader left.

• Fixed so that MK1A3 uses flechette rounds instead of frag rounds in Gun Master mode for Premium members (non-Premiums already have flechette rounds).

• Fixed a bug with Squad Rush on Sharqi Peninsula where the user was spawned outside the combat area if they deployed shortly after the first M-COM was destroyed.

The Only in Battlefield 3 Video Challenge is drawing to a close. We received over 1,200 videos, and the level of quality was amazing. After much deliberation, the DICE jury settled on the official Top 10 pick.

Beautiful jet stunts courtesy of irontjunfisk

Head to the Battlefield Blog for three special mentions and a thank you list of everyone who submitted a video — our small way of paying tribute to a fantastic community that keeps surprising us with their creativity and editing skills.

Then head to the Only in Battlefield competition page to watch the entire Top 10 list of videos — featuring some of the wildest stunts, most beautiful edits, and craziest Battlefield Moments you will ever see.

Stay tuned for our announcement of the three grand prize winners!

Today (September 18), all regular PlayStation 3 players will be able to purchase and play Battlefield 3: Armored Kill. You will find Armored Kill both on PlayStation Store and in the in-game store.

Release times throughout the world are approximately as follows:
Europe: Starting around 18:00 CET
America: Starting around 18:00 PST
Asia: Starting around 16:00 JPT

Haven’t decided on Armored Kill yet? Head here for some reviews of this all-out vehicle warfare expansion pack, featuring the biggest map in Battlefield history:
Eurogamer (8/10)
GameSpy (4/5)
Videogamer UK (8/10)
Games Radar (“Buy”)
Digital Chumps (9/10)
AusGamers (9/10)
MP1ST (4.5/5)

Just a quick note that at 2AM PST / 9AM UTC today, Battlefield 3: Armored Kill will start rolling out to all of our Premium members on Xbox 360 and PC. That’s two weeks early access for Premium members on these two formats. Regular players on these formats will get access to Armored Kill on September 25th.

Click this link to see a handy chart of when Armored Kill rolls out today where you live. Enjoy the all-out vehicle warfare!