Battlefield 3

[kildorn]

So, can someone who has played BC2 and is now trying BF3 comment on the difference in the MP aspect of the game? I played the 'beta' of BF3, and I was a bit underwhelmed at how similar it was, at first blush. Slightly different gui, slightly better graphics, but essentially the exact same game. I'm not seeing a 'buy' here.

Loved BC2, but I'm already over BF3.  I also didn't like the beta and after unlocking various gadgets I feel like I've done it all before (Am I flying?  I'm catching a rocket.  Is someone else flying?  I'm going to rocket them.  C4 walls, defib your squad, lay mines, etc.) with added rage inducers like flashlights powered by nuclear reactors and menu screens dissolving into static every time you want to switch a loadout.  However, I played BC2 so much I turned into Rambo so that contributed to my burnout grumpiness.

I do love the recon changes including the forward spawn beacon since it is the perfect solution if your squad is a bunch of campers / death traps.

Ahem: fuck the tactical floodlight. SO MUCH.

[WayAbvPar]

The worst part about it is getting blinded by your teammates at inopportune times.

I am just a few thousand points from unlocking mortars...can't wait!

For those of you fearing rampant snipers, there are very few maps where they are even remotely useful, and even then, the maps are SO big that a sniper can't hope to cover even a small section. Caspian Border has some great sniper nests on it, and can be fun as hell if you remain undetected. OTOH, one of life's great pleasures is flanking a sniper, rolling him over to remove his tags, and stabbing him in his face. The knife kill animations kick ass in this game.

[Sky]

Our BF1942 clan had a thread dedicated to screenshots of knife kills. Sniper knifings were so delicious.

[NiX]

Ahem: fuck the tactical floodlight. SO MUCH.

I still want to know who came up with that idea so I can send them a hateful note. Completely turned me off BF3.

[kildorn]

I saw a video of a MAV with a claymore on it.

I now desire to unlock MAVs and find a claymore friend. Because I want an airborne claymore delivery system.

[Nightblade]

Is spotting weird for anyone else? I cant get it to work unless I hold the button down long enough to bring up the voice bindings menu, and this not only takes a long time, but kicks you out of ADS.

[kildorn]

Spotting works decently for me, though it can be a bit strange if I'm trying to spot something semi behind cover. Like pointing at a tank tread doesn't work, it wants me to point at more of the tank. BUT I CAN SEE THE TREAD I'M PRETTY SURE THERE'S A TANK BACK THERE GUYS.

Also, you don't see arrows for things that aren't fully in view all the time, so you can spot (and get the voice confirmation), but not actually see an arrow for what you spotted.

[WayAbvPar]

I have found that my spotting target needs to be basically directly in my crosshairs for it to work. It is more restrictive than BFBC2 by quite a bit.

[climbjtree]

As far as the tac lights go, I don't really see the problem. Yeah, sure, they're a pain in the ass when your teammates blind you, but if you've ever been hit with a SureFire this is an accurate representation. Just be glad it's not a strobe.

I think the laser in your eye is more irritating, and who the fuck actually uses a red laser anyway? Trick question - NOBODY.

[kildorn]

I was half tempted to write "because it's shitty gameplay and unbelievably annoying when the entire enemy team is rocking flashlights and turns every hallway into a white blur" and then put a massive white image overlay on top of it.. but that's too much work.

It's shit gameplay, and turns your entire game into a massive blinding field of white. Because there's absolutely no down side to using them all day every day. One means "aim above the white light, get kill", 30 means "fuck, this is an ugly assed game. It's like, the opposite of Doom 3."

[Amaron]

with added rage inducers like flashlights powered by nuclear reactors

I don't know what they were thinking with lights on this engine.   The flashlight thing is very annoying but trying to play on a map where the sun is at the horizon is just flat out "OH GOD MY EYES ARE BURNING".

[climbjtree]

I guess I haven't run into a server like that.

Lasers are much more popular on my server, with only the occasional tac light. And it seems that only at close range do they really mess me up.

[pants]

I've never seen a problem with tac lights.  It is pretty much 'Shoot over here'.

I do agree with the sun burning my eyes out.  Particularly on one map (forget which) - the US fixed AA position has you pointing directly at the sun towards the main part of the map, which makes it particularly difficult to shoot at anything.

[kildorn]

Lasers don't annoy me as much because they have to be aimed right at your face to suck. The mild red overlay of being aimed somewhere in your general area doesn't blind me nearly as much as "a flashlight is within 90 degrees of your cone of vision. TRAIN TUNNEL TIME!"

But I do get a laugh that lasers are so precise that they have a ~30 degree cone of red blur. What is that, a shotgun sight?

My main issue with the tac lights really is the 7-10 dudes in a city map hallway with lights down it. Blind fire was never so accurate a term.

[rk47]

So, can someone who has played BC2 and is now trying BF3 comment on the difference in the MP aspect of the game? I played the 'beta' of BF3, and I was a bit underwhelmed at how similar it was, at first blush. Slightly different gui, slightly better graphics, but essentially the exact same game. I'm not seeing a 'buy' here.

1. The maps aren't meant for 64 players. 48 is probably the magic number. 32 will drag the battle longer a bit.

2. Some are badly designed. Too much enclosed spaces, and the ease of mortar spamming shells with infinite ammo from the safety of their spawns.

3. If people hate snipers, it's because they're good and patient. I see no reason to worry about snipers too much because I never see them dominating so much. The scope flash and such will reveal their position, as well as the kill-cam. You should know by know which route to avoid being sniped.

4. Vehicles are powerful as always, yet this time, if a rockets hits a vehicle at a critical spot, it will start to burn, forcing the engineer to repair it quick or have it blown up to bits.

5. Maps like Firestorm is heavy with Vehicles. 4 Tanks per side is bound to go crazy.

6. Unlocking system may seem awesome for those advanced players and progression junkies, but in truth it forces people to purchase this game on day 1 or be left in the dust, with all the high powered scope and gadgets others have unlocked. It makes a difference.

7. Guns, each guns handles MUCH differently now. AN Abakan may seem like an upgrade to some people, packing more accuracy and firepower than my AEK, but I can't bear to part with the AEK, she's fast firing and has that IR scope attached. I might be wrong, but it felt right. A lot of people get attached to their guns much more than the previous Battlefields where going up to the G36C means you'll never, ever go back to the previous MP5 starter kits.

8. Some specialization can be taken to different direction with different combination of unlocked weapons, attachments. A support guy running with SMG unlock is running with fast reloading infinite bullet thrower AND claymores. Scary shit to meet in an alley. A recon with Shotgun and motion sensors can lay the hurt when capping points. Assaults can even forgo their medical role and go for their old traditional favorite, the grenade launcher, which can deliver frag or smoke.

9. The biggest issue for me is the Mini map and Communication between teammates. It seems to be a step backward from Battlefield 2 where I can call for pickup and call for ammo. When I do this on BF3, I simply highlighted my icon for bullet / first aid on the mini map, my teammates usually don't notice. I spent some time chasing one support for ammo, watching him die. Take his kit, drop ammo pack, take back my kit, and revive him. And he still complained of 'WHY DID U TAKE SO LONG TO REVIVE ME BIYATCH?!'

10. The unlocks even extend to vehicles, there's a rude awakening for aspiring pilots who jump into a jet for the first time, there's no flares, no Air to Air missiles, no Air to ground. NOTHING but a gun. It's almost like the army needs someone to kill something before they give the big guns to let them kill more. What the fuck, Dice?

[Engels]

Thanks for the write up, rk47 and others. I think I'm gonna wait a few weeks, then ask who here's still playing it. If its like BC2, then there still will be quite a few. If it exhausts people's patience and they've moved on to the games coming out in November, then I will know its probably not for me.

[rk47]

There also seem to be a strange, real tangible value to having high ranked accounts than before. The amount of unlocks that it entitles to advanced players and such. I might be crazy for saying this, but I think I might be able to sell my account for more than I paid for the box since newcomers are having a difficult time against veteran players at the moment.

[Nightblade]

There are also many instances where you have to unlock scopes and attachments for both your class and its opposing team's nearly identical counterpart. 

One step forward, one step back.

Medics are no longer the heavy weapon's guy with ridiculous aoe healing ability and instant resurrection: YAY!

OH HAY HERES MORTAR: SPAM FROM BASE WITH UNLIMTED AMMO.

[NiX]

There are also many instances where you have to unlock scopes and attachments for both your class and its opposing team's nearly identical counterpart. 

One step forward, one step back.

Medics are no longer the heavy weapon's guy with ridiculous aoe healing ability and instant resurrection: YAY!

OH HAY HERES MORTAR: SPAM FROM BASE WITH UNLIMTED AMMO.

Yeah, I don't feel left out not purchasing this. Sounds like it's very up and down in terms of enjoyment.

Saints and Skyrim, here I come!

[Evildrider]

I played this for a couple of hours at a friends house and although some stuff looked awesome I wasn't impressed.  I'll admit though I've been out of the FPS game for awhile but I do admit to playing CoD: Black Ops pretty religiously for the first 3-4 months that it was out.

[snowwy]

There are also many instances where you have to unlock scopes and attachments for both your class and its opposing team's nearly identical counterpart. 

One step forward, one step back.

Medics are no longer the heavy weapon's guy with ridiculous aoe healing ability and instant resurrection: YAY!

OH HAY HERES MORTAR: SPAM FROM BASE WITH UNLIMTED AMMO.

Mortars are visible on minimap the second they fire, so very easy to counter-mortar. Just target that red bomb-icon, hit mouse1....profit!

[AcidCat]

I've never seen a problem with tac lights.  It is pretty much 'Shoot over here'.

This has been my experience as well. I've gotten several kills where I would have never even noticed the dude without his bright SHOOT HERE sign on.

[rk47]

I believe most of the complaints are regarding the close range flood lights that severely fuck up close combat situation. So yeah, that's most of the issue. You cannot counter this shit at all, you just gotta pray your burst hits him first before he does when it happens.

Being a big fan of the IR crippled me in a lot of things. I can't play other class effectively any more. But at least I'm having fun killing those bastards in the bush of Caspian Borders and being accused a hacker. Bwahahaha. IT IS WALLHACK scope, motherfuckers. Learn to eat it.

[Surlyboi]

Yeah, tac lights only suck when they're right in front of you and en masse. Otherwise, yeah, "chuck a grenade at this."

[Threash]

Well the good news is with the defibrillator giving back a ticket i feel like i contribute to the team even with my awful k/d ratio, also since i mostly play conquest i score a shit ton of points capping flags and ressing people.  The bad news is this game is making my computer shut down.

[kildorn]

I'm getting more and more amused by this game, though I still think at least two of the maps are terrible (bazaar and metro are just awful spammy clusterfucks)

I've been running around about 50/50 as support or shotgun recon. The recon gadgets are a decent amount of fun, but I think the SOFLAM's primary purpose at this stage of the game's life is to just annoy the living shit out of tank drivers since nobody runs around with the weapons to use it.

[Threash]

Could my computer be overheating because my AC is broken? it's not really all that hot.

[tgr]

I've played games in 30c+ indoors, and I was doing worse than the computer was. I'd say that if your computer is shutting down, chances are it's time to go through the computer and clean it up a bit.

[kildorn]

Could my computer be overheating because my AC is broken? it's not really all that hot.

Check the event log, if the system is overheating, it should mention it I believe.

Other things to do would be to disable automatic restart on system failure, which would cause it to actually leave a bluescreen up if it panicked, instead of just acting like "whoops, reboot!"

I could see the video card overheating, but usually that's not a system reboot, it's a really fucked up graphics thing.

edit: also, see if there is a file in (loosely) %SystemRoot% called memory.dmp that's recent. If there's a tiny one (less than 10 megs) someone can figure out the crash reason for you pretty easily if it's a software related crash.

[Azazel]

I've played games in 30c+ indoors, and I was doing worse than the computer was. I'd say that if your computer is shutting down, chances are it's time to go through the computer and clean it up a bit.

30c+?

It gets up to 40-46c+ (104-115f) here in summer. It sucks and takes the AC awhile to get the room/house bearable, but the computers work okay. I imagine the Texans/Arizonans have similar stories...

[tgr]

I'm a bit further north of the equator than you are, me being in Norway and all.

But yes, I do have a portable AC unit now, and it is making those periods bearable. Thankfully, they only last about 1-2 weeks every year, and I manage to flee even further north during that time if I time it properly.

[RUiN 427]

Is there an F13 battleog platoon for xbox?

[caladein]

Well the good news is with the defibrillator giving back a ticket i feel like i contribute to the team even with my awful k/d ratio, also since i mostly play conquest i score a shit ton of points capping flags and ressing people.

Yup, that's pretty much what I do.  Damavand Peak is pretty crazy for that.

[sinij]

Ahem: fuck the tactical floodlight. SO MUCH.

The only way to beat it is to use it yourself. I don't know how you would balance it at this point, other than lighting anyone like a Christmas tree so they are ultra-visible at all times for using it.

[sinij]

10. The unlocks even extend to vehicles, there's a rude awakening for aspiring pilots who jump into a jet for the first time, there's no flares, no Air to Air missiles, no Air to ground. NOTHING but a gun. It's almost like the army needs someone to kill something before they give the big guns to let them kill more. What the fuck, Dice?

New pilots get farmed hard, but that was almost always the case in any BF game. Seasoned pilots can do fine without a flare, but until you gain a lot of experience you absolutely need a flare. Lack of flare is only an issue if you are dealing with engineers, AA-Armor or AA-spec helicopter. Pilot vs Pilot you almost never see rocket kills, you generally don't want Beep Beep Beep giving away the fact that you are lining up for the kill or lack of Beep Beep Beep to give away the fact that they shook you off. You can play mind games, start with it on and turn it off mid chase, but as a kill weapon it isn't wildly used.

I use Heat Seeking Missiles mostly against high-flying helicopters, with a belt upgrade you can fire 2 nearly at the same time point blank range where flare won't save them. Against other planes, if they have flare ( ), AA rockets are useless even if they don't know what they are doing.


My main issues with air:

a) planes no longer have cluster bombs, rockets (fairly late unlock) are poor substitute for bombing runs
b) your cool upgrades are no-go; stealth, flare (piss off enough engineers on the ground and you will need it to keep flying) are mandatory. Then you can pick rockets, laser bomb (if you ever unlock it) or heat seekers.
c) unlimited ammo - you no longer need to do base runs and as a result can camp enemy air strip forever and some
d) why the fuck is helicopter tossed so much when hit?