BF 2042 - Constructive Criticism, Feedback, Suggestions

Greetings all,

Before I dive in, I'd like to go thank @PartWelsh (I have no idea if his origin name tagged here is the same person) for providing a quick response on Twitter and providing a link here to take a dive into my personal constructive criticism, as well as feedback and suggestions moving forward. I understand people's frustration and being so quick to become nasty quickly on open-ended media posts like we see on Twitter/Facebook/Reddit... whatever the site may be. However, I don't agree with taking that action; I want to be very concise and to the point in a well-structured manner to deliver it effectively. This will surely become a long read, but I appreciate every and anybody that takes the time to take a look. Battlefield is my favorite franchise, and I'd love to only see this game go up from here.

Starting off, I want to say thank you to all current and potentially former developers who had a hand in making the game, as well as those who had a part in media relations and management. At the end of the day, I understand you are all human like the rest of us. You come in to do your job and make your living. I know there's a lot of you who really put in a lot of heart and soul into what they produce for people to play, and there's always some level of significant talent that should never be undersold. So despite what the outcome was in the end for this game, that's something to keep in mind. Now, let's dive in to the real meat here.

Battlefield 2042 has a large quantity of problems. Some are opinionated of course, but there are also many objective issues in the way moving forward. The quantity is so at large that it's clearly overwhelming for many players, especially veterans of the series who take particular notice. The major concern here really isn't if you can fix them; but if and when it will be done and I believe the current scheduling/pace is potentially too far gone to bring players back and make the game feel alive again. I'm glad a solo/co-op vs AI mode exists on it's own merit, but to see a large portion of AI in some games is concerning given the game was released so recently. Keep in mind that I play on NA-east coast, so those in relatively lesser populated and isolated regions of the world are sure to be having it so much worse off. In a game series focused so heavily on team/squad play and an engaging PVP experience, this is a more than unfavorable situation. I understand at this point there's no getting around it: if the active player count keeps dropping so heavily week after week with less and less players available to matchmake, it's inevitable. The point to focus on is why so many players are leaving to begin with, and solving the issue there first.

Alas, here are where my criticism and suggestions come as a factor. I by no means will define this as what every single player wants, but as to what I feel the overall majority of the players would like to see; especially those who have played numerous previous entries in the Battlefield franchise. I have just about 140 hours in this game to date, with several thousand combined between previous titles so I personally believe I have some grounds to stand saying this. I will list them out categorized and in bullet points for ease of viewing.

None of the below are presented in order by importance:

* = see note below list

Features / Gameplay

- Traditional class system (*1)

- Limitation of specialist tools (*1)

- Marksman bonus (*2)

- Improved/streamlined spotting

- Spawn preview (*3)

- Poor vehicle responsiveness/aiming

- Start of round improvements (*4)

- Squad creation/selection

- End of round improvements(*5)

- UI/HUD improvements (*6)

- Detailed scoreboard (*7)

- Removal of random initial spread entirely

- Removal of team damage by friendly call-ins (*8)

- Detailed player statistics page

Content

-Permanent game modes(*9)

-More maps/variety (*10)

-Significant additions of guns

-Unlockable skins

-Consistent seasonal content

Bug Fixes

- Inability to sometimes deploy parachute after exiting aircraft or falling from building

- Jets flying extremely quirky and twitchy

- General land vehicle/aircraft debris and fallout instability

- World collision issues (still able to fall through map on rare occasion)

Other

-Clear, concise, and direct communication with player base.

-Quality AND timely updates

*1: A part of what makes Battlefield a Battlefield game is the long-used class system. It allows players in each class type to have a designated and well-defined purpose that not only lets the player know what they're supposed to be doing, but also given exclusive tools to do so and with distinct disadvantages. The current system with specialists allows all players to play exactly how'd they would like at all times, which is fantastic for a solo experience but does not feed well into team and squad play. It is doable but by no-means encouraged, rewarded, or opposingly punished. There is too much freedom for every player to do what they want, and have all tools at their disposal with little to no downside. I will give an extremely common example to really drive this point home: Example - You are playing as specialist 'Angel'. Angel has access to armor plates that he can supply to himself and others, which allows himself and those other players to absorb more damage in total and in turn play more aggressively. This self-defense buff encourages to take a fight more often than he would otherwise, which may keep him from reviving downed team/squad mates. Furthermore, he is also able to call in a supply crate; allowing himself and any other player to use it to swap classes and/or resupply themselves. So now I not only have armor plates to continue/start a fight, but I have more ammunition to do so. Maybe this angel or nearby teammates will also carry anti-vehicle or anti-air launchers. At this point, what is a good reason to choose an ammo crate accessory vs a launcher when you can just resupply without it anyways? Maybe this Angel decides to loadout with a marksman/sniper rifle. He has unlimited ammunition with no need for another teammate to help give him ammo. So now this Angel yet again finds himself in a position entirely self-supplied with no need for anyone else. As a support character intended to revive others, he can no longer does so at large opportunity due to his relative isolation. Another example: you are playing as Sundance. Traditionally, the best way to get from point A to point B is by taking a land vehicle or aircraft to get there, but this specialist can entirely negate that need and do it more efficiently at times. She also has a multipurpose grenade, eliminating the need for any other type of slotted grenade since she has 3 different ones at her disposal already in her ability arsenal. She can either double up on explosive power using anti-armor grenades as well as carry a launcher, or use grenades-only and use the slot for something else instead; over-tuning her own potential.

Whatever the reason is that turned to specialists being incorporated over the accustomed class system, said reason needs a significant re-evaluation.

*2: A big part of what made sniping satisfying in Battlefield games in the past was the marksman bonus received for executing a headshot kill on an enemy, which is now seemingly gone at random. Something that may seem so small and insignificant, but plays a large role as to why people people picked one up in the first place.

*3: A great feature introduced before was being able to highlight a squad-mate to potentially spawn on and see a small camera preview of what's going on real-time around them. This would be an excellent one to add back in. On top of that, it would be extremely beneficial to see what kind of land-vehicle/aircraft you would be spawning in on said teammate before having to commit to it with no way to back out besides a redeployment.

*4: This somewhat ties in with the previous point, but there needs to be a way to choose a spawn at the start of a match but also be able to back out of it and also change specialist/loadouts/weapon customization in the waiting window.

*5: Another staple of previous Battlefield games was to seamlessly run back-2-back matches without getting booted back to the main screen every single time. It's streamlined, clean, and leads to players remaining immersed and engaged for a longer period of time.

*6: There are far too many instances of where the labels of objectives, teammates, or anything else on the HUD getting in the way of being able to clearly see what's going on in your forward vision. For example, if I'm looking forward towards an objective that is held or being contested by enemies, I need to be able to see them; not have the objective label "A" get in the way.

*7: This one is fairly straight forward: in an FPS game we as the player want to know exactly how not only we ourselves are performing but also everyone else, and this is for a few different reasons. A large one is to see who is potentially AFK, or who is potentially cheating. However as of now, outside of being in your own squad there's no way to see if someone else has a 105/0 kill-death ratio. It's a simple but extremely important part of a game in this genre and type.

*8: It's funny at times, but also really inconvenient: why am I able to call in a supply crate as Angel and kill any of my teammates for any given reason? Why does calling in a vehicle on a friendly kill them as well? On a hardcore game mode level this would make sense, as would any friendly fire, but not with what we have at this given time.

*9: Rush. That's just one example and a classic, necessary one at that. It's something so many Battlefield fans have to come to love throughout the years. Limited time modes need to make sense.

*10: I personally enjoy the maps that we have now, but there's no denying that even with 128 players those same maps all can feel just too-large at times. Besides adding in some more cover areas in those maps(another topic that would have to be dived into), the game would also greatly benefit from having something that feels more infantry-oriented. Think operation locker, or something along those sorts. Even just smaller maps for normal AOW gameplay would be beneficial.

******

This post is getting to be very long already so I don't want to take up more page real-estate than necessary. However, the above summarized my thoughts for the game in it's current state and what I believe (and likely many others) need to see moving forward. Hopefully I didn't miss anything I wanted to discuss or have any ridiculous typos or any of the sorts; it's getting late for me (night shifts...rah.) Feel free to chime in and keep the ball moving.

EA/DICE, I'm more than willing to sit here and explain anything further or help in whatever way possible. Keep the communication open and direct to the players, make the most out of nothing for this game; because from this point onwards the game needs every update to be a HOMERUN and more.

Cheers.