Returning Player Thoughts

I have been a consistent player of the BF franchise since BC2 in 2009. I was hoping for a return to the greatness that BF 3 & 4 brought and like most soon realized, 2042 fell well short of the mark. I pretty much stopped playing by January and moved on to other things. I have recently returned to check out the new maps, to see what has changed, and have read up on what will be changing in season 3 and have been pleasantly surprised by the changes. 

Exposure is a very fun map. I love the verticality of it which can provide some natural cover and escape from aerial vehicles. The various ways to get around the map and the interior spaces are great too. It's a huge map and it offers a very different feeling and aesthetic as will but so far I am enjoying it. 

I haven't played Stranded too much so my opinion is still out on this one, but it seems too familiar to Discarded. Discarded was one of the better maps upon release so that's not terrible per se, but it feels a little too familiar. Maybe I just need more time on it.

As far as the reworked maps, Orbital and Kaleidescope are much more fun now with the added cover. The improvement of the tunnels on Orbital is huge. When I have played these two maps I feel like This is what these maps were intended to be but were rushed out the door unfinished to meet deadlines. I haven't had enough time to play Renewal yet so I don't have much of an opinion on it. Overall, the difference in quality of gameplay between Orbital and Kaleidescope and original maps like Breakaway (terrible) and Hourglass (even more terrible) is immense. 

Weapons for the most part feel decent, but my opinion is still out on balance. I do think the TTK is too high. I don't think we need hardcore level TTK but it could be lowered some IMO.

I am also happy to hear about grouping the specialists into the traditional class roles with certain restrictions and perks that encourage to play those roles the way they were intended. I'm still not sure about Roa being Recon as the engineer role seems to be a better fit, but that would only leave two specialists in the recon role. Not a big deal, he could go either way, but his abilities seems to lean more the engineer role IMO. I also think Paik is more suited for the assault role with the wall hack and threat perception. At the end of it all there just doesn't seem to be a well thought out recon specialist outside of Casper and Dice is trying to force fit Rao and Paik into the role. 

Overall I'm still not a big fan of the specialists scheme and I hope future Battlefield titles goes back to the traditional roles with restricted roles and weapons. Me personally, I thought BF 4 did this near perfectly with certain restricted weapons (AR's, SMG's, LMG's, Sniper Rifles) but also opened up DMR's and Shotguns to all classes. THere needs to be some kind of balance struck though because the any class can run any weapon just doesn't serve the overall quality of the match play well. Yes, I know some want to be able to run whatever they want whenever they want, but I don't think this should be valued more highly than the overall quality and flow of the typical match when designing the game. 

While the game is still far from being perfect I am happy to see it going in the right direction. I am just one of a million opinions, but I wanted to put my opinion in this giant bucket because I care about the Battlefield franchise and its future. And for the record, please do not EVER move in the direction of COD, especially concerning the overly twitchy and sweaty mess that game has become. Also, please don't ever consider skill based matchmaking for that same reason. That is the one thing that will almost guarantee I won't buy a future Battlefield game than anything else!

In closing, please keep up the good work. I know this game has been beat up terribly over the last year, but I think credit needs to be given where it is due which is what I want my main takeaway to be despite some critiquing still given.