BF4 first impressions

[A Docile Sloth]

And if any if the people working on BF4 have to use any real world parallel as justification for game balance decisions, they too need to be fired. Game balancing should always and in every single circumstance trumph everything else to give the best gameplay experience for the players. Nothing else is more important.

I'm not using it as an excuse. I'm just saying that the flares switch the lock on target, which is nice as if you notice in time, you don't waist a rocket. The relocking if the chopper while flares are out is bad. Like I said, it's probably (or at least hopefully) an incomplete mechanic in the beta that allows the manual re-targeting from flares to the chopper mid rocket flight. Using real world examples is a place to start balance from. Then tweaking that so it works game play wise is sensible. I just think that they haven't finished with the latter for the beta version.

[Necromancer]

the problem is that the rocket already passes the chopper, then does a crazy 180 U-turn combined with a little teleporting to hit the chopper and kill it.
thats the main problem IMO. switching targets and re-locking isn't a problem. if the chopper driver needs to assess the distance where he is fired from and release the flares not too soon and not too late thats fine. but then if the rocket passes the chopper - it should be a miss.
whats the point of a counter-measure if its not countering anything?

[CorranHorn]

the problem is that the rocket already passes the chopper, then does a crazy 180 U-turn combined with a little teleporting to hit the chopper and kill it.
thats the main problem IMO. switching targets and re-locking isn't a problem. if the chopper driver needs to assess the distance where he is fired from and release the flares not too soon and not too late thats fine. but then if the rocket passes the chopper - it should be a miss.
whats the point of a counter-measure if its not countering anything?

Shouldn't matter if it passes the chopper. I agree that there should be some amount of limit on the acquiring different targets, but it should not have to do with distance related to the first target acquired, doesn't make any sense. What would make sense would be limits such as:

1) total distance traveled by rocket
2) total amount of time spent with one rocket acquiring targets
3) total amount of targets acquired.

EDIT: Also this is only one counter measure we've seen so far... one that didn't require that much skill in bf3.

[Nix]

what is this sh*t?

phpBB [video]

who wants to fly a chopper now?

Whoever even thought of it, even as a temporary solution, needs to be fired.

Probably the same guy who thought of "Lock-on RPG"

Just rename Battlefield 4 to Bad Company 3, because that's what it is basically.

[matsif]

1) it's a beta, it will probably change somewhat on release. No need to get your britches all tied up (yet).
2) I'm frankly fairly happy with the beta so far. Yes there are issues, but I don't think it feels like bad company 3 or COD at all. It feels like BF3 to me, with some decent changes and some terrible changes. But overall I think they took a step in the right direction instead of 3 steps backward.

[KoffeinFlummi]

1) it's a beta, it will probably change somewhat on release. No need to get your britches all tied up (yet).
2) I'm frankly fairly happy with the beta so far. Yes there are issues, but I don't think it feels like bad company 3 or COD at all. It feels like BF3 to me, with some decent changes and some terrible changes. But overall I think they took a step in the right direction instead of 3 steps backward.

+1, postpone all bitching to the final game please.

[matsif]

yet another round:

-got the SCAR-H, hated it with iron sights, loved it once I got the red dot. The iron sights on that thing are horrendous. I don't normally like red dot sights (preferred the holo or kobra in BF3) because I like a bit more of a crosshair to aim with than just a dot, but dear god it's such an upgrade over the horribleness that is the SCAR's iron sights. Once I got a half-way decent sight on it I loved it though, felt a lot better to me than the AK12. Just wish I had something even better than a red dot.

-played with the m26 mass, didn't like it, m320 is OP anyways so there's no reason to have a shotgun in that spot when you can have a med kit or m320.

-speaking of m320, I killed 2 tanks, an APC, 3 or 4 jeeps, and a transport chopper with it tonight. It shouldn't do damage to the armor at all, and the chopper I hit wasn't even smoking yet I killed it in like 2 grenades. There isn't a single grenade launcher that should be able to hurt the tank or APC unless said grenade launcher is spelled "RPG."

-I love the AK5C. Can't wait to get some optics on it, but the iron sights are nice so I may not even equip them unless I want a bit more zoom. Prefer it to any other assault rifle at this point, even the SCAR. probably gonna play around with it on recon tomorrow.

-They should have left choppers off of that map. Yes it's a beta and they needed to test the mechanic, but if that's the case why not add jets too? It's getting to the point where there are more people on the roofs than there are on the ground, and it's really killing the fun of what is actually decent map. I've yet to become bored of the map yet, just bored of there constantly being 10+ people that never leave the roofs. I imagine it sucks for chopper pilots as well because they have clear view of your every move more or less.

-in my armor play tonight I confirmed in my mind that the APC is useless against tanks if you can't surprise it. Going against a tank head on is a waste of an asset in the beta, you have exposed wheels that get mobility shot every time you get hit and your cannon might as well be a teenager shooting spitballs out of a straw to the front of a tank. The TOW doesn't make up for it either. Of course, there are no alphabet shells in the beta, which might change things on release.

-beating a dead horse, but the only thing I'm extremely disappointed with so far is how effective infantry is against armor. There is basically no reason to be scared of a tank if you can get to its sides/rear, and there is no reason to be scared of an APC at all unless it surprises you. Armor should require other armor, air support, or some squad organization to kill, not a stream of M320s and XM25s from people camping on roofs.

[elchino7]

BF3 beta had damage modifier while sprinting.

I present you BS kills :9

phpBB [video]

[Hgx]

*Sees Origin updating BF 4 Beta*
*Smiles*

YOU GOT KICKED BY PUNKBUSTER

*Breaks monitor*

Quality updates brought to you by DICE

[Necromancer]

Gun Glitch
Symptoms: No arms (floating weapon), weapons that can't be used look like the pistol with 0 ammo.
Some weapons might not show in the customization menu at the top, and the weapon 3D model will not be drawn.
Can Use: Pistol, Grenades, Ammo/Health packs, Knife, switch kits, stationary weapons and vehicles.
Can't Use: Primary weapon, some Gadgets/Secondary weapons (RPG/Stinger/defibrillator/etc...)
It also comes with spontaneous deaths and is pretty persistent. I suspect you also don't hear vehicle sounds including lock-on sounds while effected.

phpBB [video]

So now one is not completely useless when effected (can use pistol), but on the other hand it seems much more widespread then before.

@HGX - update BF4 using pbsetup.exe and test the PB services using pbsvc.exe (i had to install them ). fixed it for me.

[Hgx]

@HGX - update BF4 using pbsetup.exe and test the PB services using pbsvc.exe (i had to install them ). fixed it for me.

I tried that already and it didn't work, but DICE fixed it now.

[Jokerle]

I played like 6-7 rounds so far and I like it

Chopper flying is also fun...but without a "missile incoming warning sound" it is a huge gamble to stay alive.
And the heatseaker respawn time is INSANELY long. It feels like the enemy chopper respawns before your heatseakers do Did fly only a few minutes though.

[FisherMan9999]

Other suggestions:
1.Buff FisherMan's infantry aim while zoomed.
2.Buff FisherMan's knife so you can't counter him or really hard to do so.
3.Buff FisherMan's tank aim so it doesn't shoot at the wrong direction.
4.Nerf RPGs against FisherMan.
5.Buff FisherMan's Computer system performance.
(that's a joke but all of these statements ought to be fixed in final version)

[elchino7]

Air vehicles:

-3 minutes chopper respawn time O.o
-Why the hell the Chinese doesnt have an SAA?
-Low ammo pool, but the damage feels a bit higher against tanks. Rocketpods seems to not do so much damage against infantry (BF3 comparison).
-It takes a bit too long to reload heatseakers but you can now ACTUALLY fire just 1 seaker, wait for him to deploy countermeasures and fire the 2nd. At close distance it seems flares are useless.
-I dont have the same feeling at hitting with the rocket pods against other choppers like in BF3.
-The gunner gun feels more like the the one from the AC130. It´s a "feeling".

-Transport chopper gunner is a bit UP (underpower).
-More difficult to roadkill people due to the "disable" collision mechanic.
-Neither the venom nor the chinese heli flips like the kasatka. I hope they have improve the RU one. .

-Invisible walls (theres one near the top of the skycrapper once it falls down), not good "mappings" on zones near the border of the map, theres a section which behaves as "water" eventhough it looks like land.

[matsif]

-Found a really nice roof near B that is only accessible by chopper or jumping from the C building that has a lot of cover and high ledges, making it perfect for killing choppers on the way out of US main base and decent sight at chinese choppers as well. spent a lot of time exploiting the OP RPG with lock on with bruce/stonie/ghoul/wenie tonight, was tons of fun and at points the enemy was sending 2 squads or more after our 3-5 man group on the roofs I really hope they remove the RPG lock on because it's really OP but man was it funny, especially when there were 5 snipers across the bay trying to kill us and constant streams of choppers coming after us. I still think that there is way too much roof camping (we joined in a lot tonight) but for goofing around with lock on RPGs it was a good time.

-unlocked DMRs, didn't get a lot of a chance to play with them, not a huge fan of the RFB's iron sight though. Didn't get a lot of time to play with it so I'll withhold most comment until I get some more time on them.

-never seemed to be able to hit stuff at range with the sniper rifle, even with bullet drop compensation and whatnot. Seemed to have little feedback and just felt "off" to me when using it. Probably won't touch a sniper rifle again, but will play recon a bit more for the C4.

-love the C4 toss range, killed a few tanks and quite a few guys just bombing it off of roofs.

-is the M9 better than the P226? I really like the P226 as a pistol, but because of that I'm hesitant to even try the M9.