Battlefield 3 announced

[tabs]

Yeah, ramming helos is a common thing to do now if you're a jet pilot. You don't get the kills but the pilot usually gets a suicide and a teamkill. If you are up against a good helo shooting the crap out of your team it's one way of getting them out of the sky without much skill.

Sometimes the jet dies too, but more often than not it doesn't get a scratch on it. The helo either explodes immediately or is knocked so far off kilter that it crashes in seconds.

 

[Billy Idol]

bigtabs...I just looked at your stats...man, you are a freaking beast out there!!

 

[tabs]

Thanks!, but when it comes to the B3D platoon, I'm decidedly average! Not long ago did my SPM just creep over the average SPM for our lot.and since then our average has shot up by 30 points and I'm trailing again. I do better with assault, but since trying to unlock the other kits I'm just about holding on to 370-375.

Had a new applicant to our platoon, edymax97... any takers?

 

[Bludd]

There's a problem with Bazaar on some servers. The start countdown ends but all players are still in countdown mode unable to move or shoot.

 

[tabs]

New patch coming on Tuesday

Really loving these patch notes!

Spoiler

Bugfixes:
Fixed a problem with spawn timer now showing blue border on startup and lost spawn point
Fixed a problem where player who joined queuing on End of round got spawn screen stuck on screen, but unable to do anything with it untill next round loaded
Fixed a problem where camera would change to 3rd person on killcam when killcam was turned off in server settings
Fixed stat references on several dogtags
Fixed for surveillance ribbon not counting TUGS
Fixed a missing combat area lines on the minimap for Grand Bazaar conquest small
Moved a tank spawn in US base on Caspian Border so it would not be destroyed by a falling tree
Fixed a problem where placing C4 with the russians soldier was playing US faction VO
Fixed a problem where TV guided missiles could be shot into its own helicopter and destroy it
Fixed a problem when attempting to fire lock on weapons without a target
Tweaked the chat, it should now be a bit easier to read
Fixed several vehicles that did not properly shoot rockets and guns towards their predictive sights
Fixed the G17 Supressed Laser not working properly
Added alternate HUD colors to help colorblinds
Added a network interpolation setting. This allows users with good bandwidth reduce latency, but might increase some stuttering. The user can find what works best for his connection by tweaking the slider.
Increased the Spawn protection radius on TDM
Fixed a problem with smoke on land vehicles, Missiles should now miss more often
Fixed a problem where users could end up with IRNV scope in any vehicle
Fixed a problem where player dies if vaulting over a ledge and into water while sprinting
Fixed several crashes and increased general stability
Fixed a problem where the user was unable to revive two players that have the bodies one over the other
Fixed so you can assign an axis and use as a digital input. This makes it possible for the player (on pc) to assign one of the sticks on a gameped to be used for throttle/brake.
Fixed a problem with the Kill camera acting up when suiciding from parachute
Fixed air radar was showing to much. now lasertagged, heatsignature above threshold, enemy missiles and capture points are only visible on air radar
Fixed a problem where the game would enter a technical hang if the user pressed pause menu and tilde at the same time
Fixed a problem where you could get green flashes on screen
You can now reassign cycle weapons
Fixed so the weapon zooms automatically after bipod deploy is gone when using zoom toggle
Fixed a problem where the parachute would stay stuck in air if the owner was killed


Balance Tweaks:
Fixed several weapons so they are properly suppressed and hide the player on the minimap when fired.
Tweaked Tactical Light so it is not as blinding over longer ranges.
Tweaked the IRNV scope so it is limited to usage only at close range.
Reduced heat masking effectiveness of Spec Ops Camo.
Fixed a bug where Ammo spec would give additional 40mm grenades instead of Frag spec.
Increased the number of additional 40mm grenades from Frag spec.
Fixed so AT mines only live for 20 seconds after a player dies to prevent infinite mines. (We want to make a different fix in the future, it’s in JIRA).
Increased the Time to Live on sniper caliber rounds to allow extreme distance shots.
Fixed several weapon descriptions, calibers, and fire rates. The weapons themselves have not changed.
Fixed so the M9 and MP443 pistol can be equipped by the opposing faction when it is unlocked at 100 kills.
Fixed Laser Guided Missiles missing their targets if the target is moving too fast.
Reduced the effectiveness of Stealth on Air Vehicles.
Reduced the effectiveness of Beam Scanning for Jets.
Reduced the damage done to Armored Vehicles and Infantry from AA guns.
Increased the damage RPGs and Tank shells do to AA vehicles.
Slightly decreased the accuracy for all weapons on fully automatic, burst fire is now preferable at mid to long range.
Increased the effective accuracy of long bursts for LMGs when using a bipod.
Slightly increased the range of the 44magnum bullets.
Increased the close range damage of 4.6x30mm and 5.7x28mm bullets.
Increased the reload time of the Mortar from 3.5sec to 4.8sec and increased the time it takes before a shell hits the ground.
Reduced the aimed accuracy bonus given by a Suppressor for the MP7, P90, PP2000, PP-19, and UMP45.
Increased the range and FOV for designating targets with the SOFLAM and vehicle Laser Designators.
Decreased the effectiveness of 12g FRAG ammo when equipped on semi-automatic and automatic shotguns.
Slightly Increased the power of Fighter Jet Cannons against all vehicle targets, especially Helicopters.
Decreased the power of Miniguns against Jets and Helicopters.
Increased the power of Stingers against Jets.
Flares reload times for Jets and Helicopter Gunners have been increased.
Tweaked the AN94 so its burst fire better conveys the real world advantage offered by this weapon.
Added Single Shot to the AN94 as an available fire mode.
Slightly increased the recoil on the M416 and removed the Burst Fire mode (this weapon incorrectly had burst fire, which was not authentic).
Tweaked the spawns for TDM on Kharg Island, Grand Bazaar, Caspian Border, Seine Crossing, Operation Firestorm, Damavand Peak and Noshahar Canals
Moved a tank spawn in US base on Caspian Border so it would not be destroyed by a falling tree
Tweaked the Gas station Capture area on Conquest on Caspian Border
Tweaked the max vehicle height on Noshahar Canals



Also, it will once again be possible to reduce the number of players required to start a round to 1 both in ranked and unranked mode. We changed it back after getting a lot of negative feedback from both individuals and the RSP companies.

Our plan is to introduce a warm-up mode, where players can move about and play the game, but with scoring disabled; then, when the number of players goes above the threshold -- that's when the real round starts.

 

[DeF]

Really loving these patch notes!

Its nice DICE increased the time to reload flares but the mines should stay even after your death. Its really easy to spot them anyway and they are just nerfing them too much IMO.

 

[neliz]

Its nice DICE increased the time to reload flares but the mines should stay even after your death. Its really easy to spot them anyway and they are just nerfing them too much IMO.

The problem is claymores also disappear after death so they had to balance one or the other.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

The biggest problem with mines right now as well is that you can lay them down then switch classes or whatever and they stay forever. Thus you should pretty much always take your first spawn as engi w/ extra explosives, lay all your mines, then switch to whatever class. If each person on the team does that you pretty much instantly litter the entire map with mines at no cost to the team

 

[DeF]

The biggest problem with mines right now as well is that you can lay them down then switch classes or whatever and they stay forever. Thus you should pretty much always take your first spawn as engi w/ extra explosives, lay all your mines, then switch to whatever class. If each person on the team does that you pretty much instantly litter the entire map with mines at no cost to the team

In theory what you said might sound valid but in practice its completely impossible.
First of all when all the players spawn as egies the only thing they can do is to litter the spawn with mines. And they will lose cap points at that. You can not spawn on enemy spawn point or uncapped plags. Its hardly a game breaking imbalance. Secondly i have been playing engi for well over 40h and have never ever seen a scenario remotely resembling what you have described. Thirdly mines are very well visible and easily destroyed. During my play as an engi on map i lay down mines with every spawn and if i get two kills per map (15-20mins) i feel lucky (so far i have a tiny bit over 100 kills with mines - got service star last night). And sometimes i get no kills at all. Whats more, i always destroy enemy mines when i see them. I got plenty of explosives with me almost all the time so i can waste a rocket or two for clearing mines (and scoring 60 additional points per rocket on average).
In my opinion we don't see many players using claymores just because of the fact they disappear after your death and thus are ineffective.
Personally i have never seen a player complaining about mines being imbalanced and i do play BF3 a bit. With the next patch nerfbat will hit the mines hard, even to the point when they will become obsolete. They should just boost claymores. Another solution could be lowering the amount of mines engi can carry because now, with SQD EXPL spec i can carry 6.

 

[homerdog]

I think mines should stay for ~1min after the engi dies. And they should carry a max of 4 mines at a time, with perks and all.

Claymores should also stay for 1min after death. And I'm not sure how many you can carry but it shouldn't be more than 2, 3 with some perks.

 

[neliz]

I think mines should stay for ~1min after the engi dies. And they should carry a max of 4 mines at a time, with perks and all.

Claymores should also stay for 1min after death. And I'm not sure how many you can carry but it shouldn't be more than 2, 3 with some perks.

Claymores disappear after the spawn timer has passed. They can carry 1 at a time and place a maximum of 2.

Notice the disparity there.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

In theory what you said might sound valid but in practice its completely impossible. First of all when all the players spawn as egies the only thing they can do is to litter the spawn with mines.

Not really... it's not like you're actually at any disadvantage playing engi for the first round anyways. Go cap some points, kill some people, repair some vehicles, lay some mines, eventually die, then switch if you want. Obviously you don't lay them all in your own spawn

And they will lose cap points at that.

To what... snipers? You hardly need a "balance" of classes in the initial push. If anything, you'll lose the push by having too *few* engis due to losing the initial vehicle slugfest.

Its hardly a game breaking imbalance.

Never said it was - was just suggesting a better fix than what is in those notes. (Where are those notes from btw?)

Secondly i have been playing engi for well over 40h and have never ever seen a scenario remotely resembling what you have described. Thirdly mines are very well visible and easily destroyed. During my play as an engi on map i lay down mines with every spawn and if i get two kills per map (15-20mins) i feel lucky (so far i have a tiny bit over 100 kills with mines - got service star last night).

... really? Cause I was just playing caspian the other day and there must have been 30+ mines on the center hill point and surrounding area. They're easy to see if placed in obvious locations like roads, but not so much on dark maps or in more clever spots. Of course thermal is a hard counter, as it should be.

Furthermore if I play a 20 minute round and get only 2 kills from mines when I was engi the whole time I'd feel gyped! Luckily, I don't recall that happening yet.

I don't really care about the relationship between claymores and mines frankly either... I don't see a pressing reason to change either. That said, there's no really good reason why mines should remain for engi's who change classes. Don't care about respawning although it might be worth putting a limit on the total number of mines an engi can have down at once to encourage slightly more skillful use.

On an unrelated note, I still don't trust the platoon stats. How is the "average" 410 score/min when not even a single "best" has that high SPM in any category, or even close? Those overall stats seem unlikely, and the way that "vehicles" is scored doesn't seem very thoughtful either. Also of course all of this is relative to the servers that people play on. I've gotten to know my list of "want to smash some noobs mindlessly" vs "ok these guys are hard-core" servers and I assume others have too

 

[tabs]

Hey Def, don't waste a rocket on enemy mines. If you're an engy you can pick them up and use them.

 

[neliz]

Hey Def, don't waste a rocket on enemy mines. If you're an engy you can pick them up and use them.

Blowing them up for points and a ribbon is worth something right?

 

[Svensk Viking]

Repi, if you still are monitoring this thread, can you say if this game uses DX11 multithreaded rendering?


I have seen many users on different forums claiming that it does..
However, Civilization V uses DX11 multithreaded rendering and Nvidia has a big advantage in benchmarks for that game, but Battlefield 3 performs about the same on AMD and Nvidia hardware, which made me wonder if it's all user made-up

 

[Richard]

This last weekend was all Skyrim + Deus Ex for mebut next one will be all Karkand! also loving the huge patch changelog.

 

[tabs]

Blowing them up for points and a ribbon is worth something right?

Sure is, it's just that he used the word 'waste' so I figured he wasn't entirely happy with the situation even though he got some points for it.

Psst... neliz and Def... fancy helping out in a ladder match on Wednesday 20:30 CET? We're short of players. Check the TOG OB sub-forum.

 

[neliz]

Psst... neliz and Def... fancy helping out in a ladder match on Wednesday 20:30 CET? We're short of players. Check the TOG OB sub-forum.

Sounds like a plan! thanks for the heads-up! I have a news mousemat that needs some competitive testing

 

[tabs]

I feel like I should have some clue as to what steelSeries is and who these people are but I don't.

Thanks! Quite a bit to do to get you started, all the details are over there ---> TOG

 

[DeF]

Not really... it's not like you're actually at any disadvantage playing engi for the first round anyways. Go cap some points, kill some people, repair some vehicles, lay some mines, eventually die, then switch if you want. Obviously you don't lay them all in your own spawn

You are at disadvantage if you team consists of only engies. You can protect closer to spawn cap points with mines but not much more. You sound like running around spewing mines while killing other players and repairing your vehicles is such an easy feat. You are either a godlike BF3 player or i am just really bad. And you can not have repair tool and mines at the same time, you know?

To what... snipers? You hardly need a "balance" of classes in the initial push. If anything, you'll lose the push by having too *few* engis due to losing the initial vehicle slugfest.

I am sorry but you are just plain wrong. Good squad composition can dramaticly change game result. Too few engis can be as bad as too many.

Never said it was - was just suggesting a better fix than what is in those notes. (Where are those notes from btw?)

Better fix is a must. This new patch solution is really bad.

... really? Cause I was just playing caspian the other day and there must have been 30+ mines on the center hill point and surrounding area. They're easy to see if placed in obvious locations like roads, but not so much on dark maps or in more clever spots. Of course thermal is a hard counter, as it should be.

Because its your opinion against mine, lest do some RL testing and play caspian for few hours together. If at any time we will see 30+ mines in one location i will send you a bottle of good alcohol of your preference. Entire map with 30 mines on it? Maybe (even thou i consider it unlikely) but not a single area on the map.

Furthermore if I play a 20 minute round and get only 2 kills from mines when I was engi the whole time I'd feel gyped! Luckily, I don't recall that happening yet.

I am sorry but I'm not sure if I understand this correctly. Are you implying that on average you get way more than two vehicle kills with mines per 15-20 mins? If yes please show me how you do it in game.

I don't really care about the relationship between claymores and mines frankly either... I don't see a pressing reason to change either. That said, there's no really good reason why mines should remain for engi's who change classes. Don't care about respawning although it might be worth putting a limit on the total number of mines an engi can have down at once to encourage slightly more skillful use.

I agree that when changing class mines should disappear and lowering the amount of mine engi can carry could be a good solution.

On an unrelated note, I still don't trust the platoon stats. How is the "average" 410 score/min when not even a single "best" has that high SPM in any category, or even close? Those overall stats seem unlikely, and the way that "vehicles" is scored doesn't seem very thoughtful either. Also of course all of this is relative to the servers that people play on. I've gotten to know my list of "want to smash some noobs mindlessly" vs "ok these guys are hard-core" servers and I assume others have too

Average score per min is calculated based on players total game score per min. Class score counts only that particular class score on map excluding award score, squad, team and objective score. Here's an example:
http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/8474745/1/253704592/

Sure is, it's just that he used the word 'waste' so I figured he wasn't entirely happy with the situation even though he got some points for it.

Psst... neliz and Def... fancy helping out in a ladder match on Wednesday 20:30 CET? We're short of players. Check the TOG OB sub-forum.

I'll try but can't promise anything atm.

Sounds like a plan! thanks for the heads-up! I have a news mousemat that needs some competitive testing

Is that a dildo at the upper left corner of that pic ?