Battlefield 3

[thecommabandit]

Been playing the beta after practically ignoring my invitation to the closed alpha and... it's pretty good. It's like Bad Company 2 but with better close-quarters combat and you can go prone. I'm surprised by how good I am at sniping. Is there some kind of auto-aim? Because I've never been very good at sniping. If it wasn't Origin-exclusive I'd consider buying it fairly soon after release or maybe even pre-ordering. Though I've heard rumblings about that it might not be Origin-only.

[eculc]

yeah, battlefield 3 is not preorder-exclusive to origin. they were just promoting that the most recently because of the two days of early access to the beta (on PC of course) that you would get if you preordered from them.

[MisterCheif]

"If you play this game, you are male, and you will have 99 action-based problems but a relationship with a female will not be one of those problems."

The game looks great.. but.. I just can't get past them choosing this song. I'm going to pass.

Is that a quote from an actual EA ad?

I believe he is paraphrasing the song used in this add aired during Monday night football. *warning. Horrible and NSFW lyrics*

That song is one of the many, many reasons I don't like rap...

It still can't halt my excitement for BF3, even though I am playing it on console.

[The Scyphozoa]

I would hardly call that song "horrible". In fact it's some of the least offensive rap lyrics around.

[MisterCheif]

I suppose I'm just rather biased against rap. Oh well.

Anyway, somebody posted this on the Battlefield forums.

If we had to single out our favorite map from what we played, Damavand Peak would be it. Damavand is a Rush map, and what makes it interesting is how it handles the spawn points. At one point the attacker’s spawn becomes a cliffside bunker with a sheer drop off. The next defending base is a couple of hundred feet down. While you could take one of the helicopters and gently set yourself down like a pretty princess, real men base jump off the bunker and pull their chute before they splatter all over the objective.
If that wasn’t fun enough, the final base in the map has you pressing into a tight tunnel that usually pitches two tanks against one another in tight quarters as the attacking infantry try to slip past unnoticed. While it may lack a bit of the signature Battlefield map openness, it’s a lot of fun. Just be prepared for confused players to idle around the bunker for 5-10 minutes before they realize they have to jump.

Source

It sounds epic. And apparently the embargo on information about all the remaining maps lifts on Friday. I'm excited to see what other map mechanics DICE introduces.

[SecondTalon]

And they coulda used this one. Shame.

[Jebobek]

And they coulda used this one. Shame.

I know right??

Just to be clear, its not that I hate the rap for being rap. Its just that I feel.. wrong for being advertised to like that.

[Lostdreams]

Preorders via Amazon for the Battlefield 3 limited edition digital download version for $42 today for those of you who want to save some money and don't care about boxes.

*Crossposting to deals thread*

[Obby]

Preorders via Amazon for the Battlefield 3 limited edition digital download version for $42 today for those of you who want to save some money and don't care about boxes.

*Crossposting to deals thread*

I should have waited, damnit. I spent $20 more than that through Origin, because I'm a sucker apparently. Never gonna make that mistake again.

[Xeio]

I spent the extra $20 on Origin but got Mass Effect 2 and MoH for free with it. Hrmmmm.

[F117Landers]

I spent the extra $20 on Origin but got Mass Effect 2 and MoH for free with it. Hrmmmm.

That's not a bad deal either, unless you already own both games.

[hendusoone]

Preorders via Amazon for the Battlefield 3 limited edition digital download version for $42 today for those of you who want to save some money and don't care about boxes.

*Crossposting to deals thread*

I should have waited, damnit. I spent $20 more than that through Origin, because I'm a sucker apparently. Never gonna make that mistake again.

Place an order with Amazon (you won't be charged until the 25th). Then, have that origin preorder canceled and refunded by contacting EA's support through the origin support chat thingy. Problem solved!

[big boss]

Preorders via Amazon for the Battlefield 3 limited edition digital download version for $42 today for those of you who want to save some money and don't care about boxes.

*Crossposting to deals thread*

I should have waited, damnit. I spent $20 more than that through Origin, because I'm a sucker apparently. Never gonna make that mistake again.

Place an order with Amazon (you won't be charged until the 25th). Then, have that origin preorder canceled and refunded by contacting EA's support through the origin support chat thingy. Problem solved!

But you won't get the Physical Warfare Pack through Amazon it seems. Right?

[MisterCheif]

Preorders via Amazon for the Battlefield 3 limited edition digital download version for $42 today for those of you who want to save some money and don't care about boxes.

*Crossposting to deals thread*

I should have waited, damnit. I spent $20 more than that through Origin, because I'm a sucker apparently. Never gonna make that mistake again.

Place an order with Amazon (you won't be charged until the 25th). Then, have that origin preorder canceled and refunded by contacting EA's support through the origin support chat thingy. Problem solved!

But you won't get the Physical Warfare Pack through Amazon it seems. Right?

They are releasing it to everybody for free later this year.
Source

Which is why I'm getting it from amazon and not gamestop. A different (only cosmetic) preorder bonus of some dog tag designs that may not be released later, cheaper shipping, and they have better service.

[eculc]

launch trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7GVSx7yMaA&feature=player_embedded

it's intense.

[big boss]

launch trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7GVSx7yMaA&feature=player_embedded

it's intense.

It looks great, but I can't help but think its a story we all have heard many times before... Shame they can't come up with something more creative, but I'll withhold my final judgment till I've actually played it.

[Dark567]

Battlefield 4 trailer
EDIT:

The release date for the preorder product has changed. The product listed below will now be available on October 24, 2011.

THAT'S TODAY!!!!

[big boss]

Well game is finally live, 1st attempt to join a multiplayer game

"you were disconnected form the login server" with ever server I try -_-

if anyone is having the same issue and/or got any suggestions how to fix this let me know. I deleted my hosts files and tried changing some router setting and no success.

[Obby]

I don't have any suggestions on how to fix it, but just know that you are not alone. It's happened to me once, but luckily it fixed itself after the first try. The forums are loaded with people with the same problem.

And that's not the only issue, either. I think the full release has more bugs in it than the beta did, to be honest. I have a different issue that I thankfully have a workaround for.

I can't change any of my settings without the game losing its shit and resetting everything to a lower resolution at 1.1MHz refresh rate. Fucking thing is gonna destroy my monitor if it keeps trying that. It doesn't matter what setting I adjust, as soon as I hit "Save" or "Back" or whatever and try to save my changes, the game does this. Fortunately, there's a config file where you can manually change the settings, they're just confusing to find. But in there I can reset the refresh rate to 60Hz and it all seems to be fine. I'll just live with the current fucked-up-ness and low graphics quality until they patch it... (please please let them patch it soon)

If anyone is having this issue as well and wants to try this workaround (or even is having a different issue and wants to see if this fixes it) you can navigate to C:\Users\<your login name for Windows>\My Documents\Battlefield 3\settings (I think) then open up in Notepad the file that has "profile" in the name. Do a ctrl+F for "hertz" and change that value to whatever your monitor's refresh rate is (the field name is something like GstRender.RefreshHertz or something like that). If you're having the same issue as me, that field will be set to "11386253" or something like that. If you're having a different issue, there are plenty of other fields to fuck with.

Also: make sure you back up that file before you start messing with it.

[F117Landers]

Updated forum start to include Dobby's graphics fix.

[Obby]

It's not Dobby, it's Obby haha.

[F117Landers]

Who the heck is Dobby?

[big boss]

Well game is finally live, 1st attempt to join a multiplayer game

"you were disconnected form the login server" with ever server I try -_-

if anyone is having the same issue and/or got any suggestions how to fix this let me know. I deleted my hosts files and tried changing some router setting and no success.

Well I kinda fixed the problem. If I VPN into my university's network from my apartment I can join a game... So it must be something with my isp like a blocked port or something. Coincidentally I wasn't able to play Asscreed2, and VPNing allowed my to play that as well...

Anyways only thing I don't like about the game so far is the regenerating health... Why did you do that dice?
I've never been in a war zone before, but the game really makes me think I'm in one (or what I'd imagine one to sound and look like from my movie watching experience at least).

[The Scyphozoa]

You can find servers with regenerating health turned off, I think.

[Lostdreams]

It's all great when I get a whole bunch of kills in one round and think, "Great! I'm gonna unlock X in one go!" and then am promptly disconnected in the middle or just before the round ends. Repeatedly.

[Dark567]

I think it still counts.....

[Lostdreams]

The points for the unlocks aren't saved until the round ends. If you leave early all the points are lost, even if you reconnect.

[Dark567]

The points for the unlocks aren't saved until the round ends. If you leave early all the points are lost, even if you reconnect.

See in BC2 the server would still store the points you scored, and when the round was over upload them to the master server. I assume that's how BF3 works too, but I could be wrong. It seemed to work that way when I was playing.

[Lostdreams]

I was in an AA for almost an entire round, racked up probably 12 disables and 8 or so destroys, and got disconnected just before the round ended. I reconnected just in time to get a win and a couple hundred points for a conquest participation and win. Other times I've had a disconnect with no return because the server filled and got no points.

[Enokh]

I've gotten points for rounds I got disconnected, but only after the Battle Report came up.

I'm actually really pleased with how I'm progressing in this game, skill-wise. I usually only end up with less points than like the rank 16 guys (I'm rank 4, currently). The few times I've run around in those little impromptu squads that randomly form was REALLY cool; I'm looking forward to getting in a game with a handful of friends and actually doing the teamwork bit.

[Obby]

I feel like I've been extremely lucky so far. I've largely been doing my own thing, trying to learn the maps and all that, but I still have an overall K/D ratio just shy of 2.0, with a whopping 20 wins and 1 loss.

I still haven't really gotten the hang of the planes yet, but I still can't mess with my settings to tweak the controls without the game losing its shit on me, so for now I guess I need to either wait for a patch or get used to the controls as is.

[Enokh]

Holy shit, that's great!

I've almost always ended up using planes to get me places before I bail. I shoot missiles at everything, aim the plane at a tank, and then bail. You keep your horizontal momentum, as far as I can tell. . .so your ability to pop your chute at the last second means to can cover a LOT of ground after ejecting; ended up quite a bit behind enemy lines.

[novax6]

Pretty disappointed with BF3 overall.
Really feels like a big shift away from the 'old style' of BF games and much more firmly in the direction of Call of Duty. Everything feels much faster than the older games, where most people had an average lifespan of at least a couple minutes rather then seconds, and many of the design decisions are going completely in the wrong direction from what i'd love to see. It looks really nice, and the sound is fantastic, but the gameplay feels less conductive to teamwork, communication, strategy, and more just about shooting people and getting a high k/d ratio.

-The maps are much smaller than most of the maps from BF2 or even 1942. The bottlenecks on the Rush maps are especially noticeable and awful because you don't have any other options, no flanking for the most part.

-The in game map/minimap is the most hilariously useless thing I've seen in a game in a really long time. Rather then point out all the problems, i'll just link to this handy image I saw the other day. When playing new maps it takes wayyyy more effort than it should to even just figure out where the hell I am in relation to the objectives or the enemies base. And pressing M doesn't even give you the whole map, just enlarges the worthless-ness.

-Spawning on your squad members is possibly my least favorite design choice in the game entire series. So many reasons, but to keep it short, it feels lame, invalidates the mobile spawn point, and means that enemies can and usually are coming from everywhere, because it's nearly impossible to actually defend and wipe out a squad.

-The whole squad system sucks, and gives you much less information then previous games.

-Single player campaign. Haven't played it too much yet, but it's painfully on rails and basically a CoD:MW clone in every way, just a bit better and with nicer sounds. Would have preferred to cut the whole thing and spend that extra time and money on multiplayer, which is where everyone is going to be spending 90+% of their time with the game anyways.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a decently fun game, but just as much as Bad Company 2 was, and doesn't even come close to BF192 and BF2 in sheer fun and replay-ability. For all their talk about not wanting to target the "Call of Duty audience" it feels much much closer to that then it does any of it's own previous games.

[Lostdreams]

Has anyone seen a gun list with the actual attributes and physics attached? I'm trying to decide what sniper rifle, sidearm, and assault rifle to use and I don't feel like leveling all of them just to test their accuracy and range.

[Obby]

Pretty disappointed with BF3 overall.
Really feels like a big shift away from the 'old style' of BF games and much more firmly in the direction of Call of Duty. Everything feels much faster than the older games, where most people had an average lifespan of at least a couple minutes rather then seconds, and many of the design decisions are going completely in the wrong direction from what i'd love to see. It looks really nice, and the sound is fantastic, but the gameplay feels less conductive to teamwork, communication, strategy, and more just about shooting people and getting a high k/d ratio.

-The maps are much smaller than most of the maps from BF2 or even 1942. The bottlenecks on the Rush maps are especially noticeable and awful because you don't have any other options, no flanking for the most part.

-The in game map/minimap is the most hilariously useless thing I've seen in a game in a really long time. Rather then point out all the problems, i'll just link to this handy image I saw the other day. When playing new maps it takes wayyyy more effort than it should to even just figure out where the hell I am in relation to the objectives or the enemies base. And pressing M doesn't even give you the whole map, just enlarges the worthless-ness.

-Spawning on your squad members is possibly my least favorite design choice in the game entire series. So many reasons, but to keep it short, it feels lame, invalidates the mobile spawn point, and means that enemies can and usually are coming from everywhere, because it's nearly impossible to actually defend and wipe out a squad.

-The whole squad system sucks, and gives you much less information then previous games.

-Single player campaign. Haven't played it too much yet, but it's painfully on rails and basically a CoD:MW clone in every way, just a bit better and with nicer sounds. Would have preferred to cut the whole thing and spend that extra time and money on multiplayer, which is where everyone is going to be spending 90+% of their time with the game anyways.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a decently fun game, but just as much as Bad Company 2 was, and doesn't even come close to BF192 and BF2 in sheer fun and replay-ability. For all their talk about not wanting to target the "Call of Duty audience" it feels much much closer to that then it does any of it's own previous games.

I'm not going to disagree with you, because I think you're right with a lot of your points, but I just have some comments.

Maps - I dunno, I think there's just less of the larger maps. Caspian Border and... that other map I can't remember right now (Karg Island I think?) are really the only large maps. Once the release the new map pack, hopefully this will be fixed.

Minimap - Yes, it sucks. I completely agree. However, you can hit N and get a larger/smaller zoom level, so that at least makes it marginally more useful than before.

Squads - I disagree. I think that squad spawning adds a whole new layer of tactics. I loved it in BF2 BC2 and still like it here. And the mobile spawn point doesn't really replace it (nor vice versa), it just provides a backup in case everyone in your squad is wiped. It's fantastic for re-starting your push on a point, as long as your recon is smart and puts it inside something solid so that when you spawn on it, you don't parachute in and risk getting seen.

Single player - I wouldn't really know. I never played single player in BC2, and I don't intend to play it in this either.

Yes, things are faster. But I don't think that detracts from the gameplay, and it certainly doesn't make your lifespan shorter. I tend to live a pretty decent length of time in game, unless I'm trying to repeatedly solo-cap a defended point, but I full recognize that this is not a very smart way to go about playing the game and my shorter lifespans are a direct result of this poor decision. I just think it's fun.

The only real negative aspect that I've found (aside from the minimap), and maybe the option exists and I just haven't found it yet, is integrated voice chat. It was very nice in BF2 to have squad chat enabled and be able to communicate effectively that way. Then again, maybe they're hoping people will play with their friends and use ventrilo or something.

Has anyone seen a gun list with the actual attributes and physics attached? I'm trying to decide what sniper rifle, sidearm, and assault rifle to use and I don't feel like leveling all of them just to test their accuracy and range.

I wish. If you find it let me know, I hate having to guess at which sidearm is best.

[The Scyphozoa]

Just google "denkirson bf3" every day. He'll probably have them up soon enough. You can find his weapon stat charts for BC2 or CoD games to see what the BF3 ones will look like.

[big boss]

Does anyone think that some of the pistols are kind of too strong? I'm not bad at FPS games by any stretch, and there are times when a sniper at medium to close range will be able to kill me with his pistol and I have an assault rifle and we see each other at about the same time...

[Obby]

Does anyone think that some of the pistols are kind of too strong? I'm not bad at FPS games by any stretch, and there are times when a sniper at medium to close range will be able to kill me with his pistol and I have an assault rifle and we see each other at about the same time...

I find that more often than not, this is attributed to one of two things.

1) Lag. This is more often the case, I find. Typically if I find myself in this situation, I'll start shooting at him and he'll start shooting at me, and I'll see my little crosshairs flicker with the registered hits, but then when I die he still has 100% life. Either it's lag, a bug in the net code (which is essentially the same thing as lag), or he's hacking. I'm more inclined to believe it's lag since the hacks are relatively rare.

2) He's just faster than you. Sometimes I might think I see the sniper before he sees me, but then he's already popping rounds in my face before I can register a response, so I'm dead by the time I've clicked my mouse once. He'll have 40% life or so left, because I did hit him before he killed me (or he'll have 100% life because I missed, but in the end he's still faster than me).

[Lostdreams]

Good snipers tend to be more accurate and some of the pistols are as strong as the assault rifles at close range. The magnum is pretty damned solid but you have to be a good shot and not be facing too many people at once.

Does anyone else feel the AA is overly powerful? I've been leveling it off and on for the past week and as I was leveling my recon kit yesterday I spawned next to the AA so I figured if I actually got in then I'd use it for the first bit of the round. I then went on to score 24-0 from the middle of the field, US side, in caspian border. By the end of it I had 7 pissed off engineers shooting rpgs, 3 jets that performed suicide runs, and 2 direct-from-base helicopter strafing runs that were solely for the purposed of killing me and ignoring everything along the way. It was close to 10 minutes of solid, awesome fighting.

It seems like they need to tone something in the AA down but I'm not exactly sure what it should be. It needs to be able to kill aircraft obviously but the ability to suppress and kill troops, coupled with its wall removal ability seems to be a bit much. Tanks still completely wipe the floor with it but if the tanks are taken care of by other players, like the aircraft you gave support to, then you're pretty much free to own everything you can see.

Also zoom optics minigun sniping is just busted and I have no idea how to tune that and not make the AA useless.

[big boss]

We should make an xkcd platoon