A patch is bringing some significant changes to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, hopefully not adding to the already significant time commitment required to reach the game's highest rank. According to consulting firm Orbus Gameworks, it already takes roughly 282 hours to achieve Rank 50.

The R10 Server Update for PC is all about balance, with automatic and semiautomatic weapons, equipment, and gear in Battlefield getting tweaked to raise or lower damage and increase or decrease range, accuracy and effectiveness. A detailed list of how the update impacts the game is available on the official Battlefield forum.

It's doubtful, however, the update will make it any easier to reach the rank of 50. Based on data collected from 3,737 player profiles at BFBCS.com, Orbus Gameworks discovered it takes 11 days and 18 hours worth of online play to reach Battlefield's highest rank.

In an interview with Joystiq, Orbus President Darius Kazemi said the average Rank 50 player has logged 295 hours on the game, the equivalent of working a full-time job for nearly two months.

EA and DICE said they are currently working with Microsoft and Sony to bring the R10 Update to consoles.

Source: http://pc.gamespy.com/