Battlefield 3 announced

[DeF]

First impressions

After 30mins with beta i must say i am disappointed.
Requiring open browser to launch a game is ridiculous! Sometimes i have 50+tabs opened in FF and i want to close everything b4 i start playing. Its really annoying when origin launches FF with all the tabs.
Prone camping ruins the game. I hate games where you have 5+ players prone camping single objective. It ruins game speed/playability for me. Recoil is another let down. Its actually more effective to hold your fire button than shoot in bursts. I am not sure why but this game is working like that. I get huge recoil when firing in bursts but almost no recoil when firmly holding LMB. And this is just plain stupid. Metro map is so not BF! Maybe caspian map will have different feeling to it but metro is not doing it for me. Oh and its another software platform to have installed/running on my pc while playing. I know every publisher wants to have its unique userbase to make money on but i am getting tired of all those passwords i need to remember (and no, single pass for everything is not an option) and email spam i receive after i register. Also EA forcing me not to use class action lawsuits against them is... i dont know, disgusting? Are they really trying to deprive me from my right to efficiently sue them if the fuck something up beyond all recognition? Funny thing is there is no opt out from it in polish EULA.
So far for me BFBC2>BF3. I will give it some time thou as different maps may change my approach to this game.

 

[orangpelupa]

Instead how about starting the game and getting a minute full of intro videos. EA GAMES Challenge everything! 15 seconds... Nvidia the way it´s meant to be played! 15 seconds... shiny letters! Very awesome looking DICE logo 10 seconds. Now preparing to starting to initiate loading of main menu with stunning rendered background and video windows. Then get to multiplayer menu... then get to server browser. THEN start trying to find a server with good ping, ok amount of players, then load the level... it would take like another minute.

BFBC2
start game, no logo, login, search server, start queuing.

much better than method in BF3 using web browser.

@DeF
exact same problem you and me about web browser have lots of tabs ....

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

start game, no logo, login, search server, start queuing.

Nah you're forgetting the "wait 20 seconds while it refreshes servers" and dodgy friends list and filters that decide whether to work or not depending on the weather. Oh and the alt-tabbing out to coordinate with friends via other applications because it's so terrible ingame BF3 is already better than that, although party join is hit or miss right now.

Can't you FF guys just save state (or a bookmarks folder) or something? I'm surprised this is an issue... I'm even more surprised that you care if your 50 browser tabs are open while the game plays. These days they should cost basically nothing and even if you do have a small amount of RAM (I'll not that RAM is dirt cheap these days) it'll get paged out. Have you actually benchmarked it or are you just assuming we're still living in the Win95 days where you need to shut down all other applications before launching a game?

Not sure about your note on burst firing... I burst fire pretty much exclusively except when in super-close range "oh crap" moments and I have no problems taking out people who spray. I also don't find "prone campers" to be nearly as much of a problem in this game due to muzzle flashes and scope glints. It's so easy to see where they are and take them out.

 

[homerdog]

besides PC gaming in itself being a major led down (install bug, directX bug, server bug, new NVidia driver needed, idiotic age verification to get the beta key or Facebook (what the heck!!!!), origin bug: starting game...origin states "you need origin to play this game, please install origin!", origin itself, EA, EA server, download at 500k/s takes forever,...) the game itself once connected to a server is ace and brilliant! Lots of changes compared to BF BC 2 makes IMO (after only a view rounds) an even better game!!!

Dude you suck at PC gaming!



But seriously it isn't that bad. And you only have to go through the process once then never have to fool with a disc or whatever.

Andrew, the server browser in BC2 was shite, but I don't think they've really improved things by using the internet browser. And it adds another potential point of failure, which is never a good thing.

Does the friends list work? I never got a single request to work in BC2, which is beyond incompetent.

 

[orangpelupa]

Nah you're forgetting the "wait 20 seconds while it refreshes servers" and dodgy friends list and filters that decide whether to work or not depending on the weather. Oh and the alt-tabbing out to coordinate with friends via other applications because it's so terrible ingame BF3 is already better than that, although party join is hit or miss right now.

hmm i never got that problem except the errorrenous friend list.

on my very slow 38KB/s internet speed, it only took a few secs to refresh the server list.

in Battlelog it need a few minutes for the pages to finish loading. (but it fixed now because i install local proxy server in my home network)

 

[RenegadeRocks]

WoW ! I downloaded 3gbs last night, only 0.9 gb was left and now I started Origin and it shows 0% done ! Wow ! just Wow !

 

[neliz]

Does the friends list work? I never got a single request to work in BC2, which is beyond incompetent.

Friends list seems to work, only when the beta started i couldn't see Bludd's invite but now I have about 5 colleagues in my list already with zero issues adding people since the open beta started.

There are still quite a lot of bugs in battlelog, like, if you want to see your K/D stats it takes you to your skill rating, or when I want to see my skill, it takes me to my score per minute. but I can find my way with hyperlinks now.

 

[orangpelupa]

@renegade
maybe the install folder is changed. not by you but by origin.

has changed several times
Battlefield 3 beta Trial
Battlefield 3 beta
Battlefield 3 beta something

manually move/rename the folder will allow resuming.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Requiring open browser to launch a game is ridiculous! Sometimes i have 50+tabs opened in FF and i want to close everything b4 i start playing. Its really annoying when origin launches FF with all the tabs.

While I share your dislike of the browser based launcher, this problem at least can be very easily overcome in IE9. Simply drag the new BF3 tab out of the main IE window. It becomes it's own new window and the original window with your 50 open tabs can be closed.

 

[pjbliverpool]

besides PC gaming in itself being a major led down (install bug, directX bug, server bug, new NVidia driver needed, idiotic age verification to get the beta key or Facebook (what the heck!!!!), origin bug: starting game...origin states "you need origin to play this game, please install origin!", origin itself, EA, EA server, download at 500k/s takes forever,...)

To be fair all those bugs are simply the nature of beta testing (although I only personally experienced a bug in the server browser in that it wont quick launch games).

I didn't get asked for age verification either strangely.

I agree on the requirement for Origin being crap though (ditto for Steam for Valve games). I can see how it's good in theory to run games within a gaming community app ala XBL but unless all games run in the same app your defeating the purpose and thus just creating an extra annoyance.

Hopefully XBL in WIndows 8 will go some or even all the way towards alleviating that - just as the 360 pad has vastly improved PC controls input through standardisation.

 

[Billy Idol]

To be fair all those bugs are simply the nature of beta testing (although I only personally experienced a bug in the server browser in that it wont quick launch games).

I didn't get asked for age verification either strangely.

yeah, but at the same time the beta on console can just be downloaded and work!



best thing about age verification: it is a german thing!! not needed in austria...but EA desided that Germany and Austria is the same...so you get forwarded to an german age verification system although I am in austria...problem: you need to enter some numbers from your german id card...hm, sadly, the austrian id card does not have the same structure and thus the numbers on my id don't even fit!!! great...thanks EA for being stupid and not aware of the fact that germany and austria split several years ago

but thank to god he invented the internetz (or was it the swiss?!?!) and you just google "german id card" find one about "John Doe" and enter those digits into the age verification system and get approved...ha ha ha stupid is stupid (the best professional age verification system I have ever witnessed!!)

nevertheless...the game is great..major boooo (and no...I don't mean booooooourns!!) to all the haters out there!!

 

[fellix]

Battlefield 3 Beta Performance Guide

 

[pjbliverpool]

Despite the flaws at this beta stage (to be expected) this really is a model PC game that all developers should be striving towards.

Highly configurable and scaleable graphics - Check
Envelope pushing graphics not constrained by consoles (much) - Check
MSAA, Post Processing AA and AF options in game - Check
Superb multil GPU scaling - Check
Huge maps designed for PC memory and player numbers - Check

Hats off to DICE!

 

[DeF]

...

Can't you FF guys just save state (or a bookmarks folder) or something? I'm surprised this is an issue... I'm even more surprised that you care if your 50 browser tabs are open while the game plays. These days they should cost basically nothing and even if you do have a small amount of RAM (I'll not that RAM is dirt cheap these days) it'll get paged out. Have you actually benchmarked it or are you just assuming we're still living in the Win95 days where you need to shut down all other applications before launching a game?

Well i know for sure that tons of tabs can cause me problems when streaming hd video wirelessly to my tv. I am often forced to restart pc and leave FF not running because it interrupts streaming. I would expect the same for video game (it just consumes unnecessary resources that are not unlimited). And i mind you i am using decent pc with PII 940, 4gb of DDR2, samsung 1TB HDD and Win7 x64. I quess i could throw additional 4gigs of ram at the problem but it wont be cheap cause i have expensive modules with aggressive timings (at least compared to DDR3). Also bookmarking is not an option because i would have to devote a lot of time to BMing every time i want to play BF3!

I am not sure whats the idea behind origin if you have to have your browser opened anyway. Cant they just use one or another program? (and i would prefer to have everything in origin).

Not sure about your note on burst firing... I burst fire pretty much exclusively except when in super-close range "oh crap" moments and I have no problems taking out people who spray. I also don't find "prone campers" to be nearly as much of a problem in this game due to muzzle flashes and scope glints. It's so easy to see where they are and take them out.

I tested this again and like someone said it before, you can just spray you bullets and not worry about burst firing. The problem is that when you hold fire constantly you can control you recoil easily and follow your target with crosshair but with bursts the last part of you gun model animation moves you gun up obscuring your target.

Prone camping forces you to more carefully check all corners and slows your game pace. Also finding players laying down next to a wall but behind a small box that would not normally hide you when crouching (part of the player model is inside a wall) is irritating. Its true prone camping is not that of a big problem when in more open areas because of the muzzle flashes and scope glints (which actually are great) but when you enter rooms with lots of crates and debris and all entrances are prone camped its getting really annoying.
But i guess i will have to get used to it if i want to play this game.

While I share your dislike of the browser based launcher, this problem at least can be very easily overcome in IE9. Simply drag the new BF3 tab out of the main IE window. It becomes it's own new window and the original window with your 50 open tabs can be closed.

The problem is i am used to FF browsing with its addons. But i think your idea might work if i set IE9 as default bowser so origin will open just one IE9 window with single tab instead of my FF mess . Ill give it a try in a moment!

 

[Mendel]

What are your favorite weapons and at which level did they unlock? I´m having a tough time with the starting weapons. I went from topping the charts regularly in battlefield play4free to being a total crappy noob in battlefield 3 beta

Really need a map with tanks, maybe Karkand will be fun again.

 

[Aeoniss]

What are your favorite weapons and at which level did they unlock? I´m having a tough time with the starting weapons. I went from topping the charts regularly in battlefield play4free to being a total crappy noob in battlefield 3 beta

Really need a map with tanks, maybe Karkand will be fun again.

Objectively my best two guns are the AKS-74u and the AK74M. I'm just flat out great with those weapons, better than their american counter parts.

When I am forced to play as the USMC (who have no business fighting Spetsnaz) there is a noticeable decline in my performance as I'm forced to utilize the M16A3 and the M4. Maybe its their iron sights, their recoil characteristics.. I don't know. My performance has gotten more stable with them since I started decking them out with optics and grips... But then again I've done even better with the Rusky counter parts with the same features unlocked.

I've been giving the HK416 a shot when I'm USMC. I like it alot more than the stock weapons, if for nothing else the superior (MP5\G3 style) iron sights.


I'm not saying the American default weapons are bad.. Just that I'm not as good with them. I have friends who are the exact opposite.


On this same subject, I'm also better with the Russian optics. I prefer the Kobra sighting system over the US Red Dot. etc. Only instance where this isn't true is perhaps the ACOG vs. the PK-A (which only has a single chevron in it, ala BFBC2 ACOGs).


tldr;

"Russian>US" for almost everything so far in BF3.


Other weapons:
PP2000 - This gun is borderline worthless in my opinion. Relatively slow rof, 20 round clip.. God awful iron sights. What is the point?

HK416 - Good gun. I prefer this over the M16A3, and use it exclusively thus far as the USMC for the assault class. I suspect it may have a higher ROF, but its better iron sights and close range effectiveness make up for increased recoil imo.

M4 - Not bad. I just don't like it as much as the AKS-74u. Optics have a good amount of play in this as well (Kobra>RDS).


AK74M - A perfect balance of fire power and accuracy. Slower ROF, but more usable to me at mid to long ranges than the M16. I also suspect it has higher damage per round as well. Once again, Russian optics = Good times.


M16A3 - Competent, usable, not my favorite. Meh.




The only real plus I can tip my hat too for the US stuff is that most of their weapons have alternate fire modes like burst (3 round shot). I think all of the Russian stuff is single or full auto only, can't think of a single exception.

 

[pjbliverpool]

I've played a bit more now, I'm absolutely rubbish but I can see how it could be great fun if I wasn't. Graphically it's nice but I'm not blown away, I guess that's always going to be an issue with MP though, it certainly looks better than Crysis MP but probably not Crysis 2. I'm sure the SP will deliver though.

The more I play the more I appreciate the graphics, definately great looking for a MP game. I'd now probably put it on par with Crysis 2 MP but with far bigger environments and more going on. Also I'm not running at max whiel I was in C2 (minus DX11).

 

[tabs]

Yes, the graphics definitely grow on you. I think that it's partly due to the first area being the least pretty of the lot. The last is a real treat for the eyes.

I've recently been playing on low settings to improve my reaction time, and I have to say that it really holds up extremely well aesthetically to the ultra+high combo that was auto-detected. It's quite strange how little difference there is when actually playing the game. I'm wondering if I'll go back to higher settings now. Probably test a few to see if there's any advantage in doing so, like seeing indications of enemies from light sources / shadows at a greater distance.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

A generic game error was reported, please try again. ( code: 1 )

This is all I get when I click on Quickmatch !!

 

[Azakiel]

I made a small comparison PC (max settings) vs PS3 (i do not have ps3, screens from net)

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3161/ps3vspc1.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9885/ps3vspc2.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5766/ps3vspc3.jpg