Forum Discussion

Rising Scout

1 month ago

Solved

Why can't we have five classes?

I'm curious as to why we always seem to be stuck with only four classes in battlefield titles of late. From a balance perspective it comes across as an odd choice as there's always one hybrid class per title that is what i'd call a slightly too strong to a clearly overpowered, eg.

Assault / Medic in BF3 / 4.

Support / Engineer in BF1 / 5.

Support / Medic in BF2042 / 6. Which are by far the worst offenders with open weapons being included.

I know with supports supply pouch the intention was for it to be a super helpful, clear and simple " does it all " gadget and it is. But it is too helpful, to the point that it can be used in a selfish manner. Nothing promotes selfishness like a gadget than does everything for you, it makes you a self sustaining army, no need to interact with anyone as i have all i need right here.

Recon and Engineer are both decently helpful and bring their fair share to the team.

Annnnd then we have Assault.. With a ladder and an EpiPen that makes your vision blurry...

So to combat this i suggest the supply pouch gets split up into three,

Medic gets a health bag - Being medics...

Support gets an ammo bag - LMG go BRRRT and needs feeding...

Assault gets an explosives crate - Since they primarily have infantry focused explosives.

They all contribute to the team and have something that complements their own playstyle/ weapons/ other gadgets without being totally self sufficient.

Now, i know what your thinking " That'll just lead to grenade spam from Assault players " to a limited extent you're correct, but it'll also stop Support players with infinite mortar shells camping in spawn.... Don't forget, without a Support player nearby they'll eventually run out rounds with their primary which is a far, far more effective weapon. So it is fairly balanced in that regard.

Also, five classes with the squad count remining at four would keep things interesting as no squad would be able to have a " fully effective team " as it were, a skillset of some kind would have to be dropped.

This is a rough lineup with current and made-up gadgets. Obviously other gadgets may need to be shuffled about or rebalanced but its a start.

Assault - Loses Deploy beacon. Gains Explosives resupplying crate.

Engineer - Unchanged.

Support - Looses Supply pouch, Defibs, Smoke grenade launcher. Gains C4, Ammunition bag.

Recon - Gains Deploy Beacon.

Medic - Gains defibs, Smoke grenade launcher, health bag, Flashbang airburst, deployable cover, claymore. Carbines as the class weapon is probably the most appropriate.

No one is useless, no one is overpowered, most importantly everyone does something useful.

Thankyou for reading.

discussion

feedback

weapons

QcR4ptor
1 month ago
AnEejit I agree with your overall point, and I think moving to 5 classes would already be a big improvement for Battlefield.
Right now, the main issue isn’t just the number of classes, but how one class is handling multiple roles — especially Support. The current Support class feels like it’s doing two jobs at once (ammo + healing), which makes it too self-sufficient and reduces the need for teamplay.
In my opinion, the best solution would be to go back to something closer to BF3/BF4:
Support focused on LMGs, ammo crate, C4, and fire support
Medic as a separate class again, with defibrillators, health bag, and healing tools
This alone would already fix a big part of the balance issues by clearly separating roles.
We would then have a much clearer class structure:
-Assault for more solo-oriented, aggressive players
-Medic focused on healing and revives
-Support for ammo resupply and suppressive fire
-Recon for spotting and long-range roles
-Engineer for anti-vehicle and repairs
Each class would have a clear identity, and no one would feel overloaded or overpowered.
Also, having 5 classes wouldn’t even be new to Battlefield. If I remember correctly, Battlefield 1942 already had 5 classes. So this wouldn’t be a radical change, but rather a return to something that has already worked well in the past.
On top of that, it could make sense to increase squad size to 5 players instead of 4. This would better match the class system and encourage stronger teamwork.
For those concerned about balance issues with adding a 5th class, I don’t think it would actually create problems. Right now, players who pick Support to be self-sufficient don’t revive teammates anyway — they already play for themselves.
The current system actually creates frustration because Support is seen as a Medic, even if players don’t play it that way. That’s why you often hear: “another Medic who doesn’t revive.”
By splitting the roles, players would have to choose between healing or ammo instead of having both. That alone would naturally rebalance things and improve teamplay.
Finally, for the Medic class, I think carbines would be the best fit as a signature weapon. They’re versatile, effective at multiple ranges, and suit a mobile, support-oriented playstyle.
Overall, this kind of system would bring back stronger class identity, better teamwork, and a more balanced experience without overcomplicating the game.

15 Replies

MackTKau
Seasoned Ace
1 month ago
If you make medics weak, no-one uses them. This is what happened in Battlefield 2 because everyone who wanted a good gun had to use assault (or restrict themselves to very short ranged Anti-Tank weapons the DAO12 & P90, the medic SMGs were rubbish) until Medics got the G36E in the Special Forces expansion, at which point they became the by far most used class in the game because the G36E was better than the Assault Class guns.
Grenade launchers aren't useful enough to have people use them if they aren't the strongest gun.
BF3 and BF4 was a game of medic trains, because that class had enough of a good gun to make it worth using so the lemming sweat squads would be able to kill anyone they came across and revive.
99% of people only play Support because it gets self-healing and can use good guns still. If you took away self-healing and/or ability to use good guns, the class would evaporate. You'd be left with battledads who LMG bipod onto their deployable cover spamming "suppressive fire" from their 200 round mags and hitting nothing, and the few maniacs who run around with their paddles out and don't do any shooting.
Engineer & Anti-Tank was a pointless distinction. If you were in a vehicle or a rep guy you'd be taking an engineer and have no need for anti-tank. If you were on the ground as infantry, you didn't have a vehicle so you would take anti-tank to kill enemy vehicles. Merging them is fine.
Only BF2 had anything that needed a "Spec Ops" class, one that was intended to blow up backfield commander assets and hunt down the enemy commander. In modern games, you can make a recon a spec ops by taking C4 and a suppressed weapon.
QcR4ptor wrote:
By splitting the roles, players would have to choose between healing or ammo instead of having both.
No-one would ever play the ammo class. People who pick the healing class don't care about the minor benefit of supplying ammo. They would remain playing the healing class and then pickup kits from the ground or kill themselves to respawn with new ammo.
QcR4ptor
Seasoned Veteran
1 month ago
AnEejit I agree with your overall point, and I think moving to 5 classes would already be a big improvement for Battlefield.
Right now, the main issue isn’t just the number of classes, but how one class is handling multiple roles — especially Support. The current Support class feels like it’s doing two jobs at once (ammo + healing), which makes it too self-sufficient and reduces the need for teamplay.
In my opinion, the best solution would be to go back to something closer to BF3/BF4:
Support focused on LMGs, ammo crate, C4, and fire support
Medic as a separate class again, with defibrillators, health bag, and healing tools
This alone would already fix a big part of the balance issues by clearly separating roles.
We would then have a much clearer class structure:
-Assault for more solo-oriented, aggressive players
-Medic focused on healing and revives
-Support for ammo resupply and suppressive fire
-Recon for spotting and long-range roles
-Engineer for anti-vehicle and repairs
Each class would have a clear identity, and no one would feel overloaded or overpowered.
Also, having 5 classes wouldn’t even be new to Battlefield. If I remember correctly, Battlefield 1942 already had 5 classes. So this wouldn’t be a radical change, but rather a return to something that has already worked well in the past.
On top of that, it could make sense to increase squad size to 5 players instead of 4. This would better match the class system and encourage stronger teamwork.
For those concerned about balance issues with adding a 5th class, I don’t think it would actually create problems. Right now, players who pick Support to be self-sufficient don’t revive teammates anyway — they already play for themselves.
The current system actually creates frustration because Support is seen as a Medic, even if players don’t play it that way. That’s why you often hear: “another Medic who doesn’t revive.”
By splitting the roles, players would have to choose between healing or ammo instead of having both. That alone would naturally rebalance things and improve teamplay.
Finally, for the Medic class, I think carbines would be the best fit as a signature weapon. They’re versatile, effective at multiple ranges, and suit a mobile, support-oriented playstyle.
Overall, this kind of system would bring back stronger class identity, better teamwork, and a more balanced experience without overcomplicating the game.
AcidryzeN
Seasoned Ace
1 month ago
Painknight wrote:
It's almost like the class system that was in place for BF3 and 4 were made as they were for a reason.

Now it's 90% supports that don't play like supports, some snipers that are still exactly the same people and god bless their souls may they never change, and engies who only picked engi because they got killed by a vehicle and they are spawning with enough boom to blow up the entire map.

Copy the old class system. Literally was a near perfect setup. Instead we get this disaster.
This is so real lol.
AnEejit
Rising Scout
1 month ago
BF3 / 4 were both pretty solid with the classes, the only gripe i have with it is the whole Assault / Medic hybrid stuff that we had going on. Some players went full Assault, some just had the health pack and others were a full medic which to me anyway made the class a little " up in the air " as it were about it's identity.
If there was a fifth Medic class, then Assault could've been designed to be even more effective and specialized then it was with extra offensive gadgets at their disposal, on top of that we would've had a 100% dedicated Medic, popin smokes, getting revs and dishing out health packs.

But yes you're 100% correct, supports don't play like a supports, they just have too much going on for them that people either be completely selfish when using them, don't get any revives because they want to just go Brrrrt with an LMG, sit off in a corner somewhere with a mortar or running around trying to get all the revives in, it's simply too much for one class.

Recon and engineer do have their place but still need some tweaking.
Assault does nothing as far as i'm aware, people keep bringing up the ladder, which helps you get up high to snipe...? Seems to be all i ever ever see people do with it. Oh and the spawn beacons, always too close to objectives or in braindead spots where the enemy team finds it too soon with Assault players. Recon players did a much better job at hiding beacons in secluded corners of the map, yes sometimes it meant a bit of a run to an objective, but the gadget actually saw some use for more than 10 seconds after being deployed.
Painknight
New Ace
1 month ago
It's almost like the class system that was in place for BF3 and 4 were made as they were for a reason.
Now it's 90% supports that don't play like supports, some snipers that are still exactly the same people and god bless their souls may they never change, and engies who only picked engi because they got killed by a vehicle and they are spawning with enough boom to blow up the entire map.
Copy the old class system. Literally was a near perfect setup. Instead we get this disaster.