Feedback after 40 Hours of Beta Gametime
Hello fans of the Battlefield,
after 2 weekends full of chaotic & cinematic Battlefield time, I would like to share my feedback and impressions. I will start with the overall feeling/impression and break it down after that.
The overall feeling & impression of Battlefield 6 has brought me joy and satisfaction most of them time. The atmosphere was great, the guns felt very satisfying to use and the teamwork has been increased by that beautiful drag and revive animation. The maps looked and felt like a war zone but depending on game mode were either fun or frustrating experience.
One of the frustrating things is the matchmaking with friends and between rounds. It simply took to long things that could be easly prevented with a server browser. Unfortunately is the gaming time for a lot of players very limited and we don't have to time to spend 30 mins of our gaming time to wait for a new matches. I just want to hop on a server, play the round, load in the next map and play. Furthermore I can't control whether I am on the attacker or defender side when it comes to breakthrough or rush. The challenge in the beta for that one blueprint, was thanks to this kind of matchmakeing, a nightmare. The customized search didn't help here either.
Community servers were always a place were regulars met and played together or against each other. Were they had a good time and guess what, because of those good times they came back, not because of a daily login or other reward. No they came back because of the community they found.
Why not renting servers to clans like it was the case in Battlefield 1 or older titles ? Rent them to whoever wants them, put your margin on top and earn some extra cash.
With that being let's continue:
Game Mechanics:
Spotting:
The Auto Spotting System that is currently in the beta is one of the most overpowered things. It renders dust, smoke, vegetation and anything else that provides visual cover comepletely useless and I hope it won't make it to the final game. Personally I'd prefer the spotting mechanics of BF: V. The amount of spotting in the game is a bit to much and needs to be tuned down.
Sweet Spot mechanic on Sniper Rifles:
The sweet spot mechanic of snipers is also a mechanic that I hoped would never make a comeback. Since the suppression on snipers is virtually not existent I was be able to spam a/d and land easy kills on enemy snipers or other enemy infantry. In my opinion only headshots should be one shot kills with a sniper rifle.
Health Regen & revive:
kicked in way to fast for my likeing and I hope it get's toned down a bit. The shock paddles perhaps could use a battery like in Battlefield 2 times which need to be rechargeing when used to frequently. At the moment it is insane how fast one single medic can revive half of the team.
Repair speed:
Felt also a bit fast especially with the perks, could use a tiny nerf as well. But I am not gonna lie here it was funny and hilarious to have a tank stand off with an enemy tank that also had 5 engineers in the back repairing :D.
Guns & Balance:
The guns felt great to shoot and I did find most of them balanced except for a few:
The MP7 felt a bit underpowered often times I found myself outgunned in CQB by ARs and LMGs, could use a "Range near" buff.
The M870 shotgun could use a "far range" damage nerf,
The M320 thermobaric is/was a huge annoyance, giving the victim burn & stun , a bit of HE explosive damage & delayed health regen. I think damage over time via burn and HE explosive & (+/-) delayed health regen would be more balacned.
Sniper rifles could use a bit more sway when moving.
Classes; Open or closed ?
I tried both scenarios over the course of the weekends and came to the conclusion that I like both.
When playing Open classes I enjoyed the fact that I could run my favorite guns at any time with any class. So for example I wasn't forced to run around with an LMG or Carbine in a CQB situation as a medic, but could use an SMG for example. But the downside here was that you would see less variety in the guns being used.
During my playtime with closed weapons it was the opposite. I enjoyed the varierty of weapons on the battlefield and often found myself winning / or losing gunfights because the type of weapon was right/wrong for this situation.
Teamwork wise I couldn't really notice a difference, because in the end it comes down to team. In the open classes it felt like there were overall more medic players around, as they weren't locked or limited to certain weapon types. But then again I also had teams with a lot of medics on closed classes as well.
The classes do really feel unique thanks to their gadgets and it comes down to the individual players playstyle.
Personally I think having both Open & closed is the best way to go from here.
Classes:
The Assault should be the objective clearing class according to the devs, but I think having 2 primarys & 2 different grenade launchers is a bit overpowered. I think no classes should be able to be prepared for all gun fight scenarios. Personally I would like to see 1 primary on the assault class and only 1 type of grenade launcher.
Same goes for the engineer, having an RPG and an AA Missle Launcher is just way to much. Either it is the RPG or the Stinger. Anti Tank or Anti Air, choose wisely ! ( Unless your are a very skilled RPG players who fly swats air vehicles easly out of the sky ;) )
The medic class was fine for the most part, but the reviving with shock paddles was a bit to fast imo ( read above)
The Recon was fine & balanced as well, but I am curious how the already announced change with the spawn beacon will impact the gameplay of this class.
Vehicles:
They need work. At least when it comes to movement. The air vehicles felt really heavy and with that their turning speed etc felt slow. I know choppers already getting a rework but the jets could use a bit more agility as well. The gun on the gunner seat of the choppers felt a bit weak as well. The damage and splash damage felt to weak.
It would be nice if we could decouple the cockpit view in a jet like we could in BF: V.
The tanks and apcs felt okay and aren't as agil as they're in BF4 which is a good thing imo. The multi purpose shell felt a bit weak against infantry. The Co-Gunner seats on the tank and APCs are in the right spot.
Last but not least the maps.
Siege of Cairo
I liked this map, it has a good flow and really felt like a city fight most of the time. The amount verticality is in the right spot. The A Flag could use a tiny bit more cover and a "reason" to be capture from a story lore pov. At the moment is just a random plaza without a real meaning, perhaps the addition of an mobile military command center could bring the reason and the additional cover. The Rest of the points were good and provided enough cover. In my opinion the Tanks on this map feel a bit out of place, I think one IFV per Team would be enough.
Iberian Offensive
I also liked this map, like cairo it had a good flow and good readable verticality, had a bit of pearl market / seine crossing feel to it. The IFV vehicle didn't feel OP and fitting on the map. The A Flag could use a bit more cover.
Liberation Peak
Aka Snipers heaven. The climable rocks at D and the big one between C/D should be a red zone. Often times it was very annoying when half of the team or enemy were camping up there. Overall the map could use a bit more cover here and there especially on breakthrough and rush. I never came past the 2nd stage in Rush oder Breakthrough.
Empire State
Sorry chief but this map isn't it. Every flag point feels like as if you're a goat which got thrown into the lion dens. As soon as you enter a point there are so many angles and sight lines it is no fun. You literally can get shot from anywhere. Atmosphere wise the map is really nice, but that's it.
The Flags ( all of them ) are a nightmare and need more cover. I dare to say this map is too chaotic even for Battlefield standards.
My friends & I straight did not really enjoy this map, although it is set in a very interesting scenario.
I hope you find this feedback helpful.
Best Regards
A hopeful Battlefield Vet
PS: English is not my native language, so if you find any mistakes you can keep them :P