Last Week's Hardcore mode was fun and what BF2042 can take from it.
The mode pretty much laid bare some of the biggest problems with vanilla gameplay.
Vanilla gameplay is unfun and frustrating because:
1. TTK is way too long.
2. Some weapons are outclassed by others in most situations and unbalanced.
3. Vehicles have WAY TOO MUCH ARMOR.
In Hardcore, a couple of shots with most weapons could take anyone down. In Vanilla? It can take five without armor depending on range. If we're shooting 9mm at long distances, sure, I understand, but an actual rifle or MG? There's just no excuse for that to ever be possible.
It's because of this that weapons are unbalanced in vanilla. It takes more than a couple shots to kill someone close range with most guns. K30 or MG, for example. The K30 doesn't win in vanilla because the shooter can get the gun on target faster and shoot more accurately hipfire, they win because they shoot so many more bullets in a short amount of time. An MG is still being raised and shoots so much slower. It should be who can get the bead and accuracy. Point blank an MG should shred the hell out of someone, but the K30 still wins because the bumblebee bullets win.
ALL VEHICLES HAVE WAY TOO MUCH ARMOR. M5's were a threat in hardcore. It just makes sense that one can kill a LAV, hovercraft, or bolte. There's no excuse for any of those to withstand a hit from the M5. None. MAV and Wildcat? Honestly they shouldn't either but they still take way too much effort to take down. Tanks can have armor to take 2, and should die to 3 if the M5's are quick enough.
Air also has way too much armor. Aircraft could be dealt with fairly in hardcore, and they'd have to bug out and come back instead of hanging around 10 meters above ground circling around a squad of enemies. It should take less AA to take down any aircraft. AP rounds in guns should absolutely CHEW UP any helicopter or VTOL.
Beyond fixing some really terrible areas in some maps that are too easy to hold down or are too sniper friendly, the other parts of the game that make it unfun is how vanilla gameplay flows.
Give us something like hardcore in vanilla. Please. It was so much more fun. Vanilla BF2042 is just so frustrating and arbitrary. If I get a bead on someone, I like knowing I can win the gunfight. I hate seeing 4-5 shots hit the guy and them just dome me like nothing happened.
