[mattyb]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Yes, in the fall. This is what we'll be playing instead of Black Ops 2.

You really think that its got the legs? I mean especially for someone like you who has in the hundreds of hours played?

---------------

Amazing game on Seine (do like that map). We were loosing by over 100, then came back to have a slight lead, but then at the end the other team overtook us in the last minute or so. 48 mins of madness. And fun.

Am I a noob if I use the Saiga? Got a few tanks with C4, still not managed a jihad jeep though.

[mattyb]

18th page wow. Don't think that without Dakar so many would have played it.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

You really think that its got the legs? I mean especially for someone like you who has in the hundreds of hours played?

Can't speak for Dakar, but besides Skyrim DLC and Borderlands in September I am literally not going to buy any more 360 games, nor do I see myself returning to MW3.

[Stogieman]

What about Bioshock Infinite? You plan on picking it up next year? I'm sticking with BF3 until Borderlands 2 (Sept.) & Halo 4 (Nov.) are released. The CoD franchise is dead to me.

[sek929]

That was worded poorly, I plan on getting Bioshock and Metro Last light naturally, but nothing before that and certainly nothing to replace BF3 anytime soon.

[mattyb]

I have to be honest and say that I'll probably buy Blops 2 as well as Borderlands 2.

I don't focus on my level like in CoD but I must admit that 77 hours and I'm only at 34 isn't good enough. The trouble is, what I enjoy doing in game doesn't get as many points as PTFO. I wonder if this will piss me off over the next few months.

[mattyb]

Speaking of stats, I don't think that everything is 100% accurate. Simple example : B2K assignments, G53, Kill 1 enemy with the repair torch. I've done this (more than once) but under weapons I don't have any kills for it.

So, using that as evidence, I put it to you, my learned friends, that the k/d ratio of Ze Veteran is a complete fabrication !! And I call Bobby Kotick as my witness.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

You really think that its got the legs? I mean especially for someone like you who has in the hundreds of hours played?

After the last couple years, I know better than to make any bold predictions. All I know is I would have kept playing MW2 past May if everyone hadn't bailed, and I would have gone back to MW2 after Black Ops if the base hadn't fractured. And then, after a while, it really needed maps because it was a little stale.

Originally Posted by mattyb 

18th page wow. Don't think that without Dakar so many would have played it.

I don't think I would have gone back if the MW3 maps weren't so terrible, the game so mastered, and the lag so allover the place.

Originally Posted by sek929 

Can't speak for Dakar, but besides Skyrim DLC and Borderlands in September I am literally not going to buy any more 360 games, nor do I see myself returning to MW3.

I seem to be able to play BF3 more alone than Call of Duty, but it still depends on how many of us stick around. I have no concrete purchase plans, but I'm sure fatty will talk me into Borderlands 2.

---

So the last game of the night was this game, a hard fought battle on Metro where we dealt with a couple of hundreds and fatty and I fought tooth and nail, knowing the second we lost B, we would lose the game. This eventually happened at around 600 - 350 (I think) and things got very ugly. Our team did surprisingly manage to take C, setting chaos into motion and allowing us to secure B, but we lost A quickly, and when things settled, we found ourselves back outside the metro, at around 300 - 150.

I kept trying to crunch the math, but I'm an artist, for christsakes. The bottom line was holding onto A, we should have been able to win a game with such a huge ticket lead, but the 100s were such pure murderers that we couldn't compete. fatty put on the game of his life, but I arguably shit the bed (kills wise). Perhaps I should have used the medic class (revives were probably the difference maker here), or at the very least changed to the M27, but I didn't think I was failing the team too horribly.

fatty's nemesis

Fatty and crosbie were getting the near-instant deaths against him, and as always in these situations I don't think its coincidental that person is a 100 or has a high k/d. This, however shocked me:


That may well be the highest k/d I have ever played against (oddly, I went 7-3 against the guy and got his tags). If its any consolation, we held him to a game k/d of 4.1, well under his average. His SPM was under average, too.

That said, he was inexplicably running as an engineer, which I don't see as advantageous from a weapon standpoint (G53), and is definitely a liability from a points stand-point (no heals, no revives, no claymores, no resupplies). So from another POV, he did exceptionally well considering.

[mattyb]

^ Very impressive figures BUT : 131 kills in the Z-11 in less than 2 hours?!? And 167 in the Humvee in 2H5mins.

Something stinks.

[The Final Dakar]

I suppose he could be a booster, but looking at his recent games, its obvious he's a metro whore.

Edit: Check out his Clan. I best him in SPM in the majority of categories. I'd definitely say he boosted AA to get the service star, and possibly Jets as well. But at 100,000+ kills it's hard to say his k/d is too fake.

[sek929]

That dude single-handedly won the game.

I was the top player, even despite his k/d and overall kills, I had 3k xp higher that the highest guy on his team. I was slicing through everyone on their team like f**king butter and then that ********* would jump sideways from cover and kill me with a single bullet. What a complete mockery he made of that game. It was seriously the closest to a CoD type game I've had, I actually had to pre-fire that bastard to kill him the handful of times I actually managed to do so. Had he not so thoroughly stopped me in my tracks a dozen times there is no way they would have won.

[The Final Dakar]

No idea what the bonus content or unique in-game content is (I think the latter is likely camos, though).

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

That dude single-handedly won the game.

I won't go that far, because he wasn't a medic, and almost every time you dropped one or two people someone was sprinting to bring them back. I'm sure they saved a lot of tickets in the long run.

There was also the other 100 with a pretty killer k/d too.

[sek929]

Yeah but since I was a medic I was also reviving a ton of people, once I was downed I couldn't do that, so his kills on me counted double really.

Don't mind me, I'm just hatin' on the guy.

[The Final Dakar]

You're right, this is CoD level frustration. Please don't leave us, sek!

[mattyb]

Having only skimmed through the details of Premium, do the Expansion Packs mean new maps each time?

---------------

Far easier for me to get points on no-aircraft maps atm. I think that I'm just trying to get loads of kills in helis and I don't apply the PTFO rule.

[mattyb]

Any idea what it means when certain players are in grey at the bottom of the battle report? Did they quit before the end?

Battle Report - Battlelog / Battlefield 3

[mattyb]

Firefox plug-in for more Battlelog stats : Better Battlelog (BBLOG) - A Browser Addon for Battlelog

[The Final Dakar]

My Own Terminator: MTAR-21
Get a Kill with the EOD Bot
100 Kills with Carbines

I'm not ashamed to say, I will boost this if I can, because that is worse than the repair torch kill. Turrible.

Originally Posted by mattyb 

Firefox plug-in for more Battlelog stats : Better Battlelog (BBLOG) - A Browser Addon for Battlelog

Not safari and not that impressed. BF3stats.com gets a lot of love, so I just made an account there.

http://bf3stats.com/stats_360/DakarZero

[The Final Dakar]

BTW, from the "Your tears sustain me" department, the amount of idiots crying about the AC-130 because it's "Call of Duty" or even better yet, Gun Master ("Get this CoD crap out"_ is hilarious. For the latter, CoD borrowed the idea from CS, one of the holy grails of multiplayer FPS'.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I'm not ashamed to say, I will boost this if I can, because that is worse than the repair torch kill. Turrible.

Maybe in Rush?

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Not safari and not that impressed. BF3stats.com gets a lot of love, so I just made an account there.

I like the ranking percentages for the weapons.

Mine on BF3 Stats : http://bf3stats.com/stats_360/Ze%20Veteran A few people on the Battlelog forums use BF3 stats to see where they should improve. Apart from dieing less, not sure what I should be doing.

[The Final Dakar]

I forgot to mention a bizarre sequence last night. We had a 100 in the lobby and twice on Op Firestorm, we got into chopper dogfights. Now, every time I "mouseover"ed him, it said he was alone in the chopper, yet every do fight I would lock-on, he would ECM, then when I fired a missile he'd pop flares. Now, I suppose the Sherlock Holmes answer is the game was misrepresenting the amount of people in the chopper, except that I don't recall the gunner ever shooting at us during these dog fights, which seems insane. Perhaps he was trying to use guided missile?

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I forgot to mention a bizarre sequence last night. We had a 100 in the lobby and twice on Op Firestorm, we got into chopper dogfights. Now, every time I "mouseover"ed him, it said he was alone in the chopper, yet every do fight I would lock-on, he would ECM, then when I fired a missile he'd pop flares. Now, I suppose the Sherlock Holmes answer is the game was misrepresenting the amount of people in the chopper, except that I don't recall the gunner ever shooting at us during these dog fights, which seems insane. Perhaps he was trying to use guided missile?

Some of the better chopper vids on YouTube have one person in the chopper but they switch seats during fights. There's one guy who shot down another chopper using the cannon doing this.

Obviously they're high enough to do this, and IIRC they have only themselves in a platoon.

[The Final Dakar]

That's an interesting thought. I certainly didn't pay attention to the blades.

[The Final Dakar]

Some 3rd party reports on info from an EA Origins chat

AC-130 flies on a path
you can spawn in it if your team captures the base that controls it
2 different guns, a 25mm and a 120mm
even if both gunner seats are occupied, you can still spawn on the AC-130 in a parachute
the enemy can shoot it down
both gunners have flares available
it respawns eventually like other vehicles do

the map they've shown is called Bandar Desert
it's "the biggest map in battlefield history"
the other 3 maps in Armored Kill are smaller

mobile artillery and tank killer tanks are new vehicles
tank killer tanks are powerful but weak
mobile artillery is really weak but has long range

[The Final Dakar]

...and then this gets posted: Hands-On With Battlefield 3: Armored Kill - Features - www.GameInformer.com

• Several new vehicles are featured in the expansion, including new tank destroyers, an AC-130 gunship, ATVs, and mobile artillery.

• Taking over a specific base grants the controlling team access to an AC-130 gunship. The gunship travels on a fixed circular path around the bases and it has four seats -- two for shooting 125mm cannons at the ground and two anti-air turrets for defending its airspace.

• Though only four people can man the AC-130 at once, other soldiers can use it as a mobile parachute spawn point.

• The AC-130 is also a great position to spot and mark enemies for your teammates.

• If your team controls the AC-130, the smart strategy is to have all patrolling the aircraft defend it from oncoming attacks so it can continue its forceful barrage.

• The AC-130 is heavily armored, but it cannot be repaired by engineers. This means ground forces can bring it down with concentrated fire.

• The tank destroyers are lighter and more limber than the tanks included in the base game. They still pack a punch, but are much more vulnerable than the conventional tanks.

• Over 20 upgrades are available for the new vehicles, but there is no new infantry weaponry.

• Armored Kill also has a new Tank Superiority mode, but DICE wouldn't go into specifics just yet.

• You should spawn on a squad member near a hot zone or to jump into a vehicle. Given the large size of the map, hiking from your home base to a flag point takes a while.

• The maps are large enough that you can employ new team tactics like positioning your mobile artillery on the ridge and shelling any troops approaching a hotly contested flag capture point from a long range.

Some jagoff floated the possibility that the AC-130 won't be available on console. That would be rage-inducing. Of course, they might want to eliminate two of the seats, as otherwise it present a huge aerial sinkhole that 1/3rd of the team can be preoccupied with.

[mattyb]

My, who would have thunk it? EA managed to develop an even shittier spawning algorithm than Activision for TDM. Those 3 minutes were awful.

[The Final Dakar]

Yeah, it's a real embarrassment. Part of their problem is what they think a good TDM map is.

[mattyb]

Not had a freeze up in a while until tonight. Actually a bad BF3 day all round really.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

BTW, your new DART glitch: Battlefield 3 AUG and M320 Smoke bug - YouTube

I found another video on the Smoke glitch. This one has a better soundtrack.

My smoke is AUGmented - YouTube

[mattyb]

I was sure that I'd played more than 2 games this weekend. Anyway, the anus is still sore.



Can't say that its been fun recently.

[The Final Dakar]

Weekend and DLC notes

• Service stars earned: M15 Mines, RPG, SMAW. I know have service stars on every weapon but the Stinger & IGLA (Good luck) and the DLC.
• Weapons mastered: AK-74M, A-91
• Earned Tank Service Star 10
• Reached Colonel 50
• Got two or three melee ribbons this weekend. Noteworthy because I only had 4 or 5 before. They were longer ticket games, however.

• sek and I joined a 5-flag Karkand conquest game late, down roughly 150 to 450. Our team held one objective and was stalemated at another. We immediately grabbed an LAV and attacked the furthest point. We failed, but grabbed a tank and tried again. We succeeded, and as we moved on to the next point our team seemed to gain some spirit. Soon, we had firm control of three points and we making hard pushes for the latter two. Rejuvenated, our team became unrelenting, and every time I checked the score, it seemed the enemy team had lost 50 tickets while we lost 10. In the end we pulled out the clutch win by 50 points for one of the most satisfying victories in some time.

• sek also got to enjoy a bit of my piloting on Sharqi, terrorizing enough people in the gunner seat to earn his first air warfare ribbon.

• Metro has now become my go to map for a night cap, particularly when it's been a bad night.

• On sek and Metro, payback for my being the better sniper in this game so far, sek has become the reliably higher scorer and better killer on Metro.

• While most people lament it's lack of power, I've found the M320 LVG quite useful on Metro. In particular, I bank it off the wall down the stairs at B.

• Here's a experiment I recommend: I tried the M320 Buckshot yesterday. It's basically a 40mm shotgun round (Not to be confused with the M26 MASS). This thing is a monster. In CQB, any well aimed hit from nominal range is an instant kill. The downside is it takes as long to reload as any other M320 round. So why is it good? Two reasons: First, in the new CQ maps you will spend the majority of the time sprinting. This allows you to come to a stop and hip fire with reliable accuracy. Second, if you are aware someone is around a corner, this allows you to get the drop on them.

• Ex: I hd sequence on one of the new maps yesterday where I spawned, ran into two guys, double-killed them expending the mag, and was relatively sure a third was nearby, so instead of reloading, I switched to the M320 Buck and waited around the corner. He sprinted in and BLAM! done. The downside here is if you miss, the M320 will automatically reload,, hitting Y will take me back to the Primary (which will also need to reload) so you will be fuxxored as you fumble for your pistol.

• On to the CQ maps. I started on them yesterday morning and as the I entered my second hour, my rage intensified. They were chaotic, and it seemed as if I could not win any heads-up battles. Cut to the afternoon – after a protracted break, I log back on focusing on TDM with bouts of CQDM. Things began to click (See: M320 BUCK) and this is what I gleaned.

• The CQ maps may be tight, but they are very vertical, to a degree that CoD was always afraid to touch on. However, this isn't the verticality that CoD seemed afraid to implement. There aren't too many areas in the maps where the high ground is a significant advantage to turn the lower area into a shooting gallery. Instead the verticality just adds a level of depth to these smaller size maps.

• Compounding the verticality, the mini-map in CQ functions differently than anything I've seen before. It no longer displays spotted or audible targets above or below you. This was a large source of adjustment in the early going. Further, on some maps it becomes preposterous, as many stairways and hallways function at a sort of "half-level" height, yet they are designated with their own sometimes minuscule mini-map level. The primary objective for this seems obvious - given the size of these maps, the motion sensor could be very overpowered (See: Metro), however by limiting the vertical area you can see, it nerfs that possibility. Still, the motion sensor's ability is fundamentally unchanged; If I place one on the top level, if I am in the basement, so long as I remain in it's radius, it will still display people moving around me in the basement.

• CQDM is not what you expect. While they appended "Domination" to the game type, it's head-scratching. If it is a CoD reference, it's misguided. Regular CQ (Metro, Bazaar) plays more like CoD Domination than these maps; In CoD Dom, you usually held on or two points and most of firefights centered around taking the middle point (like Metro). CQDM plays more like whack-a-mole. You spend the entire match sprinting from objective to objective retaking them as they are constantly lost. It's frenetic, but not altogether mind-blowing. You may ask, "Why not hold an objective?" Because the lay-out of most points don't lend themselves well to camping. Further, most teams run in groups of three or four. You will be lucky if you can kill two before being killed.

• Interestingly, the strength of the maps lies not in SQDM, but TDM. SQDM usually relies on squads being able to carve out a place for themselves to hold court. These areas are more limited on the maps and the design is more in the vein of "easy to invade." TDM, with its higher team mate count, works better as instead of three enemies for every team mate, the ratio is now 1-to-1. It's very fun and is the closest thing to CoD you can experience. The maps play very well, though the spawn system is still as bad as before – I thoughtlessly spawned before the match started on one map and was immediately placed facing an enemy. Once the game is in the flow, its no worse than any of the larger maps, however.

• The four maps are Ziba Tower, Donya Fortress, Scrapmetal, and Operation 925. Ziba Tower is a tower-top resort that is probably the most middling in terms of broadness of base and verticality. Most of it concentrated on two floors, with a bar overlooking the courtyard at the highest point being a third floor. Donya Fortress arguably has the smallest base and the most verticality. That verticality will disregarded more in DM modes, but is utilized fully for CQDM, where it has caps at its highest and lowest points. It is also a labyrinth of stairs, rooms, and hallways, defusing it lack of size. Scrapmetal is the most CoDish of maps, despite its crazy verticality.There are two distinct "sides" with assorted walkways and shortcuts bridging them. It may also be the most fun in TDM, but thanks to the set piece occasionally you will run into walls and dead-ends you aren't expecting. Finally, Operation 925 is my favorite venue to fight in – an office. (It's in the name: Operation 9 to 5). It has the broadest base of all the maps and the least verticality (Expect to play the majority of it on the main floor), but offers a maze of hallways and conference room along with an in-progress wing to play in.

• 10 new weapons mean ten new assignments. As always the engineer class has the worst assignments, as it has no style to it (20 AT kills was a huge grind). Otherwise the rest are doable (Try the M320 BUCK for the underslung kills. Worked like a charm). I managed to unlock 8 of the 10 weapons last night (Haven't done the EOD bot kill nor played Gun Master, which apparently will reset your classes or something).

• The AUG is nothing special thus far. Haven't had a chance to use the SCAR-L, but who cares. The ACR feels springy and light (probably the sound influencing that), but feels very responsive and accurate. The L86 is another one of the mobile LMGs, and feels very comparable to the L85 from assault, only with a deeper clip and of course more recoil (bipods!). Haven't had a chance to use the LSAT yet. I only used the SPAS briefly and it either sucks or I missed or died to lag on every single encounter I had with it (about 5 deaths). Lastly, the 417. It's the SKS meets the FAL. Good rate of fire, great power, deep clip, ample vertical recoil. This seems to be the answer to allowing recons to play on the front lines effectively. I broke it out on Metro last night with sek and performed better than he did, even outscoring him even though he was a medic. By far the best in the group.

• Overall, none of the weapons seem OP (save the 417 which you should expect to die to a lot given the infuriating prevalence of recon players despite their ineffectiveness), but they do seem geared to be as or slightly more effective than most of the previous weapons, perhaps to justify their existence or the DLC. The maps are fun once you get used to them), but their small number and limited game modes makes them difficult to integrate into the main game. Instead, I see them as more of a diversion than a supplement. Still, I recommend them. They are fun, particularly for those of us who come from CoD and would like to see some TDM on maps that seem better designed for it.

[The Final Dakar]

Forgot to comment, one of things you'll pick up on early on in CQDM is don't reload - the stream of enemies is so constant that you will be dying soon, so better to keep those bullets ready in the hopes of taking one more person down before you die (Also, you won't be running out of bullets). Second, in TDM the MP7, which I derided because of its small clip, crappy range and moderate recoil (thanks to its insane rate of fire) absolutely shines on three of these maps (Sorry, Scrapyar- err, Scrapmetal). All the engagements are super close so the range and recoil become marginalized and its power and ROF shine through. Coupled with its mild to moderate reload times and you have a recipe for success. (Shotguns are also super-effective, but MP7s versatility lies in the ability to be used at longer ranges in emergencies or as support).

[Stogieman]

So you actually bought Premium? Didn't Elite teach you anything?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

So you actually bought Premium? Didn't Elite teach you anything?

I have a boatload of rationalizations, but the only one that counts is that I bought this with amazon points from my credit card, so it was essentially free.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Forgot to comment, one of things you'll pick up on early on in CQDM is don't reload - the stream of enemies is so constant that you will be dying soon, so better to keep those bullets ready in the hopes of taking one more person down before you die (Also, you won't be running out of bullets).

It sounds like the extended clip perk may come in handy for these maps. Also, I noticed a ton of people using the Aug last night. Be prepared for an onslaught of smoke glitchers in the next few days.

[Stogieman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I have a boatload of rationalizations, but the only one that counts is that I bought this with amazon points from my credit card, so it was essentially free.

That's great you got it for free but you're still allowing EA to continue this shitty trend.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

That's great you got it for free but you're still allowing EA to continue this shitty trend.

So this is what it feels like to be Jawbone.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

It sounds like the extended clip perk may come in handy for these maps.

Doesn't work on Assault. The M27 or RPK might be amazing, though, even without it. Though you'll need to get the drop on people, as the LMGs will lose most CQBs against PDWs heads-up.

As for me, I won't give up being silenced. Key in TDM, maybe not so much in CQDM.

[The Final Dakar]

Jesus, the AN-94 still sucks sweaty balls. Looked it up on the stats site and it has the slowest time to kill at all ranges compared to every single AR (including the old ones). They need to fix it's rate of fire – only the G3A3 is slower but it does far more damage. I put it on yesterday thinking CQ would make it easier to use (It has a lot of visual recoil), but ended up getting murdered because it's pure ass. Not sure if I'm going to be able to manage mastery for it.

Learned what it was to play against a team with a similar strategy as myself last night. Not fun.

[Kevin Bogues]

Second game of Close Quarters this morning, fantastic.

Playing Conquest Domination on Donya Fortress, I'm running up the tunnel at B, I grab a kill with the G36C as a enemy is rushing down into the broken concrete slide into B, As I leave the area with 12% health I go prone as a teammate is attacking two guys, he kills one and dies against the second, a quick headshot with the M1911 and he is down, I rush over back to take B and fire an RPG into the tunnel for a double kill... I love close quarters.

[The Final Dakar]

Yeah, I did it by accident Tuesday grinding AT kills on Metro.

Also Bogues, nice non-matching dog tags.

[Kevin Bogues]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Also Bogues, nice non-matching dog tags.

Its a representation of diversity....

(DICE please make my left tag "carbon")

[The Final Dakar]

So Bogues, does your thumb hurt from constantly sprinting on the new maps? I just noticed my left thumb has an indentation from the past two days of play.

[Kevin Bogues]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

So Bogues, does your thumb hurt from constantly sprinting on the new maps? I just noticed my left thumb has an indentation from the past two days of play.

Actually it does, plus these maps have put the KH2002 away for me, the F2000 has taken over my Assault class.

[Kevin Bogues]

Also, grabbed my Nemesis Medal earlier

Playing Conquest Domination on Scrapmetal had a new best 18 kill streak with the PKP Pecheneg including 3 nemesis ribbons in the streak (11 kills of one person if I remember how Nemesis works, but I think more likely it was two separate enemy's on the nemesis streak)

Holding down B team is down 118 tickets (750 Ticket Game), I used a claymore to cover my back, had 2 kills with that (resupply helps with the streak), went prone with the bipod and held down both the lower and upper stairway for almost 20 minutes.

Came back to win with 7 tickets remaining.

[The Final Dakar]

Bogues, did your class set-ups reset after playing Gun Master?

[Kevin Bogues]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Bogues, did your class set-ups reset after playing Gun Master?

Nope, for the record I actually enjoyed gun master, I joined late (most players were in round 3/4) and finished in third place (one kill away from 2nd)

[mattyb]

Bloody Premium players.

[The Final Dakar]