Which maps presently provide a poor opening experience because of the location of the Base Spawn? : 1)Manifest, which I feel often gets forgotten in feedback because it's the "infantry focused map" which everyone loves. The starting location for both teams is too far away for infantry to run through, so if you spawn without a vehicle, tough luck. The attacking side on Breakthrough is also very annoying for infantry because of the river passing through disrupting your run to the objective and making you swim and then climb a ladder unless you run from a very specific point which has a bridge. 2)Orbital in Conquest 128 for both sides. 3)Renewal in Conquest and Breakthrough for US side. 4)Discarded for both sides in Conquest, for RU side in Breakthrough. 5)Hourglass Conquest US side. 6)Breakaway Conquest US side.
How do you feel about the current balance between Infantry and Vehicles in Breakthrough? It's different from a map to another. Discarded, Breakaway, Hourglass and Manifest are examples where the balance works quite well, and for different reasons. In Discarded, Breakaway and Hourglass the vehicles get the space they need to be the corner stone of a team's attack or defense, but at the same time they're quite exposed in a way that makes them always in need of support, and are never a definitive solution on their own. In Manifest infantry have a lot of cover and power in fighting vehicles, but never in a way that makes vehicles feel completely powerless. Again, they are a part of a team's plan, but can only go so far on their own.
Orbital, Kaleidoscope and Renewal are examples where I personally feel like the flat open spaces and distance in relation to the positions of objectives give vehicles way too much power over the battle in a way that doesn't lend itself to a fun or balanced experience.
Have you played 64 player Breakthrough, and do you feel that this is the better way to experience the mode? I have, and I do think it's ultimately a less chaotic and more balanced experience for this mode. But I have played 128 BT more because I play this mode for the intensity of the battles and currently 128 offers that in a much more satisfactory way. As a general rule, I find Conquest 128 the definitive best way to play this game and Conquest the defining mode of Battlefield, so Breakthrough in both of its versions is just a secondary fun side mode for me. Personally I think the big problem of Breakthrough 128 isn't so much in the number of players, but in the size of the available playspace at a given time. Hourglass has very poor first and final sectors, but it stands out as a very enjoyable map for this mode because of its 3 FLAGS, LARGER AREA b sector. If more BT128 maps incorporated bigger chunks of the maps for each sector, with 3 flags at a time, I think the mode can reach a good balance of fun and intensity.
On which maps and Flags do you see the most immediate need for more line of sight blockers? Kaledoscope Breakthrough A2, Kalidoscope Breakthrough C2 (G1 in Conquest 128). Discarded Conquest 128 B1 and C1. Orbital Conquest 128 C2 and C1. Breakway Conquest 128 A3 and C1. The entire first and final sectors of Hourglass Breakthrough, and in Conquest 128 terms: Sector D and the ground objectives of Sector E.
Do you have specific areas on maps that currently stand out to you as lacking cover? Aside from the above I think the area between sectors A and B in Manifest breakthrough is too open and too linear. In breakthrough this makes the initial push for the attacking team rather grueling especially since in the end, there's the equally difficult task of going on the ships and taking the flags As a general critique of the map itself especially in Conquest, I think it's linearity hurts player freedom and the sandbox feel of Battlefield conquest.
