Wow, I did not expect this at all. This is a poor experience from the start. The battlelog web interface is terrible. You have to install all sorts of plugins and then wonder if your game is ready to start or not. The it launches in a window and gives you a tip - press alt + enter to go full screen. Why not just bloody launch in full screen.. Then it also switches back to a window when loading between maps.

You can't customise your options in the lobby, you have to be in the game standing doing nothing while you change your settings. Also - total game breaker for me - you can't map anything to the extra mouse buttons! WTF!?

I think I was the only one spotting anything too, and not once in 2 hours play did I get revived. It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

Why on earth did they put that Metro map as the beta?? It is basically a long tunnel which is the antithesis of what Battlefield is about. Maybe it will get better the more I play but I am seriously disappointed so far. If there are signs that BC2 will still have lots of players I may stick to that can cancel my pre order.

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

@SquadBroken said:

Wow, I did not expect this at all. This is a poor experience from the start. The battlelog web interface is terrible. You have to install all sorts of plugins and then wonder if your game is ready to start or not. The it launches in a window and gives you a tip - press alt + enter to go full screen. Why not just bloody launch in full screen.. Then it also switches back to a window when loading between maps.

You can't customise your options in the lobby, you have to be in the game standing doing nothing while you change your settings. Also - total game breaker for me - you can't map anything to the extra mouse buttons! WTF!?

I think I was the only one spotting anything too, and not once in 2 hours play did I get revived. It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

Why on earth did they put that Metro map as the beta?? It is basically a long tunnel which is the antithesis of what Battlefield is about. Maybe it will get better the more I play but I am seriously disappointed so far. If there are signs that BC2 will still have lots of players I may stick to that can cancel my pre order.

Of course you can, but it's disabled at the minute, due to, ya know, this being a beta.

Also unless you aren't looking at the screen it's very easy to see when you've killed someone, it pops up in the middle of your screen.

Your first two reason are silly bugs that are probably fixed in their latest build.

Your third reason was because you were on a shitty team and possibly need to see an eye doctor.

Your fourth reason is based on map preference. (It starts with a wide open area then into a choke-point and gradually opens back up.)

Edit: Beta

@AlexW00d: Do you really believe the game should be this fucked when its supposed to launch in a month?

Always remember - you don't need to buy everything day 1. However also remember that this is a BETA as stated by DICE, so it is up to you whether or not you want to make such a decision with this version of the game and not the definitive final version. If you really are cautious with your money you wouldn't have pre-ordered to begin with.

Do what makes you feel good is what I say. Better off to do something, be pleasantly surprised that you were wrong, then rectify it later, then potentially regretting it when it comes to any entertainment product that isn't required in your life. But I seriously doubt the game will bomb hard as the Internet likes to hyperbolically think.

Why not cancel it and wait for the reviews?

Kids these days think that beta=demo.

Wait what's that, that beta feels unfinished and lacking of polish? Huh, i would never of expected a beta to feel like an unfinished version of the final product.....

Stop overreacting and stop being so critical of a beta AKA the non finished multiplayer you got for free.

@Afroman269 said:

@AlexW00d: Do you really believe the game should be this fucked when its supposed to launch in a month?

Most of it is server side problems though. I've been playing on and off for the last 5 hours, and the only problems I've encountered are overloaded servers and a lot of falling through the floor in Metro maps. I have confidence it'll be fine in the full version. I doubt all the copies people have been playing at various conventions have been like this?

From http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3/1/beta 
 

DOES THIS BETA REPRESENT FINAL GAME QUALITY?

THE BETA IS NOT FINAL SOFTWARE AND UPDATES WILL BE DONE BOTH TO THE GAME AND TO THE BACK-END PRIOR TO THE BATTLEFIELD 3 LAUNCH. YOUR PARTICIPATION WILL STILL HELP US IMPROVE THE FINAL GAME.

   

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

Did you read the post?

@AlexW00d: My guess is that this thing must just be an old build but to keep treating this like some legitimate beta is ridiculous. The game is a month away, if this thing came out 4 months ago then the whole beta argument would be more plausible, but ya, I bet the final product will be just fine. This game is too big to be fucked out of the gate.

I cancelled mine. I have a lowly 260 GTX, which, whilst it could play the game at low settings, makes things look pretty bad. So to really enjoy BF3, I'd need a new card. The beta just didn't convince me it was worth the upgrade. If it gets good reviews I'll reconsider.

... And Origin was a horrible experience start to end :/

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

Is BF:BC2 still in beta? Because I can't leave a server once the round ends. Have to wait until a new map I have no intention of playing loads up... and then quit.

People assume betas are just glorified demos these days because betas are glorified demos these days.

It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

Green Font = Kill

Is it harsh to say that people who respond with 'ITS A BETA' should all die? Bugs wil be fixed but no features will change between now and release. Fair enough about key bindings and falling through maps, but Battlelog is here to stay and I disliked it from the minute I used it. Origin doesn't bother me as it sits in the background and does nothing so is irrelevant to me. I have everything on high with no lag so resource management is not a problem.

I pre-ordered based on the fact that I loved BF2/Special Forces/Bad Company 2 but the design choices of this game are bewildering. Why can you not see other squads in the squad menu? Why can you not change your loadout while the killcam is on? Where is the full map while in game? Maybe it's been so long since I played any BF2 but I forgot how much going prone encourages camping too. I can only hope that when I get to play Caspian Border it is enough of a different experience to sway my mind.

@Afroman269: I'm pretty sure the beta is now so they can test out servers and balance issue, but the old build stuff is likely true, and will likely put a number of people off buying the full game.

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

Maybe because most of the betas that have been released so far are actually mislabeled demos. What the fuck is this thing supposed to achieve when the game is a month from release? Other than stress testing the servers.

@SquadBroken said:

Is it harsh to say that people who respond with 'ITS A BETA' should all die?

Yes it is, and it makes you look like a dick.

What do you mean nothing will be changed? You really don't know what a beta is do you?

@SquadBroken said:

Is it harsh to say that people who respond with 'ITS A BETA' should all die?

Maybe. Calling them ignorant sheep would be better.

@TheWyotee93 said:

What do you mean nothing will be changed? You really don't know what a beta is nowadays do you?

FTFY

@TheWyotee93 said:

What do you mean nothing will be changed? You really don't know what a beta is do you?

I should let this slide seeing on how you're most likely a console gamer but still....

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

Sorry couldn't see that it was a BETA not a DEMO too busy crying about it on Giant Bomb Forums.

im thinking really hard about buying this game after my horrible experience with origin. First it denies me the right to download the game which is crazy. I reboot it and it says ok fine you can download it then it stops mid way and says on the other hand you cant download it and stops my download says i cant download it and dosent restart it for 3 hours. I dont know EA you kinda have awesome games and shitty service.

I find it hilarious how many people here actually buy the EA company line that this is a Beta. It's a demo, and it's not kicking off very well (360 servers down for over 5 hours, so far today). EA did not need to "Beta" test this game which is why I am so concerned that they chose to put this code out to the public en masse.

Look, I'm a software developer myself (not games, just internal corporate apps) so I understand the coding and branching concepts. However, I also know that we would never begin UAT (yes, i'm comparing this to UAT) if we had this many known issues with the code we're releasing. We'd rather delay than leave this kind of a first impression.

It's NOT a BETA people! LOL. I guess we'll know how things really are on October 25th... but then again where's the fun not talking about any of this until then? ;)

Does anyone here not play games on launch day/week? I can't think of a single FPS multiplayer game in the past few years that was not plagued by issues. I've played every CoD, Battlefield.... etc. and they are/were all broke early on. It's amazing to me that people who have played all these games too forget that the last game was broken and the next one will be too. This is where we are with games today... specifically FPS multiplayer games. You may or may not care about the reasons, but it's still a fact of modern gaming. I don't get why we are surprised anymore. At any rate, call this thing whatever the hell you want to call it, beta/demo whatever. It's all semantics. We are playing it and they are updating the game. If the game improves, gains traction and people enjoy it.... it will sell. People will always come and go, but the overall product... weeks maybe months down the road will dictate the overall success and if more fans jump on the Battlefield bandwagon. DICE is continually outselling with each subsequent game. They have no option but to interpret that as success, no matter what you may think about it.

@MrRoboto said:

I cancelled mine. I have a lowly 260 GTX, which, whilst it could play the game at low settings, makes things look pretty bad. So to really enjoy BF3, I'd need a new card. The beta just didn't convince me it was worth the upgrade. If it gets good reviews I'll reconsider.

... And Origin was a horrible experience start to end :/

You don't have to have Origin running.

Do it. 
 
If you're not sure you want then why commit to buying it?

@SquadBroken:

Operation Métro is a but a fraction of the whole package and Battlelog has a lot of potential. Certainly 1000% more functionality and depth than we had in previous BF games. It's doing all the shit and more that community sites do. Built in clansupport and so forth. For what it's worth, give this Caspian Border video a whirl...

Looks like what I want out of BF3 - and the infantry experience is tight even in Operation Métro. Bugs be damned. Many will get addressed over time anyways. The most glaring ones will be gone by launch day/week.

HEY GAYZ!!! DIS IS ONLY A BETTA, SO THE GAME WILL GET WELL BETTER IN THE NEXT MONF.

To the people saying it's only a beta and every problem that is highlighted will somehow mysteriously, magically get fixed within a month, you don't know jack shit. Games do not fundamentally change or alter in the last month of development (technically it's probably less than a month because of the printing and early review releases etc). In my many years of looking forward to and being disappointed by games, I can tell you that at best you get slight performance enhancements, i.e. quicker loading, smoothed out framerate etc. But the game is fundamentally finished.

When a Beta gets released with less than a month to go, it's not because the developers want to make last minute gameplay changes, it's to create hype and make sure the game actually works on release day i.e. check server loads, network code etc. The game you're playing now is done, finished, finito, this is the one you'll be playing in a months time.

@FourWude said:

HEY GAYZ!!! DIS IS ONLY A BETTA, SO THE GAME WILL GET WELL BETTER IN THE NEXT MONF.

To the people saying it's only a beta and every problem that is highlighted will somehow mysteriously, magically get fixed within a month, you don't know jack shit. Games do not fundamentally change or alter in the last month of development (technically it's probably less than a month because of the printing and early review releases etc). In my many years of looking forward to and being disappointed by games, I can tell you that at best you get slight performance enhancements, i.e. quicker loading, smoothed out framerate etc. But the game is fundamentally finished.

When a Beta gets released with less than a month to go, it's not because the developers want to make last minute gameplay changes, it's to create hype and make sure the game actually works on release day i.e. check server loads, network code etc. The game you're playing now is done, finished, finito, this is the one you'll be playing in a months time.

Except betas are based on old, stabilized code, not code from 2 days ago.

Also, you can switch to always do fullscreen in the settings for the game.

@FourWude said:

The game you're playing now is done, finished, finito, this is the one you'll be playing in a months time.

You couldn't be more wrong. Seriously. Not even slightly true. Have you played any FPS from release to end of life lately?

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

I was just about to say this. Most likely, if they actually hear their users complaints, they'll patch the issues out.

@Afroman269 said:

@Jimi said:

Did you read the part where it's a beta? Nowadays people seem to assume a beta is just a demo rather than a test for the full game.

Maybe because most of the betas that have been released so far are actually mislabeled demos. What the fuck is this thing supposed to achieve when the game is a month from release? Other than stress testing the servers.

Yeah most "Betas" these days seem to pretty much be demos. Even the info they get from it now probably has either been fixed by the alpha testers responses or will just be ignored anyway. I love how they may try and claim its to help them test servers etc when I'm pretty sure anyone who\s played a Battlefield game know the EA servers will be fucked day 1 anyway. Its tradition.

I think I was the only one spotting anything too, and not once in 2 hours play did I get revived. It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

Even though I hated origin and the web based menu system the game itself is pretty amazing.

@DonPixel said:

@SquadBroken said:

I think I was the only one spotting anything too, and not once in 2 hours play did I get revived. It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

I'm having issues with this also, I've always played medic and I can hardly revive anyone or get points with medkits, people die, kill and respawn so fast there is no time for it.

Yeah I was also disappointed by this.

Hopefully you didn't pre-order at retail. Everytime a pre-order is cancelled the employee who filed the pre-order gets it deducted from their pay. OR SO I'VE HEARD.

uhh what the fuck is everyone crying about? I've played the beta all day, and i've had no problems or bugs. What exactly is it people are so upset about here? Most of the op's problems are pretty stupid.

To everyone saying this is a beta, tbf the game now is pretty much how it will be when it comes out, theres not enough time to change anything too drastically, other than small bug fixes and balance issues, but what exactly is the problem with the game as it is? It plays very much like bf2 to me, and i was not a fan of bc2

betas are usually old code and there will be a massive patch to download at launch.

The sky is hardly falling, but there's no harm in cancelling if you have legitimate concerns.

Your first two reason are silly bugs that are probably fixed in their latest build.

Wow, those are actually even worse reasons than I was expecting.

@ajamafalous: That's strange cuz I totally had either grenade or knife mapped to my thumb button on my mouse...

Edit: Yep, was grenade, had middle mouse button for the knife.

That is pretty fucking astonishing.

@SquadBroken said:

Wow, I did not expect this at all. This is a poor experience from the start. The battlelog web interface is terrible. You have to install all sorts of plugins and then wonder if your game is ready to start or not. The it launches in a window and gives you a tip - press alt + enter to go full screen. Why not just bloody launch in full screen.. Then it also switches back to a window when loading between maps.

You can't customise your options in the lobby, you have to be in the game standing doing nothing while you change your settings. Also - total game breaker for me - you can't map anything to the extra mouse buttons! WTF!?

I think I was the only one spotting anything too, and not once in 2 hours play did I get revived. It also seems really hard at first to tell whether you've killed someone or not as the placement of the alerts is unusual. Maybe it's the colour scheme or something but I have to make an effort to look at it to read it.

Why on earth did they put that Metro map as the beta?? It is basically a long tunnel which is the antithesis of what Battlefield is about. Maybe it will get better the more I play but I am seriously disappointed so far. If there are signs that BC2 will still have lots of players I may stick to that can cancel my pre order.

Of course you can, but it's disabled at the minute, due to, ya know, this being a beta.

Also unless you aren't looking at the screen it's very easy to see when you've killed someone, it pops up in the middle of your screen.

It's disabled because it's a beta? Well that sure makes a lot of sense.

im thinking really hard about buying this game after my horrible experience with origin. First it denies me the right to download the game which is crazy. I reboot it and it says ok fine you can download it then it stops mid way and says on the other hand you cant download it and stops my download says i cant download it and dosent restart it for 3 hours. I dont know EA you kinda have awesome games and shitty service.

@OllyOxenFree said:

Kids these days think that beta=demo.

when they have an entire marketing campaign across tons of websites for t, then yeah, i bet their marketing department looks at the beta as a demo.

I dunno. The more I play the beta the more I catch myself having FUN....and I'm playing it on a 360. People just hype shit for themselves to expectations that no one can ever reach.

Killzone 3 had the same problems. Everyone said, haha, stop being an idiot. It's a beta. Guerilla knows how to make a game.

Then it came out.

Many people were wrong that day.