4 years ago

Let's talk specialists and immersion

Well, not really because specialists kill literally any attempt at immersion. Not because of their abilities, but because of the fact that they're clones.

So I'm playing Falck, get killed by Falck, get res'd by a Falck on my team to kill the Falck that killed me, only for that Falck that killed me to be res'd by another Falck. We now have 4 Falck's shooting at each other because I guess she's from a family that had uh...dozens of identical twins at once who all chose to go into the same profession?

Did literally anyone at DICE stop to think for 10 seconds about how absolutely stupid and nonsensical that is? I get it, this isn't a milsim and it shouldn't be. There's gonna be wild physics and hilariously unrealistic *. But staring at a battlefield filled with literal clones ain't one of those things that flies. This isn't a futuristic game with clone-armies duking it out - which would be totally fine if it was and would at least make sense!

But like, can we please for the love of all that is good kill off the specialists as characters? Keep the roles and abilities, but just let players play generic soldiers. The specialists have no personality or backstory or narrative unless you read their bio card, and there's 0 expression or representation of their personalities in-game - not even contextual voice clips that might tell you something about their relationship to other specialists or some connection they have with a specific map.

Also, this is the daily post begging for DICE to show any signs they give a * about the game or community and communicate. Because while I'm sure all the CM's are lovely people, I don't think anyone believes them when they say that they/DICE want to communicate more. That could be happening, nothing is stopping DICE from greenlighting external communications.

A little humility, transparency, and honesty goes a long way with the community.

discussion

60 Replies

Adamonic
Legend
4 years ago
@edgecrusherO0 Angel loops too. Might as well change Manifest into Mackayfest.

The only other alternative was to have a set of Specialists for each side. One on each side that has the same perk. However, that seems to be wayyy too much work for them now.
Psubond
4 years ago
judging how things are going with the speed at which they are working....specialists aren't going anywhere
solidsouthcentr
4 years ago
@edgecrusherO0 I enjoy the game on PS4. People need to get past the inclusion of Specialist. There are still classes just with less restrictions. They need a Trip Wire Specialist. You guys have to understand that it gives them a chance to get creative and shake up the meta. Now!!! Whenever they release the new map they need to take Hourglass down and rework it.
edgecrusherO0
4 years ago
@solidsouthcentra Conceptually, yes. And I like the concept! But making them individuals is beyond stupid, and between the lack of any expression of their character in-game and the oddness of seeing 20 Falck's running around, it makes no sense.

Just make them standard soldiers with "specialist" kits.

If we want to get all fancy, this is a perfect example of ludonarrative dissonance.

Like, how this made it through a single meeting without someone highlighting just how stupid the current incarnation is is truly beyond me.
Adamonic
Legend
4 years ago
@edgecrusherO0 you know what would've been cool? You get to customize what your character looks like, just like a bunch of other games do. Then you choose your specialist perk (wingsuit) and loadout like normal.

There is no need to force me to play with characters I do not want to play as. That also helps with the immersion.

You can be creative without forcing that upon the players. Let them choose.
edgecrusherO0
4 years ago
@Adamonic You mean like DICE did in BFV with the basic character customization? Yeah, it would have been perfect for 2042 and allowed for tons of cosmetic sales.

But as with the rest of the game, DICE managed to make what is possibly the worst possible decision in their execution of the specialists and will have to spend even more time trying to * their quarter-baked system.
Lancelot_du_Lac
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I guess this is the hangover from the original intent of a BR-style game.
Daeyon-be
4 years ago
@solidsouthcentra They could have shaken up the meta without dumb characters. They could have literally done the same but kept the battlefield feeling intact...

Also, tell me how this creative/shake the meta thing works exactly? Because all the creativity I see is about 4 specialists being used most of the match and all of them have nearly identical loadouts because they are meta (also can blame alot of this on weapon balance).

If I wanted a happy go-lucky BF clone, I'd go play those... I came for a dark gritty modern war game and ended up in shiny comedy nerf-shooterfest in early access.

They literally had the winning formula. Everyone that played BF told them: do this and boom, insta-win. And they went "naaaah, this thing works better as a battle-royale/extraction game with unrelatable characters who don't fit in the BF-theme!"

Seeing as how their playerbase is tanking and the amount of news we're getting, I wouldn't hope for DICE to get "creative" again...
Joe234567891011
4 years ago
The clone wars is so mind bogglingly silly I can't believe they actually thought it would be a good idea to turn this franchise into a hero shooter. There is not a single thing I like about specialists.
AJ_Clickz
Seasoned Hotshot
4 years ago
Let's not kid ourselves.. They only added specialists so they can monitise them and get their greedy hands in our pockets even more. Specialists bring NOTHING to Battlefield and they never will.
A Battlefield with specialists IS NOT BATTLEFIELD it is a cringe hero shooter and as much as some people might disagree, well enjoy your dead Battlefield game.
The best part though, the idea of adding specialists to monitise the game ultimately backfired and caused them to make way less money then they would of if they just kept to the Battlefield formula that the majority love and enjoy.