The case FOR specialists
Embrace change!
I know this is an unpopular opinion but please try to read this with an open mind.
When has this franchise not been about change? Every iteration has had a new system or mechanic. BFH had a police state system, BF1 had elites, behemoths, literally a new gunplay system with all-time slow ttk, sweet spot, reverse conquest system, and horses. BFV had attrition, animations for everything, and squad call-ins.
If you don't see that the Battlefield franchise is about change and trying new things then you've been living under a rock.
I know what you're thinking. As big as these changes have been, no change is as big as a change to the one constant, the class system. Ok but why can't it change?
It's Dice's game, their brainchild, their vision steers development. I will not say "dont like it, dont buy". I'm trying to say if they believe that this change will appeal to a larger audience, attract new players, and help grow the brand, why are we so against it?
Why is Battlefield all about change?
1)
You have to accept this industry has a high employee turnover because developers are artistic in nature. They're creative people. If they weren't you'd never play their games. They despise the status quo. If you know any devs this is the first thing they'll tellyou. They get bored with doing the same thing over and over.
There's a reason we went from BF1942 to Vietnam, to 2142, to modern, to World War 1, to fake World war 2, and now to near future in 2042. Like they were so bored of even doing a normal WW2 they did a bizzaro world WW2.
All these setting changes are to keep things interesting for the fanbase but to also keep the devs interested.
2)
99% of shareholders don't give a damn about what we as a community want. They only care about growth and money. You dont have to like their motivation, but it's something we ought to be mindful of.
This is a publically traded company, they have one job, grow the brand. To do so they must appeal to a larger audience.
Alot of noobs are under the impression Battlefield is some sort of Milsim. They log into a server and look at the massive map, shoot at one enemy and realize just how hard it is to shoot a pixel enemy so far away and they get melted by that vet who knows how to compensate for recoil and spread and they uninstall and never play again. This is *their playtests* talking, not me. It's a logical conclusion but what's great is their playtests back this up.
It took me 500 hours in BF4 tdm to finally feel brave enough to try this "conquest" thing with its gigantic maps.
What I'm trying to tell is you is Battlefield has a high learning curve. You and I know it's a casual game. We know it's easy. You can go and drop 80 kills in a round. We've all done it because we have hundreds if not thousands of hours in the franchise. Noobs don't and alot of them churn the hell out right after their first round and never touch the franchise again.
The class system does not appeal to noobs. It's a niche system. I like it. You like it. Fortnite guy, Apex guy, COD punk, Halo guy, PUBG guy, and Destiny guy don't find this system appealing because it's limiting.
I know what you're going to say, muh class system, muh teamwork!! You can't force teamplay. You just can't, forcing it has never worked.
If you accept the premise that specialists may appeal more than the traditional class system to an audience that previously thought of Battlefield as a Milsim with its class restrictions, and thus, this new specialist may contribute to helping this franchise grow, *then why are you against that*?
EA/Dice's number one objective is to grow this franchise not to keep you happy. Keeping you happy is certainly an objective but it would be illogical for them to keep you happy at the expense of growing the franchise. They ideally want to try to do both. Remember the online community is a very small percentage of the millions that buy the game.
I play milsims occasionally. Most recently Hell Let Loose. EVEN in a Milsim like Hell Let Loose where lack of teamwork literally gets you punished, people sometimes just do whatever they want knowing they'll be punished. That's a god damned milsim WITH a punishment system! We're freaking casual Battlefield. Stop trying to turn this franchise into something it isn't and never was.
In 5000 hours in this franchise, I liked automatic guns so my choice often was med kit (Assault) or rocket launcher (Engineer). 2 choices... for 5000 hours. Mind numbingly boring. No wonder I've abandoned this franchise since 2019 out of boredom.
Don't forget they actually canceled the last half of BFV because people stopped playing it. They NEED to innovate and make tweaks to the formula.
Aren't you excited about having 20+ specialists and all the possible build possibilities?
If you're really concerned about med kits and resupply kits, you're the heart and soul of the community, so lead by example. Equip med kits and ammo so others learn to do the same. But don't hold your breath, this is a casual game, teamwork is never going to be what you want it to be.
Lastly, for those who say classes encourage teamwork. Maybe a little. But ponder this: When was the last time you saw threads here complain about teamwork with the following comments:
*Where are the engineers with their launchers to put a stop to these tanks and planes?
*Where are the recons with their flares to spot enemies for us.
The complaint about "teamwork" is always "where's the medic to heal and revive ME". "Where's the support guy to resupply ME".
Don't kid yourself, most people crying for teamwork are selfish, they just want someone to heal them and resupply them. It's not teamwork its self-centeredness disguised in a cloak of teamwork.
If you've read this far, I'll leave you with this question, how many hours in total do you have in this franchise? And if you played all 4 classes it means you've been limited to 4 choices all this time. If you didn't play all 4 classes, you had even less options. Are you not bored of having so few options? What is so repugnant about having choices? The specialist system will allow you to have hundreds of choices every time you deploy.
