Topic: Battlefield 2042

[Andy @ Allerton!]

It's dogshit. Really, really bad as far as a Battlefield title goes. I've persisted with it for 3 nights now to see if I could find something that would click, and I'd see something of potential in it. No. No way. The core of this game is so badly designed, it's just basically Call of Battlefront now. Some might find that fun. I don't. It's a testimony of how bad a game is when you struggle to identify which faction you're in simply by line of sight, because they've got the aesthetic design so fucked up, they're hard to distinguish. The weapons are even allocated to the wrong sides. It's just mind-boggling stuff from DICE, but I suppose when your overseer is EA, you've to chase that Battle Royal customisation micro-transaction money train bollocks. They're supposed to be having another Beta before release. They can keep it.

Here's hoping for BF6. It's a bit of a stretch.

[Macphisto80]

It's the 'Lost in Translation' of Battlefields, Andy.

[Kashinoda]

Don't listen to him Andy, it's the Linux of Battlefields.

[Macphisto80]

Don't listen to him Andy, it's the Linux of Battlefields.

Andy knows it's true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0Ji4J-zfI

That's a pretty good, non-ranty video of explaining what I think (outside of the other bullshit) why the game is a shambles. The gunplay is great. It's about the only thing I like. Everything else feels shoehorned in there to an extent where it's been ill-thought out and a detriment to how it plays. Example: fortification might seem like a great idea on a defensive point, so you build a nice little bunker, kill one or two enemy advancing on the flag, then 'Oh shit! I'm out of fucking ammo, and I only fired my gun twice!" Yes, it's Beta, but the beta has a litany of similar kinds of ideas that are well meaning in the grand scheme of the gameplay, but just so poorly conceived, that it's mind boggling how they thought it was good to begin with. My guess, just like BF4 before it, is that it'll be a good 6 months before they sort this thing, and by then the PR damage of them that telling players are "uneducated" and all other such nonsense, might have done the damage and it'll be dead. Oh, and it's just EA, isn't it?

[Upinsmoke]

The problem with the fortifications are nobody really stays at the capture points anyway. So you build them but then abandon that point after its caught, so the opposition capture it And then have your fortifications you've just built. It's also pretty fast paced so you don't get long to fortify before it gets attacked. It's an okay addition.

I'm not a huge fan of the uniforms either as i cant differentiate between my team and the enemy. They need to fix the HDR (yes it's bugged) as Narvik or whatever it's called is far too bright and then other areas inside are too dark.

Even with that all being said, it grew on me over the 3 days I played it. The guns feel good, the health and revive system is good and the levelling seems good.

The only problem I have is where I'll find the time playing this over the other games that come out.

[Kashinoda]

Andy knows it's true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0Ji4J-zfI

That's a pretty good, non-ranty video of explaining what I think (outside of the other bullshit) why the game is a shambles. The gunplay is great. It's about the only thing I like. Everything else feels shoehorned in there to an extent where it's been ill-thought out and a detriment to how it plays. Example: fortification might seem like a great idea on a defensive point, so you build a nice little bunker, kill one or two enemy advancing on the flag, then 'Oh shit! I'm out of fucking ammo, and I only fired my gun twice!" Yes, it's Beta, but the beta has a litany of similar kinds of ideas that are well meaning in the grand scheme of the gameplay, but just so poorly conceived, that it's mind boggling how they thought it was good to begin with. My guess, just like BF4 before it, is that it'll be a good 6 months before they sort this thing, and by then the PR damage of them that telling players are "uneducated" and all other such nonsense, might have done the damage and it'll be dead. Oh, and it's just EA, isn't it?

Mac are you trolling me mate

Did you watch the entire video from start to finish? His overarching point is Battlefield V suits him, and that veterans of the game like the changes. His issues are with how Battlefield 3 through 1 have been developed and how the community has changed, he's absolutely right about everything.

I'm not sure what fortifications have to do with running out of ammo. Capture points have both ammo and health crates, you can literally fortify a point and resupply yourself - it then makes sense to secure and defend the position rather than running instantly running to the next point.

I've sat and defended a capture point with my squad more times in this Beta (15 hours) then I did in all my time on Battlefield 1 (150 hours). I actually went into Battlefield 5 and tried to play it like Battlefield 1 and got punished hard, I'll try the hero play and end up running out of ammo or health in no time. If I PTFO with my squad we have a chance of securing the position, accessing the ammo resupply and defending the point. Also if I die playing with my squad there's a chance I can get a small squad revive, it's more incentive to stick together.

There are balance issues but this doesn't equate to ideas being poorly conceived. I think you start with the right amount of ammo, people want more - fair enough. Fortifications really change the way you attack and defend every capture point, some more than others.

Fundamentally BFV got better the more I played it, it's a jarring shift which is late in the day but it's a welcome one. It helps I always have friends to squad up with but I guess that's part of the point. There's lots more polish and balance to do but the changes that are there have made the game more enjoyable - for me.

[Kashinoda]

The problem with the fortifications are nobody really stays at the capture points anyway. So you build them but then abandon that point after its caught, so the opposition capture it And then have your fortifications you've just built. It's also pretty fast paced so you don't get long to fortify before it gets attacked. It's an okay addition.

I think I've seen this less and less towards the end of the BETA. Another change they did with Battlefield V was make the flags quicker to cap the closer you get to the flag, this had the side affect of massive power shifts in a short amount of time.

Sure you can go and cap E quickly but what's the use if as soon as you leave C it'll be capped by someone else - you end up at square one. So if you bunker down and secure a flag you'll most likely end up bleeding more tickets from the enemy as they attempt to take it. I think the slow shift to this style of thinking will come, this is when BFV started to click more with me anyway.

[Upinsmoke]

I think I've seen this less and less towards the end of the BETA. Another change they did with Battlefield V was make the flags quicker to cap the closer you get to the flag, this had the side affect of massive power shifts in a short amount of time.

Sure you can go and cap E quickly but what's the use if as soon as you leave C it'll be capped by someone else - you end up at square one. So if you bunker down and secure a flag you'll most likely end up bleeding more tickets from the enemy as they attempt to take it. I think the slow shift to this style of thinking will come, this is when BFV started to click more with me anyway.

I presume your playing on pc Kash. I've been playing the beta on XB1 where players tend to play BF more like COD and just rush capture points. 😁 So often I'll be fortifying or defending a point and realise everyone has fucked off to capture every other point.

[Macphisto80]

Mac are you trolling me mate

Did you watch the entire video from start to finish? His overarching point is Battlefield V suits him, and that veterans of the game like the changes. His issues are with how Battlefield 3 through 1 have been developed and how the community has changed, he's absolutely right about everything.

I'm not sure what fortifications have to do with running out of ammo. Capture points have both ammo and health crates, you can literally fortify a point and resupply yourself - it then makes sense to secure and defend the position rather than running instantly running to the next point.

I've sat and defended a capture point with my squad more times in this Beta (15 hours) then I did in all my time on Battlefield 1 (150 hours). I actually went into Battlefield 5 and tried to play it like Battlefield 1 and got punished hard, I'll try the hero play and end up running out of ammo or health in no time. If I PTFO with my squad we have a chance of securing the position, accessing the ammo resupply and defending the point. Also if I die playing with my squad there's a chance I can get a small squad revive, it's more incentive to stick together.

There are balance issues but this doesn't equate to ideas being poorly conceived. I think you start with the right amount of ammo, people want more - fair enough. Fortifications really change the way you attack and defend every capture point, some more than others.

Fundamentally BFV got better the more I played it, it's a jarring shift which is late in the day but it's a welcome one. It helps I always have friends to squad up with but I guess that's part of the point. There's lots more polish and balance to do but the changes that are there have made the game more enjoyable - for me.

Yeah, the ideas behind it suit me too. They're sound...in theory. I initially liked the slower pace, the gunplay was great, and didn't mind the lack of ammo to begin with...until it became a hindrance. I was having fun with it. That lasted for about an hour or two then the bad crept into it, and there was far more bad than good, and that's not discounting the stuff that can be fixed. When or if it will is something we'll have to wait and see, but I just feel this game is a mishmash of conflicting design choices and it's leading to an overall very disjointed and 'weird' game, where when I'm playing, I just can't put my finger on what's wrong, but it just feels off. On top of that, they've got this JJ Abrams, Hanz Zimmer thing going on, and it just doesn't fit a WW2 aesthetic. It's stupid things too that shouldn't annoy me, but they do. Like British factions that have changing accents no matter the character. I was playing as the black medic character. No problems there, but he started talking like Rab C Nesbitt as soon as I grabbed a Enfield off the ground and started firing it. It was hilarious, but the claim of it being the most immersive game yet was smashed right there. That's BFV in a microcosm. I don't care about all the controversial bollocks surrounding the game. It's got an identity crisis that it needs to sort and sort fast.

Make the progression system rewarding without the need to force the teamwork by doing stupid shit like giving less ammo. The attrition thing needs looked at. It's like a war being run by Tories. "No ammo for you, sir. We're cutting back!" The way you pick up ammo causes teams to displace as you've often you're not close enough to a team mate for them to chuck ammo, which they usually don't, so you've to leg it to a ammo drop, or try to just go lone wolf by run and gunning, picking up the fallen ammo, and repeat. That literally is the most rewarding way to play this game in its current state, and it's due to daft gameplay design choices.

You know what they should have done here? Bad Company 2 in a WW2 skin. Take everything that worked from that, and just add a bit to it. It'd have bigger maps, prone, all the stuff BC2 was lacking over the others at the time. Still the best BF for me.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Andy knows it's true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0Ji4J-zfI

That's a pretty good, non-ranty video of explaining what I think (outside of the other bullshit) why the game is a shambles. The gunplay is great. It's about the only thing I like. Everything else feels shoehorned in there to an extent where it's been ill-thought out and a detriment to how it plays. Example: fortification might seem like a great idea on a defensive point, so you build a nice little bunker, kill one or two enemy advancing on the flag, then 'Oh shit! I'm out of fucking ammo, and I only fired my gun twice!" Yes, it's Beta, but the beta has a litany of similar kinds of ideas that are well meaning in the grand scheme of the gameplay, but just so poorly conceived, that it's mind boggling how they thought it was good to begin with. My guess, just like BF4 before it, is that it'll be a good 6 months before they sort this thing, and by then the PR damage of them that telling players are "uneducated" and all other such nonsense, might have done the damage and it'll be dead. Oh, and it's just EA, isn't it?

As it says - Support is the role that is best building stuff like that and Support has unlimited ammo.

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Yeah, the ideas behind it suit me too. They're sound...in theory. I initially liked the slower pace, the gunplay was great, and didn't mind the lack of ammo to begin with...until it became a hindrance. I was having fun with it. That lasted for about an hour or two then the bad crept into it, and there was far more bad than good, and that's not discounting the stuff that can be fixed. When or if it will is something we'll have to wait and see, but I just feel this game is a mishmash of conflicting design choices and it's leading to an overall very disjointed and 'weird' game, where when I'm playing, I just can't put my finger on what's wrong, but it just feels off. On top of that, they've got this JJ Abrams, Hanz Zimmer thing going on, and it just doesn't fit a WW2 aesthetic. It's stupid things too that shouldn't annoy me, but they do. Like British factions that have changing accents no matter the character. I was playing as the black medic character. No problems there, but he started talking like Rab C Nesbitt as soon as I grabbed a Enfield off the ground and started firing it. It was hilarious, but the claim of it being the most immersive game yet was smashed right there. That's BFV in a microcosm. I don't care about all the controversial bollocks surrounding the game. It's got an identity crisis that it needs to sort and sort fast.

Make the progression system rewarding without the need to force the teamwork by doing stupid shit like giving less ammo. The attrition thing needs looked at. It's like a war being run by Tories. "No ammo for you, sir. We're cutting back!" The way you pick up ammo causes teams to displace as you've often you're not close enough to a team mate for them to chuck ammo, which they usually don't, so you've to leg it to a ammo drop, or try to just go lone wolf by run and gunning, picking up the fallen ammo, and repeat. That literally is the most rewarding way to play this game in its current state, and it's due to daft gameplay design choices.

You know what they should have done here? Bad Company 2 in a WW2 skin. Take everything that worked from that, and just add a bit to it. It'd have bigger maps, prone, all the stuff BC2 was lacking over the others at the time. Still the best BF for me.

But this is a beta - they are trying things out - they look at stuff, think about it - tweak it, change it or remove it - and sometimes add stuff.

That's what a beta is all about - you try out things and some things that sounds great are shite and something that sound shite are great.

Sometimes you never can tell til it's done.

[Macphisto80]

Aye, but come on, Andy, you know as much as myself and anyone else (or should) that that's not how it is now. It'll be something monumental for them to make drastic changes to this, which is what it needs, at launch. It's never happened. They'll fix bugs, change one or two visual elements, tweak one or two other things, but they won't chop and change. BF4 had a great beta. I loved playing that. Made me buy the game in fact, but on release it was an absolute shambles and it left a really bitter taste in my mouth. So much so, I fucked off Dice and EA since. Didn't buy Battlefront games. Didn't buy BF1. Didn't even buy Premium for 4, and that game took over a year for it to be a decent game. I look at BFV, and I see all the hallmarks of the same shit that's pervaded through those titles since BF3, and more. It's got signs of a pay-to-win upgrade system in there, but no one seems to have noticed yet. If they don't patch that upgrade tree system out of the game, or at least let you go back and pick whatever upgrade you want by removing and adding, then that's what it's going to be. They're trying to disguise it, but don't be shocked if that's what it is. Everything EA does is to get more money out of your pockets, and the game be damned.

[KillieRed]

BF1 is a great game, you can play it how you like too.

You don`t need to buy into it, and eventually most of the stuff became free.

[PhilV]

Someone please amend the title to just Battlefield V


Anyway, got it midnight last night, played 'till 3AM - love it... honestly the gunplay is so good and well weighted, reloads seems better, getting out and in of vehicles leaves you proper exposed as it should and I actually quite like the way to supply ammo and stuff to everyone


Big fan so far, the customization options are also cool and can make your character look distinctive but not in a distracting way, still a proper soldier

Big fan so far, only gripe is (with the Valentine at least) shooting a shell right at the feet of a soldier doesn't kill him, does like 80dmg or so unless you hit the actual dude but that's literally one tiny thing

[gerrardisgod]

Yep, love it myself.

Fortifications I was a bit wary about when I first heard about them, but my, how important a role they play. Just a shame that barely anyone seems to either bother with them or know about them. Only played it twice but I’ll go balls out the bath and say Arras is the greatest map they’ve ever designed.

Little tip for Conquest, the closer to the centre of the point you are, the quicker you capture it.

[PhilV]

Yep, love it myself.

Fortifications I was a bit wary about when I first heard about them, but my, how important a role they play. Just a shame that barely anyone seems to either bother with them or know about them. Only played it twice but I’ll go balls out the bath and say Arras is the greatest map they’ve ever designed.

Little tip for Conquest, the closer to the centre of the point you are, the quicker you capture it.

Oh good point, forgot to mention that. In the airplane hangar map, C in conquest in the middle hangar, a proper choke point, I was in there building fortification and they destroying them which in turn was delaying them and so on, they play a big role for sure, people just not used enough to them to get building but I like them!

[Kashinoda]

So much better than BF1, having so much fun!

Lightish on content mind you.

[Schmidt]

I refunded it after a couple of hours. I just couldn't stand the time to kill and the gunplay, there's little to no vertical recoil but tons of horizontal, making it pure luck whether you get the kill half the time. The time it takes to kill is way too long, I found myself two-tapping people in the head only for them to run off. The maps look nice but they're so open and have tons of low foliage, leading to lots of campers and even more than the usual snipers. There's zero weapon customisation which I know is because it's WW2 but it's just a layer of the game that I miss. I wanted to play a bit of Frontlines as it looked fun but it's rolled into Grand Operations, leading to lots of annoying cutscenes and always joining a game in progress.

I've been playing games like Squad, Escape from Tarkov and WW3 lately and while none are as pretty or polished as Battlefield, they just feel so much better.

[Kashinoda]

I refunded it after a couple of hours. I just couldn't stand the time to kill and the gunplay, there's little to no vertical recoil but tons of horizontal, making it pure luck whether you get the kill half the time. The time it takes to kill is way too long, I found myself two-tapping people in the head only for them to run off. The maps look nice but they're so open and have tons of low foliage, leading to lots of campers and even more than the usual snipers. There's zero weapon customisation which I know is because it's WW2 but it's just a layer of the game that I miss. I wanted to play a bit of Frontlines as it looked fun but it's rolled into Grand Operations, leading to lots of annoying cutscenes and always joining a game in progress.

I've been playing games like Squad, Escape from Tarkov and WW3 lately and while none are as pretty or polished as Battlefield, they just feel so much better.

I find the TTK about the same as Battlefield 4. Also you can just play Front Lines from the multiplayer menu:

[Schmidt]

I find the TTK about the same as Battlefield 4. Also you can just play Front Lines from the multiplayer menu:

It was still in the 'premium access' stage on PC when I played it so maybe a lack of servers was the issue.

Maybe at point-black range the TTK is the same but the weapon spread and lack of killing headshots meant that any engagement at medium range just felt like it took too long. Getting the drop on a group of enemies is a lot harder when most of your bullets don't go where you're aiming and you only have two mags to get the job done. I'm fine with lots of vertical recoil as it gives you something to master and can be controlled proactively by a good player, but unpredictable horizontal spread just closes the skill gap and makes full auto engagements feel more like spray and pray.

[Kashinoda]

It was still in the 'premium access' stage on PC when I played it so maybe a lack of servers was the issue.

Maybe at point-black range the TTK is the same but the weapon spread and lack of killing headshots meant that any engagement at medium range just felt like it took too long. Getting the drop on a group of enemies is a lot harder when most of your bullets don't go where you're aiming and you only have two mags to get the job done. I'm fine with lots of vertical recoil as it gives you something to master and can be controlled proactively by a good player, but unpredictable horizontal spread just closes the skill gap and makes full auto engagements feel more like spray and pray.

Yeah they bundled the modes together for early access.

With the recoil they've actually increased the skill ceiling a lot. They've removed the random horizontal spread that plagued BF1 and added a unique spray pattern unique to each gun. It's very similar to Counter Strike, i.e:



It's a case of getting a feel for the pattern of each gun, for example in BFV the first 5 or so bullets of the MP40 SMG (with accuracy based specializations added) sway gradually to the left before returning to the middle for a while. This is a constant behavior.

[Schmidt]

I'd be interested in seeing the patterns for the starter weapons because I tried a few and they were all over the place. Personally I'm not a fan of spray patterns as they push you towards learning and sticking with a certain weapon, whereas with somewhat random recoil (without excessive horizontal movement) you've always got a chance to adapt quickly if you're good at handling recoil with other weapons/games. Maybe I'll try it again at some point but in the few games I played, even though I generally played pretty well, most deaths felt frustrating.

[Danny Boys Dad]

Is there a single player campaign for this or is it just multiplayer?

[Elzar]

I have a voucher to get £6 off this on Amazon if anyone wants it. Just message me.

Has to be used before the end of November

[Trada]

Blimey this game is expensive just been up Sainsburys even on Black Friday its £52 I will think about it when its a lot cheaper dont really enjoy the last one.

[Hierro]

Bought this in the New Year PSN sale.  Think it's brilliant.  Feels more like the older Battlefields.

[J-Mc-]

Absoloutely love this, but i’m shite at it.

On PS4 and always seem to be the only person going for revives and fortifications. Think i’ve been revived once in about 20 or so rounds.

[KillieRed]

I got this on sale.

I can`t quite grasp why I`m terrible at it, when I`m bloody brilliant at BF1! Perhaps I don`t know the maps, perhaps I haven't unlocked or upgraded the weapons?

I`m sorry, maybe my negative experience is affecting my opinion, but this is shit compared to BF1 (my favourite of the series). Some of the maps are good, I don`t mind the fortifications, but the autos seem OP compared to my bolt-action. I don`t even mind the ammo scarcity or healing, you get used to it.

Also WTF have they done to Operations? Shoe-horning shitty conquest maps into the mix is stupid. I loathe conquest and this has just ruined the best thing Battlefield has come up with in years. In BF1 if you got on an Operation with balanced teams you could play for a couple of hours with the battle ebbing and flowing, getting in a good squad, having running vendettas. That Narvik mountain conquest map is utter garbage and yet it comes at the finale of that Grand Operation. Where are the behemoths? You can play breakthrough if you want, but it`s better in operations on BF1.

I went back to BF1 after about a year and was pleased to find that it wasn't just that I`d got out of practice. I was also pleased to find that they`d added Shock Operations; smaller scale breakthrough style maps from the various expansions. I guess I`ll wait and see how things go, but not impressed so far.

[PhilV]

100 Hours in so far. Absolutely love it, still not bored.

Love playing as support/medic.

[J-Mc-]

100 Hours in so far. Absolutely love it, still not bored.

Love playing as support/medic.

Only manage to have sporadic games but loving it myself.

Thought BF1 was shite personally, played it a few times and then sold it whereas I keep getting a massive urge to play BFV.

[LOKKO]

Trailer for the New battlefield due June 9th can't wait, I'll probably pick up a next gen console when it's released

[gerrardisgod]

Rumour is it launches on Xbox Game Pass.

Can’t wait for it myself, 1 and V had massive faults, but were still entertaining enough. This looks like it’s heading back the way of 3 and 4 though, which is certainly more my bag.

[Crimson]

Also looking forward to it. However, I'm on console and the fact that the old standard Xbox One is to be supported, puts a dent in my hopes for a "next gen" game. Hopefully there'll be no compremise on the version hitting the new consoles..

[KillieRed]

Xbox has all the current battlefield games on sale at the moment. I picked up BF4, which I haven’t played for years.

[LOKKO]

Trailer being shown soon

https://youtu.be/HP3wxNFnNbA

[naYoRHa2b]

The latest rumours today (hero classes etc) have me hugely worried so i'm hoping to god they are way off.

[WillG.LFC]

Well that was over the top wish they'd just stick to old battlefield basics

[naYoRHa2b]

There's a pricing error on the PS Store, so you can get it for 60 quid on PS5 instead of 70. I've just pre-ordered, after reading more about the specialists (https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-2042/game-overview/specialists?isLocalized=true)

Doesn't seem that OP

[Crimson]

That trailer didn't do much for me. Looking forward to the gameplay reveal on the 13th.

[LOKKO]

I'll be picking a next gen console when this comes out
Just noticed they have no battle royal mode but will have squad game mode called hazard zone instead