I'm a poor college student, and obviously yesterday was Christmas so I've got a little bit of cash to spend, and I haven't bought a video game in what seems like six months. I've been in love with the Battlefield series, 1942 to BF2, and I have really wanted to pick up BF3 because not only is the single player supposed to be great, but more so for the multiplayer. If BF3 follows tradition, it is more about teamwork and patience, versus Call of Duty which is more of a fast run-and-gun kind of game. My question to you all is this: Are there enough players playing BF3 to make it worth it for me to pick it up (that sentence was horribly worded, but whatever. You catch my drift). If I had to divide my time in the game, I would probably spend 85%-90% of my time playing multiplayer, and I don't want to pick it up if there aren't may players. Thanks!

I can only speak for the PC version, but yes, there are plenty of players and the multiplayer is great. However, the campaign is pretty bad. I wouldn't trust whoever told you it was good. Still, it's definitely worth owning.

The single player stuff is crap but the multiplayer is definitely battlefield. Of course there are still a bunch of people playing.

Yes its worth it, the multiplayer is all you need.

@Empirepaintball: Yeah it's worth it. There are ton's of players still playing battlefield so the server rooms are always full.

It's always worth it.

I'll be honest and say it's only really worth it if you have some battlefield friends on ventrilo or something

I play alone most of the time, but I have the most fun cooperating with pals

The game isn't even old, so of course there are still plenty of people playing. Even if it was "old", Bad Company 2 had tons of full servers years after release. I don't think you'll need to worry about a lack of players for a long time.

As for the pc version I will say it is a great multiplayer experience. I wish there were more voice chat capabilities, but ventrilo kind of supersedes that if you have a good group of friends that play too. The single player while I dont think is attrocious as some people see, it is more just a mediocre experience, but dice doesn't exactly have a history with single player experiences. If you enjoyed the previous battlefields then youre more than likely to enjoy this one.

p.s. people still play battlefield 2. When bf3 came out I didnt get it at first so instead I popped in battlefield 2 and some servers were still going at 64 players

loads of players on 360, crazy fun conquest rounds.

I'll just leave this here...

I can't wait to get back to BF3 after finnishing up the rest of my games from this season. I'm sure there's more people like me who will return when the holiday dust settles. That said, I think the player count is more than sufficient at the moment.

And also, it's a great f-ing game.

The campaign's fine, in no way is it subpar to what else is on the market. The multiplayer is fab. I'd consider getting the special edition if you can still find it or even forking out for the expansion, the B2K maps are great.

All you need is the multiplayer. That will keep you busy for months, maybe even years.

the campaign is fine, i dont know why it gets so much hate. i actually liked BF3's campaign more than MW3's.

though obviously where it shines is the multiplayer. it'll be my "go to" shooter for years probably. hell i stopped playing BF3 when skyrim came out to play lots and lots of skyrim, but i got MW3 for x-mas played that for two days and all it did was make me want to play BF3 again lol

The single player is the stereotypical modern military shooter that gamers have been accustomed to ever since COD took the step from WW2 to a modern, Iraq/Afghanistan setting. It is by no means bad, as in it keeps you occupied and it tells a story, however not a great one, but it gets its job done fair and square.

Where BF3 really shines through, and here comes the reason to pick it up, is the superb multiplayer. It is absolutely incredible. There is so much to do, and so many roles to fill in. I have never been hooked on a game before, but this might just become my downfall.

I can only speak for the PC version but I'm glad i bought it. I bought the PC version for it's 64 player online compared to the scaled down xbox multiplayer. If you are looking for a campaign don't bother it's not that good but multiplayer is the shit.

Pretty sure there are tons and tons of people still playing, and it'll probably continue to be that way for a long, long time.

Also considering purchasing this (PC), but then I saw there's an expansion out for it already. Is this the sort of thing where everyone pretty much has the expansion, and not having it will diminish the experience considerably? How's the whole expansion/non-expansion separation handled?

I'm having fun in the Back to Karkand maps. Players that purchased the Limited Edition get this for free, while standard version players need to make another purchase.

There isn't separation beyond the fact that you need the expansion to play on servers running Back to Karkand. Any new weapons following the expansion that you manage to unlock can be used in the BF3 vanilla maps as well as the expansion maps.