A place for beta impressions and feedback

Date of registration
: Jun 23rd 2012

Platform: PC

Location: Germany, Bavaria

Battlelog:

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1

Sunday, September 9th 2018, 10:53pm

So after around 35 hours of playtine during the beta I wanted to write up my thoughts.

Overall I was obviously really enjoying it for the most part, otherwise I'd not put as much time in.

What I liked:
- TTK when attacking enemies feels okay.
- Weapon handling is for the most part fun.
- I like the maps, they flow quite well and are decently balanced.
- Planes (esp. the Blenheim) and tanks turned out to be a threat in the right hands, but not the absolute menace they were in BF4 and BF1. Good place if you ask me.
- It looks *really* good, even on low, and runs acceptably.
- Revives work quite nicely, not as crazy as in previous titles, but still essential in the long run.

What I did not like and how I think it should be addressed (if I have a constructive idea for it that's perhaps not obvious):
- Perceived (and actual) single-frame deaths. I think we have a big netcode issue that leads to a lot of superbullets going on in the beta.
- The horrible squad respawn over-the-shoulder mode must go. It's clunky, it's restrictive, it's impractical. Outright removing it would be best, maybe going back to BF4's "spawn preview".
- Allow me to use squad requisitions from the respawn screen (especially the tanks).
- The horrible menus should be overhauled. Much too convoluted and unintuitive. What's "My Company" supposed to be? The "Armory" is actually NOT the place to modify my guns, but rather just a store and loot-receptacle? Please offer text descriptions for those. Why can't I accept new assignments during or even between rounds without leaving the server? Must it really be so many clicks to change the sight on my gun? BF4 had so much stuff to put on your gun and got the UI for it a lot better. Why can't I apply upgrades to a gun during/after a round, and why can't I apply them to a gun unless I equip it to the class beforehand?
- Make upgrade paths switchable and/or allow custom names for our gun setups. I know, it's for post-launch monetization, but still, it's an obvious and contrived way to get more grind or money out of your players.
- Make the menu run at more than 30 FPS

I had it running at 200 once and it worked fine, so why limit it?
- Give the STG44 a lot more recoil. It kinda doesn't have any right now, especially in semi auto. It currently outclasses the Turner as well as the M1A1 completely for assault, utterly blows away the KE-7 with lower recoil (feels like the KE7 has about as much recoil on a bipod as the STG has while moving around) and similar damage patterns along with way better hipfire and bigger magazines.
- Give the M1A1 Carbine the STG's hipfire characteristics.

Things that are probably bugs and need fixing:
- Fix the obnoxious godray and bloom effects in the menus. I'd like to be able to see my gun when I change its looks thank you.
- Fix the visual glitches on Rotterdam.
- Fix spawn bugs.
- Fix the M30 Drilling's animations breaking in certain circumstances.
- Fix the ZH-29's aperture sight.
- Fix 3rd person gunfire audio.

Zormau - Battlelog / Battlefield 4

Memorable quotes not taken yet:

Quoted from "NoctyrneSAGA"

Quoted from "Nick 30075"

Of course, this ignores the non-constant cross-sectional first moment of area across the chest as well as non-constant material properties of the boob; it would be difficult to perform a more detailed analysis (as in, I'd have to have a shape function AND I'd need to derive a function for elastic modulus as a function of lateral breast coordinate) but whatever. It's 2am and I'm lazy.

I always believed science should be very hands on experience.

Quoted from "NoctyrneSAGA"

You should also answer this question I had posed in that thread: Would you be willing to pay your surgeon more if he was going to use a chainsaw for the opening incision of surgery? Clearly using a chainsaw isn't truly suited for surgery but that doesn't really matter. If he's "skilled" enough to be able to use the wrong tools of the trade, he should be rewarded for that skill right?

VincentNZ

Holy War? No Thanks.

(2,427)

Posts: 2,836

Date of registration
: Jul 25th 2013

Platform: PC

Battlelog:

Reputation modifier: 16

2

Monday, September 10th 2018, 1:27pm

Ah nice, I wondered if anyone here had something positive to say about BFV. Glad you enjoyed it!

I agree with all your positive points, since they are mostly all a huge improvement over BF1, but if I compare it to BF3/4 verything just falls apart. I still concede that BFV is a decent shooter, had it come from, say, Respawn. For a Battlefield game it is pretty subpar, especially when I think about the long-term plan and the monetization.

I also agree with all your negative points, but I put much more emphasis on them. I have little confidence that anything there is really about to change. The game experience outside of actual gameplay is so horrible that I get mad whenever I start the game or need to spend time in the menus. In order to fix all these issues would be to overhaul all the menus and the UI completely and start from scratch. If you only need 5 clicks from server browser to weapon customization instead of 7, is this really an immense improvement?

Gameplay wise, I just do not see how this game is somehow more squad-based than BF4. You have very limited ammo and limited auto-heal, but if you either camp or play aggressively for the objective you will always be in the vicinity of crates so the need for others is minimized. Furthermore the ammo pouch does not even resupply grenades or gadgets, so I do not see the point for support. Yeah reviving works and is also more psychologically rewarding with the animation, but you need to throw a smoke to make it acceptable. Plus the game is inconsistent and too restrictive to when you can or can not be revived. All of this really does not help squadplay and revives, and the buddy revive is even rarer.
The biggest issue here though is the lack of spotting both 2D and 3D. DICE conditioned players for years now that Q is a teamplay action that also helps themself, just like every other teamplay action, and now it's completely gone. Add to that, that visuals have "improved" once more so that you can not see shit and that audio is very flawed and you have utter chaos.

Balance wise, there is a lot do adress as well, Rifle Grenades are rather useless, the ammo and medic crate are really hard to justify, the ammo count for gadgets and primaries is dubious. The STG44 towers over everything of course but I see even more obsolete weapons once the game releases. Especially I do not see how the SMGs are supposed to work on the other six maps with how fast they drop to their min damage with that stupidly low ROF. The hipfire is also pretty shit for this weapon class. This all needs to be addressed, for the LMGs as well.
The biggest caveat here is the upgrade system. I do not care if there are no downsides, but the difference between a T1 and a T5 weapon is just too damn big, starting out new as a player or a new weapon is just a frustrating experience.

There are a thousand other issues that plague BFV, and each one cumulates to a total design concept that I find inherently flawed.

sirdiealot53

(72)

Posts: 175

Date of registration
: Mar 2nd 2012

Platform: Xbox One

Location: US

Battlelog:

Reputation modifier: 8

3

Thursday, September 13th 2018, 4:30pm

Sorry for off-topic post but what happened to symthic? It's like dead

potetr

(623)

Posts: 270

Date of registration
: Jun 5th 2015

Platform: Xbox One

Location: Hoth

Battlelog:

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4

Thursday, September 13th 2018, 5:11pm

Not much interesting to discuss

signature 2.3

Omit Needless Words

Things I support

Quoted from "Rezal"

ammo regen pls

Quoted from "NoctyrneSAGA"

Passive Spotting is the future!

_____

Quoted from "Skanic"

When I play with it [Autoloading 8] I feel like I am batman taking out 1 after 1 baddie while they feel helpless and don't know who is talking out their mates.

Quoted from "TheSkillCommittee"

Remove 3D spotting. ItÂs a mechanic that rewards bad eyesight.

Quoted from "Rezal"

Wanna help your team by sneaking through enemy territory to provide spawns? THIS IS NOT TEAMWORK FGT I HOPE YOU RUN OUT OF MOTION BALLS TOO EARLY TO BE SUCCESSFUL
Wanna be Javelin squad but only have two guys? BETTER NOT GET YOUR SOFLAM KILLED FGT THIS IS NOT TEAMWORK WITHOUT A SUPPORT DUDE DROPPING AMMO ON YOU EVERY 2 MINUTES

Quoted from "Hau_ruck"

Please post your best M1916 clips Magazines *fixed*.

DICE pls

Squadmate Healthbars in the HUD
Minor console QoL improvements
Ping Tool idea
"Wants to talk" tag for squad menu
Adding Suppression Confirmation
Spotting suggestions
Squad priority vehicle system (and anti stealing suggestion)

Posts I should finish sometime:
Scoring system flaws (and concept)
Battlefield definition
Flow, immersion and fun in battlefield
Specializations: ideas and system rework
Gadget reworks and ideas
Vehicle gamplay
Why limited infinite ammo would be awesome
Other bitesize ideas

Cool/Useful Links (never updated)

What Makes the Best Player?
David Sirlin on Intuition
Symthic Databrowser
Battlefield 1 DeployTimes

tankmayvin

(3,538)

Posts: 2,015

Date of registration
: Jan 12th 2014

Platform: PC

Battlelog:

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5

Friday, September 14th 2018, 3:21am

Impressions on the vehicle gameplay?

I haven't had hands-on this game yet, but everything I've seen consistently makes it look pretty crap.

sid_tai

(612)

Posts: 294

Date of registration
: Jun 9th 2012

Platform: PC

Battlelog:

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6

Friday, September 14th 2018, 4:03am

Quoted

Impressions on the vehicle gameplay?

I haven't had hands-on this game yet, but everything I've seen consistently makes it look pretty crap.

I do not play vehicles, but from my short infantry playtime and youtube videos and streams that I have watched, they act like sitting ducks more than anything.

NoctyrneSAGA

PvF 2017 Champion

(10,345)

Posts: 7,304

Date of registration
: Apr 3rd 2012

Platform: PC

Battlelog:

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7

Friday, September 14th 2018, 9:22am

Quoted from "tankmayvin"

Impressions on the vehicle gameplay?

I haven't had hands-on this game yet, but everything I've seen consistently makes it look pretty crap.

Not that different from the Alpha.

Only benefit is that the Mine Launchers for the germans has a very high projectile limit.

You will probably get more kills using those than the actual weapons which still suffer from poor velocity and drop.

Still no sprint depite it showing up in the options.

Turret traversal turn rates and still pretty slow mobility make the tanks about the same as BF1 turretless tanks. Park yourself off-point to minimize how much your turret has to turn. If you're going to try to turn your turret quickly, deactivate "Decouple Aiming From Turning" on your driver. This will let you combine the tank body's and tank turret's turn rates.

Losing a track is a death sentence with the 10 second time for a self-repair cycle. You will not be able to really flee and you won't be able to complete a self-repair in time to clear the broken track. If you try to fend off players by shooting them, no repairs. Also means you are wasting your ammo while they get some free ammo from the respawn screen.

Limited vehicle ammo is an interruption in the core vehicle experience. Sitting in base holding X for a few MINUTES(!) is boring. It's faster to destroy the tank and respawn it.

The health chip has the added annoyance of adding health before raising your health when you visit a station for repairs. This means you have an extra repair cycle to go through since the first cycle may have health that is not added.

Mind you it's still possible to go on rampages but you will have to RTB every once in a while. I advise some way to stick down the self-repair button so you can do something more productive while you are resupplying.

Top Gunner for PIV, although suicidal, allows 3 MGs to concentrate fire on the same target for very deadly effect.

Tanks can actually stuff themselves into some pretty dumb places such as the Valentine being able to fit inside certain storefronts/buildings.

Valentine with 6 Pdr gun is top wreck against infantry. Also able to fight off a Tiger by exploiting high mobility against crap turret traverse.

Tanks are usually armed with HE shells so angles don't really matter.

Data Browser

Passive Spotting is the future!

"Skill" may indeed be the most magical of words. Chant it well enough and any desire can be yours.

Are you a scrub?

Quoted from "blahdy"

If it flies, it diesÂ.

VincentNZ

Holy War? No Thanks.

(2,427)

Posts: 2,836

Date of registration
: Jul 25th 2013

Platform: PC

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Friday, September 14th 2018, 10:02am

Yeah what Noctyrne says is about right but one has to keep in mind, that each assault only has 2 Panzerfausts at his disposal. On Rotterdam the ammo crates area basically everywhere though. We have seen two rather infantry focused maps with only one tank each.

The rest of the maps will likely be more vehicle focused and larger and will turn the regular outcome around. There are also resupply stations on the map for tanks, I think the support can build or rebuild them. The biggest issue is the upgrade system which will grant essential bonuses (instead of choices) for time played.

NoctyrneSAGA

PvF 2017 Champion

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Posts: 7,304

Date of registration
: Apr 3rd 2012

Platform: PC

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Friday, September 14th 2018, 10:06am

Quoted from "VincentNZ"

grant essential bonuses (instead of choices) for time played.

The trees are literally pieces of packages that you have to unlock for both weapons and vehicles.

The choice is between A or B (sometimes C) and the cost is opportunity cost.

Data Browser

Passive Spotting is the future!

"Skill" may indeed be the most magical of words. Chant it well enough and any desire can be yours.

Are you a scrub?

Quoted from "blahdy"

If it flies, it diesÂ.

VincentNZ

Holy War? No Thanks.

(2,427)

Posts: 2,836

Date of registration
: Jul 25th 2013

Platform: PC

Battlelog:

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10

Friday, September 14th 2018, 10:22am

Quoted from "NoctyrneSAGA"

Quoted from "VincentNZ"

grant essential bonuses (instead of choices) for time played.

The trees are literally pieces of packages that you have to unlock for both weapons and vehicles.

The choice is between A or B (sometimes C) and the cost is opportunity cost.

Yep, but the upgrades require playtime and immensly increase the efficiency of your loadout. I am not fully aware of the vehicle upgrades as they lacked description, but an Autoloader, better tracks etc. are definitely an upgrade. Yeah you still "choose" a path to go down, but increasing the Suomis ROF by 25% or it's mag capacity by 150% is either way better than the T1 weapon. Just the same a T1 tank is substantially worse than a T5 and it is like this because you spend time in the game.

In BF1 and 4 there was no substantial difference between a base weapon/vehicle and you simply choose something that suited your playstyle or situation the best.