Battlefield 3 announced

[Sxotty]

I have a very strong opinion *against* unlocks.
I bought the game, let me enjoy it as I wish, don't water down my gameplay by arbitrarily restricting weapons/equipment selection, that's only ok with single players games when they introduce new mecanism, in MP, you should get everything right away.

Make it optional or something, no reason to help experienced players (know the game, know the maps...) with even more bonus (better options), it's STUPID and LAME.

(Of course your opinion may vary )

I agree 100%. It makes sense in single player. In multiplayer it is just an annoying mechanic to further benefit those that play a long time. If the game is well developed skill will reward those that are familiar with it. If skill doesn't differentiate the players then the game is poorly made IMO.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Loved BF2. Spent probably half my time on unranked servers there and expect to do the same with BF3.

Do you get all the unlocks in unranked servers?

Anyways I'm with the majority here I think... a few minor unlocks (say visual upgrades and guns that are similar balance but different) are fine, but BF3 takes it a step over the line. The infantry unlocks are not that bad as the stock weapons are at least usable, but the vehicle upgrades are too much. In particular basic tools that you need to fly helicopters and jets like flares and missiles are not available from the start so be prepared to get owned over and over while you try and get a few kills. Tanks are somewhere between the two.

The other big issue is playing against weapons that you have no idea how they work. I had to go to youtube to understand what was going on with laser targeting weapons and how I should respond to them since I have yet to unlock them and thus have no clue how they are used.

But yeah, I really want a game to grow a pair and do inverse leveling where the longer you play, the worse weapons you must use

And yeah... LOTS of people played BF1942 and BF2 - even to this day.

 

[neliz]

And yeah... LOTS of people played BF1942 and BF2 - even to this day.

because that is where the unlocking madness came from, you actually had to buy the booster packs and expansion to get the best weapons and levelling was a far harder task there.

I completely agree with you that the documentation is utter crap. I asked for the manual because I want to know things, surprised to see this pdf actually contains less info than the in-game help

What good is an IED bot or SOFLAM if you have no idea how to use it.

 

[tabs]

double post

 

[tabs]

Well in that case Minecraft sucks.

It's about the enjoyment of discovering stuff for yourself, or watching others do it on your behalf. Makes the whole experience a bit like watching a cult TV show, with fans picking up new information every week and discussing it online.

Regarding unranked servers and unlocks. Servers will be able to choose specifically which unlocks and weapons are available. All players will have access to the same stuff. This is great as you can get rid of any OP weapons, or give them to everybody. Don't like rocket spam on inf only servers? Guaranteed there will be a healthy amount of inf only no rocket servers.

Think of this starting period of the game as a free for all learning experience with new things being introduced to you the more time you spend with it, and more quickly the better you seem to be learning the ropes (i.e. SPM). Shortly you can ditch the unlock and points fest and play the great game that at times seems buried underneath.

Imagine actually getting a full BF3 manual with all the intricacies laid out for you when you 'unboxed' the game. It would scare all but the hardcore PC gamer off with it's myriad of unlocks and countermeasures. "I have to remember all of this?!" would be the common thought.

 

[neliz]

Imagine actually getting a full BF3 manual with all the intricacies laid out for you when you 'unboxed' the game. It would scare all but the hardcore PC gamer off with it's myriad of unlocks and countermeasures. "I have to remember all of this?!" would be the common thought.

I actually loved that stuff! Nobody gets to know MS-DOS "on the go" and "way back when" a simple arcade flight-sim came with a huge manual that not only actually detailed what you could do by pressing a button, but also had an insane amount of specs and information regarding everything that was in the game.

I agree, this has all been replaced by Wiki, but since battlelog is a freaking web interface, it's not like they didn't have the tools to link some information to this service, right?

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Regarding unranked servers and unlocks. Servers will be able to choose specifically which unlocks and weapons are available. All players will have access to the same stuff. This is great as you can get rid of any OP weapons, or give them to everybody. Don't like rocket spam on inf only servers? Guaranteed there will be a healthy amount of inf only no rocket servers.

Ugh, lovely. This actually probably the worst solution because frankly I have zero faith in the masses to decide what is truly "OP" so in practice you're just gonna get a really dumbed-down game based on someone's daily impression of how to make it more like the game they want.

Anyways obviously I can still play the "real" game on ranked servers but would be nice to have an option to filter for unranked "pure" servers that power-drunk admins haven't dicked around with Of course being able to select specific options like weapons and unlocks is great for tournament play, but it's basically never good for public stuff.

And neliz, I think you're giving far too much credit to BF2 for "starting" the unlocking madness. Even though it was present there, it was a lot less prominent, and other games are just as responsible - if not more so - for the current state of affairs.

 

[tabs]

...but it is not the masses deciding what is OP for individual servers... it is the server admins. Sure you get a range of types in that role (and some definite dickheads), but in general the people who are paying for servers out of their own pockets actually care about the game a great deal and want it to be the most fun possible all the time. There are a lot of different visions of that fun but you get to choose which you play on. Based on past endeavours it is very likely that you can filter or tell from the server name what kind it is.

If you think that's the worse solution, what is the best? Leave it to DICE to decide what is OP and nerf it? Yeah sure, I'm actually with you there for the most part, and there will be plenty of unranked servers that just unlock everything for a level playing field.

That's why we love PC gaming isn't it? Highly configurable enjoyment to suit your tastes.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Sure you get a range of types in that role (and some definite dickheads), but in general the people who are paying for servers out of their own pockets actually care about the game a great deal and want it to be the most fun possible all the time. There are a lot of different visions of that fun but you get to choose which you play on. Based on past endeavours it is very likely that you can filter or tell from the server name what kind it is.

I don't question their motives, just their judgement - i.e. I think DICE has better game designers and balancers than the vast majority of server admins Yet most people are generally arrogant enough to think otherwise and so on most servers that allow it you get "Joe's random modifications to how he thinks the game should be played". I have very little patience for that beyond fixing things that are totally obvious bugs.

And I wouldn't even mind people doing whatever they want on their own servers except that it pollutes the server browser for people who just want to play the stock game (i.e. me). Additionally I doubt they'll bother making a good UI to tell me exactly what the server admins have changed... Some companies have tried to correct this with filters like "pure server" in the past. That would be a completely acceptable solution if implemented, but I imagine they'll just take the stance that pure server == ranked server, which it obviously isn't if you get all the unlocks on an unranked server.

That's why we love PC gaming isn't it? Highly configurable enjoyment to suit your tastes.

Like I said, no argument with that as long as I can filter out "Joe's taste"... imagine if the Android App store only let you sort by name

 

[micron]

This is something I found very useful when deciding which weapon I want to use.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...1E0bjBueWVSQjc0V0E&f=true&noheader=true&gid=0

 

[neliz]

This is something I found very useful when deciding which weapon I want to use.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...1E0bjBueWVSQjc0V0E&f=true&noheader=true&gid=0

Awesome, thanks! Time to drop that M60 Bludd

 

[Svensk Viking]

Heads up Nvidia users, the newly released 285.79 Beta drivers fixes the issues reported on DX10 GPUs, and improves performance on both DX10 and DX11 GPUs(well, at least according to the release notes)

 

[Lightman]

Finally got the game!!!!!!!!

I did quick and dirty SP up till tank mission. Boy prettiness all around and momentary breath taking .
There are some areas where you can see 'XBOX' or 'PS3' vibes, but overlay on Ultra it simply ROXX!!

Weekend is coming and I will join you guys in MP . Forgive me if initially I will be running around like lunatic, it takes some time to get into rhythm you know .

 

[tabs]

I think DICE has better game designers and balancers than the vast majority of server admins

Again, in general, yes... but the J10 (BF2), basic MEC medic gun (BF2), Carl Gustav(BFBC2) shows they're not infallible. These things were just win machines that in the first two instances unbalanced the teams, and in the third reduced many matches to something resembling a slow version of quake 3 - which isn't really what a lot of people wanted from a BF game.

Shouldn't you be saying that you like the way things are now instead of questioning the unlock system? Wouldn't you be just another Joe suggesting a random modification?

 

[Bludd]

Awesome, thanks! Time to drop that M60 Bludd

Uh oh! SCAR-H is OP.

Heads up Nvidia users, the newly released 285.79 Beta drivers fixes the issues reported on DX10 GPUs, and improves performance on both DX10 and DX11 GPUs(well, at least according to the release notes)

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[tabs]

There's a very handy utility BF3 Config Tool, that in a recent version added the option to disable 'Enlighten'. The tooltip states 'enable for brighter sun flares / spotlights' but isn't enlighten the radiosity system employed by BF3?

If it really does tone down some of the glare I'm all for it. The sun is OP!

Re: the Scar-H. I can't get a hang of that gun at all. The ROF is way too slow for my tastes. I guess I'm more of a spray and pray gunner.

 

[NRP]

The SCAR seems to have more recoil, so it's less accurate I think. Does a lot of damage, but seems harder to handle.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Shouldn't you be saying that you like the way things are now instead of questioning the unlock system? Wouldn't you be just another Joe suggesting a random modification?

Haha, well how could I even begin to question the balance before everyone has everything unlocked? Maybe that's their devious goal...

And yeah, you want to slow your bursts on the SCAR-H. Basically single shot it and you'll get in the rhythm of the recoil and do well. Only takes a few good shots with it to kill.

 

[Dresden]

Anyone tried the Nvidia beta drivers yet?

 

[DeF]

Uh oh! SCAR-H is OP.


...

Nope it is not. You want to factor in the ROF of the weapon and its recoil to get the clear picture of the situation. A-91 has 33% higher ROF and better recoil characteristics. It wins with SCAR in almost every situation.