I played all most of the previous Battlefield titles and I think 2042 has some major gameplay decisions I would criticize. But EAC has improved the cheater problem significantly, mich more than I would have every expected.
In BF1 and 5, I saw so many rage hackers (I know, only a small amount of cheaters are rage hacking) and saw really suspect players... You could tell, many players used some type of cheat (it feels like many, but probably 5% or so).
But in BF2042, not even one rage hacker, not a single one. And beside that, not that much player, I would say, were cheating. Sure, the game feels a little bit strange (getting shot behind cover, people looking in one direction and shooting in another one, invisible player!), but that is not cheating, that are the bugs of the game.
I would not say, there are no cheaters... But it became so much better, than in previous titles, there is no comparison. And if you look into hacker forums, you see, that EAC is giving some people a hard time.
Thank you for this effort DICE.