The Future of BF, the Solution is teamwide VOIP
First word that comes to mind when talking about Battlefield series, EA and DICE.
FRUSTRATING!
Explain yourself position Salt.
Ok well I have a love affair with Battlefield that goes back to Battlefield Modern Combat 2 on the OGxbox, PS2 & Xbox 360. The only console BF to have dedicated clan support built in and the last.
I played with NsA (top 10 clan), Nomad Souls (#1 clan BF2MC), joined xD12x for BFBC1, then SoA Team Anarchy 200wins 8 losses 5 x winner of MLG/Gamebattles BFBC2, before leaving to build the Australian/New Zealand BF3 Xbox community on Cybergamer. When I left Gamebattles having been around top teams and forums since 2005 they said "And Down Goes Frasier" as a mark of respect for my contributions.
I built the 2nd largest eSport community in Oceania on Cybergamer that had 29 x Conquest teams, 44 Squad Rush teams over, with over 400 unique players over 3 seasons. Even had Plantronics Australia keen to sponsor our ladders for $1500 a season before US head office pulled the pin/said no we cant authorise as they had a $2000 Nth America Squad Rush Tourney that failed because BF3 didnt have any Spectator Mode Functionality and DICE werent rushing to put it in. The same DICE that spent $150 mill marketing BF3 as a Cod killer, yet told MLG who wanted to get behind BF3 Squad Rush to wait...
FRUSTRATING
Battlefield gets the moniker its not eSport friendly, its too big, it wouldnt spectate well. Its non competitive due to its vehicles. Thats all nonsense. Its the opposite. It has more unique elements than its competitors. Land, Sea, Air and of a scale that requires high level strategy and constant activity between clans, teams from which to produce victory. Everything DICE stand behind with their 5 Pillars of Frostbite has been lost because of EA/DICE's reluctance to to facilitate eSport functionality and support.
All through this they sold the concept of Platoons, recruitment inc pinned Forum threads, Battlelogs and the ability to manage said platoons. Even promoted the Virgin Gaming $1.6mill tournament for xbox BF3. Yet every BF launched this support has been ignored.
So im done trying to lead a horse to water with eSport Battlefield. Theres still clans about but they are basically pub stompers. They gang up in public servers to prey on randoms as thats all BF clans can do. Those guys through no fault of their own annoy and alienate the casual fanbase when they take over servers. They have no value associated with their clan tags, they can grow strength in numbers without ever facing a real challenge. Any activity they have to drive themselves via third party websites. Eventually they fade away and die if they dont drive it themselves. There is no supporting infrastructure, sponsorship base or initiative from EA DICE. Thats a huge lost opportunity and branding from EA DICE over many years.
YET HERE WE ARE AGAIN
This time though its the very essence/experience of the game thats in jeopardy.
Youve built an even larger 128 player count scale, even limiting the loadouts and reload times of any anti vehicle rocketry so that vehicles wouldnt get swamped by larger player counts. Its in the design of BF2042 that its faster to use 3 x C5 to take out a tank than it is to fire 1 x RPG. Jeeps and hovercraft were requiring multiple RPGs. Its like you built this with teamwork in mind.
You built with 128 player scale to take use of a Holy Grail of gaming concept of Cross Platform Gaming, that the servers are designed that way at launch to fill these larger player counts easily. So why isnt BF2042 dominating and solidifying that initiative?
I can tell you, and its the same issue with clans pubstacking servers. THERES NO VOIP FUNCTIONALITY TO TIE IT ALL TOGETHER!
Squads are 4 man, so the most you can communicate with is 4/64 players. Thats why theres no tank buster crews. Theres no igla squads to take out an annoying chopper or jets. Its why you can be all alone on a flag with no help even though theres more players than ever.
And this is the Battlefield 2042 experience. Its lonelier than ever. You cant solo vehicles as you dont have the engi loadouts like BF3 or BF4, and so they are left to wreck havoc.
IM NOT SURE HOW YOU GONNA DO IT WHERE YOU CAN TALK TO A WHOLE TEAM, MUTE INDIVIDUALS, OPT INTO TEAM CHAT AS A SQUAD ETC BUT UNTIL YOU DO THIS GAME AT THOSE SCALES WILL ALWAYS BE ALIENATING.
SOME PROPER VOIP WOULD REALLY NAIL THE CROSSPLAY AND BE A FAR BETTER ONLY IN BF EXPERIENCE COS CURRENTLY IT DOESNT ADD ANYTHING JUST HELPS FILL A SERVER.
IF YOU WANNA KEEP YOUR COMMUNITY GROWING ON ALL PLATFORMS IMPROVED COMMS IS THE KEY.
BETTER GET THAT SORTED IF YOU WANT TO KEEP UPPING THE SCALE - OTHERWISE SCALE DOESNT ADD ANYTHING
Thats all ive come to say....Its concerning....It should be an easy fix. Team wide, Squad in/out options so randoms can enjoy some teamwork together...
Cheers,
The Salt
