Core Gameplay Tweaks Discussion

Core Gameplay Tweaks Discussion

Hey DICE team,

I'm Drew, I hope this finds you and your teams all doing well. I’ve been playing Battlefield since day one 1942. I’ve poured thousands of hours into this franchise with games like 1942, Vietnam, BF2, Bad Company 1 and 2, Battlefield 3, and even loved Battlefield 1. I wasn’t really into 2042, but I gave it a fair shot too, and I did like the Portal concept.

So now, I’m here with Battlefield 6 and I was apart of the closed beta and recently bought the full game probably my 9th or 10th bf game I've purchased I believe, I lost count at this point. That is basically $1000 commitment when I think back wow. I really want to enjoy this iteration more and I think its off to a great start and you've done a phenomenal course correct for the franchise. But I’ve got some feedback.

First, I feel like the gunplay has been pretty **bleep** good. Some broken weapons here and there but nothing crazy I think you've done an overall fantastic job with the guns and how they sound and feel however, I do find that I get beamed in this game a lot quicker than any other BF before. It's basically insta-death at every corner. I appreciate the attempt at realism but maybe it's a reflection of the condensed nature of the map designs now that is hurting the core gameplay. You may be over doing it with some of your fixes as well instead of hitting the sweet spot with them and sticking to a balance YOU feel is right, just have conviction about it and focus on tweaks that count towards the core gameplay. Remember you can't please everyone you will end up pleasing no one. 

Second, the core Battlefield experience feels off. Old-school fans/players will agree that they miss the big, well-balanced maps with thoughtful flow and balance of Bf2/Bf3. the current maps are too infantry focused akin to call of duty and 16 player maps. Modes like conquest/rush/breakthrough are suffering. Even though Rush can be quite frantic which is cool its rush but the balance has to be right too If you could simply take what works in BC 1 and 2 and apply it here you would win to put it simply. Breakthrough could improve by simply observing what worked well in BF1 and applying it in its exact form of balance to this game. Conquest is the main course though and doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of the standard of the series its too condensed on certain maps like Cairo, Iberian, Empire state. its not domination its conquest. I do appreciate Eastwood, Sobek, Manhatten Bridge, Mirak and Firestorm but they fall short in scope/flow of the old guard of maps

The game is in desperate need of some larger maps akin to strike at karkand, gulf oman, Sharqi peninsula, wake island, mashtuur city. The beauty of these maps were the fact you scale them down from 64 player to 32 player to 16 player. I think this is something you need to do with your next wave of maps. All this is easily controllable from the server browser with filters. Give us larger well-paced maps while making it easier to get to these types of options so there can be players happy with smaller option and larger option of the same map. BF2 had the biggest maps for 64 players yes but they were scalable and played well at 16/32 and 64 players.

Portal is an awesome idea but it’s buried. The UI makes it hard to find the community’s great creations and modes. Maybe scale back the "streaming service" UI and help users get right to the core experiences they are looking for. Don't just feature silly game modes. Feature the best fan made conquest modes on there custom maps up front. Not just the official experiences whether made by you or the community. The quality core gameplay modes and maps should featured upfront in the UI to get us all playing those as quickly as possible, conquest/rush/breakthrough first this is the key, the core loop.

Finally, while Battle Royale isn’t my thing, I know it’s got issues too but I'm not going critique you on something I have little interest in. I am a core BF fan and this mode is simply not what I am here for. What I will say is the core is the trunk, the foundation if you will. Get the core right with large, proper paced maps, balanced gameplay, and listen to those of us who’ve been here since the beginning and will be here always. The Battle Royale will grow with a proper foundation grow from in place. Us core fans are here for the long haul if the game feels like Battlefield at its best. I'm 38 I think your goal should be to keep 18-year-olds playing off and on throughout their life to my age and beyond too like myself.

A final side note as someone who works in music, I noticed the footsteps in the game lack audible direction as to where they are coming from. They are louder but don't seem to be mixed properly according to where the opposition is coming from and leaves the players looking around frantically instead of getting sense of depth of field and audible perception. Hopefully you can work on this too. Your sound over all superb as always now lets just get the mixing right.

I hope this reaches the right people's eyes and ears. Thanks for taking the time to hear me out. I’m always here to lend my opinion and I think voices like mine can go long way to helping your teams achieve what's best for the game and its future iterations. I encourage anyone to join in this discussion of course especially older players and new ones alike, this franchise has always was the most fun to me. I know there is more discuss here overall so please add whatever you think is missing from the core loop and I will too if I think of anything. I could touch on classes but your teams seem set on this setup for this game though I think you need up to 7 classes personally.

I've played call of duty since part 1 and probably owned a good 6 or 7 versions of that game in 2.5 decades plus, medal of honor, CS, team fortress, tribes but BF is king for me and always will be.

Best,

Drew Assoon