4 years ago

Why bring back Audio Spotting?

First let's give a brief explanation of what it is for those that aren't aware.

Audio spotting is the game mechanic through which your location appears on the minimap as soon as you fire a non-suppressed weapon. The way to counter this from happening is to use a suppressor on your gun.

People in favor of audio spotting might argue that it gives purpose to the suppressors as an attachment. I would argue that it goes beyond that and makes them almost a necessity and renders all other muzzle attachments extremely un-desirable.

Neither of the last two games (BF1 and BFV) had audio spotting, despite there being suppressors in both. It meant you had to use your ears to pinpoint an enemy locations instead of just staring at the minimap and watching it light up. The directional audio design on BF1 at least was so great that you could easily tell where shots were coming from coupled with the tracers.

I quite enjoyed how BFV handled suppressors. It lowered the actual volume of the gunshots (which made you much more stealthy) but also removed the directional damage indicators. This made the suppressors a useful but not completely OP attachment. a very well implemented compromise.

From a logical standpoint, DICE removed manual/3D spotting saying that it is too casual a mechanic and people wanted it gone. But then why would you go ahead and bring back audio spotting which is an even MORE casual mechanic? At least with 3D spotting, the enemy has to actually provide some input and spot you. With audio spotting, they don't have to do anything, once you fire your gun, you're already on the map.

Now comes the question of creating the experience I want to have in portal. Which is a great idea. However from what I can see, there isn't an option to remove audio spotting from my custom options. There does seem to be a way to re-introduce 3D spotting which is encouraging.

Please let me know if I have somehow missed it. If not, is there a possibility that this option gets added in at a later date?

discussion

15 Replies

Noodlesocks
4 years ago
For reasons I do not understand, Dice Sweden has a fixation on the idea that suppressors require a technical function beyond simply being quiet. Even in BF5 with the absence of audio spotting they thought it would be a good idea for suppressed weapons to not tell an enemy from what direction they are being shot at.
trip1ex
4 years ago
it's there to penalize camping and facilitate firefights.
ragnarok013
Hero+
4 years ago
I'm happy that it's back. I didn't like BF1 or BF5's systems and it does give added utility to the suppressor attachment as the OP stated.
ashar_saleem121
4 years ago
@ragnarok013 Yes but it goes beyond added utility and into necessary attachment territory. The utility is to make the gun quiet. Putting you on the map if youre not using one is too much. It's a mechanic that should be eradicated from all FPS
ashar_saleem121
4 years ago
@trip1ex You can find campers by using your ears and eyes to see where the shots are coming from.

By facilitating firefights, it basically means that as soon as you fire your gun at one enemy, you light up on the map and everyone on the enemy team can just hunt you down.

Are you saying there werent firefights on BF1? Because I would highly disagree with that

Even if it just pinged the location you fired from as your last known location and didnt follow you around that would be a compromise I could perhaps live with
ragnarok013
Hero+
4 years ago
@ashar_saleem121 I didn't find a Battlelog profile so I'm curious what was your first Battlefield game, BF1, BF5? It worked very well in BF3/4 which is why I like it.

Regarding your point about finding campers by audio queues BF5 and BF2042's audio is bad for audio queues so that's not really an option.
ashar_saleem121
4 years ago
@ragnarok013 My first BF game was BF4 but I played much more BF1 and BFV than I did BF4. I didn't think it worked well at all on BF4 at the time and was immensely relieved that they removed it on the subsequent two games. Which is fine, we can agree to disagree on that.

I was just so frustrated grinding a gun just so that I can finally unlock a suppressor so I can start to actually have fun with it. It renders all other muzzle attachments pointless. The suppressor should not be so vital that you can't select anything else.

Also, audio spotting was only introduced in BF3 after the alpha. It was never a thing in BF before then.

And I think this term is VASTLY overused since anytime anyone doesnt like something this is the first thing they say, but audio spotting is very much a CoD feature.
Trokey66
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
Really,audio spotting is back (haven't noticed to be fair) yet we have no real 3D spotting?
Bizarre.....
ashar_saleem121
4 years ago
@ragnarok013 Also one more thing. I think you said it. The audio queues in the game are bad but that should be something that needs to be fixed, not use audio spotting as a fix for that.

Secondly, I just listened to the sniper shot sound without a suppressor and it doesnt sound loud and powerful at all. It sounds like someone sneezing. But it still puts you on the map.

That's the opposite of what should happen. If you ever listened to the sniper shot sound in BF1 on say Monte Grappa, the shot would ring out and you would hear a distinct echo that sounded so amazing.
ilosuppilo
4 years ago
Not everyone has good surround audio system or good headphones. That basically means that making audio very important for a casual game like BF a bad design choice. In earlier BFs you either use silencer and don't show on minimap or don't and you get better bullet velocity and less drop. Either can be good depending on the situation.
Shame they didn't bring back proper 3d spotting, that would be fantastic.