No more deploy beacon clown cars for recon players in Battlefield 6—the assault class will get them instead: 'We're intentionally redefining it as a teamplay tool for frontline flanking'
Sayonara, 0.5kd snipers.
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Ever played a Battlefield game and watched, haplessly, as some jerk with a sniper rifle makes a camp in a hard-to-reach building and turns it into a clown car? Well, that's not gonna be how Battlefield 6 does it anymore.
That's according to an X post from the Battlefield Comms account ahead of the Battlefield 6 open beta. Namely, via changes made to the classes' various gadget pools. It reads:
"We've renamed the Spawn Beacon to Deploy Beacon, and it's now part of the Assault class gadget pool, instead of Recon.
"Although the Deploy Beacon has traditionally been a staple of the Recon class, it hasn’t been without its challenges, often being used by solo snipers to redeploy in hard-to-reach places. By moving it to the Assault class, we’re intentionally redefining it as a teamplay tool for frontline flanking and coordinated squad movement."
Essentially, instead of having one, difficult-to-get-to clown car, the Assault class will now be incentivised to drop a bunch of guys in a flanking position, creating a slightly more mobile, shorter-lived clown car. More importantly, one that isn't just used selfishly to keep a wannabe sniper perpetually camping the same spot for the entire game.
There'll be some changes to how the beacon works, as well: "The Deploy Beacon has a finite number of uses per squad and will self-destruct if the Assault player spawns back on it, making it a tactical and limited resource rather than a persistent advantage. We believe this addresses concerns around Assault being too focused on solo-play."
So what are Recon players getting in exchange? A new training path, which'll be replacing Pathfinder.
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- At Spec Ops 0, Recons will get "quieter takedowns, crouch and prone movement."
- At Spec Ops 1, they'll receive the ability to spot "nearby enemy gadgets (except when sprinting)", allowing them to get revenge on all the Assault players using the Spawn Beacons they don't get anymore.
- And, lastly, at Spec Ops 3, "going prone takes you out of combat much faster and removes the spot on self."
But that's not all. "In addition, the Recon class features an Active Ability at Level 3 that lets you call in a UAV to a marked position for passive spotting, further enhancing your squad’s situational awareness."
All of this means you'll be able to play a Recon like, well, an actual sniper—spotting and marking targets, rather than consigning your teammates to a perpetually long runbacks that'd make a FromSoftware veteran weep, all because you want to score some clips for the highlight reel.
And, hey. If you still want to use Spawn Beacons with a sniper rifle, there'll be open weapon rulesets available to relive the glory days of doing absolutely nothing for anybody.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.
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