...and am not amused by the enabling of lameness. The tac-light is a pest, true. But it works both ways and its implementation is awesome.

Yet I already see the voices of lame ducks getting louder, cussing out others for using it well.

The flashlight is the new Carl Gustav. Too good for the average empowered whiney PC player/admin. There goes the neighborhood.

I'm not a fan of the flashlight, but I don't go out of my way to bitch at people about it. 
I just hope DICE puts in some form of counter measure for it.

I have had no issue with the flashlight, usually just shows me where people are when they forget to turn it off

This is the main reason I don't like hardcore shooter communities, its not the complaints, which are usually pretty legitimate. Its the petty ways they go about solving their problems.

I dont see the issue with it at all. If anything I hate flash bang grenades more annoying in call of duty. Atleast with this I am able to see the general direction the guy is at while he is blinding me. With flash grenades I am just a sprinkler of bullets spinning around the room hoping to take someone down.

I honestly have no problem with the flashlight. It gives you a good idea that someone is coming as you see the light moving up and down from the player who is running.

I don't see the big deal. They're mildly annoying in some parts of the metro, but everywhere else they're practically useless - I can't count the number of times I've shot and killed a dude across the map because I could see his light through the bushes. Also, they're a really great way to grief friendly snipers.
 
Man, I really hope there's a version of Caspian Border or other 64-player map at night.

The flashlight does more harm for me when my own teammates turn around and blind me; when the other team uses it they're just easier to see.

How I even use one?

@Three0neFive: You're seeing scope glare, not flashlight.

@Seppli said:

Too good for the average empowered whiney PC player/admin.

The outcry (a tiny bit of complaining in reality) over the tactical flashlgiht has mostly been because it can blind in broad daylight. (it wasn't scope glare) That is the only part of it I find fucking dumb. I don't know why you are trying to condemn so many people as 'whiney'

Having said that, I do not care enough to play in a server with it banned, and 90% of servers will not ban it anyway, so who cares? I don't.

I don't mind the flashlight on enemies since it usually makes them easier to see, however teammates with flashlights are annoying as fuck since you can't kill them.

Sprinting next to a teammate=getting blinded half the time.

Defending an area with a teammate=him pointing the damn thing at you.

meeting a teammate=Wasting half a mag

The gamer's idea of fairness is everything they did in the last MP game continuing to work. Anything that offers a wrinkle is going to be seen as "unfair" because now they can't keep doing the same shit and winning. Bitches gonna be bitches.

I don't mind the flashlight, I just wish it wouldn't work (or at least be less effective) when out in the bright sun.

I don't mind it, I think most people don't realize they can cut it off (I didn't until semi-recently) and makes that makes them easy targets to spot at range.

I've killed a few people using it when blinded, you just aim for the center usually.

I find it annoying, but a good kind of annoying. A 'that was cool and that guy made this tactic work" kind of annoying.

how long until that devolves into "oh, great, a guy killed me because I couldn't fucking see him" frustration I do not know. But for now, I don't mind it, even though I will never use it myself

Flashlight i have no problem with enemies having them... it's the retards on the same team who blind you!

sitting with 5 men at a point is horible! you look here your blind you look there your blind you look at the doorway your blind and get shot because this time it was an enemy... other then that. i don't mind it at all. i think it looks prety cool.

@Sooty said:

@Seppli said:

Too good for the average empowered whiney PC player/admin.

The outcry (a tiny bit of complaining in reality) over the tactical flashlgiht has mostly been because it can blind in broad daylight. (it wasn't scope glare) That is the only part of it I find fucking dumb. I don't know why you are trying to condemn so many people as 'whiney'

Having said that, I do not care enough to play in a server with it banned, and 90% of servers will not ban it anyway, so who cares? I don't.

Find a server without 'No AT on Infantry' rule, in a game with a dedicated Anti-Infantry-rocket-launcher. Or a 'No baserape' rule. It's virtually impossible. Or maybe that's just Europeans being pussy. Originally having been on the console-side of things when playing BF:BC 2, I'm used to getting and giving no quarter. No matter what nasty thing is being done to you, you deal with it and fight.

On the PC side of things, admins tend to kick players who play hard and the whining is constant. You are always in danger of pissing-off the wrong guy. Snipe too well, be kicked for camping. Go flawless, be kicked for botting. Win too hard, be kicked for base raping. Hell - there's BF:BC 2 servers out there which auto-nuke teams in Conquest for taking all capture points, as in killing everybody on the dominating team every 20 odd seconds 'til the other team manages to get a capture point. That's the sort of shit the empowered PC community is up to.

There definitely will be 'no tac light' servers and weakling crybabies will become more common; calling anybody out using the tac light to its full effect. It's just how the world works... one foul apple spoils the bunch.

Why is it so blinding i broad daylight?

If there's anything I fucking hate, it's those players who have to constantly bitch about anything that isn't traditional and keep making up FUCKED UP RULES THAT THEY LIST IN THE SERVER'S WELCOMING MESSAGE
 
We're renting two BF3 servers for Giant Bomb, we won't have any of that shit.

I've killed write a few guys who were prone behind cover but their flashlight was still sticking out the other side so it was plain as day they were hiding there

It's not bad, at long range you can get the idiots that forget to turn it off. At short range you just shoot the center of the light. Pretty balanced imo.

Bring on the Fleshlight servers!

Well, there is no point in arguing about any of this. Server owner pays for the server, his server his rules. Don't like the rules? Then play on another server that is more suited to your play-style. There will easily be thousands of servers available, so I don't see the issue here.

Flashlight is cool with me, sure ain't no noob tube.

I like using the flashlight, I have no issue with it at all, my few gripes lay elsewhere.

@SlasherMan said:

Well, there is no point in arguing about any of this. Server owner pays for the server, his server his rules. Don't like the rules? Then play on another server that is more suited to your play-style. There will easily be thousands of servers available, so I don't see the issue here.

This. The variety of servers with custom rules gives players a variety of options to play with. If you don't like it, play on a different server that fits your playstyle. Nobody is forcing you to play on a non-flashlight server, but other people may feel like the flashlight is dumb and/or annoying. God forbid people play the way they want to in a video game.

I think it is annoying. But not much. I would never use it on my main gun though because I usually play stealthy in online FPS.

Wouldn't be entirely surprised if the flashlights are either removed entirely or heavily downgraded, right now that are simply awful.

I think they need to make the fact that you can turn off the light more obvious to people, I didn't really figure that out until I visited the forums and saw someone mention it. 
 
I love using it though, I'll usually wait in one of the hallways and turn it off and on really fast like it's a strobe light, I'm guessing it must really disorient people cause I can usually get 3-4 people in a row with it.

The flashlight is fine but I get blinded as much by my team as the enemies. Is it possible to turn it off? I am surprised more people aren't going mental over the sniper scope glare to be honest. I also wonder how the portable AA launcher will pan out in the game, in BF2142 it was the most banned weapon for being overpowered I believe.

Well, there is no point in arguing about any of this. Server owner pays for the server, his server his rules. Don't like the rules? Then play on another server that is more suited to your play-style.

There will easily be thousands of servers available, so I don't see the issue here.

Teammates shouldn't blind you with it, and you shouldn't be blinded outside in daylight. Otherwise they're fine.

The real issue is that the flashlight is on by default, it really should be off by default and let the player turn it on.

What would rock is if the red laser pointed at a plane would blind the pilot.

@Seppli said:

...and am not amused by the enabling of lameness. The tac-light is a pest, true. But it works both ways and its implementation is awesome.

Yet I already see the voices of lame ducks getting louder, cussing out others for using it well.

The flashlight is the new Carl Gustav. Too good for the average empowered whiney PC player/admin. There goes the neighborhood.

The only one being 'empowered' is yourself. Server owner pays money for server, implements rules as he sees fit. How is this a problem to you?

@Twitchey: At level 32 you unlock a pair of sweet Ray-Bans

It shouldn't affect teammates, that's stupid.

@Twitchey said:

I'm not a fan of the flashlight, but I don't go out of my way to bitch at people about it. I just hope DICE puts in some form of counter measure for it.

And how is being a glowing target for others not in your flashlight range or accidentally blinding teammates not balanced?

I'm not a fan of the flashlight or laser site visual effects in the game. I get the idea behind it and it sounds cool on paper but the way they implemented it sucks. Are there special glasses you can wear to counter this at some point? I just want to turn it off if not, I think it's obnoxious. Just let me play the game for crying out loud.

The flashlight is fine, but needs to be seriously fucking toned down. I like it as a point of realism, but then they go and make it so fucking powerful that it can practically blind you at fifty paces in broad fucking daylight. On top of that, it's somehow this magic light that can blind you even when you're wearing those tactical special ops glasses and face shields. The lasers aren't a whole lot better.
 
So yeah, keep it, but for fuck's sake, tone that shit down a bit.
 
And what really pisses me off is the abuse of them. People are so fucking thoughtless and careless. Every jackhole is running around with a laser and flight light blaring whether it's day time or night time and whether they're indoors or out doors and blinding the FUCK out of their own teammates. When I start running, I turn my flash light off -- so I don't blind my teammates standing to my left and I turn it off any time I might be turning around or facing my own team. It's just a fucking button press. Requires almost zero thought to do.
 
Then again, people don't even communicate. I haven't seen one person attempt to communicate while playing. It's just 32 lone-wolfs doing their own thing and what team wins is entirely random based on which group of lonewolfs just randomly happened to do the right things before the other team. Bleh.
 
Along this line of thought, I also don't like the flash on scopes. Now, I don't snipe, so I don't have a dog in the fight. I just think it's kind of silly. What super uber tactical sniper guys are using shitty scopes that reflect like a god damn lighthouse every two seconds? I get the game mechanic behind it . . . it just seems so silly.

I hate the flashlight for the simple reason that you might as well hold up a large, blinking LED sign that says "shoot me". Seriously, I like to play all stealthy-like. Flanking people with a shotgun is hella fun haha.

While I would never use the flashlight myself (since I don't like the idea of my enemy being able to find me more easily, no matter the benefit), I don't mind it being in the game. I actually think it's pretty cool. It alerts me to those using it and it doesn't make them all that harder to shoot (maybe just harder to headshot).

That said, I'm sure there will be plenty of No Flashlight servers on PC but that's the advantage of dedicated servers like that. People can make their own rules to an extent. I remember a COD4 server that didn't allow you to run or even stand up (had to be crouched).

@SlasherMan said:

Well, there is no point in arguing about any of this. Server owner pays for the server, his server his rules. Don't like the rules? Then play on another server that is more suited to your play-style. There will easily be thousands of servers available, so I don't see the issue here.

Nah, it's easier to bitch on whine on here, and try and smear all PC hosts.

If it gets too bad they can just patch in a "changing batteries" animation.

The flashlight is a big target that says "Spray your overpowered smg here and hope the server decides you won"

I haven't played it in hardcore mode yet, but with friendly fire, it sure would cause plenty of unnecessary deaths. Then again, the type of folks who play on hardcore servers are usually aware of stuff like that and wouldn't run around willy nilly with a flashlight. I just hope the final game doesn't force the light on as soon as you spawn.

i dont see what the huge problem with the lights are. they will be almost worthless in conquest. as it stands i love it when some idiot has his flash light on and he is super far away. paints a nice target. and up close. just shoot at the brightest spot. i would argue the laser sight is more of a pain. your vision just turns dark red and you cant see shit!

I just don't want to have to remember to turn it off every single time I spawn.   The lights should be off by default and you should have to turn them on after spawning.  That should help prevent some of the unnecessary team-blinding and giving away of positions that reduces team cohesion.
 
And I wish the on/off toggle wasn't shared across weapons.  I want the laser light on my primary off until I'm pointing it at somebody, but I want to have my flashlight ready as soon as I bust out my pistol.