Hey everyone, We'd like to hear your feedback on several gameplay elements now that Update 3.2 is available for play. Today we'll start with Classes. What do you like? What do you dislike? Anything you'd like to see changed? Drop your comments below.

@Straatford87 wrote:Hey everyone, We'd like to hear your feedback on several gameplay elements now that Update 3.2 is available for play. Today we'll start with Classes. What do you like?What do you dislike?Anything you'd like to see changed?Drop your comments below.I do not like the new system. this is not a class system because the weapons are not locked, all it does is interupt playstyles that people have settled into for the past 14 months since launch.this is not the game i purchased and have roughly 650 hours in and my desire to play is gone. previously i ran antivehicle combos such as Rao with stinger, angel with various launchers or AT mines. neither combo are useable now.Lis is locked out of 60% of engineer gadgetscrawford and boris have useless specialist gadgets to fight vehicles and are nearly useless against infantry so if you want to use a FXM, javelin or M5 you basically give up 2 gaget slotsthe fun is gone in the game

I liked the freedom of choice when it came to gadgets, because some specialists work much better with certain gadgets. The specialist system doesn't mix well with the class system, as now you can't really play to the specialist strength when they're locked behind a class that doesn't offer them that chance.Ammo issues are now much more frequent, because ammo crate is locked behind the support class, and the maps are too big for the teams to stick together all the time, so there's a good chance you'll just run out of ammo, or not have any ammo for gadgets when you need them.Switching to support isn't really a viable solution if the enemy team has a lot of vehicles that aren't getting destroyed, because then you have to decide between having ammo, or taking care of that same vehicle that keeps killing you whenever you spawn near a point. Encouraging teamwork is nice, but at the cost of self reliance isn't quite so nice.I think the class system could work if it wasn't for the specialist system as well, both combined just really take away the freedom of choice, and right now it feels that some specialist are objectively better than others.I mentioned this in the update thread as well, but the class gadgets are horrendous for consoles, and I've been having a terrible time on PS5. The controller was already maxed out on bindings, and with the introduction of the class gadget, they conflict with grenades.Class gadget and grenades are bound to the same button, when I try to use a class gadget, I can only choose my grenade. No matter how many times I press the up directional button, I cannot switch to the class gadget unless I have no grenades left.This means, if I am playing an engineer, I need to waste my grenade first before I can repair a vehicle, if I'm playing recon, I need to waste my grenade before I can place a spawn beacon.Switching attachments is also highly infuriating as when I try to switch attachments, I automatically switched to my secondary first. Then when I try again, I switch to my primary, and automatically switch scopes because I have to hold in the triangle button.Class gadgets need to be removed, or reworked, as they cannot function properly in its current state.

@Straatford87 To be honest this thread feels a little redundant.You all claim to monitor the forums and "pass on that feedback" to the team, right?I'm not trying to be a snarky A-hole but there are already so many threads (for and against classes) to gather quite a bit of "feedback" already.Me personally, I'm not a fan of the change, I wish the time and energy were spent elsewhere as I said here.Welp, it looks like adding classes ain't boosting player counts. - Answer HQI also think the Engineer class got screwed and is severely lacking as I said here.Want to encourage players to use Engineer class? Here's how. - Answer HQ (ea.com)And here.Put Rao in the Engineer Class - Answer HQ (ea.com)

Adding classes has taken a step back from what BF 2042 started out as. Having the freedom to setup your avatar with the weapons and accessories you wanted made for really fun gameplay. For instance, when using Sundance it was fun to use your respawn beacon and be able get to different places on the map with the wing suit. Now that you can't do that it makes the wing suit a bit pointless.Secondly the default controller layout was perfect, especially to change your weapon accessories. Now it is very jarring and not as user friendly. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem you can setup your button configuration the way it was with customizations. So having spent many hours playing 2042 the way it was initially released, it is no longer as fun for me personally. I will probably not take the time to get used to the new setup going forward. Thanks for listening.

Where should I start? What were you thinking when you made this update live?The truth is, the people who were still playing this game loved (!) playing with the Specialists. You have now introduced classes for a player base that is no longer there. What's the point?I've been playing Battlefield since BF 1942, would I have liked a normal BF with classes? Yes! I don't care if there are Specialists! But now, 1 year after release, changes like this, feel like an April Fool's joke.On top of that, the complete way the game is played has been changed. No one has anti-air or anti-tank weapons anymore. So tanks and helicopters are completely op again.And one more thing: Specialists like Crawford were already completely useless before. And now they are even more so. The only engineer is Liz and she can't equip the good missiles like Javelin.The update is absolute crap! I hate the new class division!

Update 3.2 Feedback - Classes | EA Forums

220 Replies

Psubond
Legend
3 years ago
@FaTaL_DReaMS1 wrote:
Yep I play BF like it’s meant to be played
How do you handle vehicles?
Psubond
Legend
3 years ago
@FaTaL_DReaMS1 wrote:
Yep I play BF like it’s meant to be played
care to share your battlefield tracker page?
https://battlefieldtracker.com/bf2042
Mooselotte
3 years ago
@flcrm
I am sorry, but I definitely disagree here.
There are so many games, across the spectrum of Milsim to Arcade that require team/ squad work to function. Heck, Battlefield literally spawned a whole sub genre of squad based shooters (Project Reality, Squad, Hell Let Loose) that have multiple voice channels to organize the teamwork along a sort of hierarchy (Command, Squad Leaders, Squad Members).
Then you have arcadey games like Overwatch that have all sorts of synergies between players, and where teamwork is obviously required.

I think this is a super pessimistic take tbh. If Battlefield re-invests in communication, squad management, commander, etc features we can definitely see more team play.

Heck - I play a lot of Squad and mainly Squad Lead. You can have a team of 50, with ~5 SLs all communicating, and a squad of 8 members all talking, working together, and dealing with limitations in their classes (kits). Heavy Anti Tank needs support against infantry as they have iron sights only. Medics needing people to watch over them while they drag people behind cover to patch them up. You absolutely do not need to study in some academy to get 8 yahoos loaded into a truck and rolling out with a common goal and vision.
And this is a game that essentially is born from the BF DNA (BF2 -> Project Reality -> Squad).

Even now with BF, you can hop on the BF discord channel and find some like-minded individuals that wanna work together and use comms. They run them for BF Hardline(I think), 4, 1, V, and 2042. It is here where BF feels like BF to me, and it is an absolute shame that you need to use an out-of-game feature to really find people with comms, and that the game launched without VOIP.
Even without a discord group, you can usually get okay results just using comms and telling the quiet randoms you are with "I am gonna laze that tank, use an M5 or Javelin and light them up".
Things they can/ should do to increase team play
- More XP for support actions
- Assist counts as kill for SOFLAM, tracer dart
- Squad management system so we can create squads, lock them, invite people to join, etc
- Add proximity chat function so people with mics can find each other
- Add a toggle for matchmaking that shows that you have a mic, and want to match with people using them
- Add a mic test feature to menu, playing back your mic audio as it gets transmitted in game. People need to know if their mic is too quiet, too loud, too static-y
flcrm
Rising Veteran
3 years ago
@Mooselotte You don't need a class system for all of this. 1% of those who wanted to play like this could play like this before, and 99% of those who do not need it for various reasons, and now they will not.

No one is going to do a server browser, squad management, and so on, for it costs a lot of money, as opposed to having to slightly remake loadouts and say it's now a class system.

Be realistic.
Trokey66
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Ironhead841 wrote:
@Straatford87
I'll bottom line it for you,
There is no way to adequately balance or shoehorn classes into this game while specialists', their "abilities", free access to all gadgets and weapons and the weapons' "plus" system exist.
It's one or the other, either it needs reverted to pre-3.2 patch (which I believe is the right choice for THIS title) or go whole hog into class restrictions, weapons restrictions and ditch specialists, their "abilities" and the "plus" system mechanic. (Which I hope to see in the NEXT Battlefield title)
Trying to straddle the fence with these half-measures is just pissing a lot of players off.
Pretty much my thoughts too.
I would also add that teamwork hasn't significantly improved if at all, especially around ammo!
The Engineer class is the worst by far though.
Boris and Crawford do not fit in there given their current traits, they should be Support.
Irish and possibly Rao would be better fits in the Engineer Class.
And whose bright idea was it to make LMGs their proficiency?
All in all, whilst I am no particular fan of Specialsts, they fit this iteration and classes in any game have never been perfect and sometimes down right broken (BFV Action Man?).
FlibberMeister
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@Straatford87 wrote:
Hey everyone,

We'd like to hear your feedback on several gameplay elements now that Update 3.2 is available for play.

Today we'll start with Classes.

What do you like?
What do you dislike?
Anything you'd like to see changed?
Drop your comments below.
I neither like/dislike classes/specialists. I recognise that the class system and the specialist (I can eat my cake and have it too) are two systems enjoyed by different ilk of player.

but the biggest issue around the whole point of classes/specialist is to be able to balance the composition of the squad.
so really, the main issue for a single player, is being able to switch squads so I can more easily match my class to the teammates choices on the squad. And if a squad is all recon or not playing as a team then I want to find a team that is.

I don’t know, because I haven’t played, but the previous things that made me delete the game that im curious to see if have changed are…(but not enough to install again just yet)
- mid game character and loadout UI was the worst. PS5, impossible to reliably select my char/loadout.
- icons for determining what my team mates were carrying non-existent. It’s critical to be able to easily identify your teammates roles. Not sure if this has been addressed but it should.

id like to see more clear thinking on the team play aspects. Identification, team organisation and role. Points in game, squad leader controls, points for team play. Server browser.
honestly, until you address some of these wrapper elements, team cohesion etc, I just don’t see how you can get the best possible feedback on classes/specialists? I really think you messed this up by not addressing the need of players to properly self organise. And tweaking the classes /specialists before you addressed squad controls and clan/platoons etc was a massive mistake. I.e specialists might have worked if you’d allowed people to properly play together in the first place.
DM_JAW
3 years ago
Give assault med boxes and remove them from support. But in this case med-pen is becoming almost useles and underbarrel launchers can be taken by anyone now.
Some specialist should be in different classes, in my humble opinion
Assault (with defibs by default and med bag as class locked gadget):
Mackay
Sundance
Falc
Paik
Support (with ammo box):
Crawford
Angel
Zain
Irish (his PDS is too much for engineer, but it fits nicely in support role)
Engineers
Liz
Rao (ability to hack vehicles is very handy for engineer)
Dozer (explosive resistance too)
Recons
Casper
Blasco
Boris (turret for spotting and back-cover)
Weapon restrictions could be fine, but we don't have carbines, which is sutable for engineers, so you can just mix weapon traits:
Enginner — SMG with faster switching, for quick change to weapon from repair tool in tough situations
Assault — assaul rifles, as always
Support — LMG for supporting and suppressive fire
Recon — bolt action rifles
But in perfect world engineers should have carbines and DMR, SMG and Utility should be accessible by any class.
Mooselotte
3 years ago
@flcrm You're likely not wrong - I fully expect Dice is down to a skeleton crew on this game, and is running a crazy tight budget supporting this game.

In terms of things I discussed, there are definitely some items that seem more involved tbh, but things like additional XP and assists counting as kills are pretty small asks.

Even the mic test feature feels like something a smart person could figure out, as they have in other games/ applications.

The squad management they have said they are looking into - and thank god they are. They made a squad based shooter without squad management features - whichever higher up made that call is absolutely nuts tbh.

The server browser is shockingly something Dice seems to be digging in their heels in - which makes no sense to me tbh. Again just today we got hourglass 4 times in a row. Quit, re-queue, hourglass, repeat. On the fourth time we just stopped playing the game altogether and moved on to a different game.
Removing the ability for servers to grow, communities to form, and players to choose the experience (map, mode, upcoming maps, etc) seems like such a crazy thing for them to stick with.
DetectiveKev
3 years ago
The only big issue I have currently with the class system is that because both ammo and medical crates are locked to the support class, I find myself running out of ammo more frequently so perhaps ammo crates should be moved to the assault class.
ugdpy
3 years ago
What do you like?
I really like this change.
The classes adds a welcomed diversity to the game.
The limitation of ammo boxes to the support category is really good, the fact that you could play angel with a shoulder mounted launcher (and I did it a lot) was ridiculous, I'm glad it's gone.
What do you dislike?
We need more diversity in the engineer class, only 2 can have shoulder mounted launchers and their gadgets are not anti vehicles focused.

Anything you'd like to see changed?
I would like to see spotting limited to the recon class. The fact that everyone can spot enemy now was weirdly implemented. It shows that the game was not designed that way.
The commander seat in vehicles is now useless and paik passive skill is basically inexistent. When I'm riding in a commander seat now instead of using the spotting tool which appear to have a range limit I can just press A.
What's the point of bringing subsonic ammo and take a hit to your firepower if any soldier from across the map can spot you for everyone.
Restricting spotting to only one class or reduce the spotting range for other classes would not resolve theses issues but would at least mitigate them.

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Update 3.2 Feedback - Classes

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