I think EA/Dice should divide their patches into two categories and issue them separately, for example, don't let a new unlock or war badge delay the red/blue nametag glitch fix. Smaller incremental updates are easier to deploy and don't cause the entire BF2 community to have a siezure. I would rather have more frequent smaller WORKING patches than fewer larger time consuming game breakers. This would allow servers to remain closer to the original game playability concept but have all the bugs fixed. Fixing the bugs caused by the Bug fixes is wasting time and I bet costing money. A 1 minute bug fix at login is better than a 1 to 10 hr patch almost anytime.

Cat 1 (Bugs, glitches & counter-hacks, fixes) mandatory
Hardware/software/driver bugs
Map glitches
Game mechanics exploits (ex: medic-knife cycle)
New Hardware Support

Cat 2 (Playability issues) mostly optional
Game balance
Additional game features
ROE Reduction
Tactical exploits (risky ex: bunny hoppers)   [should have just made them get tired of jumping too much in a row and reduce accuracy while doing it, not stop it]