I still believe it was intentional for few reasons (btw, isn't word "few" a funny one, does it mean "a lot" or "a little"?):
- Bigger maps, more players -> performance hit
- New generations do not watch war movies any more, they watch "soap operas" (however they call it these days). Some of us were even in the war. Hell I know how a destroyed building looks like, how the gun sounds, how it feels when a shell drops nearby. MG firing is scary from few kilometers away. Even the small 60mm mortar shell dropping 100m away is SCARY AF not to mention larger guns or Katyusha MRL that eats your soul :D But it's a history for most players now, not a real thing. Our nopads could as well be sanitizing their hands before battle and put on the masks, majority wouldn't care.
The maps in this game stink compared to other BF games. They messed up with this.
