[Discussion Thread] Core Feedback - Specialists

@Straatford87 I think that problem was largely solved in BF4 with the amount of cross class weapons that basically filled similar roles just as well as the class weapons, but not quite AS good as class weapons. DMR's were strong if you wanted to play from long range but not play recon. Carbines worked if you wanted to use an AR style gun but not play Assault. The only reason I wouldn't be in favor of going back to class restricted weapons is because 2042 simply doesn't have enough weapons to begin with (esp with half being locked in portal).

BF1 (still a great game) and BFV sort of went back on this system though and I think that's possibly why more people may have felt locked to classes. IMO the classes aren't defined by their primary weapons, they are designed and specialized with the gadgets they have and that you pick.

2042 we lost a gadget slot to specialist equipment that can't be changed, and it can't be unpaired from the specialist trait, and then you have a single gadget slot. It made it so that you can specialize less and have even less choice imo. Like the entire engineer specialization of being vehicle support is just gone from this game. You can take a repair tool, or you can take a launcher, but you can't take both? How am I supposed to support a vehicle repairing it when I don't have any way I can fend off other vehicles with an RPG or LAW or something? Just stand there and die? It basically makes it into an item/specialization that no one wants to play.

I played recon a ton in previous games, the MAV was a great tool in certain matches when you want to support your team, but lots of times I would play recon as a front line stealth anti-vehicle class. Find someplace near enemy controlled areas, put down a spawn beacon somewhere outside, parachute in and put C4 on unsuspecting tanks. Well now if I play Casper I have to take the drone no matter what, which is basically a far worse MAV. I can take an insertion beacon, but I can't take C5 anymore, so that type of freedom of specialization and gameplay is gone.

Honestly if there was just a 2nd class locked gadget slot it would help alleviate that, or decoupling the specialist traits and gadgets. Imo I think it was a huge design mistake to also put movement related gadgets/specialties only on specific characters. A new gadget slot ONLY for movement based items would have made a lot more sense and opened up the gameplay more. I don't have the metrics you have but I wouldn't be surprised if Sundance and McKay were two of the most played simply because they have FAR superior movement abilities compared to every other character, which is extremely powerful considering how the maps in 2042 were designed.

imo an easy solution would be just having a non-specialist character for each class along with the specialists that has open gadget slots so you can just play them like a normal BF character, like letting us choose how we want to specialize instead of locking any type of specialization to the "unique" characters in game. Like is the grappling hook so advanced that only McKay has the training to use it or something? idk. I feel kinda bad for you guys because this is sort of a no win situation, but as a game dev if I were working on a project that had this kind of reception I'd be listening to the fans of the previous entries that sold really well and still have strong populations, not the sliver of audience that's still left begging for it to be kept the same.