Bring Battlefield Back to What Made It Great

TL;DR: Battlefield has lost its identity chasing Call of Duty. Suppression is too weak, death has no real consequence, spawns erase territory control, and the support/medic classes feel worthless. Bring back suppression that truly pins, make death and spawns matter, and restore teamwork as the core of the game. That is what once made Battlefield great, and that is what will separate it from COD again.

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To the Battlefield team,

I have been playing Battlefield since Bad Company. I am a grown man, a combat veteran with multiple deployments, and I’ve lived what suppression actually means. I am not an English major, and I used ChatGPT to help polish this message, but every word has been proofed and revised until it fully reflects my own opinion. This is 100% my message, and I approve it.

I understand the business side of gaming. CEOs and board members want revenue, and I get it. But if you make a game that is truly good, truly addictive, and true to its identity, the money will follow. Battlefield used to be that game. It had its own identity and a mature audience. Lately, it feels like it has been chasing Call of Duty’s formula. Call of Duty already exists for instant gratification. Battlefield should not try to become it. Battlefield should be Battlefield.

Suppression Needs to Be Real
Suppression is not about kills, it is about control. In real life, suppression keeps your head down. You don’t peek when machine gun rounds are cracking overhead. In games, players don’t feel the fear of death, so suppression must be enforced mechanically. That means heavy blur, distorted audio, slowed ADS, tunnel vision, and loss of spotting. Make it so that when a machine gunner pins you, you cannot just poke up and laser him. Then reward suppression assists, giving the support class a defined battlefield role beyond “more bullets per mag.”

The Support Class Feels Worthless
Right now, support is broken. Why drop ammo when the fastest way to resupply is to just die and respawn with a full kit? Why bring an LMG when its only advantage is a bigger mag but no real tactical value? Why play support when your role is irrelevant?

This needs to change. Resupply should matter. Ammunition, gadgets, and utility should not be instantly refreshed by death. Players should need supports. Machine gunners should matter for area denial, not just as worse assault rifles. Right now, the support class is essentially worthless, and that kills teamwork.

The Medic Role is Undervalued
Medics face the same problem. Squad respawns erase their value. Right now, if your squad isn’t shooting or being shot at for 5 seconds, teammates can spawn right back on top of you, even if you’re standing near enemies. That is broken. Squad spawns should not exist behind enemy lines or inside contested areas. Medics should be the primary way you get back into a fight quickly. If you die and no medic is nearby, you should be pushed back to a safer spawn point. This is how you restore purpose to medics and keep fights from devolving into endless respawn spam.

Death Must Have Real Consequences
Tickets don’t matter to most players. Dying feels cheap, so they throw themselves into the grinder. Tie survival to spawn depth. Die a couple times in quick succession, and you lose deep spawns. Die repeatedly, and you are pushed back to main until you earn forward spawns through captures, revives, or support actions. Life suddenly matters.

Spawns Must Respect Territory
Clearing a building with your squad should mean something. Right now, enemies can instantly respawn inside the same space you just fought hard to clear. That destroys the satisfaction of teamwork. Spawn systems should respect control. If a point is contested or enemy forces are nearby, players should not be able to appear there. Captured points should act like a frontline network—you advance when you control, not when you magically appear.

Teamwork Must Outweigh Kill Counts
The scoreboard should not be dominated by lone-wolf fraggers. Squad revives, resupplies, suppression fire, and capturing objectives are what win games, not a flashy K/D. Teamwork is what made Battlefield shine, and it needs to matter again.

Battlefield Was Never a Sim, But It Was More
Battlefield was never meant to be a full mil-sim, but it leaned far enough toward realism and tactics that it stood apart. That’s what made it so **bleep** good. That’s why it built a mature audience that valued teamwork over instant gratification. If Battlefield keeps chasing Call of Duty, it will keep losing what makes it special. COD players can play COD. Battlefield should stand apart.

Bring back suppression that truly pins. Make death and spawns matter. Give support and medics real purpose. Put teamwork back at the center of the game. If you do this, Battlefield will not just be another shooter competing with COD. It will be Battlefield again.

At least all of this in hardcore mode!

Respectfully,
A Combat Veteran and Longtime Battlefield Player