One of my favorite still active BF content creators happened to have decided to make a a video summarizing the path of BF4 from production to the end of its servicehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShtgCTGGImYSo that got me thinking on how similar or different was the state 2042 launched at compared to BF4 and where 2042 seems to be going at compared to what BF4 arrived at.Battlefield 4:Launch:It had a lot of hype around its releaseIts gameplay design was a complete package of what is expected from Battlefield games (aka all the things we now know as "legacy features"It sadly had battlepacks for some cosmetics/attachments.BF4 launched in an INCREDIBLY broken state in terms of stability, performance and "netcode". There were people who made parodies of the BF main theme with windows error sounds. It definitely did not get enough time at the Quality Assurance stage.Post launch support:DICE Stockholm and later DICE LA managed to fix most of the bugs etc within the 6 months after launchThey established the Community Test Environment (CTE) to allow us the players to help beta test patches etc in a controlled environmentWe got lots of new maps and new weapons as parts of both paid DLC and free DLC.We got various freebies including dev weapons/ camos as apology for the launch.Battlefield 2042:Launch:Lots of hype around the release againA gameplay that deviated from the norm of Battlefield games. Core BF features are missing (no server browser, platoons, scoreboard, All-chat, rentable servers, etc) while features that are not associated with BF games are present (hero-shooter operators, a Tarkov knock-off, a shop for cosmetics)The game had a several bugs and stability and netcode issues but it was definitely more stable and playable than BF4 at its early days.Post launch:Several updates that brought the game closer to what a BF game is expected to be but still lacking several important aspects that help the BF games thrive (server browser and platoon support)Most of the gameplay bugs etc have been fixed, but some of the more complex bugs/issues like the so called "recoil bug" remain.They remade all the launch maps so they are mostly better than before, but at the cost of making a lot fewer new maps for the game.They brought several legacy weapons from older BF games into the main 2042 game which improved the roster a bit.The "specialists" have been repurposed into traditional BF classes to an extent.No CTE, instead we sometimes fill surveys about how we feel about the gameIt often feels like we are being ghosted by the development of the game even more than in the past gamesFor 2042, the the story has yet to be fully written.Overall I believe both games are similar in how they had troubled launches which needed a long period of fixes.But while 2042 was more solid in term of bugs, 2042 is the more fundamentally flawed game of the two in how it was having a different foundation of gameplay due to the focus on making the game more similar to hero shooter games and lack of tools to keep people playing with large groups of friends.I still hope that they will redeem themselves down the line

BF2042 is dog water compared to BF4 even today.There is only one thing that BF2042 has over BF4, the T-system, and that is sad considering BF4 is 10 years older than BF2042. 10 years in tech is like 100 years of time, just look at the video cards and how much RAM was normal for a PC in 2013 (Quad-Core CPU + GTX1660 w/3GB + 8GB RAM vs i7 4790 + RTX 3060 w/12GB + 16 GB RAM). The fact that we have regressed to this is just sad. You would think in a decade, the game would evolve and improve, yet they decide to use 45Hz tick rate cloud servers today that are a complete joke. Half the game's performance issues would be resolved if they went to 60Hz servers, but they refuse even though that is exactly what fixed a lot of BF4 issues.There was a lot of destruction and levolution in BF4, in BF2042, we get a tornado. We can barely swim in BF2042 and the chance of them releasing any naval warfare maps are slim to none. BF2042 was centered around the Specialists, not the maps, and that is why it failed and is one of the worst FPS of all-time. Player counts are at pre-season 1 levels today. BF4 was cooking 2 years after release and BF2042 is dead.Look at the content drops, we got 1 Specialist, 1 map, and 1 vehicle for 4 seasons, then even less than that in Season 5 (which was never supposed to be a season), and now Season 6 coming with a Portal map that they converted for AOW. This title is a joke, everyone associated with it should be identified, and not allowed to work on future BF titles. BF4 launched with the ability to view the map you were playing on your tablet or phone, you could play as the commander from any device, yet in BF2042 launched without a SCOREBOARD! The differences are so stark that it is offensive to even mention BF4 and BF2042 in the same sentence.How did they go from BF4 and BF1 to this pile of dung?

I think that BF1 is the best BF-game from a quality/immersion perspective (when BF1 "works" it is incredibly, just has too many weird game-mechanics), but BF4 is probably the best BF-game made overall. The launch was 'bumpy', and BF4 is far from perfect, but in the end it became the most fun BF-game to play, with lots of good content.2042 is just not comparable to anything else Dice have delivered. The game is boring content-wise and boring game-play-wise. Dice uses the BP to keep players playing, not fun gameplay and good content.

@Lancelot_du_Lac A little off-topic, but gaming industry as a whole is in total free fall right now.Games are released in a broken state pretty much across the board. "Live Service" is centered around adding missing features and fixing the general state of the game. And devs are working on cosmetics more than actual content aka maps and gear.And its actually very easy to understand. EA is forcing BF developers to "follow the trends" which leads to many old devs leaving the company. Now you have a bunch of novice devs unfamiliar with the franchise and its engine trying to figure out what the hell is EA asking of them. Result - Battlefield 2042.

@TG_Maveric2022 wrote:@UP_LordPlumberexactlyBack in BF4, the trends were battlepacks and tablet PCs and we know how they were the two design related weaknesses of BF4.Over the years the trends managed to get more intrusive, to the point where 2042 was allegedly being developed as a totally different game that had to course-correct midway in the development and then post launch.I really hope this is the last time we will see thatNarrator: It wasn't

@Netranger9BF4 is definitely not gone. People still play it.I understand the sentiment about the death spiral.I think we all know deep inside that the next BF game will be the last chance DICE will ever get to redeem themselves and that most of us this time will wait and see what actual players think about the game instead of preordering.It is kind of sad that since BFV, they could had made a super successful BF game by simply taking all of BF 3+4 (including the third party server support etc) and remastering them into a single BF34 game with up to date visuals instead of spending 15+ months developing 2042

TG_Maveric2022

2 years ago

A retrospective on the paths of 2042 compared to BF4

One of my favorite still active BF content creators happened to have decided to make a a video summarizing the path of BF4 from production to the end of its service

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShtgCTGGImY

So that got me thinking on how similar or different was the state 2042 launched at compared to BF4 and where 2042 seems to be going at compared to what BF4 arrived at.

Battlefield 4:

Launch:

It had a lot of hype around its release
Its gameplay design was a complete package of what is expected from Battlefield games (aka all the things we now know as "legacy features"
It sadly had battlepacks for some cosmetics/attachments.
BF4 launched in an INCREDIBLY broken state in terms of stability, performance and "netcode". There were people who made parodies of the BF main theme with windows error sounds. It definitely did not get enough time at the Quality Assurance stage.

Post launch support:

DICE Stockholm and later DICE LA managed to fix most of the bugs etc within the 6 months after launch
They established the Community Test Environment (CTE) to allow us the players to help beta test patches etc in a controlled environment
We got lots of new maps and new weapons as parts of both paid DLC and free DLC.
We got various freebies including dev weapons/ camos as apology for the launch.

Battlefield 2042:

Launch:

Lots of hype around the release again
A gameplay that deviated from the norm of Battlefield games. Core BF features are missing (no server browser, platoons, scoreboard, All-chat, rentable servers, etc) while features that are not associated with BF games are present (hero-shooter operators, a Tarkov knock-off, a shop for cosmetics)
The game had a several bugs and stability and netcode issues but it was definitely more stable and playable than BF4 at its early days.

Post launch:

Several updates that brought the game closer to what a BF game is expected to be but still lacking several important aspects that help the BF games thrive (server browser and platoon support)
Most of the gameplay bugs etc have been fixed, but some of the more complex bugs/issues like the so called "recoil bug" remain.
They remade all the launch maps so they are mostly better than before, but at the cost of making a lot fewer new maps for the game.
They brought several legacy weapons from older BF games into the main 2042 game which improved the roster a bit.
The "specialists" have been repurposed into traditional BF classes to an extent.
No CTE, instead we sometimes fill surveys about how we feel about the game
It often feels like we are being ghosted by the development of the game even more than in the past games
For 2042, the the story has yet to be fully written.

Overall I believe both games are similar in how they had troubled launches which needed a long period of fixes.

But while 2042 was more solid in term of bugs, 2042 is the more fundamentally flawed game of the two in how it was having a different foundation of gameplay due to the focus on making the game more similar to hero shooter games and lack of tools to keep people playing with large groups of friends.

I still hope that they will redeem themselves down the line

discussion

13 Replies

cso7777
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
I think that BF1 is the best BF-game from a quality/immersion perspective (when BF1 "works" it is incredibly, just has too many weird game-mechanics), but BF4 is probably the best BF-game made overall. The launch was 'bumpy', and BF4 is far from perfect, but in the end it became the most fun BF-game to play, with lots of good content.
2042 is just not comparable to anything else Dice have delivered. The game is boring content-wise and boring game-play-wise. Dice uses the BP to keep players playing, not fun gameplay and good content.
Adamonic
2 years ago
BF2042 is dog water compared to BF4 even today.

There is only one thing that BF2042 has over BF4, the T-system, and that is sad considering BF4 is 10 years older than BF2042. 10 years in tech is like 100 years of time, just look at the video cards and how much RAM was normal for a PC in 2013 (Quad-Core CPU + GTX1660 w/3GB + 8GB RAM vs i7 4790 + RTX 3060 w/12GB + 16 GB RAM). The fact that we have regressed to this is just sad.
You would think in a decade, the game would evolve and improve, yet they decide to use 45Hz tick rate cloud servers today that are a complete joke. Half the game's performance issues would be resolved if they went to 60Hz servers, but they refuse even though that is exactly what fixed a lot of BF4 issues.
There was a lot of destruction and levolution in BF4, in BF2042, we get a tornado. We can barely swim in BF2042 and the chance of them releasing any naval warfare maps are slim to none.
BF2042 was centered around the Specialists, not the maps, and that is why it failed and is one of the worst FPS of all-time. Player counts are at pre-season 1 levels today. BF4 was cooking 2 years after release and BF2042 is dead.
Look at the content drops, we got 1 Specialist, 1 map, and 1 vehicle for 4 seasons, then even less than that in Season 5 (which was never supposed to be a season), and now Season 6 coming with a Portal map that they converted for AOW.
This title is a joke, everyone associated with it should be identified, and not allowed to work on future BF titles.
BF4 launched with the ability to view the map you were playing on your tablet or phone, you could play as the commander from any device, yet in BF2042 launched without a SCOREBOARD! The differences are so stark that it is offensive to even mention BF4 and BF2042 in the same sentence.
How did they go from BF4 and BF1 to this pile of dung?
TG_Maveric2022
2 years ago
@Adamonic
I had not realized we had been downgraded to 45hz servers.
As far as I recall even as recently as BFV, they had a higher tick rate based on our frames per second and distance/direction.
Lancelot_du_Lac
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@TG_Maveric2022 I watched Cadwoman's video, and thought it was the best summary of BF4 development I have seen.
I agree with Adamonic's comments. It's hard to understand how we got BF2042 from BF4. This highlights everything that is wrong with the gaming industry, at the moment.
UP_LordPlumber
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@Lancelot_du_Lac A little off-topic, but gaming industry as a whole is in total free fall right now.

Games are released in a broken state pretty much across the board. "Live Service" is centered around adding missing features and fixing the general state of the game. And devs are working on cosmetics more than actual content aka maps and gear.

And its actually very easy to understand. EA is forcing BF developers to "follow the trends" which leads to many old devs leaving the company. Now you have a bunch of novice devs unfamiliar with the franchise and its engine trying to figure out what the hell is EA asking of them. Result - Battlefield 2042.
Lancelot_du_Lac
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@UP_LordPlumber so true!
TG_Maveric2022
2 years ago
@UP_LordPlumber
exactly
Back in BF4, the trends were battlepacks and tablet PCs and we know how they were the two design related weaknesses of BF4.
Over the years the trends managed to get more intrusive, to the point where 2042 was allegedly being developed as a totally different game that had to course-correct midway in the development and then post launch.
I really hope this is the last time we will see that
Anobix
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@TG_Maveric2022 wrote:
@UP_LordPlumber
exactly
Back in BF4, the trends were battlepacks and tablet PCs and we know how they were the two design related weaknesses of BF4.
Over the years the trends managed to get more intrusive, to the point where 2042 was allegedly being developed as a totally different game that had to course-correct midway in the development and then post launch.
I really hope this is the last time we will see that
Narrator: It wasn't
cso7777
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@TG_Maveric2022Dice will probably not ditch the live-service system - I think they already confirmed the next game would be a live-service game.

At least they should ditch the weekly missions and just have BP-progression through XP. This would make more people play the game as intended and less players running around, doing all kinds of 'other things'.

BF4 had missions (ribbons) as well, but they didn't create 10(?) new missions every week, that people more or less had to complete for progressing a battle-pass.
Anobix
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@cso7777 wrote:
@TG_Maveric2022Dice will probably not ditch the live-service system - I think they already confirmed the next game would be a live-service game.

At least they should ditch the weekly missions and just have BP-progression through XP. This would make more people play the game as intended and less players running around, doing all kinds of 'other things'.

BF4 had missions (ribbons) as well, but they didn't create 10(?) new missions every week, that people more or less had to complete for progressing a battle-pass.
Yep, I'm all for missions that change up gameplay to get people out of their ruts though. I do miss the challenges for unlocking weapons that was more than x-kills. Although I guess we'd be back to where we were with dedicated unlock servers to do it (like for the bow and arrow in BF4 or Camo unlock servers).
It is pretty hard to have the happy medium balance that is rewarding challenge, but not so annoying or pronounced that then 90% of the playerbase is using sniper rifles or just throwing grenades or whatever. Ultimately I'm not opposed to getting BP progression both ways, the mission completitons are a nice carrot to check off for a boost while hopefully getting enough XP during matches to keep it moving. Although, I think many can agree that the XP gain system is lacking compared to previous BF entries (assist count as kill, XP for damage done, destroy vehicle assists are still broken last I checked, soflam/spotting XP is iffy, etc)