So I finally picked this up last night one the strength of all the word of mouth it's been getting and mostly because people have been saying it's more of a "team game" than, for example, MW2 and it doesn't rely as much on fast-twitch reflexes and you don't have to be a pro to still have fun and contribute because you could be a medic and help heal guys, etc.
 
Keep in mind I've never played any Battlefield game before and really only got into FPSs with COD4.
 
But I was pretty disappointed in my first few hours playing it last night when I didn't hear a single person using voice chat, so there was very little actual team work going on, so it that aspect wasn't much different than a MW2 game. However, the real disappointment was in the "support" classes. You have to unlock the medic packs? What? The "medic" isn't actually a medic until you get enough kills with him. The whole reason I was going to play the damn medic was because I'm not great at getting lots of kills, so was hoping to contribute by healing and reviving guys, which you can't do until you kill enough people (which was damn near impossible for me, cuz I SUCK with the LMG).
 
I know it's kind of a nitpicky thing to complain about and I'm really new to the game and series as a whole so maybe I'm just missing something, but I thought it was kind of backwards that you can't actually use the classes as they were intended until you "unlock" them by killing guys. Unlocking new weapons and gadgets, etc., that makes sense. But unlocking the thing that actually makes you a medic or engineer? That's kind of silly.
 
Like I said, I know it's a small complaint, but it was just frustrating that I have to figure out a way to get lots of kills with a class that's not really designed for getting lots of kills, especially since the reason I was interested in trying the class was because I'm not great at getting lots of kills in the first place (which meant I spent most of my night just playing as the assault class, which it turns out I'm not as bad at as I was afraid I'd be).

Your  not alone i think its jsut stupid you don't give the medic at least his med kit... i'd rathe rhave them take away the gun and you start with the med kit... i alos suck with the LMG. and all i was doing the first few rounds was picking up dead medics kits because i knew they had the revive pads and stuff.
 
but yeah i tink they did it so you can't hoard a bunch of points as a medic from the start wich is a stupid reason ofcoarse...

" Your  not alone i think its jsut stupid you don't give the medic at least his med kit... i'd rathe rhave them take away the gun and you start with the med kit... i alos suck with the LMG. and all i was doing the first few rounds was picking up dead medics kits because i knew they had the revive pads and stuff.  but yeah i tink they did it so you can't hoard a bunch of points as a medic from the start wich is a stupid reason ofcoarse... "

Yeah, i see what you mean. But i think the whole idea of unlocking the med-kit and revive kit, is to try and get people to play the game enough in the first place, in order to unlock it. Because as soon as you unlock these items with the medic class, the game really starts to get fun i believe. Trust me, the first few games where you have to just sit back and pick off people with the first LMG is a bit daunting. You kind of feel like you are not having as much fun. 
 
But when you are able to revive people it gets so much more awesome. I actually just use the Medic class and only the medic class, to rack up tons of points by reviving team mates.

ah, I didn't have that problem since I had the Limited Edition eheh
my one and only complaint would be that sometimes, when you spawn, your gun does not show up for like 5 seconds.
really REALLY annoying when you spawn in the fray of the battle.

You suck with the LMG? By far the best guns in the game.  Powerful, accurate and a whole bunch of bullets on a clip. 
 
It doesn't take long to get your medipack, but when you do... Prepare for some high scores.

I thought this was a little bit strange also but I think ultimately its a good decision to hold back the support stuff from the kits so as to give you a chance to get used to the game without having to remember to constantly use your ammo box, med kit or repair (and if you don't do this when you do unlock them you are terrible at this game no matter what your K/D ratio is). I am going to get to work on medic unlocks tonight so hopefully all these tales of mega points are true because I've been getting ace pins with the assault just by throwing out ammo.

I agree, the classes should start off with something that's relevant to their class. Like someone else said though, if you need to, pick up a dead guys stuff and use his kit. Once you get the hang of it the points will rack up. A good medic or support can get zero kills and still finish at the top of the scoreboard. 
 
The team work issue is also a problem. There's nothing I hate more then having a squad that refuses to communicate. Pressing the back button though helps with this. If you want your group to attack a flag, make sure your pointed at the target [B] or [A] (whatever flag or mcomm) and press the back/select button. This will order a command to your squad that they should attack this spot. It doesn't always work because there's times when your squad just sucks and isn't paying attention. Also, if your out of ammo and you see a supply/assault guy, look at him and press the back button. He will hear you ask for ammo and hopefully will respond by dropping some for you. Same goes for the medic class if you are almost dead, but a good medic would already know this.
 
A hint for the assault class is to use your launcher a lot, at least it works for me. I drop a ammo thing then proceed to tear shit up with the M203 - knock out walls, destroy buildings, etc. without ever having to worry about running out of rounds. Since you claim that your not so good at killing, maybe this will help to get some points.  Also, I could be wrong on this I haven't checked, but grab a vehicle when your using a kit you want to work on. I *think* that the points go towards the vehicle and towards the class, but I might be wrong on this one. 
 
Good luck with the teamwork thing. If you do happen to find a group who communicates with microphones, you will see how great this game really can be. Most importantly, have fun!

I know it's a bit weird you have to earn everything, but once you do, the game becomes pretty awesome. I've taken every class up to the point of having a red-dot scope, and that's a good starting point, now I can really specialize, and I'm going with medic for sure. 
  
@JokerSmilez:
If you bought the game new, you get the tommy machine gun from WWII can you can use in any class, if you don't like LMGs, this might help you get some good initial points. Not a bad weapon actually. 
 
Also another thing, team play happens most when it's with people you've organized to play with beforehand. That way, they all have headsets to co-ordinate attacks and whatnot. It's quite a lot of fun, you should join the GB clans and play games with people there, it increases the fun 100x. Playing solo's a bit of a bore, for me. Also a bombing run is coming up soon, that should be pretty good with the teamwork, I can imagine.

"  However, the real disappointment was in the "support" classes. You have to unlock the medic packs? What? The "medic" isn't actually a medic until you get enough kills with him. The whole reason I was going to play the damn medic was because I'm not great at getting lots of kills, so was hoping to contribute by healing and reviving guys, which you can't do until you kill enough people (which was damn near impossible for me, cuz I SUCK with the LMG).. "

" I was pretty disappointed in my first few hours playing it last night when I didn't hear a single person using voice chat, so there was very little actual team work going on, so it that aspect wasn't much different than a MW2 game. "

@JokerSmilez: If you bought the game new, you get the tommy machine gun from WWII can you can use in any class, if you don't like LMGs, this might help you get some good initial points. Not a bad weapon actually.

Yeah you get pretty screwed buying it used, I really like the conquest map you get, and the M1911 pistol is probably on average the best handgun in the game, short of the automatic sidearm.  
 
That's really too bad, but I didn't know this game was already on the used market at that much lower of a price... if you come to like the game enough I think it'll be possible to buy VIP access like Mass Effect 2 let you. They'll probably screw you with the price (and the map content and weapons are on the disc), but you do get at least one more free map pack in the future, so it could be worth it, in the end. 
 
So I would say just persevere with the medic. The LMG is technically the best set of weapons in the game, the clip size, damage and range are ludicrous, you just have to learn to use them. You gotta do small small bursts of like 2-3 shots at any real range, and even burst a bit when they're closer, it'll help tons. And of course, just ignore your reloading instincts completely. The clips are insane, and it takes only a bit to kill one person.

I takes like 5 minutes to unlock the medpack.  And a little longer to get the defibs. 
 
Once you've got those both, you're untouchable on the scoreboard. I can pull in 10,000+ points per round easily if I do nothing but rez/heal people.
 
Play as medic farming bodies for a while to help you rank up and unlock the general perks/weapons. Then go back and start playing the other classes once you've got all the ancillary shit unlocked. It makes it way more fun.

In-game voice chat has been dead since NXE unfortunately.

your complaint about voice chat:
 
What do you want them to do? make mics mandatory.

" your complaint about voice chat:  What do you want them to do? make mics mandatory. "

" @Jayross said:

" your complaint about voice chat:  What do you want them to do? make mics mandatory. "

I'm just saying that a lot of people have said that BC2 is a lot more "team focused" than other multiplayer shooters, but it doesn't really feel like it when you play it, unless you're playing with friends, in which case it's no different. "

" @XII_Sniper said:  

@JokerSmilez: If you bought the game new, you get the tommy machine gun from WWII can you can use in any class, if you don't like LMGs, this might help you get some good initial points. Not a bad weapon actually.

Unfortunately, I bought it used, which means I don't get any of the "VIP" stuff (maps, guns, etc). I didn't realize there was such a huge disadvantage for buying used. Still not worth the extra $20, but when I tried to get into a game with a couple xbox live friends, I got booted for not having the right map (which is my second complaint about this game, so far...if you buy it used, you're gimped...thanks EA for not giving a shit about the little guy who can't afford to buy it new or didn't preorder because they didn't know if they wanted it right away). "

" @JokerSmilez said:

" @XII_Sniper said:  

@JokerSmilez: If you bought the game new, you get the tommy machine gun from WWII can you can use in any class, if you don't like LMGs, this might help you get some good initial points. Not a bad weapon actually.

Unfortunately, I bought it used, which means I don't get any of the "VIP" stuff (maps, guns, etc). I didn't realize there was such a huge disadvantage for buying used. Still not worth the extra $20, but when I tried to get into a game with a couple xbox live friends, I got booted for not having the right map (which is my second complaint about this game, so far...if you buy it used, you're gimped...thanks EA for not giving a shit about the little guy who can't afford to buy it new or didn't preorder because they didn't know if they wanted it right away). "

Sorry to bring this up again, but they don't care about the 'little guy' who buys it used because they get exactly as much money from you as they do from a pirate, which is to say, nothing. I would think you'd be aware of this policy of theirs by now, being on Giant Bomb. "

It's not really a big deal that you can't play two of the maps in the game, most of the other maps are better anyway than the ones you're missing and the game is still fun!  As for the unlocks for the limited edition, you'll unlock them anyway eventually in the game. :) 
  
It's actually quite easy to unlock the med kits for the medic if you just play a couple of games.  And if you're bad with the LMG, I suggest that you hide somewhere and spot enemies by pressing the back button, or get into a stationary shielded machine gun or anti-tank and spot from there, that'll still give you spot assist points and you get to help your teammates as well. :)
 
After you get the med kits, you're good to go heal your squadmates and rack up points to unlock the defib. Just be patient with the unlocks, you really have to earn it, but the game gets really awesome and addicting after you get the stuff. ;)

Can you actually buy the VIP 1 package? I'm worried because I just read about the VIP 2 package, I'm starting to feel like a real idiot for not waiting a while longer and buying the game new instead of used. Is the game going to get more and more unplayable for people like me?

" @Jayross said:

" your complaint about voice chat:  What do you want them to do? make mics mandatory. "

I'm just saying that a lot of people have said that BC2 is a lot more "team focused" than other multiplayer shooters, but it doesn't really feel like it when you play it, unless you're playing with friends, in which case it's no different. "

You just buy a VIP code. it's just like Cerberus network. The point is to add value to keeping the game around, and add incentive to buy new, instead of saving 5 bucks on a 60 dollar product.

As to your other point, EA is a business. Why would they care about a customer who can't pay them? Even if it is a problem, that's why they let you buy the features for 15 bucks like that. It makes it a bad choice to buy used, but still lets them get some money from used sales, rentals or pirates. It's a great strategy, and actually a decent DLC setup, compared to a lot of the nickel-and-diming out there. As long as this pans out, and they consistently put out about 15 bucks worth of extra content for each game, I'm quite pleased with this, instead of 10 dollar map packs every three months.

EDIT: Okay, so after checking, looks like you CAN'T buy VIP codes yet. Weird. I guess they're not expecting any used sales while the limited edition is still going out?

" @JokerSmilez:

You just buy a VIP code. it's just like Cerberus network. The point is to add value to keeping the game around, and add incentive to buy new, instead of saving 5 bucks on a 60 dollar product.

As to your other point, EA is a business. Why would they care about a customer who can't pay them? Even if it is a problem, that's why they let you buy the features for 15 bucks like that. It makes it a bad choice to buy used, but still lets them get some money from used sales, rentals or pirates. It's a great strategy, and actually a decent DLC setup, compared to a lot of the nickel-and-diming out there. As long as this pans out, and they consistently put out about 15 bucks worth of extra content for each game, I'm quite pleased with this, instead of 10 dollar map packs every three months.

EDIT: Okay, so after checking, looks like you CAN'T buy VIP codes yet. Weird. I guess they're not expecting any used sales while the limited edition is still going out?

"

" @JokerSmilez:Wait, why would it be 73.49? Where are you at? "

Just because EA has a policy doesn't make me any richer so I can afford every new game that comes out without ever renting or buying used. It just makes me think there's no point buying an EA published game if you can't buy it Day One.     

"

Just because EA has a policy doesn't make me any richer so I can afford every new game that comes out without ever renting or buying used. It just makes me think there's no point buying an EA published game if you can't buy it Day One.     

...Wow, that's a really good point, I haven't heard anyone put it that way before. "

" @TyFighter said:

"

Just because EA has a policy doesn't make me any richer so I can afford every new game that comes out without ever renting or buying used. It just makes me think there's no point buying an EA published game if you can't buy it Day One.     

...Wow, that's a really good point, I haven't heard anyone put it that way before. "

I'm getting ripped apart for my views on used games in another thread so I'm not sure if this is genuine or sarcastic but I'm going to try and assume it's genuine and say: "Thanks!"Also, thanks to all the people with tips for leveling up the Medic. Apparantly if you played the demo or something you get access to the Tommy gun? At least that's what some dude I was in a squad with said...  Anyway, I switched out the LMG for the Tommy gun (because I was having a lot of success with the Engineer earlier in the night) and had a lot more fun and did a lot better. Also, I played with some people from the JPAG (Joystiq Podcast Appreciation Group - all really good people) and had a blast! I take back all my doubts about the teamwork aspect of this game. When playing with people on voice chat and working together, this game rocks! "

The Thompson was unlocked right away with the VIP code. The only thing that carried over from the demo was your listing of dog tags, but only in-game, not on the web-based stats. "

" @Infininja said:

The Thompson was unlocked right away with the VIP code. The only thing that carried over from the demo was your listing of dog tags, but only in-game, not on the web-based stats. "

Are you sure? I bought it used, so my VIP code was already used... "