It's quite sad really, because 2042 has potential beneath all the muck. I want to love it so badly, because apart from the "specialists" (bring back boring soldiers, please), I genuinely love the game's atmosphere, the music from Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater, I even think it can be a fun game at times. But for every good thing there are at least three overwhelmingly irritating design decisions. In my opinion, 2042 should just go free-to-play, DICE should brush it off as a "spin-off" and go back to making actual Battlefield. (My personal dream: Let's set Battlefield 6 in 2143 as a followup to 2142, and let's bring back commander mode! 🤓)
What actually makes me think the current DICE developers might not understand Battlefield's chat functions, is how the commorose acts in this game. In previous games, using the commorose would relay its information to your team or squad. For instance, if you ask for a medic, it puts "NEED MEDIC" in the team chat. Brilliant!
2042 doesn't do that, 99% of the time I find myself chasing people with medkits or ammo boxes screaming "NEED MEDIC, NEED AMMO" while they dash away from me. They don't look at their minimap, and they don't hear me, eventually I get shot and need to respawn.
Hell, a lot of the time, those voicelines don't even play for others. "REQUEST ORDER" voiceline doesn't even play for the squad leader if they're too far away.
Two years ago, all the Call of Duty/Warzone influencers were already saying 2042 is great, so I guarantee you they're going to keep riding that train. The streamers love their epic poggers slide canceling and b-hopping, and we're just toxic and entitled if we want a Battlefield game to play like Battlefield.
What 2042 has gone and done is remove the most crucial teamplay functions Battlefield has ever had, and curated a community of lone wolves and non-teamplayers that only chase K/D. If I try to say GG WP, nice work, anything like that, some kid just points out my poor K/D ratio.
I'm a very casual Battlefield player, I mostly play medic and I don't focus on killing, I focus on staying near my team, keeping them healthy, and taking flags with them. I'm not a good shooter, but I loved Battlefield because it used to let me contribute to my team in a meaningful way, until 2042 came along.
My guess is that perhaps most of the developers that knew how to make Battlefield have moved on, leaving DICE with a lot of fresh talent that need time to learn how to make, play and understand what makes Battlefield what it is. Unfortunately it just seems like they're trying to imitate a lot of current heavy hitters like Warzone, Overwatch and Apex Legends.
"Do this! Not Battlefield! Heroes, abilities, battle pass!!! Game balance be damned, if we don't have marketable dress-up dolls with unique and marketable abilities, we won't make enough profits!"
You get the picture.
I also don't think the initial scoreboard removal and chat functions have anything to do with the developers trying to be inclusive and create an enjoyable environment for the players, in fact I'm all for that. Nobody likes toxic rear-ends screaming in all-chat 24/7, nobody logs in after a busy day to be called an ape.
I think, really, it's again just flat out inexperience with Battlefield. And look, that's fine, there's a first for everyone when it comes to joining a team and developing an established franchise.
I completely understand if some of the developers might be concerned about toxicity, because as mentioned Battlefield has had it in heaps since 2002; I've been a loyal Battlefield player since Battlefield 1942 released, and I have seen how awful people can get. But that's universal in online games, and I don't think these things should be left out just because of that. That's what reporting is for, and even if all-chat is back it's opt-in, it should be opt-out. The issue now is the majority of players don't even know it's there.
This is getting lengthy, and I'm mostly just regurgitating the very good points you made in your original post, but I think it's important that EA sees this, so I'm doing this anyway. I 100% agree with you, sadly 2042 is Battlefield without the teamplay, and the results speak for themselves. I will choose to remain cautiously optimistic about Battlefield's future, though. I have faith in them, and I have had it for over 20 years now.
