Battlefield 3 Impressions Thread

[Tobi54]

Post your impressions here:

After a few rounds I must say I can't get over how good the game is, yes call me a fanboy at this point I just don't care. I could go on and on about the graphics and sound, but everyone already knows how good those are, but something that got my attention is the facial animations of the players as they shoot, it's pretty remarkable how much detail they have put into it.

And then there is something I really wasn't expecting, how fast paced infantry play is, even on conquest, Grand Bazaar, the so called "infantry" map of BF3 plays insanely fast on 32 vs 32, I know I'm biased, but COD just has nothing on this, COD's trump card has always been gun/avatar handling and fast close quarters combat, well after playing Grand Bazaar, IMO that card is not there anymore, DICE managed to bring the same feel on a bigger scale, on better designed maps. For the bad? well Operation Metro is very messy on 32 vs 32 conquest, the bottleneck in the middle of the map makes it the biggest meat grinder I have seen so far. Also, the flags seem to be too close together, yeah I know I sound like the guys on the official forums, but they might be on to something, so far it seems to me that this was done on purpose to keep the pace of the game up, which works, but it also diminishes somewhat the feel of large scale on a map, this is more of a damned if you do, damned if you don't type deal, I personally don't mind it at all, I can still get from A to B without feeling that I just ran marathon. I only got about 10 rounds in, I'm going to go get some more!

[MaydaX]

So far my experience hasn't been too good. Netcode seems worse than the beta and alpha. Seems more like BC2. Shots aren't registering and takes a lot more ammo to kill people. Either that or they nerfed all the weapons.

I get a lot of server warping on many servers. Even smaller 24 slot TDM ones.

Lot of the maps seem off for TDM. The designs don't have a good flow like I'm used to in other games. The spawning system looks like it's really random, dropping enemies in front of or near you in a lot of cases.

Then there are the GFX issues where you have to quit the game to get rid of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lobl-nz4A8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9M4Oe1uLLo

[Tobi54]

I haven't had any of the GFX issues, but I did experience rubber banding on certain servers, it didn't seem to be a widespread issue though, once I switched servers it went away... as far as hit reg, I havent had any problems yet, but I'll keep an eye out.

[zeroy]

I'll put the issues aside for now - those will get sorted pretty quick im sure - My impressions? Fantastic! I played just over 2h of the SP and only a few rounds of MP but i love it already.

Firstly, the graphics from Beta are tons better on my rig - still with my good old GTX260 - i can now crank up to medium on everything and play! The SP is, so far, as good if not better than MW1/2, the better being the constant near realism graphics around me, the animations are damn smooth. SP downside so far? The scripted sequence, never like those much. F18 ride is just mind blowing!

For my first MP game i landed in Teheran Highway map, Large Conquest 64 players. Because i was just coming of SP i thought i was still in it for a minute! Its absolute war, mayhem, destructions/explosions all over and i sure will need to get used to the maps as i got kill many times!

To briefly mention the problems, i get severe hang on latest Nvidia (285.62) so reverted to 285.38 wher ei get artifact on shadows and middle screen tears at times. Also got some rubberbanding on 64players servers, and 1 CTD so far.

I highly recommend this game - the best £25 i spent this year on a video game.

[rudedog]

great thread Tobi,

Please keep them coming, the good bad and ugly.

In regards to hit reg and rubber banding, what was your ping and do you recall where you where playing (GSP/world region .... )

Thanks guys looking forward to getting home and trying this myself

:salute:

[MaydaX]

In regards to hit reg and rubber banding, what was your ping and do you recall where you where playing (GSP/world region .... )

Pings of battlelog rarely work for me and no in game ping on the scoreboard so I have no idea what it was :(

2011 and a game as advanced as BF3 yet no ping displayed in game.

[Busterking]

So far my experience hasn't been too good. Netcode seems worse than the beta and alpha. Seems more like BC2. Shots aren't registering and takes a lot more ammo to kill people. Either that or they nerfed all the weapons.

I get a lot of server warping on many servers. Even smaller 24 slot TDM ones.

Lot of the maps seem off for TDM. The designs don't have a good flow like I'm used to in other games. The spawning system looks like it's really random, dropping enemies in front of or near you in a lot of cases.

Then there are the GFX issues where you have to quit the game to get rid of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lobl-nz4A8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9M4Oe1uLLo


Thank you for sharing your honest opinion.

[Pendragon]

I'm in the UK and still have to wait for another couple of days, Zero, how come your playing already? Ireland get an early release??? More to the point how did you get the game for £25 quid???

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/3189/bf3noplay.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/bf3noplay.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[zeroy]

I'm in the UK and still have to wait for another couple of days, Zero, how come your playing already? Ireland get an early release??? More to the point how did you get the game for £25 quid???

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

What? You dont know the Proxy/VPN trick? Basically the Korean got access yesterday so by using a Proxy you can bypass the Date Checker as Origin will think you are in Korea.... or US today. Just take a look in the EA UK Pc Forum for BF3, you'll find everything you need to know there.

By the way, none of this is breaching any EULA :)

For the 25Quids, I bought it on Direct2Drive.co.uk about 3 weeks ago, they had the Limited Edition on special at £29.97 - then my 15% IGN member Discount (cost $25/year, well worth it!) and its £25 :)

[Neil]

I'll put the issues aside for now - those will get sorted pretty quick im sure - My impressions? Fantastic! I played just over 2h of the SP and only a few rounds of MP but i love it already.

Firstly, the graphics from Beta are tons better on my rig - still with my good old GTX260 - i can now crank up to medium on everything and play! The SP is, so far, as good if not better than MW1/2, the better being the constant near realism graphics around me, the animations are damn smooth. SP downside so far? The scripted sequence, never like those much. F18 ride is just mind blowing!

For my first MP game i landed in Teheran Highway map, Large Conquest 64 players. Because i was just coming of SP i thought i was still in it for a minute! Its absolute war, mayhem, destructions/explosions all over and i sure will need to get used to the maps as i got kill many times!

To briefly mention the problems, i get severe hang on latest Nvidia (285.62) so reverted to 285.38 wher ei get artifact on shadows and middle screen tears at times. Also got some rubberbanding on 64players servers, and 1 CTD so far.

I highly recommend this game - the best £25 i spent this year on a video game.

Good stuff. Got email confirmation yesterday to say that the game had been posted.

Seeing a lot of tweets saying the game is a big improvement from Beta.

Hopefully any rubber band issues are resolved soon. :salute:

[Pendragon]

I remember rubberband'ing on both the Alpha and Beta. I put it down to ping but server load could be an issue as everyone suffered at the same time.

[FSUNOLE]

I an hoping Hardcore Mod will take care of the nerf weapons. Just can't figure out how to set the server to Hardcore Mod. Haven't found an Rcon tool yet. Anyway to set it in the server config?

[wcSki]

I an hoping Hardcore Mod will take care of the nerf weapons. Just can't figure out how to set the server to Hardcore Mod. Haven't found an Rcon tool yet. Anyway to set it in the server config?


Procon is out and works with BF3, see this thread:
http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23489

And if you download the server information, one of the PDF files tells you want to set for Hardcore mod. I just used procon and went through the settings to get my server setup as HC. See this thread:
http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23871

Problem is some settings did not stay when the server was restarted, hopefully that will get worked out shortly tho.

Hope this helps,
Ski

[zeroy]

I an hoping Hardcore Mod will take care of the nerf weapons.

You'll have to excuse me but What nerfed weapons? The game is just out. For a weapon to be nerfed it would need to have been something then become another thing. How about learning how to use them? Sorry if i come across a little rude on this one but it seems to obvious to me that a small learning curve is required for ANY game just out, using "nerfed" already seems like completly absurd idea to me.

Besides, each weapon in BF3 has its own recoil, spread, effective distance, rate of fire, etc, etc...

Of course if you are looking to have the HC one-two shot kills with any weapons then i apologise!

[Neil]

You'll have to excuse me but What nerfed weapons? The game is just out. For a weapon to be nerfed it would need to have been something then become another thing. How about learning how to use them? Sorry if i come across a little rude on this one but it seems to obvious to me that a small learning curve is required for ANY game just out, using "nerfed" already seems like completly absurd idea to me.

Besides, each weapon in BF3 has its own recoil, spread, effective distance, rate of fire, etc, etc...

Of course if you are looking to have the HC one-two shot kills with any weapons then i apologise!

My impression from Alpha and Beta is that the guns had been toned down a bit so it is a bit easier to take someone down. A bit in-between core and hardcore mode in BC2 which I think is a lot better. Some people will still find it tough on core mode but hey BF has never been that easy to shot someone (which includes the hit detection lol). Nether the less hardcore mode is there for those used hardcore in games like Call of Duty. Core is where it is for me personally due to playing BF2 and 2142 in the past as well as BC2 core. :)

[Pendragon]

Well I'm playing now, thanks Zeroy :) First impressions? I die a lot! The single player is uber hard, I die even more there than in MP! I die less often on Conquest... :)

[MaydaX]

Found a server that has all the unlocks enabled and man what a difference. Seems more fun and balanced.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/5592/bf32011102517345403.jpg

Using the basic vehicle unlocks like smoke counter-measure really showed how stupid it was to lock them in the first place.

[wcSki]

Found a server that has all the unlocks enabled and man what a difference. Seems more fun and balanced.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/5592/bf32011102517345403.jpg

Using the basic vehicle unlocks like smoke counter-measure really showed how stupid it was to lock them in the first place.

Is this server still considered Ranked?

Ski

[MaydaX]

Is this server still considered Ranked?

Ski

Yup. It's a server setting that will only work on unranked eventually.

[FireDawg911]

not bad so far.. Not a fan of the web browser thing.. seems a bit slow.. other than the rubber banding game is overall fun.. But I am a noob to bf. Ive played it some but just not versed in it.. Will learn as i go

[Omega*]

Found a server that has all the unlocks enabled and man what a difference. Seems more fun and balanced.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/5592/bf32011102517345403.jpg

Using the basic vehicle unlocks like smoke counter-measure really showed how stupid it was to lock them in the first place.

I enjoyed the beta, but unfortunately for me right now I have neither the money nor the time to invest into BF3 (been such a bad year for me).

But just looking at that screen makes me all giddy. How fun (I ask myself) would that be to have all those items unlocked and ready to go. I would be trying out all kinds of weapons and combinations, enjoying a game balanced from the start.....no advantages. I could spend a long time just setting up those different classes, not needlessly forced into using my unlocks, laboring and grinding for each attachment to every gun. I HATE that.....

I feel the same way about MW3, but I really wonder how many will populate those unranked servers. For some reason, I get the impression that more PC players would play unranked BF3 than people would play unranked MW3 servers. I could be way off with that perception.

Regardless, when I get BF3 (down the road) I will definitely be trying to play on unranked servers.

[Garrett2112]

EDIT: Seems like the Activation System finally back up (4 hours to finally getting the game running...lol) & playing and so far looks great...especially the Demvand (sp?) Valley map.

[PapaCharlie9]

Brief impressions:

* It rocks!

* The audio and acoustics aren't getting enough love. The eye candy is great, but the ear candy is nothing short of phenomenal. I almost want to drop out of VOIP with my friends so I can savor the sound effects and hilarious assault/medic revive comments.

* BF3 only suffers in comparison to BF2.

Replies:

* The marksman rifles (Mk11 and SVD) have definitely been nerfed down from the Beta. Use to be easy 1 and 2 shot kills each, no more. Good news is that the 870 shotgun now is a 1 shot kill at close range -- it was silly that a guy with a Mk11 could survive my 870 shot at close range and kill me with one hip shot.

* The UMP-45 and PP-2000 have also been nerfed, though I think the nerfing has more to do with accuracy and recoil than damage. After pimping out my UMP-45 I'm finding it almost as good as the Beta.

* Overall, I think all of the weapons I've tried so far are more balanced than the Beta. Not sure which one is emerging as best overall yet. I'm liking the A-91 a lot and some of my friends swear by the G36C.