Battlefield 4 (Winter Patch)

[Stoney Mason]

Since the launch of Battlefield 4, some fans playing online have been experiencing various issues with the game. Thanks to your feedback, many of these problems have been resolved, but there are still a number of bugs that we are actively working on. Below you will find a list of some of the resolved issues, as well as some of the issues we are prioritizing at the moment and what we’re doing to address them.

Game crashes and freezes
ELIMINATED AS WE IDENTIFY THEM
Players on all formats have been experiencing game crashes and freezes while playing. We have logs of the most frequently occurring client crashes, and we are actively working to Obliterate the cause of these crashes in upcoming updates.

Note that crashes come in different types, and therefore this is technically not one single issue. There are two kinds of crashes and two types of updates that can address them: server-side updates that we can release on the fly (four of these have already been released since launch), and game client updates that require more in-depth testing and certification before they can go live.

We have found and eliminated some of the server-side crashes on PC in the latest server update (version R4) that went live November 1. There is also a planned client update on PC in the near future where we are aiming to eliminate as many of the client-related crashes as possible.

Progress in Multiplayer Lost
INVESTIGATING
Players have reported losing their progress in multiplayer. This is probably related to crashes stopping the game reports from being sent to Battlelog. We are still investigating this issue in more detail. Note that your progress sometimes can seem to be reset during server maintenance windows. In these cases, your stats will be just fine and reappear later.

Single Player Save File Corrupted
INVESTIGATING
We are still investigating the issue of single player save files being corrupted for some players. If you have experienced this problem, please describe below the steps leading up to the save file being corrupted, your platform (PC, PS3 or X360), and when the issue occurred. If you’re on PC, please also list your OS and system specs.

Miscellaneous Audio Bugs
FIX UPCOMING
We are aware of the issues with missing/corrupted audio in multiplayer and have created a fix for them. This fix is planned for release in the next PC client patch (see “Upcoming Updates” below.)

Magazine Reload Bug on Normal
FIXED
On all platforms, some players were experiencing a bug when playing on Normal servers. The bug caused the reload setting to incorrectly mimic the behavior from Hardcore servers. This was fixed in our fourth and latest server update.

Xbox 360 Missions not Working as Intended
FIXED
There was a bug preventing Xbox 360 players from creating MISSIONS. This should now work properly, as we made some necessary changes to the backend infrastructure.

Battlefield 4 Premium “Reset Stats” Feature Not Working
FIX ROLLING OUT
Battlefield 4 Premium members have the option of resetting their multiplayer stats. This feature has not been working as intended. We have now identified the cause and solution, and Battlelog will perform a zero downtime fix for this that should roll out very soon.

Server Queues not Functioning
PENDING FUTURE PATCH
Players haven’t been able to join queues for servers, and we are actively working on the issue. We believe we have a solution to this, pending a future patch. We disabled server queues as we found a bug in the queue system, and we are working to isolate the real issue and find a solution for it.

Promotional Battlepack Items Not Appearing In-game and/or on Battlelog
INVESTIGATING
We are aware of this issue, and are working on a solution for it. Note that in some cases the Battlepack items will actually show up after a delay. If you’re still not seeing your items after 12 hours or so, please reach out to EA Help at https://help.ea.com/en/battlefield/battlefield-4 [help.ea.com].

What’s Next? Upcoming Updates
We are working on a PC client patch at the moment and hope to release it soon. We will share the patch notes once we have the patch contents finalized. The main focus is to fix as many crashes as possible, starting with the issues affecting a large number of players. We will update you once we are ready to release new server updates. We are currently working on server update #5, with four being released so far.

Keep the Gameplay Feedback Coming!
We are hearing your feedback regarding gameplay balance and other tweaks to classes and weapons, and are actively discussing these with the designers.

One subject that’s been generating a lot of feedback is the controller layout in Battlefield 4. An in-depth look at the controller options in Battlefield 4 will be published later on the Battlefield Blog at http://blogs.battlefield.com/ [blogs.battlefield.com].

Thanks for your Patience
We would like to thank all players who have been reporting their issues to us – your feedback is invaluable when making sure we can deliver the Battlefield 4 experience you all deserve. In true DICE fashion, we will keep supporting Battlefield 4 for a long time, and we appreciate your feedback and patience as we work these issues out.

/The DICE team

[Rahxephon91]

So if you can run BF3 pretty decently. Can you run BF4?

[Stoney Mason]

So if you can run BF3 pretty decently. Can you run BF4?

I was able to run BF 3 anywhere from 80 to 90. That was on the ultra settings.

I run Battlefield 4 anywhere from generally 60 to 70. That is on high settings.

There is a dip from bf3 but if you are running windows 8.1 I  think the dip is lessened. Also there is a 32 bit executable which may help out.

[fistfulofmetal]

So far I'm finding the maps to be much better designed over the base BF3 maps. Even the worst map I've seen (Operation Locker) isn't as bad as the worst of BF3.

[Stoney Mason]

So far I'm finding the maps to be much better designed over the base BF3 maps. Even the worst map I've seen (Operation Locker) isn't as bad as the worst of BF3.

Yeah. The easiest thing to say is the maps are leagues better than the vanilla maps in BF3 which were very standard, boring, and really simplistic.

[Stoney Mason]

My early impressions. Posted them on my clan forum.

Finally was able to put in some real time with the game today. I really enjoy it. For me it comes down to a few things.

First off the maps are such much better, well designed, and interesting compared to BF 3. There are many aspects to this of course but I feel like it will take me a longer time to really digest them and learn how to play them properly which is a good thing.

Second, for me being able to use some fairly decent flexible weapons with each class means I will actually be likely to play all the classes based on the situation. In BF 3 everything was assault/engineer for me 90% of the time because nothing else really made much sense except for the odd situation.

And finally for me, the removal of the suppression. I know lag and other issues are effecting things at times at the moment but for me suppression in 3 was an omnipresent bad variable that effected nearly every single gun fight in the game. For me personally most of my fights have been going the way I expect more than they did in BF 3 simply because suppression has been lessened so much.

If I was to pick on something that could be improved I would say the commander mode. The game should make a bigger deal about the commander mode when its happening. It should tell me when the commander does something or orders something via on screen notifications and audio. It should be a much more informational and directional thing as I envision that player as the coach of the team. As it currently happens, I often don't even realize a commander is in the game unless I happen to notice a random care package drop on the map.

[Stoney Mason]

(Image removed from quote.)

[Stoney Mason]

Nice little tip. Got me some extra frames.

[drew]

I'm getting crazy amount of battlepack drops that I didn't earn...so far I got like 10 gold ones for reaching level 10 and a bunch of other bronze and weapon packs that seem to be circulating but with new shit in them each time.  not everything is sticking though, the only thing that seems to register reliably is the XP boosts, I have somewhere around 20 of them stacked up!

[Rahxephon91]

Well I assume the single player is pretty indicative of how the game runs in general and well I can run it pretty well on medium settings. Fine by me and the game looks pretty good either way. I'll be picking this up on pc some time soon.

[fistfulofmetal]

Well I assume the single player is pretty indicative of how the game runs in general and well I can run it pretty well on medium settings.

Nah. Single player is more demanding than multiplayer.

[Trent Dole]

So they released a game that doesn't actually work. GG guys.

[fistfulofmetal]

So I played some more of the single player. The boat level (level 3) is actually surprisingly competent. Pretty interesting set piece.

[drew]

what are your favorite maps?  mine has to be locker and hainan resort

resort because I can lock the place down in Domination pretty well, locker is also a great tier dom map, should be a good place to boost pistols, want dat cz 75

[Rahxephon91]

The single player is actually not that bad.

[Stoney Mason]

This is gonna sound like hyperbole but man when you play Paracel Storm and the weather changes. I think its the first time weather has ever actually worked and been impressive in a videogame. I mean every other videogame I've ever played, when it rains, or it snows, or it does whatever they have it do, you kind of appreciate it on a, hey look they are trying kind of way. But it never really actually evokes what that weather really feels like. It's just graphical tricks.

But something about the way they model the light, and the wind, and the rain and the sound. It's maybe the most impressive thing in the game to me. More impressive than a building falling down, or other stuff like that. Just the weather change on that map blows me every time.

[drew]

Just the weather change on that map blows me every time.

heh

[Stoney Mason]

Was playing the SP at a friend's on a tricked out rig; game is dope. I don't know why people hate on it so much.

Because its shit. Horrible Stupid AI. It's Boring compared to even the Bad Company single player games. Ultra dumb "serious" story.  Just saying.

[drew]

Broke down and bought this today on 360 since I anticipate getting an Xbox One. Add me: Wynona Forever. Let's pwn some noobs.

sent.

please don't decline because I'm me, nobody on my friends list is playing this

[thisismyusername]

Was playing the SP at a friend's on a tricked out rig; game is dope. I don't know why people hate on it so much.

Because its shit. Horrible Stupid AI. It's Boring compared to even the Bad Company single player games. Ultra dumb "serious" story.  Just saying.

Eh, saying it's "shit" is going a little too far. Yeah, the AI even on Hard is pretty dumb at times but it's a VAST improvement over the terrible campaign Battlefield 3 had.

[Stoney Mason]

They are both absolutely terrible imo. I would probably say it is better than the BF 3 campaign but that's not high praise. They both are wretched imo. But that's just me. At least this one is pretty in areas. Although even that's got two sides because they ramp up the lighting so much its actually hard to see the enemies sometimes since there are so many ultra bright light sources in your line of sight while you fight.

[thisismyusername]

I'd say I had more fun with Battlefield 4's campaign than most of the recent Call of Duty's I've played (MW2, MW3, Black Ops: Declassified) but that isn't exactly hard to beat.

[Stoney Mason]

I feel like the Battlefield campaigns are very boring imitations of COD campaigns. It's like they try to copy the bombast but none of it is very original or fun. I never get excited playing DICE campaigns. Where as COD campaigns are derivative as hell, but there are always at least a few missions in each of their campaigns that are blood pumping.

Then again its not like it matters. No one (in their right mind) buys Battlefield for campaigns.

[thisismyusername]

Well, I'd say I like the idea DICE had with the multiplayer score showing up for killing enemies/"squad assist kill" in the campaign and there is some moments where it feels like it's doing the multiplayer training.

Personally, it focuses Bad Company 1's sandbox down a little bit but also opens the campaign up in certain areas (like the outdoor areas) to where you can tackle them your way instead of funnels that BF3 had. Bad Company 2 had a mixture of the two but didn't feel "multiplayer training" enough for me that BF4 did.

But I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to Battlefield, so long as it isn't pissing me off overtly and isn't completely dumb in design I'm fine.

[fistfulofmetal]

I'm near the end of the SP and I literally have no idea what is going on. I don't understand who the enemy is, what their motivations are, why I'm where I am doing what I'm doing, I barely know who the people in my squad are, who I AM, why there is animosity between some characters... I could go on for awhile probably.

Nothing is explained properly. It's just a bunch of tropes thrown at the screen so we can get through all the scenarios they thought up. It's yet again an example of gameplay being thought up first and then a "story" being shoe-horned into the locations.

Irish is the worst damned character in the game. He's loud, annoying, and hypocritical. I don't understand why he says anything he's saying.

What happened to Hannah's flowing hair from the trailers? Where's the tresssssssfx at, yo?

[Stoney Mason]

Been playing multi. One early tip I would give is to work to unlock that ACE 23. That gun is a beast. Deadly accurate. Decent Rate of fire at 770.

[thisismyusername]

I'm near the end of the SP and I literally have no idea what is going on. I don't understand who the enemy is, what their motivations are, why I'm where I am doing what I'm doing, I barely know who the people in my squad are, who I AM, why there is animosity between some characters... I could go on for awhile probably.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tombstone/your squad initially goes to China to find out why Russia is working with China. Cue intro in Ocean/Fishing in Baku, commander of squad dies. Your battleship commander promotes you to commander. Commands you/squad to go to China to save a "VIP," and "his wife." Blah blah blah, sneak in. Fight Chinese with help of CIA agent you won't see again as VIP/Wife and him exit on helicopter toward Battleship.

China is pissed and says the US invaded or something (never really explained) EMP is hit. US Battleships in the Indian(?) Ocean are hit and crippled.

China goes to war with the US saying the US killed VIP. Tombstone/squad goes to a crippled Battleship to retrieve intel/HD from battleship before China can get it. Cue sad music as refugees from previous level (which says there's 300,000 on the ships but you only see like... 8 in the entire game) as you guys leave because Irish wants to save people flee China with ya'll, but anyway refugees are trapped and going to drown like some Marines trapped underwater as well. Some other CIA dude (or the same, forgetting) that is in charge of your squad for this level says leave them which pisses Irish off.

Blah blah blah, China attacking warships, never anything about back at home.

Blah blah, stuff to do. You are put in charge again and "Hanna"/VIP's "wife" joins squad to protect him, help you in China to bomb an airbase.

Go through Hurricane/Typhoon, whatever you call it. Very pretty, very much like a tropical storm. Bomb airbase. Get caught in blast, Chinese capture you PLOT TWIST Hannah is working with the Chinese. "Pac" is mysteriously gone, assumed dead.

Blah blah blah, prison. Blah blah blah, HEY BATTLEFIELD 3 REFERENCE WITH DIMA FROM THE SEINE/FRANCE ASSAULT IS BACK! Break out of prison with Dima to find Hannah who Irish is reasonably pissed at. Find out Hannah did it to... whatever... cover? I dunno, the reason is barely there and flimsy.


Escape with Hanna. The tram ya'll are riding down the mountain is powered down and shot down. Dima dies, thereby cutting BF3 character out. Ya'll three (Hannah, Irish, yourself) are in the mountain for days with barely anything to eat or drink. Somehow regroup with a group of marines and a potty-mouth that doesn't like others potty-mouthing her female commander after fighting through Russians to get to her, thereby proving the intel initial Tombstone squad fought for is correct (for whatever reason, never stated). Anyway, she's "asses-to-elbows" in "shit" going down with the Russians and losing the town that has been evacuated to them or whatever. Hannah and Irish (but mostly Hannah) volunteers Tombstone to blow the dam.

Fight through a damn. Get to an impossible jump in the escape from the breaking dam, which is set up to set you up for a set-piece instead of rushing away.

MIRACULOUSLY survive this. The broke dam has flooded the town down below (reference to the map "Flood Zone" in the vanilla maps? Maybe???) thereby killing/pushing back the Russians.

Commander Potty-mouth sends Hannah, Irish, and you by... forgetting the system... "Fulton?" It's like Metal Gear Solid with the balloons but not exactly Fulton I don't think? Anyway, balloon to airplane type of pick-up system.

Time passes. Irish slowly comes to terms with Hannah who is working with Chinese Intelligence for... who knows...?

Anyway, ya'll and a few Marines jump out of the ship in a HALO-type of jump before opening parachutes to land on the Tombstone squad battleship under assault by the Chinese.

Blah blah blah, PAC IS ALIVE and gains a potty mouth "after crawling through a thousand yards of literal shit/sewer with a hole in my stomach (WTF how the hell is that possible? Especially with how he looks fine otherwise and walking about like nothing happened), meet up with commander of Battleship again and find out VIP is "Jin Jie" or however the Chinese name is spelled. Part of the presidential election that China's badguy (that is never stated, IIRC?) said the US killed.

Anyway, you open a door after commander and Jin Jie argue over opening said door, Jin Jie talks Chinese (dunno how accurate it is, someone confirm?) and tells the Chinese troops he's alive and to stand down or whatever, and they do.

Anyway, Chinese battleship is baring down on Tombstone's/US battleship. Hannah VOLUNTEERS AGAIN (and Irish agrees) to send you three with C4 to the Chinese battleship to blow it/scuttle it.

[close]

Which leads to the ending:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hannah dies./"Good" end with her sacrificing herself for peace between China and US apparently
Irish dies./Meh.
"Pac" dies with the entire Battleship/US side./BAD END. You didn't choose Hannah/Irish and let the Chinese blow the US ship up.

[close]

Which leads to:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Really no change to the ending besides the Pac ending. "We lost one of Tombstone Squad, sir. Can't be found." (Due to Hannah/Irish cutting the rope to drop to the sea to set the C4 or whatever and then having you press the button) or "Everyone on the US ship has died including Pac. No survivors... well, that's a lie, there's these three/Tombstone.

"Bring them home, soldier."

[close]

Fin.

It's a hot mess of a story. But to be fair Battlefield 3's is kinda as bad.

[drew]

nvm

[Stoney Mason]

Irish is the worst damned character in the game. He's loud, annoying, and hypocritical. I don't understand why he says anything he's saying.

Absolute waste of a good actor. And yeah the writing for him is so bad I was amazed. None of the characters make a lick of sense.

[drew]

I remember thinking that I might have been stupid for not following bf3's plot, then when i started bf4 I'm in China, why am I in China? oh yeah it's fucking BF.

[fistfulofmetal]

Hainan Resort is god-tier.

[drew]

yeah for some reason those conquest servers were pretty buggy, been playing domination since launch and the only thing i ever ran into was spawning without a gun or no irons.

had fun though, that prison map was laid out perfectly.  i really need to get a mic

[Stoney Mason]

I've had four crashes today. This game sure is buggy on 360.

It's no better on PC at the moment. Crashes all the time.

[drew]

only have had 2 maybe 3 server crashes since launch :shrug

anyways just made this. hopefully it will instill the proper amount of terror in my enemy

[Rahxephon91]

I think the single player was almost good.

It's never going to be that open world "Far Cry" like FPS that it should be, but I think DICE is almost there. It's going to be a linear game, but the level design was far better in 4 then it was in 3. Some levels were bigger and more open then other ones like the 1st level. Still most levels had more then one corridor to walk down or were pretty open. Meaning they just didn't feel like a constant push forward a straight line like CoD games do.

Plus allowing you the option of whatever weapon you want was great and helped.

It's just that the ai is so shitty and boring that most of these elements don't mean anything. There's no real reason for me to use a sniper or try to flank because combat is pretty thoughtless.

So if they could just make the ai more interesting and expand on the level design we'd have something here.

The story would still suck though, but who cares? BF4's story is so bad it's like whoever wrote is has no idea how to bring people into one. It just basically all of a sudden starts without really identifying whats going on and so since it really never explains it nothing matters. Just dumping the situation on the player doesn't make them care about it. Hell we don't even see the "villain" of the game.

Also the subplot with you're squad members is so poorly written. Here's Irsh, he's loud and obnoxious. Yet we are supposed to care, because at sometimes he does "noble things", but his actual personality and character are never shown to have these traits. He's just you're average written video game soldier who you're supposed to like because the plot makes him do good things. Throw in Hanna who we are supposed to care about for whatever reason. She betrays you btw and the game realistically does not deal with this. It never really tells you why, it just expects you as someone who knows how these things work to know that "oh she did it so she could help you out" later. What? How does that even work and why would the Chinese trust her anyway, did they not notice her shooting at them? By the way Irish dislikes this and hates her until she tells him her sad backstory. Now they are ok and best friends, like that! Because the plot told them to, not because the characters developed into that relationship.

This wouldn't matter, but the game really wants you to care. The story really takes itself serious, there's no sense of irony here or over the toopness. CoD is stupid, but Ghost is about badass soldiers who are awesome and wear ghost masks. The villain is a bandanna wearing ex-Ghost who reminds me of the "villain" of Platoon. There's a since of 80s action movies to it that makes it almost entertaining. BF4 has none of that and thinks the characters and plot or so worthwhile they think they should place the whole ending on them and how you feel about them.

[drew]

damn iphone

[drew]

farcry esque BF SP would be badass. imagine playing as Marine recon in an FOB as your mission hub, going out to operate in operations against Al Nusra in Syria, hop on over to Iraq as a Ranger doing smash and grab/kill missions alongside the ISOF, do a flashback mission again as Marine Force Recon/ SEAL snipers taking the city of Fallujah...

[Stoney Mason]

This wouldn't matter, but the game really wants you to care. The story really takes itself serious, there's no sense of irony here or over the toopness. CoD is stupid, but Ghost is about badass soldiers who are awesome and wear ghost masks. The villain is a bandanna wearing ex-Ghost who reminds me of the "villain" of Platoon. There's a since of 80s action movies to it that makes it almost entertaining. BF4 has none of that and thinks the characters and plot or so worthwhile they think they should place the whole ending on them and how you feel about them.

This is why they will never topple COD campaign wise with their current approach. COD knows its a high scale GI JOE cartoon episode. And that influences the design.  EA thinks we actually care about these gritty soldier stories or something like its a wanna be saving private ryan. And it never works in MOH or BF.

[drew]

in case you guys haven't heard of the ISOF, they're worth looking into.  They're fucking badass and have a hell of a reputation.  They're the biggest proof of concept for the way Green Berets train up indigenous people.

http://www.thenation.com/article/iraqs-new-death-squad

[Brehvolution]

After having spent a few hours with the multiplayer..........it's a mixed bag. I forget just how many times I'd sneak around 2 people and start emptying a clip into one of them just to have the other turn around and kill me before the other guy is dead. Or start shooting a guy in the back just for him to turn around and kill me.
But the game is gorgeous and still fun to play. Respawns could be shorter.

[drew]

emptying a clip

 

[Brehvolution]

emptying a clip

 

I've gotten quite a few kills switching to the pistol when I'm out of ammo to finish some battles.

[drew]

like nails on a chalkboard. every single time.

[thisismyusername]

Drew is being obnoxious pretending he is a weapons expert.

To be fair, he could be using the MP-412 Rex which does use clips (moon-clips) this outing. Or at least speed-loading clips. Could be what he meant, but yeah: Drew just being obnoxious. :p

[Stoney Mason]

PC patch tomorrow.

PC Game Update Goes Live Nov 14 We are happy to report that the PC Battlefield 4 game update will go live tomorrow, November 14. The main focus of this update is threefold:
1) Reduce the number of crashes We believe this update will solve a large portion of the most commonly occuring game crashes, and the improvement in overall stability should make a big difference for many players.
2) Eliminate a network sync bug If you’ve been experiencing situations in multiplayer where it appears that you are taking damage from enemies through walls, you might have been the victim of a network sync bug. In this game update, we have identified and eliminated one such bug that caused this type of gameplay experience. We are continuing to work on more multiplayer optimizations concerning network performance.
3) Improve Network Smoothing We have made some improvements to the ”Network Smoothing” functionality that you can find in the OPTIONS>GAMEPLAY menu. The Network Smoothing slider governs a group of settings that aim to produce a tighter multiplayer experience based on your specific packet loss situation.
If you’ve been experimenting with the Network Smoothing slider earlier, it might now yield better results. If you haven’t tried it before, please explore this setting and set it to the lowest value you can without experiencing graphical glitches in the game. By setting it lower, you can get a tighter multiplayer experience, depending on your specific network situation.
More details upcoming Besides the above mentioned focus areas, this PC game update contains a number of other fixes and tweaks that we will detail once it’s live.
This game update for PC goes live around 10AM UTC/2AM PST November 14. Your Origin Client should acknowledge and automatically download this update for you, as usual. Otherwise, you can right click your game in the client and select ”Check for Update”. There will be a Battlelog maintenance downtime for about an hour as this update goes live. During this time multiplayer on PC will be unavailable.
We will release full patch notes for this game update later, but the three items mentioned above are by far the most important changes in this update. We understand that stability has been rocky for some players, and hope that this update will make the game run smoother and more stable for you. Let us know in the comments below.

In a way I think DICE/EA have been very lucky because so much attention has been focused on the new consoles and the disappointment that is COD Ghosts, that the gaming media hasn't really noticed that Battlefield 4 shipped completely broken just to hit a ship date.

[drew]

as soon as you see someone you should spot them, not only for your squad/team but for you to track your target.

weapon damage is bad on some guns yeah, was having trouble with engineer until I unlocked the p2000, JS2 is also a killing machine in controlled bursts.  was also having trouble with assault until I unlocked the m416 w/ reflex.  don't have experience with DMR's or other classes yet but I'm sure some of the later DMR's are great, as I've been quickly killed by them in multi, and the MK11 MOD0 is great in campaign...

agree on Bad Company 2 being the best BF, it has a certain je ne sais quoi that makes it great, even the menu layout is better than BF3/4, looking at your medals was easier, I remember it having a sharpness and color saturation to the graphics as well that the newer BF's don't have, at least on 360 of course.

[Brehvolution]

Iron sites are trash in this game. More often then not, the iron site is bigger than the target and you lose sight of what you are pointing at.

[Stoney Mason]

Game got a client patch and a server patch today. People are reporting mixed results. I'll try it when I get home tonight.



Here is me playing a game last night with some clan friends. I was dumb and accidentally muted my voice though so while my friends could hear what I was saying, you can't hear me in the video. It was a nice comeback and a decent game for me especially considering I'm a fairly average to slightly below average PC player. I'll post another once I get the Xbox One next week just to see a comparison on how it handles twitch.

Also, weapon damage is terrible. I'm using the first DM gun and 4 shots semi auto don't kill someone. What's the point of it then? I'm having fun on the big maps (what I didn't like about BF 3 was the small conquest maps) but I still think Bad Company 2 was the best in the series.

If you're talking about DMR's yeah most people are saying they are under-powered. It takes 3 shots at medium range and 4 at long range to kill with them. The really good ones like the 417 killed in two shots in BF 3. I hate getting killed by DMR's and don't use them so I'm happy about that situation though. 

As far as BC 2 I think that was a really fun game in its time but it was pretty broken in some aspects so its not my favorite. The sniping was insanely easy so it was overpowered. Snipers also had mortar strikes so they could rain in damage from distance without being a useful team member. Rush was bad because a lot of MCOM crates were in buildings so you could just take down the building (from distance with mortars) and destroy the MCOM. Choppers were rape machine because there were no lock on anti-air weapons. It was a really fun game and landmark game because it introduced the destruction stuff but if you try to play it now, its very frustrating.

Iron sites are trash in this game. More often then not, the iron site is bigger than the target and you lose sight of what you are pointing at.

Unless its like a shotgun you really don't use guns in BF without an optical attachment. The first one fortunately only takes about 10 kills on each gun but yeah the default iron sights on most guns are unusable.

[Stoney Mason]

I think the you have different groups in the battlefield community nowadays. It's reflected in my clan. And even me in what modes people want to play.

There are some people who love the wide open nature of the rolling field aspects of older battlefields with lots of vehicles roaming around. Conquest suits this style very much.


But you have a newer breed that either came over from COD or who started playing battlefield when they improved the gun mechanics in BF 3. They prefer more infantry combat style with modes like Rush/Domination and maps like Metro/Locker/Grand Bazaar.  I think Battlefield has to appeal to both crowds to be successful nowadays.

[thisismyusername]

Unless its like a shotgun you really don't use guns in BF without an optical attachment. The first one fortunately only takes about 10 kills on each gun but yeah the default iron sights on most guns are unusable.

I use the iron-sights only and do just fine? 

I will admit that the iron sights are a bit fucked this outing. The FN P90's, for instance, zoomed in blur effect that screws with it's iron sights. Not too bad if you're so used to using iron sights for it in Call of Duty or Battlefield 3 for hours, but it's a notice-able "WTF DICE?" change.

As for Rush/Conquest: My major issue with Conquest is the lack of more flags. This is apparent in console BF titles that aren't BC1 or 1943 because they have 3-4 flags MAX on the maps to where if you own 2 or 3 of the flags you basically win. No reason to move around, double so when the maps are "straight lines" for the flag placement.

PC kinda fixes this by adding a few more (1-2 flags) to the maps as "Conquest Large" now a days but it doesn't hit the "Conquest" highs of BC1 or earlier titles.

So, I prefer Rush. It's where I started (BC1) and enjoy having to break enemy lines to get in. My problem with Rush now a days is more map design/balance issues than the mode itself. The only people that hate Rush seem to be the old-old-old school fans that think anything but Conquest is a waste of time. :/

Man, the reticule on the ACOG bothers me too.


This is how an ACOG sight works:

(Image removed from quote.)

Those little lines represent the width of a human body, so if a human body is the width of the line that says 6, it's 600 meters away and that's where the corresponding bullet drop is and where you should aim.

The bullet hardly drops in BF4 though, so even if a person is the width of the line at 6 he's no where near 600 meters away and the bullet drop is barely under the tip of the red carrot.

To be fair, the ACOG in other FPS titles is just as loopy.

[Rufus]

I bet ARMA gets it right.

Nice to see this explained.

[Stoney Mason]

I use the iron-sights only and do just fine? 

I will admit that the iron sights are a bit fucked this outing. The FN P90's, for instance, zoomed in blur effect that screws with it's iron sights. Not too bad if you're so used to using iron sights for it in Call of Duty or Battlefield 3 for hours, but it's a notice-able "WTF DICE?" change.

As for Rush/Conquest: My major issue with Conquest is the lack of more flags. This is apparent in console BF titles that aren't BC1 or 1943 because they have 3-4 flags MAX on the maps to where if you own 2 or 3 of the flags you basically win. No reason to move around, double so when the maps are "straight lines" for the flag placement.

PC kinda fixes this by adding a few more (1-2 flags) to the maps as "Conquest Large" now a days but it doesn't hit the "Conquest" highs of BC1 or earlier titles.

So, I prefer Rush. It's where I started (BC1) and enjoy having to break enemy lines to get in. My problem with Rush now a days is more map design/balance issues than the mode itself. The only people that hate Rush seem to be the old-old-old school fans that think anything but Conquest is a waste of time. :/

However well you are doing with the iron sights, I guarantee you would be even doing better with a coyote sight or whatever optical sight you find to your liking. Unless you essentially only hip fire ever with a laser sight or only do up close battles, you will play better at medium distance range or longer with any optical sight that gives you a decent view on target without it being covered up.

As far as Conquest/Rush, Conquest imo only really works on the smallish maps on the current gen console versions. Maps like Caspian Border on console were pointless. You could go an entire round and find one or two fights. Rush was much better on consoles in BF 3. I didn't like Rush so much in Bad Company 2 because there were so many exploits and ways to be cheap about it but I kind of fell in love with it in bf 3.

In BF 4 they need to do some rebalancing on rush. If you have two evenly matched teams the defenders have a huge advantage where as in BF 3 I felt you could more easily overcome the defenders since inherently the defenders already have a built in advantage by just being able to play defense. But its tipped a little to far in favor of the defense in 4.   

[Stoney Mason]

I'd like to try it but my ipad is jailbroken and running an earlier version of the os so I can't.

 

[DCharlieJP]

I got this for my next gen machine* - sure is a looker

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Alienware laptop - 780M - i assume that's going to look better than X1/P4 - seems to be doing fine with most things rammed up and at 1080P

[close]

[thisismyusername]

However well you are doing with the iron sights, I guarantee you would be even doing better with a coyote sight or whatever optical sight you find to your liking. Unless you essentially only hip fire ever with a laser sight or only do up close battles, you will play better at medium distance range or longer with any optical sight that gives you a decent view on target without it being covered up.

You can "guarantee" me all you want, but I do fine at all ranges. 2x/4x/6x scopes on guns or ACOGS or red-dots just screw with my aim too much to where I use iron-sights forever on the guns. The only time I don't use iron sights is if the iron-sights are just plain bad/rendred. The FAMAS and A-91 in Battlefield 3, are two examples where I'll use a T bar sight instead of iron-sights because those two's iron-sights are rendered badly.

Otherwise I have no issues with ranges. So again: 

[Stoney Mason]

Play how you want dude. I don't really care. You are the one who initially responded to me so I responded back. And any actual competitive player will tell you exactly what I told you. But play however you want. No skin off my nose.

[Mupepe]

Oh shit. Just got this for the 360. I'll be fucking you guys up soon enough.

[Stoney Mason]

but since you can't be commander and playing at the same time, that's impossible.

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about like in Battlefield 2 where you were also a solider or something? You're kinda supposed to be like the coach and see the wide overview of what is going on.

[Stoney Mason]

I kinda like it being a separate thing. It was weird in battlefield 2. You would just go prone in some random area of the map and it was like being down a guy. I like the idea of him being a general in HQ somewhere who is more worried about the larger picture.

The problem more for me is that you have to really commit to the commander being a real powerful force and having actual useful, potentially game changing abilities. And I think DICE were scared to do that and hand over  real power to a potential random idiot on either side. Currently the commander is almost irrelevant to the outcome of a match. Both partially by design which is hampering and also by the fact that they don't integrate/communicate into the game very well when the commander is doing stuff or ordering stuff. I've played games where I didn't even realize we had a commander on our side until it was nearly over. You have to make a bigger deal when the commander orders something and really display it to the players via graphics and audio and reward them for accomplishing it.

[tehjaybo]

Played a couple of hours of single player on this tonight since I haven't been able to get my PS4 on the net yet.  Lots of smaller graphics glitches, and then a full on game crash.  Didn't start back up.  I was really enjoying the game, not looking forward to restarting it once I get my profile on here, though.