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The Final Dakar · Sep 30, 2011, 02:24 PM

Some snippets from email. I'll add my thoughts if I can fully form them later...

As I complained about a LOT last night, the view after you die kills me. I feel like I'm suddenly trapped in a box on the end of the gun of the guy who killed me. It's the same claustrophobic feeling you get from a bad camera in a 3rd person view game.

I thoroughly detest that it’s even referred to as such. Killer cam or follow cam would be more appropriate, though in all honesty, just call it FaceTime™

I would say it’s useful in determining anything about 1/3rd of the time (and that’s probably generous).

Remember the movie Strange Days, where they had that crazy VR tech, and the guy hooked the chick up on a feedback loop so he would see through his eyes while he r@ped her? This is almost kinda like that.

---

I signed off last night because I started experience almost Blacks Op level problems. Dying from what "felt" like one bullet (god knows I couldn't verify via killcam). I'd just fall over and I swear the damage indicator would laggingly show up (or show up as I was dying).

Second, I was spotting dudes on the second floor of a building and a guy was prone on the exposed edge of the floor so all I could see was his head and I got two or three hitmarkers on what were headshots. Not cool. (The gun could be weaker than I imagine, in which case, that effed up)

I was standing 10ft away from a guy that was laying prone, emptied an entire clip into him and didn't get one hit marker. As I'm reloading, he kills me.

The muzzle-flash is so intense in this game that the few times I'm running full-auto, get into a CQ firefight and die I have no idea if got jobbed or not because I couldn't see anything.

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I went back to Black Ops last night and fell in love all over again. I heart you Black ops.

Jawbone54 · Sep 30, 2011, 04:36 PM

As much as I liked BC2, and I'm sure I'll play BF3, I'm now looking forward to MW3 a bit more. BF3 will be my alternate -- it's going to take an awful lot of dissatisfaction to abandon it.

The beta's issues:
- No vehicles, which are half the fun of Battlefield
- Rush instead of Conquest, which is by far my favorite of the two modes
- The various glitches need to be worked out -- sound, hit detection, sliding in place on a relatively flat surface, and sprint issues all cropped up at one point or another
- I'm having a harder time identifying enemies

The Final Dakar · Sep 30, 2011, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

- I'm having a harder time identifying enemies

Yeah, I chalk this up to inexperience but if you're having trouble, maybe not, but it seemed like it was easier on Homefront. People with flashlights were flashing neon "kill me" signs for me last night.

Leonard · Sep 30, 2011, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Yeah, I chalk this up to inexperience but if you're having trouble, maybe not, but it seemed like it was easier on Homefront. People with flashlights were flashing neon "kill me" signs for me last night.

Yeah in the tunnel they're flashing lights at you and the sniper is good in the tunnel. But outside I was definitely having troubles determining who the enemy was. My guys seemed to have a blue indicator.

I didn't see much sway on the sniper rifle.

I couldn't find a way to leave the game in between games. Where is the lobby?

Other things I still have to figure out. I would have liked to see a diagram of the controls - I guess I could find that online. I think I figured most of them out, anyways.

The Final Dakar · Oct 1, 2011, 02:48 PM

Alright, so I'll say I like the BF3 beta about as much as I liked Homefront. Which is a good thing. I liked Homefront more than I like Black Ops, though I never really got to try it with a full group. I hated BC2, but this is really very little like it.

I like the class system, but having unlocks split by side is beyond retarded. I don't know if this is Gears of War quality carrot-and-stick or what, but there is no reason it should be like this. They essentially make it twice as much work for no reason.

I'd also like it it if the classes had "levels" because I'd be curious to see which ones I'm playing/leveling more. I have to say, I've enjoyed playing all of them so far.

I have a couple of gripes (of course). I have no ability to tell what's the difference between weapons or classes. Is the M16 more powerful than the M4? What about the M416?

Without a doubt the UI is this game's biggest deficit. Which really should be no surprise as most games can't make a good UI to save their live, but this is the worst by far. The Squad screen is unintelligible (How can you tell if someone has successfully joined you?). The lack of a quit between matches is in-ex-cuse-a-ble. You should also be allowed to tweak your classes during this time (so you can, you know, look at what you've unlocked).

Customizing your classes is also unclear. Scroll down to your pistol. Press A. What happens? You're in a screen for your primary.
All the dead space on the right should be displaying additional info as you scroll over items (like the perks). I have the M9 and M9 Tactical. Even with additional info I have no idea what the difference is.

Speaking of leveling and classes, Battlefield's system is arguably very unbalanced. In MW2 there were issues of not having good launchers and perks until a decent while in, but on a one-on-one basis, you still were on fairly even terms with people. In Battlefield it feels like the more I level the more advantages I have on players below me. Three attachments, better secondaries, etc.

Looking at the gunplay, the awesome selectable fire option has become my new "switch to secondary in CQB". Now I switch to full auto in tight areas, single-fire when I think medium and long-range combat will occur. The downside is, I'm not really noticing much difference between the AR and SMG classes. Full auto they kick like F2000/FAMAS, single-fire I spam them like FALs. Very one-dimensional.

As far as hit detection is concerned, I find it impossible to tell what the deal is. Aim I not compensating for bullet drop or am I getting screwed? Am I supposed to be able to shoot through this wall or are they supposed to be protected? Does this gun take 4 bullets to kill or should I be killing them in half? The lack of the killcam makes this all a bigger mystery. Did I really die in one bullet or did the damage indicator not come up or am I just getting hosed on connection. Between this and Homefront I have come to this conclusion with Dedicated Servers. P2P = Home and Away games, Dedicated Servers are like a Tournament - it's going to be in a set location and some team nearby will always have more fans in the stands, putting you at a permanent disadvantage.

The spawning in this game is a joke. It's the worst spawning I've seen short of Gears, which it isn't too far off of, seeing as those spawns are fixed too. It encourages this awful style of enemy trying to cross sides so he can get behind the spawn and just pick off people without them being able to do anything about it. Disgusting. Then there's when the sky is poop-spawning teammates onto you and it physically shoves you around. Why? Nothing better than being in cover exchanging shots with someone and a team mate spawns pushing you out into the open and you can retract yourself back in before being lit up. I'm also not fond of shooting a guy and having the air poop reinforcements for him as we're exchanging fire. This will turn-out to be unfair for both sides in the long run.

Other stuff: Quitting a match doesn't work half the time – it just sends me to a loading screen that never resolves. trying join squads pre-game doesn't work most of the time. Seems to me both of you need to be off a fresh boot and in the screen where you can search for a quickmatch before any joining can occur successfully.

I said I like this about as much as Homefront and this carries over in other ways: I have no faith most of these issues cropping up in beta will be ironed out for launch. The disc is likely gold already, definitely going through MS cert, so any fixes will be in the form of a day one patch. I have a strong suspicion the matchmaking will be ugly. I heard of BC2 problems, and CoD has been no saint the past few titles, and that's with a system I say works far better than everything but Halo. This just isn't worth a day one pick up, not with the likely problems, and the only way I could be convinced to do so would be with an amazon deal, which has been conspicuously lacking.

The Final Dakar · Oct 1, 2011, 03:59 PM

It's really hard to find good community managers.

mattyb · Oct 1, 2011, 05:09 PM

Tried it again, even more disappointed this time around. Jawbone, no I'm not getting it.

Activision will be laughing all the way to the bank.

The Final Dakar · Oct 2, 2011, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Tried it again, even more disappointed this time around. Jawbone, no I'm not getting it.

Activision will be laughing all the way to the bank.

You were ok with Homefront, right? What's the big differences?

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Battlefield 3 - Caspian Border Trailer (Now with ACTUAL Gameplay) - YouTube

Hit Registration of Battlefield 3 BETA - YouTube

mattyb · Oct 2, 2011, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

You were ok with Homefront, right? What's the big differences?

Sniping was fun in Homefront. Spotting was fun in Homefront. BF3 wasn't fun - for me.

The 'real' game is bound to be better than the beta, but I'll be doing MW3 for months after it comes out. Doubt BF3 will have that longevity.

mattyb · Oct 2, 2011, 05:15 PM

So I went on after the last post and armed with a sniper, was in the Metro and got hit markers on someone but didn't kill them. They however killed me - with a fookin G17.

The beta has been deleted.

The Final Dakar · Oct 3, 2011, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Sniping was fun in Homefront. Spotting was fun in Homefront. BF3 wasn't fun - for me.

The spotting in BF3 is not the same deal as Homefront. It's a matter of life and death, like having UAVs in CoD. There is a more Homefront like spotting mechanic that unlocks later, a UAV Recon.

Originally Posted by mattyb

So I went on after the last post and armed with a sniper, was in the Metro and got hit markers on someone but didn't kill them. They however killed me - with a fookin G17.

I was commenting to Fatty last night that I (mostly) enjoy the challenge of sniping on here. If you could snipe on BF3 like you could on Call of Duty, there'd be no point to playing other classes.

Still, I'm beginning to think the bullet-drop is theoretical, and all that's left is hit detection issues. Oh and I watched a video with a dude using the bolt-action and he got what seemed like 14 OHKs, which from what I've read isn't supposed to be possible with snipers unless they're headshots. WTF.

Edit: One of these times I want to try to put an RDS or Holo on a sniper rifle and see how that works in the tunnels.

The Final Dakar · Oct 3, 2011, 10:54 AM

EA is fixing these issues found in the Battlefield 3 open beta | Joystiq

The Battlefield 3 open beta isn't just for fun and war games. EA has been listening to feedback from players and the Battlefield Blog now has a list of the most important fixes that will be in the game's final version (with a full list in the Battlelog news section):
Fixed occasional client crash when reviving.
Fixed killcam showing glitched area under map if your killer is dead.
Issue with spawning on dead squad mates fixed.
Fixed a bug where shooting at a moving enemy could cause more than the intended amount of damage.
Crosshairs for shotguns have been replaced with a new, thinner, art.
A subtle low health screen effect has been added.
Tweaked scores of Medals and Service Stars.
Tweaked the Rank progression.
Pushing prone on console will not play the animation twice.
Fixed loss of Squad Leader after EOR at some times.
Framerate stability fixes.
The 3D spotting icons has been tweaked to better match the target's visibility. Icons will show frequently less on mostly obscured targets.
Fixed issue with crosshair disappearing after round transition.
Fixed issue with crosshair disappearing after trying to deploy while the countdown timer still active.
Squad list now shows specializations chosen, VOIP activity and dead squad mates.
Non working options in squad menu fixed: "Private" flag and "Switch Teams."

Jawbone54 · Oct 3, 2011, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by mattyb

So I went on after the last post and armed with a sniper, was in the Metro and got hit markers on someone but didn't kill them. They however killed me - with a fookin G17.

The beta has been deleted.

Hardcore mode.

We almost never played on regular with BC2. I didn't care for Black Ops' hardcore mode, but I can't wait for BF3's full release so that we can return to it. Sniping on hardcore is infinitely more realistic (and satisfying).

The Final Dakar · Oct 3, 2011, 01:35 PM

The Final Dakar · Oct 3, 2011, 03:17 PM

BF3: EOD bot in action (C4's, Roadkill, soldier frying and mcom arming) - YouTube
Awesome

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Battlefield Blog

The Open Beta is a true Beta
The Battlefield 3 Open Beta is based on software that is more than one month old. We need to test the new back end dedicated server structure we’ve built. Not only have we built a new game engine, but an entirely new back end system so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of dedicated servers on all platforms.

Dedicated servers require dedicated testing
The biggest reason for running the Open Beta is to stress test our servers and back end. Already, we are seeing 6 times the number of simultaneous players in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta compared to the Beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2! The fact that Battlefield 3 is clearly our biggest game launch ever by a magnitude of 6 makes it doubly important to test everything.

Hope they have more than 6x the servers ready for launch then.

Demonhood · Oct 3, 2011, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

BF3: EOD bot in action (C4's, Roadkill, soldier frying and mcom arming) - YouTube
Awesome

That music is giving me BF2 flashbacks. Weird.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by sek929

I'm downloading it, expect an ill-informed and poorly written review.

Paging sek, sek to the BF3 thread please.

mattyb · Oct 4, 2011, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Paging sek, sek to the BF3 thread please.

He's BUSY.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 11:16 AM

Jawbone, maybe you can answer this, in BC2 is it possible to play with a group large than 4 together?

Jawbone54 · Oct 4, 2011, 11:22 AM

A group, yes. A squad, no.

Squads are limited to 4 members. I'm guessing this is to keep droves of teammates from spawning into the same area repeatedly, creating a swarm effect.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 11:25 AM

So a group will be all placed on the same team?

Just asking because one of the most worrying parts of the beta is how horrific their system is.

Jawbone54 · Oct 4, 2011, 11:40 AM

Yeah, it was in BC2. I'm guessing they'll have that fixed by release day.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

Yeah, it was in BC2. I'm guessing they'll have that fixed by release day.

*you hope

Jawbone54 · Oct 4, 2011, 11:48 AM

It seems like something a top-tier title would get right by the time it launches.

Of course, heavily-advertised titles have shipped as a pile of steaming crap before...
HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT HOMEFRONT

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

It seems like something a top-tier title would get right by the time it launches.

As I pointed out earlier, Call of Duty doesn't even get it completely right when it launches (And that's P2P).

Jawbone54 · Oct 4, 2011, 11:56 AM

True, but they feel as polished, if not more so, as any other multiplayer title at launch.

As long as BF3 isn't disastrous, then I'm okay. The quality of BC2 was through the roof by the time I got into it. The only thing I never got 100% sold on was the pacing.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 12:01 PM

I'm just talking matchmaking, son.

I remember those first few weeks of Black Ops. "Is the party set to open? Try Invite only. No, try closed." Search still boots you after failure to join first game. Or only takes half the party members into a game. Or just disbands the party for the hell of it.

Jawbone54 · Oct 4, 2011, 12:22 PM

I barely even remember at this point.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

I barely even remember at this point.

Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

I'm just waiting for the realization that MW didn't adopt Black Ops' full party control for backing out of lobbies. That'd be swell.

sek929 · Oct 4, 2011, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Paging sek, sek to the BF3 thread please.

Still haven't played enough to even have an ill-informed opinion, I'm down for some more beta action tonight if you are interested.

The Final Dakar · Oct 4, 2011, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

Still haven't played enough to even have an ill-informed opinion, I'm down for some more beta action tonight if you are interested.

Hmmm, really? I don't remember how much you played Thursday but I figured there was enough for a first impression.

I was planning on getting back on tonight (Took last night off since I cracked out most of the weekend). Looking forward to trying out the SVD with a RDS and Bipod (separately, of course).

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Forgot to metnion, everyone should try Battlelog / Sign in to the Open Beta while they can. It beats COD: Elite on the design and useful information by a large margin.

Examples:

I've very weirded out that my sniping kills per minute are so high. I think I attribute it using it early on when people were dumber.

Leonard · Oct 4, 2011, 09:05 PM

Now I know why there is a Suicide command in the menu. There are too many holes in the map. I never ran into a hole in the map on MW2. When you can crawl or walk almost everywhere, you can't have holes like that.

I don't care for the automatic upgrade of your weapons - let me upgrade my own weapon!

Getting somewhat used to identifying the enemy.

The Final Dakar · Oct 5, 2011, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by Leonard

Now I know why there is a Suicide command in the menu. There are too many holes in the map. I never ran into a hole in the map on MW2.

You can't blow up the terrain in MW, either.

The main glitch I've noticed is at A M COM in the first section you can walk through the ground a lot. It's an interesting glitch because it seems that the ground is an illusion and what you're actually walking on is the deformed terrain from when after the M COM detonates.

sek929 · Oct 5, 2011, 02:56 PM

Incoherent babble incoming.

So I like the game, but the manner in which I play it is so similar to CoD that I feel I'm not coming at it from the right angle. Anywho...

The guns are probably the high point for me, they kick around like crazy without being unmanageable and I like the plethora of attachments for each class. The sniper is pretty useless for me ATM, with most of my kills being 3 hit markers before they go down, which puts it on par with how deadly I am with the pistol. Also, the pistols are great fun, I suspect the range drop-off is what limits their effectiveness, but up close they have a fighting chance against an AR, which is a breath of fresh air.

The matchmaking last night was solid and fast. I only hope that the squad you enter a lobby with ends up being who is actually in your in-game squad because, well, it makes sense.

I like the spawning system in conjunction with the gametype. Cycling through people to find the person who isn't to close or to far away is nice. However, and for the love of god, they need to do something about the death screen. I'm not talking about the killcam, I can live without that, but having the menus not accessible seems like a huge oversight. Also, and this might just be a beta complaint, but not having anywhere but in-game to work on your classes is a dick move.

So now the meat-and-potatoes question.....will I be buying it? Yes, well, most likely. If the matchmaking remains solid then I can see this game dishing out quite a bit of fun in large groups, which is what appears we will have for launch. However, I still look forward to MW3 more, I like the frenetic pace of the CoD series over the large-scale warfare of other games, and I don't see that changing.

The Final Dakar · Oct 5, 2011, 04:00 PM

No mention of the collision detection?

sek929 · Oct 5, 2011, 05:28 PM

As far as falling through the map? if so then I see that as a beta issue and something I shouldn't have to worry about.

The Final Dakar · Oct 5, 2011, 05:30 PM

No, I mean team mates pushing you around like the pansy you are.

sek929 · Oct 5, 2011, 05:39 PM

Ohhhh yeah, that.

Super goddamn annoying, and apparently something I'm going to have to deal with I suppose.

The Final Dakar · Oct 5, 2011, 05:44 PM

Oh, I'm surprised the sniping is putting you off. You're a much better sniper than me and I've managed to create it into a workable situation.

Jawbone, as a BC2 player can you give us any insight into the bullet drop? At what kind of distances do you feel you have to start compensating for it? I came to the conclusion last night that on Metro you should only do small compensation at outside distances.

The Final Dakar · Oct 5, 2011, 06:12 PM

How To Be a Jet In Battlefield 3's Beta

Jawbone54 · Oct 5, 2011, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Jawbone, as a BC2 player can you give us any insight into the bullet drop? At what kind of distances do you feel you have to start compensating for it? I came to the conclusion last night that on Metro you should only do small compensation at outside distances.

Honestly, it's very difficult to get a good feel for it on Metro, since the various segments are so small in comparison to many of BC2's maps.

In the outside portion, I barely compensate for bullet drop at all -- maybe a foot above target at the greatest distance. While playing BC2, I remember aiming several feet over the target's head (though rarely connecting from that distance). It really became more instinctive than technical, but then again...I wasn't much of a sniper. I spent about 80% of my BC2 time playing with the Assault class.

Leonard · Oct 5, 2011, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

How To Be a Jet In Battlefield 3's Beta

LMAO

I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect that.

The Final Dakar · Oct 6, 2011, 05:12 PM

Watch him work the crowd like a master.

...what an asshole.

sek929 · Oct 6, 2011, 05:16 PM

It's like they picked the most overworked over-caffeinated staffer for this position.

The Final Dakar · Oct 6, 2011, 05:21 PM

I fully understand it's a thankless job, but c'mon. Even Robert "Eight ball, corner pocket" Bowling has been sufferable the past few months.

The Final Dakar · Oct 6, 2011, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

Honestly, it's very difficult to get a good feel for it on Metro, since the various segments are so small in comparison to many of BC2's maps.

In the outside portion, I barely compensate for bullet drop at all -- maybe a foot above target at the greatest distance. While playing BC2, I remember aiming several feet over the target's head (though rarely connecting from that distance). It really became more instinctive than technical, but then again...I wasn't much of a sniper. I spent about 80% of my BC2 time playing with the Assault class.

I have a bad feeling it gets even more complicated when attachments talk about slowing down the velocity of bullets.

Related: LONGEST/ BEST Battlefield 3 Sniper Headshot? - BF3 Caspian Border (1080p) - YouTube
Take notes, Fatty.

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Battlefield 3 Beta : In Real Life - YouTube

The Final Dakar · Oct 7, 2011, 01:18 PM

So I had an awesome night last night and fatty got to be witness. Pulled my first MVP (32-4), and it wasn't even close. Had a monster killing spree in the subway ventilation shaft that's a giant meat grinder. Set-up shop with a PKP and had 10 straight kills before some lucky sucker caught me having to reload (Unlocked extended mags a min earlier – they would have been screwed if I had it already equipped).

Also had a rare stuff in the 4th section of the map. Not exactly clear what happened, but it appears my team took up defensive positions in all the buildings and were just raining hell on anyone trying to leave the subway building. We also had one psycho with a sniper who took things to another level.

mattyb · Oct 9, 2011, 11:55 AM

Dakar, is it better because you've unlocked the better equipment/weapons? Is it just a mater of grinding through the shite stuff and then the game gets good/better?

$64,000 question : will you be buying it?

The Final Dakar · Oct 9, 2011, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Dakar, is it better because you've unlocked the better equipment/weapons? Is it just a mater of grinding through the shite stuff and then the game gets good/better?

Getting new weapons and attachments certainly helps, but its worth noting a good deal of my play involves the starting snipers (albeit with better scopes and a bipod).

Originally Posted by mattyb

$64,000 question : will you be buying it?

I don't know if I said it here, but I like the game, however I don't think it's going to be pretty on release, and between that and MW3, I won't pay full price for it.

Amazon isn't giving any deals on it currently, but I think it's an inevitability it will after release.

Demonhood · Oct 9, 2011, 05:09 PM

The inability to change your key bindings outside of live multiplayer is the stupidest things I've seen in a game in a long time. Add that to the fact that it doesn't UNBIND other keys (oh, you want E to be forward? well, I guess that can be melee attack as well) is unacceptable.

Still managed to have a bit of fun while trying to figure out the maps though.