DICE reflects on Battlefield 2042's long road to redemption

"When we look back at the data, and when we really started moving forward with introducing the class systems, one of the big things we really started to understand was that a lot of our issues came from the fact that players didn't understand how the Specialists were supposed to work. And if you don't understand how something is supposed to work, of course you believe that the old way was better. Feedback from players was really good around this. So we had to find a way to give them what they wanted, but still allow us the freedom and flexibility that we originally wanted too." 

From the article. Yeah...EA already talking about another "reimagining" of BF was worrisome enough, but DICE thinking that we didn't like specialists because...we didn't understand them?

Zero confidence DICE has actually learned anything from this games disastrous launch, and fully confident that the next BF will be just as much of a disaster as 2042 was. This is big Ubisoft, "People just don't understand why our NFT's are so exciting!" vibes.

We understood specialists, DICE. We just didn't like specialists. At all. He then goes on to say - 

The return of classes has also been positive for DICE. McArthur says the system's return has given the team a "clarity of purpose" and has helped solidify the vision, driving development of new modes, maps, and themed-events forward. "Other features in the game are richer when you have a proper class system back in the game," he says, adding, "we're really leveraging players playing together, and accentuating that as we go forward." 

So we didn't understand specialists...but the team didn't have clarity of purpose and a solidified vision until players complained enough that they brought the class system back in a more formal way?

DICE can't even get through a single interview without contradicting themselves, apparently.

The things you mention illustrate why EA/Dice will never be able to make a "good battlefield game" again. Because of lack of government regulation, investors, and thus companies, are encouraged to keep increasing profit margins at all costs, which harms the general population.
I think the only way an fps game franchise could last forever is if it was player-owned. 

@Adamonic 

I for one, am not looking for another "reimagining", they don't need to re-invent the wheel, all I want is a SOLID Battlefield game.

No hero/specialist nonsense with all the weird game breaking mechanics and the cringey voice lines, full-stop, just don't do it.

Focus on making the base game functional, stable with all the features that BF players have come to expect, server browsers, persistent servers, VOIP, scoreboards, squad management, platoon/clan support etc. etc.

Fix the hit-reg/lag/de-sync (a ping-limiting mechanic would probably help a ton with this) and anything else effecting gunplay mechanics, gunplay should be predictable and consistent, not randomly good or bad depending on every play session.

My advice would be to look to the older BF titles for ideas/inspiration, take all the beloved maps, modes, game-mechanics from prior BF's and implement them in the next Battlefield title. Looking at stuff like the commander role in BF2, Titan mode from BF2142 just for a couple of examples.

I could probably write several long-winded posts on this subject but long-story-short just give us an updated Battlefield game along the lines of BF2-BF4, a real successor to these titles not a "reimagining"

@Ironhead841Exactly this!

I'm a Battlefield veteran dating back to BF1942, and I've spent the majority of my gaming time in this franchise. I realize by now I'm an "old" man and not the target customer EA/Dice is looking for anymore. I'm not the guy willing to spend rl money on in-game cosmetics and stuff.

Although they try to blow smoke up our arses by letting us belief the Battlefield community feedback matters to them, it's sentences like this that proves they're not interested in the true Battlefield community at all:
"One thing we talked about internally quite a lot was that if there was a moment in time where we were going to open this game up to a whole bunch of new players then it needs to be good."
New players that's where it's at for them, not the long standing BF community.

As said before, I have no illusion that I'm still the customer they are targeting. I used to be that guy that pre-ordered the game, and instantly bought a premium pass as I knew it would be value for money. However with BFV that started to change. The whole ramp up to that game where they were alienating themselves from the BF community made me sceptic enough to not pre-order the game anymore. I still bought it at launch though, but the whole live-service concept and the way they just abandoned the whole development without delivering to the tides of war promise (Eastern front, D-Day anyone?), made me lose my loyalty.

So me and my friends (also BF vets although not as long as me) did not buy BF2042 at launch as we had 0 confidence. And the whole launch disaster proved us right. Eventually we picked it up last summer when it was on sale for just €20,- somewhere. We started playing and have seen some improvement, however we have less fun than we used to. With that the dedication to play the game has faded. Partially also due to changing life priorities (work, kids etc.)

But with that I'd like to end with some food for thought for EA. I know corporate business well enough to understand that I'm not the type of gamer they would listen to anymore. However me and my friends all have kids now, meaning we are raising a new generation of gamers. Until they reach a certain age we have control over where their money is spent, and also some influence on what kind of gamers they evolve into. Don't underestimate the value of loyalty and goodwill, as these are values I try to teach my kids as well.