Battlefield 3

[KMRblue1027]

While I'm looking forward to jets I can't help but already be annoyed by them. Mostly due to players who think they can fly one only to instantly crash, players that use them as personal transports, and so forth.

This was a huge problem in 1943 at least on the 360. I hope the trend doesn't continue.

It is stylized and sounds very awesome. Like the crackle of radio comms. I just hope jets are on the console version.

Jets are already confirmed on consoles. The flight zone will be the full 64 player map too.

 

[Esckey]

This was a huge problem in 1943 at least on the 360. I hope the trend doesn't continue.

Well the trend carried on to Bad Company 2 so I'm pretty sure this sorta thing will still happen in Battlefield 3

 

[KMRblue1027]

Well the trend carried on to Bad Company 2 so I'm pretty sure this sorta thing will still happen in Battlefield 3

I mostly avoided the maps with helicopters so I didn't really notice.

 

[Maniacal]

Hell its still a problem in Project Reality for BF2 and the server admins are more than happy to ban people who waste assets (although I've also seen them reverse the bans if it really was an accident). Of course though, this could easily be solved by not making them so bloody reliant and sensitive on mouse movements.

 

[MoonFlare]

Commo rose will return in BF3.
http://bf3blog.com/2011/08/commo-rose-confirmed-for-battlefield-3/

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Of course though, this could easily be solved by not making them so bloody reliant and sensitive on mouse movements.

Amen. Aircraft in Battlefield I have always abhorred, except in BF1942 Battle of Britain since that's the whole bloody focus; although I actually managed to land a plane once!

 

[Maniacal]

I actually managed to fly a jet in Project Reality on my first try. Except I went too far into the border :/

I also flew a chinook on my first try too (before I had any idea how to fly them), but that was before I lowered my mouse sensitivity way the hell down as a small movement sent me barrel rolling into the ground.

 

[Esckey]

I've never been able to fly in the series, Maybe it's different for PC, but on XBox flying is very counter intuitive in the battlefield games. I won't be looking forward to any map that is primarily air combat, which is sad cause I love flight simulators.

 

[cardgame]

I can fly any BF:V vehicle excellently. How? Don't use the stupid mouse. WASD is where it's at...

 

[Luckymoose]

I've never understood players on the Xbox who can't fly helicopters. It is very easy to do amazingly.

 

[Maniacal]

Caspian Border map shown in the trailer compared to the BC2 map Harvest Day (overlayed in green/colour). Caspian Border is much bigger

Spoiler :

 

[MoonFlare]

Now that is funny. For the love of God! EA are the dumbest morons ever. And they control some of the best games in the world.
http://bf3blog.com/2011/08/battlefield-3-pc-version-wont-have-in-game-server-browser/

 

[Maniacal]

I really don't understand the point of battlelog or why they didn't just put it in the game. Having to run a browser to run a AAA game is absolutely ********.

 

[MoonFlare]

They want to force gamers into using battlelog. It's a rival to CoD:elite. They just want statistics(100000 people used battlelog today! We succeeded! Suck it, CoD!)

 

[cardgame]

but why? It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Maniacal]

They want to force gamers into using battlelog. It's a rival to CoD:elite. They just want statistics(100000 people used battlelog today! We succeeded! Suck it, CoD!)

They already have websites for player statistics for the other Battlefield games, and they could have just implemented this in-game (which would make, I dunno, sense?). EDIT: Apparently during the alpha launching the game from Battlelog was very quick (10-20 seconds, so the same or less than most games take anyway) and the server browser is apparently the best yet in the series (which isn't hard)

EDIT:

"So, a soldier in direct Line of Sight that is spotted will have a 3d red marker. If he moves behind cover or concealment, including vegetation, the 3d red marker will disappear. He will always be on the minimap. Vehicles are always fully 3D spotted, and LOS does not apply since they are larger more important targets with less threats (and it plain did not work to have jets flying around who couldn't see the tank you spotted for him to take out).

This lets you essentially "nudge" your buddy to tell him about a target, or point out a sniper on a hill you see but cannot engage (with your shotgun for example). But it prevents players from using 3D spotting as a wall hack.

Additionally, the primary motivator for the change is that 3D spots that you cannot see are not threats. We noticed that players would focus on 3D spots over everything else, meaning they would ignore people in line of sight. It's far less confusing when the 3D spot on a soldier can only be seen if you can see the soldier."

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3/1417680-3d-spotting-alive-well-4.html#post19710950

 

[KMRblue1027]

So they brought 2d spotting back for people behind the wall and 3d for people in the open? Makes sense I guess although I will miss the stupidly OP 3d spotting of BC2. Any info about smokescreens hiding your spot marker?

 

[Luckymoose]

So they brought 2d spotting back for people behind the wall and 3d for people in the open? Makes sense I guess although I will miss the stupidly OP 3d spotting of BC2. Any info about smokescreens hiding your spot marker?

The largest pain the ass for playing Softcore is the 3D spotting that literally takes all challenge out of the game and makes hiding impossible. But from the videos of BF3 it doesn't seem like they removed it, unless this is a very new development. The alpha still had fairly OP 3D spotting for little wimpy girls.

 

[Maniacal]

Dammit EA/DICE. They're doing the same stupid crap with servers for BF3 as they did with BC2. Hell even MW3 will let people host their own servers >_< Now I'm looking forward even more to Red Orchestra 2 (which also has mod support, unlike BF3).

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3-pc/1419188-first-look-bf3-pc-game-servers.html

RSPs

The game server machines themselves will be run by a number of Ranked Server Provider (RSP) companies. We do not allow other companies to run game servers, or for other people to run game servers from home.
We try to strike a balance where there are game servers available across the globe, while still keeping the number of RSPs at a level where we can offer reasonable support to each individual company. Since we prefer to work with larger hosting companies, and we focus on countries where we have a larger player base, there will not be game servers available in every country on the planet.
The list of RSPs which will run BF3 game servers at launch is not ready yet. Once it is, we will publilalalala widely.

tl;dr can't host your own servers, have to rent them from a company chosen by EA, screwed if you live in a country without a "large playerbase".

Server administrators

While the RSPs run the physical machines, most if not all will be paid for and administered by the players themselves &#8211; individuals, groups of friends, or clans.
A server administrator control some aspects of the play experience &#8211; which maps are being played, which people are allowed onto the server, and can also affect the play style through various direct and indirect controls. Generally speaking, servers that are administered by reasonable admins attract players, while servers which have arbitrary rules imposed see less traffic.

tl;dr some control for admins, but not total

Ranked vs Unranked

One of the biggest choices which a server administrator has to make is, whether to run the server in Ranked or Unranked mode.
In Ranked mode, player progression is tracked on EAs master servers. Weapons are unlocked by playing the game. Player progression is also visible on Battlelog. The server administrators will have to abide by the Battlefield Rules of Engagement.
In Unranked mode, player progression is not tracked on the master servers. Server administrators have free reign on such servers &#8211; no Battlefield Rules of Engagement to heed. They can control in detail which weapons are available to the players, etc. This mode is suited to playing clan matches, tournaments, or to those players who just like the fairness of everyone having the same range of weapons available to them.

tl;dr Ranked servers have to obey certain rules, unranked don't but still can't be modded so are only useful to clans and torunaments

PunkBuster

BF3 will use PunkBuster as its anti-cheat system. Game servers that run in ranked mode are required to have PunkBuster active.
There have been problems with the PunkBuster screenshot mechanism under DirectX 10/11 in the past. However, we have collaborated with EvenBalance to make screenshots function reliably with DX10/DX11 in BF3.


Third party anti-cheat organizations

There are several community initiatives against cheating. These initiatives are usually volunteer organizations that maintain their own databases with cheaters. They do both manual work - reviewing screenshots, game recordings, and other cheating evidence &#8211; and also implement automated systems.
It is up to each individual server administrator whether to join with one or more of these organizations.

While not officially partnering with these organizations, we try to ensure that BF3 works well with their systems in time for the launch.
The biggest three organizations that support Battlefield games are PBBans (PBBans | Always Quality over Quantity), GGC-Stream (GGC-Stream / News) and PunksBusted (PunksBusted.com Sponsored by Ventrilo). There are also several smaller organizations around.


Server administration interface

BF3 will support a Remote Administration interface similar to that of BFBC2. The basic protocol will be the same, but commands differing a bit.
There is a plethora of tools available that can talk to the remote admin interface. We are in contact with several of the developers who created tools for BFBC2, and will aid them in adding support for BF3. If you have developed a BFBC2 remote admin tool which is popular (used on >100 game servers), send me a PM.
The protocol itself is still under constant revision. Expect the protocol to be published by the time that the retail game is released.

 

[Kozmos]

Well that means I'm screwed since I live in a smallish country and Origin looks even worse than steam so I'll probably passing on this : /