Teamwork
Hey guys I have a crazy idea. Instead of blaming the specialists for no teamwork, how bout we blame the battlefield community that seems to forget that teamwork is essential. Crazy idea I know.
Forum Discussion
40 Replies
- @acousticxero In theory, yes. In execution, no.
Class system: You know more or less the loadouts of your teammates. Limited weapons and gadgets resulted in you having an idea of what kinds of weapons and gadgets they have so you could pick a class to complement.
Specialists: No indication of any of this. And while I love the freedom with weapon/gadget selection, it makes it impossible to know what loadouts your team has so you can pick something that works well with it. Even something as simple as a small UI element next to their names that showed the weapon class and gadget would be a huge improvement in this regard.
But it's all the intentional design decisions from previous games that are missing. Why can't I get suppressing credit for helping lay down covering fire for my team as they move up? Why can't we have "oldschool spotting" back for our squad only? (it makes sense that it's gone for the whole team) Why aren't there any rewards for actual interactions with the specialist skills to encourage players to find interesting combinations and work together to achieve them?
I could go on, but my point is that while yes, teamwork has always been hit-or-miss in terms of what players actually do, the design to encourage and reward teamplay was very much more present in previous BF games compared to 2042. You can't control/force players to play a certain way, but you can absolutely encourage/reward it. And there's little encouragement or rewarding of teamwork in 2042. - @acousticxero BF2042 does, as also BFV did, everything to support all the players that don't want (relay) on team play.
Auto heal, auto repair, and ammo drops are the culprits, not classes and not Specialists.
BFV tried to address this with the attrition system, which became so washed down from Alpha to release, that it just became a nuisance that then even ended up in favoring support over medics.
I played BF4 on "Classic" servers, which doesn't had auto heal and auto repair, so that was a perfect incentive for team play.
To be honest "Normal mode" makes team play not necessary, and the players from the past that still remembers team play is no longer playing in BF2042. It's a tough one. Teamwork has been an issue for a while now but Specialists may well not help matters. There are plenty of players who do support their team or squad, and utilise the Specialists to do so (using Casper's drone, healing as Falk or resupplying as Angel for example), but equally there are those who are happy to grappling hook to a camping spot and snipe with an ammo box.
- @ElliotLH Ye, the folks that just grab an ammo kit and play solo are deeply frustrating.
I usually play Falck (since I play medic mostly) and I like her kit - I res folks frequently (at my own risk most of the time) and spend a lot of time healing. It's solid and being able to heal at range is great.
It's just a shame there's not more to encourage specialist diversity to create more teamplay opportunities. The tools are all there for interesting interactions between specialist skills or their skills and gadgets. There's just no real systems to highlight those options or reward players for using them. Which would be complex to set up, and given that we don't even have a properly functioning scoring system like in past BF games is likely unreasonable.
Shame, because the teamplay options are potentially amazing. - @edgecrusherO0 You're very similar to me I think - I mainly play a 'support' Specialist and try to perform a role, like reviving or ferrying ammo around (BTW if you haven't tried it yet, stick an ammo or health crate on Casper's drone. Good times). You're right though that there needs to be more incentive for players to support each other more, be it with points or even just tips in-game, and while it'd be hard it'd also be worthwhile.
- @ElliotLH Haha, I'll have to try the casper drone thing, that sounds amusing.
I just wish that the targeting on the healing gun was better. They added the semi-"auto targeting" with the highlight but it works pretty poorly. Trying to heal a teammate at any distance if they're moving is a nightmare. JUST STOP RUNNING FOR A SECOND SO I CAN HEAL YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU - @edgecrusherO0 Awesome and I hope you have fun with it.
I know what you mean about the healing gun too as the highlighting is helpful but it still feels like you need to fire multiple rounds (pellets?) sometimes. It would help a lot if people would stay still for a second too! @ElliotLHI just wish they'd "track" players better so that if you shot while they were highlighted it was guaranteed to land. It seems to have some slight "tracking" as-is, but it's woefully inadequate and I similarly have to shoot multiple times to heal someone at range if they move at all.
And I think they're technically healing darts or something. It brings me delight that I can "shoot" people to heal them : 3IMHO, many people conflate squad play/classes and team play.
I have stated in the past that I haven't played in a regular squad since BF2 - lack of time, and friends with different interests, being the main problems. So I generally play in any random squad.
Since BF2, the player base has become 'casualised' beyond recognition, and there is no way back from this. Who remembers LAN parties? FTP games (Fortnite, etc.) habituate solo play, and everybody gets a prize.
I'm sure that EA have plenty of research on the decline of co-operative squad play. I believe this is why we have the current BF2042 situation, with no distinctive classes.
This forum (and all forums, as far as I can tell) is the last refuge of the original BF player, and I don't think there are enough of us to warrant the return to the glory days of BF.
I guess we will find out soon enough!
