Battlefield 2042 launch feedback

Battlefield 4 in game server browser

Battlefield 3/4 Battlelog Server Browser

Scoreboard – We need the old scoreboard back even if we need to opt into it. This scoreboard needs to be XP based like the old one whereas the new one is primarily kill based despite being limited to the squad. Previously one could be at the top of the scoreboard solely by PTFOing and playing one’s class regardless of number of kills. Now everything is kills based and that’s not very inclusive. This scoreboard should show kills, deaths, revives given, score, and ping. Revives given hasn’t been in the scoreboard before but is a very good indication of being a team player and offsets any deaths the player may have suffered.

Customization kill switch - to see everyone as generic soldiers like the AI soldiers look like. This change can also solve the friend from foe identification issue caused by specialists. Some Specialist skins are also bizarre and wholly unsuitable for a military operation with only a few actually looking military. Many Specialists skins look like they were ripped from Apex using color combinations you’d never see on the Battlefield since it makes you stand out. This decidedly unmilitary look is immersion breaking to say the least and both core Battlefield players and the skin buying crowd can be pleased with a client side customization kill switch where we can either have granular control to not see the worst offenders or a total kill switch where everyone looks like the well done faction AI.

World of Tanks which is a Free2Play game even provides such a kill switch under the “Hide non-historical elements” toggle (see below)

One solution to the Specialist friend from foe identification problem can be solved like a Free2Play game I used to play with members of the FridayNightBattlefield Community called Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex First Assault Online did. In GITS both sides played the same heroes from the Ghost in the Shell anime and there was a skin shop with premium cosmetics just like in Battlefield 2042. In order to solve the friend from for identification issue GITS made the enemy side look like a default enemy model instead of members of Section 9 – this is where Battlefield 2042 falls short with Specialists (see screenshot below). You could do this in 2042 but have generic class looks for the enemy depending on their role.

Disable top notification bar – the notification bar at the top of the screen while much better than in the Beta is still highly distracting. Since I have the announcer in game I should have the option to totally disable the top notification bar in my UI. Please allow us to do this.

Squad Class icons instead of picture or in addition to Specialist pic – This would be nice so I know if my squad mate has an AT/AA launcher/repair tool etc. Unfortunately due to no weapon or gadget restrictions there is no 100% clean way to implement this feature.

Game Settings - Traditional Battlefield settings such as quick grenade and quick crate throw (quick crate throw needs to be added to 2042) should be on by default and new multi-stepped versions opted into.

Spawn on full vehicles – It would be great to be able to spawn on full vehicles but on foot again like in BF5. This is even more necessary in 2042 due to the larger map size and 4 man squads that cannot spawn under fire. It would dramatically help the game play flow on larger maps.

Vehicles

Tanks – the turret speed is excruciatingly slow while modern tanks turret traversal is super fast since they’re hydraulically driven. BF3/4’s tanks were both solid and realistic in both gun speed and vehicle sound and movement. Please recreate those vehicle mechanics in 2042’s tanks. Also real tanks can elevate their main gun quite high to engage aircraft which 2042’s tanks are incapable of doing. Please increase main gun max elevation.

Choppers – Choppers are super difficult to kill, their counter measures recharge much too quickly and now pilots have started camping at the max ceiling height far above where anti-air can reach them. Anti-air needs a dramatic lock on engagement distance increase to balance the scales.

Vehicle handling - Since the Technical Test vehicles have felt floaty reminding me of driving Halo’s Warthog. Vehicles need to have weight and momentum like they did in BC2-BF4

Level locked vehicles – why are vehicles level locked in BF2042? I should be able to call in any vehicle that my teams needs at level 1 for balance and to meet the mission requirements. This is a truly bizarre design decision.

Gadgets

2042 needs a mortar that can fire both high explosives and smoke like we had in Battlefield 3 so we can obscure our movement across the wide open parts of the large 2042 maps and smoke our advancement on objectives. Mortars are also a balance against snipers and there are a lot of snipers in 2042.

Medic Specialist – we need to be able to replace Falck’s Syrette pistol with the BF3 defibs – this would give medic the revive boost needed to differentiate from non-medic squad revives and Falk’s Syrette no longer revives players so we can make up for her Syrette with a medic crate. You wanted to give us flexibility to play how we want so please allow us to do this.

AA missiles need to be buffed or aircraft counter measures need to be nerfed. We need a fighting chance to kill helis. As they are right now they remind me of the BC2 and Pre-Armored Kill BF3 invincible flying tanks. Also max ceiling needs to be reduced since choppers are now ceiling camping out of range from AA like in BF3 and are unkillable except from another air vehicle. This is unbalanced. The lock on ranges for lock on weapons are incredibly short for the very large maps that we have. They feel shorter than in BF3/4 did on 64 player maps and need to be increased.

Ammo box does not refill gadgets. If they do then the refill time needs to significantly shorter as you’d be dead if you wait that long in one place.

Crate Cool downs - Why do ammo and medic crates have a cool down? The CD needs to be removed as it prevents team play and PTFO. We should be able to drop a crate whenever a teammate needs one without having our hands tied with a cool down. Team play is already at an all time low in 2042 due to Specialists this would help correct the issue.

Limited use gadgets - Are gadgets like spawn beacon, ammo/health crates limited use as they appear to be? If they are they need to be permanently on the map unless destroyed or thrown out again by the player like in BF3.

Weapons

Legacy weapons could be brought into AOW as older weapons are frequently found on the battlefield in times of scarcity to bolster weapon count. The assault rifle spread/bloom needs to be addressed. Make the assault rifles better do not make SMGs worse as SMGs feel good right now but ARs feel very bad. Keep SMGs as they are and make ARs effective at long range which the SMGs are not currently effective at.

Stats page – players needs a global stats page to see how they are doing across the entirety of their matches. This helps players improve.

Ribbons

The Ribbons – are too broad/generic and there are only 5 ribbons in BF2042. We need the full ribbon and medal system back as it gives players things to shoot for to unlock medals and dog tags. Make specific ribbons for specific team play, game mode, and class actions like we had in BF3/4/1 anti-vehicle, nemesis, reviving, etc.

Battlefield 2042 ribbons

Battlefield 3 Ribbons and Medals

Bugs:

Here are the bugs that I’ve personally encountered in the Battlefield 2042 early access and launch period:

• Tumble on revive- I’m not sure if this is a design decision or a bug but every time I get revived my soldier tumbles around like he’s doing a somersault. This should not happen and is rather unpleasant. Make the revive like previous Battlefield titles where we’re not gymnasts.

• Tank hulls stay on minimap for a while after being destroyed looking like an empty vehicle to take

• Can’t be revived near structures or trees

• Permanent downed state bug

• Disappearing terrain features where you can see through the ground.

• Hit detection while better after the 18th’s patch is still spotty

• Unable to ADS

• Specialist load outs not saving

Portal

Portal is supposed to allow us to recreate the game play experiences from previous Battlefield titles along with all new player generated experiences. With this in mind I leave the following feedback on Battlefield Portal.

MBTs (Main Battle Tanks) - the turret speed is excruciatingly slow as if we were in a WWII tank while modern tanks turret traversal is super fast since they’re hydraulically driven – I saw this personally as a former US Army Armor Officer who served on the M1A1, M1A2, and M1A2SEP Abrams Main Battle Tank. BF3/4’s tanks were both solid and realistic in both gun speed and vehicle sound and movement. Please recreate those vehicle mechanics and sounds in 2042’s Portal tanks. Also real tanks can elevate their main gun quite high to engage aircraft which 2042’s tanks are overall incapable of doing. Please increase main gun max elevation. Currently the tanks in Portal are not behaving like they did in Bad Company 2 or Battlefield 3. In portal the Battlefield 3 Abrams sounds like an electric truck instead of what an actual Abrams sounds like. Battlefield 3 and 4 nailed the Abrams sound.

Spawn load out customization – Since most legacy Portal servers do not use the plus system we desperately need to be able to customize our weapons in a traditional load out customization screen. Earlier I embedded the Battlefield 4 load out screen and here is the Battlefield 3 load out screen – both are far better than 2042’s current unwieldy load out.

Spawn Screen – please note that you can choose your weapons/gadgets from this screen as well.

Load out Customization Screen

Squad Size customization – In Portal we need the ability to increase squad size in order to create the experiences that our communities desire and to facilitate playing with friends. In a 128 player match we can have 16x 8 man squads. If you eventually patch in a Commander we can have 21 x 6 man squads with one Commander on each side.

Why do sights affect handling when in BF3 and BC2 they did not? Remove this effect for non-2042 weapons and sights.

Allow server creators to disable spawn under fire prohibition in Portal as it wasn’t in Battlefield until BF4 and prevents us from recreating past game experiences.

3D spotting isn’t classic 3D spotting just an approximation worse than BF1’s spotting. Give us the option to enable BC2 and BF3 style 3D Spotting instead of this weak approximation of what 3D spotting was. More options are always better when it comes to tools like Portal.

Need classic class icons in the squad screen in Portal while using BF1942, BC2, BF3 classes instead of the photos so we can see at a quick glance what class someone is playing. This was a vital piece of information before 2042’s Specialist system.

Battlefield 3 (Portal)

Voice Lines - We need all of the old BF3 soldier class voice lines. I’ve heard the Russian version in Portal and it sounds like the old voice actor – but different. However the US soldier classes don’t use the same voice lines most of the time (only once in a while) or actors and some of the voice lines are just bad compared to Battlefield 3. I know this is different because I play Battlefield 3 every week and have for the past 10 years. Please bring back the old US BF3 voice lines unchanged and unedited. If there wasn't a voice line in the original BF3 for an action do not add in a new one. My BF3 soldiers don't need the new voice lines saying not to revive me - it's a different voice and isn't BF3 taking away from recreating the true BF3 experiences. This goes for all Portal era specific experiences - do not 2042ize the legacy experiences allow us to accurately recreate those wonderful Battlefield games.

Class tools – in Battlefield 3 the medic had defibs locked to a slot while the medic crate shared the slot with under barrel items that could also be used as separate even when you had a weapon that didn’t have an under barrel attachment like and SMG. The engineer had both slots open to customize so I could run rocket and mines as an engineer, the repair tool wasn’t a mandatory gadget slot and shared the gadget slot with mines and the EOD bot. The Support has ammo as a mandatory slot however claymores, the Mortar, and C4 shared the second slot. The Mortar is missing from BF3 and must be returned since when playing against Bad Company Two classes they have a mortar and the BF3 side does not. The BF3 mortar is also balanced since you’re exposed to counter mortar fire, you can also drop smoke instead of HE to obscure and advance on the objective. The Recon class had the spawn beacon locked to one slot while the SOFLAM, MAV, and TUGs shared the other gadget slot. – we need the load out back to this as it severely limits being able to recreate actual Battlefield 3 game play the way it currently is.

M320 & MASS stand alone gadget – The stand alone M320 and its variants was available to replace the medic crate as an under barrel attachment along with stand alone versions of the MASS Shotgun. Currently when we select a weapon without an under barrel attachment I cannot use the M320 or MASS despite being able to do so in BF3. Bring back the standalone M320 and MASS for when I use non-assault rifles as medic.

Ammo box does not refill gadgets. Ammo boxes refilled gadgets, rockets, and grenades in Battlefield 3. If they are refilling them then the timer is much too long and nothing like BF3’s timer. Revert to BF3’s timer for refilling rockets, gadgets, and grenades.

Crate Cool downs – Crates in Battlefield 3 and earlier games did not have a cool down. I could drop a crate, move a few meters and drop another immediately if my teammate needed ammo or health. Why do ammo and medic crates have a cool down when in Battlefield 3 the crates did not have a cool down? The Cool Down needs to be removed as it prevents team play and PTFO and we cannot create a real BF3 server if crates are acting like they did in BF4-2042.

Limited use gadgets - Are gadgets like spawn beacon, ammo/health crates limited use? They appear to be and gadgets were not limited use in Battlefield 3, they stayed on the map permanently until they are destroyed or thrown out again by the player. Please ensure that the gadgets behave like this in the Battlefield 3 Portal settings.

G3A3 under barrel – in Battlefield 3 the G3A3 could use an under barrel for the majority of its life cycle. Late in the life cycle DICE disabled the under barrel functionality on the G3A3 due to a damage glitch with the M320 DART after an expansion that they couldn’t correct so they kept it disabled. Since for the majority of the game the G3A3 used the under barrel please correct the Portal BF3 G3A3 to correctly user under barrel attachments as we cannot use them at 2042’s launch. Of note the G3A3's fire rate in the BF3's classes is much faster than in Battlefield 3 and the sound is different acting like Bad Company 2's G3A3.

BF3 soldier and weapon camo customization – Battlefield 3 was the first game to use soldier and weapon camo customization and it was done well. Allow us to customize our soldiers and weapons with camo uniforms and paint from Battlefield 3.

Battlefield 3’s defibs do not require a charge (that started in BF4) they only required you to do one slap on the casualty and they revived the downed player at full health. Please make Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2’s defibs behave the way they are supposed to without a required charging period for full health revives.

Conquest Domination needs to be added as a game mode along with BF3’s four Close Quarters expansion maps

The lock on ranges for lock on weapons are incredibly short for the very large maps that we have. They feel far shorter than in BF3/4 did on 64 player maps. The lock on time in Portal is also much longer than in Battlefield 3 so reduce the lock on time to meet the BF3 requirements in Portal under the BF3 rules set. The Javelin animations are also very different from BF3’s – please correct to use the proper animations.

The Reticle on BF3 Cobra site is washed out and almost unusable.

Where are BF3’s squad perks? Squad Perks were a staple of squad play in Battlefield 3. Do not confuse them with Battlefield 4’s squad perks, these are selectable and permanently enabled at spawn.

In the BF3 mode why is there a mandatory reload when the weapon is out of ammo. Traditionally I've been able to go dry, then immediately swap to my side arm without reloading. Also shotguns can no longer stop being reloaded to engage the enemy.

Additional Topics

Add in BF2 maps and classes (there are 7 classes in BF2) and more BF3 maps for the next drop.

We need the ability to run a commander in Portal in order to create the experiences that our Communities desire.

Why is Special Edition content not shared by multiple platforms? My collector’s edition Doughboy M1911 in Battlefield 1 was usable on all platforms connected to my Origin account. The special edition content should be a server side entitlement that is usable on all connected platforms as this would be an excellent player first move for someone who is purchasing multiple copies of the game. It would be a gesture of good will as well to your long term supporters.