I'm a huge fan of Bad Company 2. I've probably put in at least 100 hours, which is alot considering I don't get much time to play video games. So I was pumped about Battlefield 3. I got into the alpha and loved it. During the open beta, I was still having fun, but something felt off. When the game finally came out, I reverted back to my opinion from the alpha, and for a while I was having a pretty good time. But man. These last couple of weeks every time I try to play the game I can't go more than 30 minutes before I just have to close the game and do something else. There are several glowing issues that I just can't get past.

First, the lack of automatic team-scrambling really sucks. Anyone who has played BF3 for a while knows what dealing with Origin/the battlelog can be like. So after putting up with that, it's really frustrating to get put into a match where the opposite team is winning 175-15. So you stick around for another match, only to get your ass handed to you again in an obvious issue of skill lopsiding. People seem to HAAAATE MW3, but I give it credit for at least putting you in some pretty even matches most of the time. And even when they're not even, it's so easy to back out and join a different match. It never takes more than 30 seconds. With BF3, if I wanna join another server I have to close the game and go through the battlelog bullshit. It takes so much longer.

My second biggest issue ties in with the first. The community, or at least the part of the community I've dealt with, seems to be made up almost entirely of total assholes. Anytime I try to play as a team, people will just tell me to fuck off. If I try to say the most slightly negative thing on the BF3 message boards I get nothing but "lol n00b" "play better" "go back to mw3" responses that have to be coming from people that can't be older than 14. I know every game has that group, but for BF3 it's like the rule rather than the exception. Starcraft 2's community puts it to shame.

I really wish I could enjoy the game I paid 60 dollars for. On the surface there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to. The gameplay is awesome, the sound effects and graphics are top notch, and I enjoyed the hell out of the previous game in the series. But I just can't get into this one.

1 - Battlelogs is 1 million times better then BC2's server browser.

2 - All Origin does is launch the game once you choose a server. Bitching about Origin got old 3 months ago.

3 - EA doesn't choose the community. Also, your subjective, anecdotal experiences do not represent the majority's with the community. BF3's community is fine.

@beatlebrainiac said:

Anytime I try to play as a team, people will just tell me to fuck off.

I don't think I have every seen this in any game. can you go into more detail?

This sounds similar to some of the balance threads. I think there is always going to be a narcistic a-hole element to FPS. There are also a lot of COD deathmatch spawn rapers that come to battlefield not understanding there can be a lot more to FPS games. It may be more the case of the more mature people just shutting up and playing, I dunno. I pretty much stopped complaining about balance because nothing is going to happen until they do create some kind of autobalance. Nowadays as long as I'm making it out of spawn without being shot or confronted by a vehicle then I consider it a balanced server and concentrate on incremental improvements in my own performance. People who always have to switch to the winning team so they can have a positive match record will be losers skillwise in the end.

@Mcfart: I agree that it's better than BC2's...in theory. But half of the time it just flat doesn't work. Sends me into servers no one's in, the game closes unexpectedly, etc. I'm finding it hard to believe you've never had these issues.

@MAGZine: the last match I played, me and a guy got into a tank. He got there first so he was driving. I turned around in the gun to see a helicopter filled to capacity with people landing at the point. I said, "yo tank turn around they're stealing the point!". He replied "fuck u don't like it get out". I mean, what else am I supposed to do?

@LibertyForAll: like I said, I don't mind matches where we're losing if it at least feels close. But so often it's a situation where they have three of four points and so everyone's spawning in that one remaining spot and basically getting destroyed by the other team because where else are you gonna spawn? I think the worst map for this is Operation Metro. It's so easy to get two of the three points and just camp your way to victory.

@beatlebrainiac said:

Sends me into servers no one's in

Why are you using matchmaking in a PC game?

Buying a Multiplayer game and playing online should not lead to the surprise that a lot of people playing games these days as dimwitted, childish idiots. While its irritating being on "that" team, those who for some reason are unable to understand the most basic concepts of multiplayer, team-based games and never get any better even after 100 games its not a fault of the game, it's the fault of the gene pool. Just take off by yourself and switch squads, you will often find someone willing to help out or at the3 very least not be a total twat.

I never had a problem with the BF3 experience. People generally have been pretty cool, some goof around, but aren't rude. Sometimes I accidentally choose a squad full of snipers getting stupid at home base, but I just leave for another squad.

@beatlebrainiac:

I like the game more now that Karkland is out, but I still think BadCompany 2 was a better game, it had issues, but had a soul to it.

As with any popular game the majority of those that play will be ass holes, they will be simple minded fan boys who don't know how to have a proper argument, the majority of those on Battlelog are your average young ignorant fanboy, something that is more rare on I site like this.

It is the same on the Bungie forums, or at least it was, and I called those forums home for about 7 years, once something goes big the lowest common denominator becomes the common.

but why, friend?

@Twisted_Scot The difference is that the good competitive team games I've played allow any player to overcome shitty teammates and win the game. It might be extremely difficult, but it has to be possible. Battlefield 3's system of hard counters combined with the higher player count puts a ceiling on these displays of skill, meaning that you can be the best in the world but your shitty team will still drag you all the way down. If I know that no matter what I do, I'm still going to lose, why the hell should I play?

I usually play games to have fun rather than win. Wins are just gravy. If it's all about winning (which to me seems to be more a problem with the community like you are complaining about) then switch to the dominant team like all the other stat whores. I have no qualms about being near the top of the leaderboard of the losing team. I think that shows more integrity and skill than the "I'm good therefore I should be winning attitude" or getting a bunch points by being on a stacked team against a bunch of noobs. Overcoming hard odds just makes the wins all that much more sweeter and I think you learn a lot more devious tricks (as you die to them of course) that way. If you're not having fun then play something else.

@Mcfart: I agree that it's better than BC2's...in theory. But half of the time it just flat doesn't work. Sends me into servers no one's in, the game closes unexpectedly, etc. I'm finding it hard to believe you've never had these issues.

@MAGZine: the last match I played, me and a guy got into a tank. He got there first so he was driving. I turned around in the gun to see a helicopter filled to capacity with people landing at the point. I said, "yo tank turn around they're stealing the point!". He replied "fuck u don't like it get out". I mean, what else am I supposed to do?

@Mcfart said:

1 - Battlelogs is 1 million times better then BC2's server browser.

2 - All Origin does is launch the game once you choose a server. Bitching about Origin got old 3 months ago.

3 - EA doesn't choose the community. Also, your subjective, anecdotal experiences do not represent the majority's with the community. BF3's community is fine.

I like how you completely failed to actually address the main problem the OP pointed out: the lack of autobalance. I'm a massive BF fan but I'm not deluded enough to ignore the fact that half the games I play are lopsided and they just continue on that way until most of the people have left and new ones have joined. It's pretty inexcusable.

I'm not willing to excuse a game being busted because it's "ambitious". They ran an alpha and an open beta. They had plenty of time to make sure to iron out the kinks. The game has been out for almost three months. The game should run silky smooth by now. I didn't pay 60 dollars to be in an open beta, whether it's "ambitious" or not.

The issues with the game CTD and others jump so dramatically from one computer to the next. i for example have almost no issues playing BF3 it CTD's maybe once in a while but its by no means a giant issue for me. I also never get disconnected from a server nor have a hard time joining one. ( though i have ran into a fun little glitch where somethings origin launches the campaign and not the multiplayer) so in terms of this you might have to do a little digging on the net. i had a game breaking graphics issue. turns out it was my own damn fault i was running the game way to high for my 560 ti to handle. Battlelog i love, its so nice to be able to ALT-TAB out of the game and check my progess on assignments or whatever else i need to do. as Ryan said its Battlefield Facebook and it works really well. and Origin i also have no issues with. i love steam and do prefer it. but Origin does download games/patches way faster then steam does for me. 

you don't need a mic for teamwork..follow a teammate..BAM! teamwork

I'm actually enjoying it more than I did before. Branching out into different classes leveling up guns.

battlefield matches have always been unbalanced.

and the only way you can get a good time with the community (and in turn fix those balance problem) is if you man up and join a decent platoon.

I'm not willing to excuse a game being busted because it's "ambitious".

@LibertyForAll said:

I usually play games to have fun rather than win. Wins are just gravy. If it's all about winning (which to me seems to be more a problem with the community like you are complaining about) then switch to the dominant team like all the other stat whores. I have no qualms about being near the top of the leaderboard of the losing team. I think that shows more integrity and skill than the "I'm good therefore I should be winning attitude" or getting a bunch points by being on a stacked team against a bunch of noobs. Overcoming hard odds just makes the wins all that much more sweeter and I think you learn a lot more devious tricks (as you die to them of course) that way. If you're not having fun then play something else.

A million times this.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@beatlebrainiac said:

I'm not willing to excuse a game being busted because it's "ambitious".

How is it "busted"? Either that you're having deadly errors that I haven't encountered, or that you're exaggerating.

Balance issues, hit box issues, freezing, sound cutting out, rubber banding in vehicles when near other ones, same on foot, and having so many issues trying to play with friends STILL!

@beatlebrainiac: I'm sorry but I played both Alpha and Beta and the difference between those versions and the current retail build of the game is astounding. They run into many unique problems that not many other games face and have handled them quite well. These being: working vehicles that feel good, bullet physics (not just hitscan) and massive maps. I personally haven't found many issues with the game on a technical level but of course it is anecdotal.

Keep in mind, my experiences are all on PC I'm not aware of how the game feels on the other platforms.

@beatlebrainiac said:

Sends me into servers no one's in

Why are you using matchmaking in a PC game?

I agree that the lack of scrambling after a match sucks when the teams are lopsided.....it pretty much forces you to leave the server and join another one which is also a hassle......but other than that I enjoy the game.

What everyone needs to do is try to spend some quality time on the Giant Bomb server. http://goo.gl/5a5CV While this does not fix the problems you have, I found that any game can be fun as long as you have friendly people to play with.

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/soldier/CapitalistPirate/stats/312216855/ If anyone wants to play together, send me an invite. I'm not the best but it would be fun to play with some of you GB guys.

@big_jon: Agreed, BC2 is a much better game than BF3, campaign and multiplayer.

@Mcfart said:

1 - Battlelogs is 1 million times better then BC2's server browser.

Yeah everyone seemed to bitch "OMG no server browser BF3 is consolized ZOMG etc etc." but it's acually pretty genius.You don't have to have your game open chewing up RAM if you are waiting for your server to clear you can simply wait and do other things until theres a spot.Everything is there at launch to start games and squads etc. nicely done tool.

There is no doubt that BF3 is an amazing game but it seems to be trying to impress too many people at once that's why I kind of side with the OP...

Personally I think BF3 is a little slower than BC2. As mentioned above it's trying to impress too many people at once, this includes the old school BF crowd (going back to BF1942) where the maps were massive - to cater for the jets and such.

I mean, look at all the wishlists that gamers created prior to the games release. Example below..

http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/forum/threadview/2832654624700624752/

Having said all this, the game is still a groundbreaking achievement and props go out to the DICE Cru.

Gave it another go. As always, it's awesome at first, until all the little niggles start adding up, until I loathe it too much to bare another second of it.

It's always the same basic design choices which kill it for me...

• Visibility - respectively lack thereof. Overblown lighting and superdark shadows, to the point that sunny daytime maps have less visibility than night maps. Getting shot by dudes right in my line of sight, yet oddly invisible... that's just no fun to me.
• Dependency trumps Playerskill (like today I fought 2 engineers. I was piloting a littlebird - them shooting SMAWs, me strafing their position low - just to get killed by a dude on the other end of the map with a SOFLAM & Javelin combo)... that's just no fun to me.
• Indirect Kills & Lock-on Weaponry (Mortar, SOFLAM & Javelin, Guided Shell & Missle etc.) zero skill ceiling weapons and getting killed by players without direct line of sight... that's just no fun to me.
• ...there's so much more. Like I prefer shooting 100% tracer rounds/shots with vapor trails, so every shot fired at me gives me clear feedback. Much better than 2D autospot. And so forth...

The fact that I loathe prone and what it brings to the table doesn't help either. Simply put, I need a new Bad Company game in 2013. Built to be fun first and foremost.

PRO TIP

stop playing

@Seppli: That visibility thing you pointed out irritates me to no end. I have a hard time putting it into words, but you've come as close as anyone. The tendency is to look for movement in the environment and then fire on it, friendly fire not usually being an issue. It's not as if I'm being ambushed all the time by people who are under cover or not moving, it's like the game's just not bothering to render them in.

Couple that with having very little opportunity to actually react or effectively counterattack (at least a couple of times per game I'll get killed because my gun flat out doesn't fire when I pull the trigger), and there's precious little fun to be had relative to the trouble. If I wanted a strict combat simulator, I'd play ARMA.

It's all the worse because the potential for BF3 to be great is right there in front of you, and the game's just not going the few extra steps.

Mmmmm... this crusty old thread.