Blog Archives
BF3: 3 Patch Reviews For You
In our first patch overview Luetin (playing on PC) alludes to possible problems with ground to air missiles but his overall impression is positive.
In our next overview 1WINDSHEAR (playing on PS3) gives us a fairly detailed impression of the patch.
And in our last overview rivaL xfactor (playing on PC) discusses his new 3 favorite assault weapons and attachments.
CLARIFICATION ON WHY THE PURCHASABLE UNLOCKS BOTHER ME
First, you need to understand that my allergies are kicking the living crap out of me this year. This is the worst it has been for me in years. I’m taking an allergy pill about every 8 hours, I’m drinking pots of coffee to hold back my asthma because some genius took Primatine Mist inhalers off the market. My brain is in a constant fog and I’m depressed, edgy and far too easily irritated. None of this is an excuse, please understand I am one grouchy fuck and I understand that’s nobodies fault. The only thing that is lifting my spirits right now is the positive feedback my Funky Little Demons story is getting.
That being said, I kind of blew up the other day when EA announced they will be selling unlocks for the game. I concede that it’s not a really big deal and with a little persistence and time you could still work at getting the vehicle unlocks. However, I do need to succinctly state my case so people don’t think I’m totally crazy.
First and foremost, I was unaware of this practice before I purchased the game. Yes, I understand now they had done this in previous iterations, but BF3 is my introduction to the series. I would have put more thought into the purchase had I known about it. I have a fixed and planned gaming budget, if the game boils down to the guy with the most money has the advantage, my broke ass is going to loose. I tend to avoid games like that.
Vehicles are very powerful items to control in BF3 and there is a huge difference between a jet with just flares and a jet with flares, radar and heat seekers. Skill is involved as well but I am an unexceptional gamer at best. My only hope to level up my air vehicles is if I go up against other unexceptional gamers. Now those guys can buy themselves the improvements I struggle with achieving legitimately. I’m not jealous. I’m not envious. If you have money to throw away like that, God bless you. However, I feel I am at a severe disadvantage now because of this.
It also does not seem fair to me that, should I choose to waste money and purchase the unlocks, that I, with a little more than half of the ground vehicle’s accessories unlocked, should pay the same as a new player who has nothing unlocked.
My final point on why this irks me so is because of where this leads. Square Enix is charging people for the ending to their latest FF installment. The writing is on the wall. Today they charge you for vehicle unlocks, tomorrow they charge you for ammunition every time you log in to play.
BF3: Patch out for PS3, DICE & EA Charging For Vehicle Unlocks…
Big Battlefield 3 PS3 day: Game update, Rent a Server functionality, and shortcut items now live!
Pricing for renting your own server is $1.49 / $6.99 / $24.99 / $64.99 (for 1, 7, 30, and 90 days).
Today, we are also offering 10 different shortcut items for sale for Battlefield 3 on PS3. If you’re new to the game, this is the perfect way to gain some ground on the veterans online. Or if you’d love to get some more air time in the jets but want to equip those AA missiles straight away, this is for you.
The 10 shortcut items are available now from the PlayStation Store and the in-game store and include these:
Kit Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items unique to the four playable classes
Vehicle Shortcut Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items for all vehicles
The Ultimate Bundle: Immediately unlocks all items from all other available shortcut packs
That’s right. EA is letting people pay money to unlock the gadgets on vehicles and weapons that the rest of us have worked hard to unlock.
Oh, stop your whinging b33m3R, you say. Yeah, FUCK YOU!
I have no problem with EA charging for silly Dog Tags and other virtual items that HAVE NO, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA AFFECT ON THE MULTIPLAYER GAME. Hell, I’m even willing to rent a server for a month.
But when you allow people to pay to unlock things that have an AFFECT on gameplay then it gives those people an UNFAIR advantage in a MP game in which every one should be on an even keel, more or less.
Honestly, I couldn’t give a rats arse about the weapon unlocks (but that’s bullshit too.) There is a HUGE, HUGE difference between a Jet with no unlocks and a Jet with all the unlocks available. A HUGE DIFFERENCE. Now anyone who legitimately wants to work at and learn to fly a jet in the game is literally at the mercy of a bunch of idiots with far too much disposable income. It took me ages to unlock flares for the jets, I still can’t kill anything with it but at least I can stay in the air longer to learn the controls better. One step at a time, I thought. Now it’s pointless for me to even bother. Why waste my time when some spoiled git with too much disposable income can send a bunch of missiles up my arse? I paid what everyone else paid for this MP game. We should all be on an even keel without having to spend extra.
For weeks I’ve been praising DICE and EA for working hard on the patch to BALANCE the game and then marketing comes along and makes the decision to UNBALANCE it. What did Bill Hicks say about marketing people again?
Seriously, kill yourself, you have no rationalization for what you do, you are Satan’s little helpers. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show. Seriously, I know the marketing people: ‘There’s gonna be a joke comin’ up.’ There’s no fuckin’ joke. Suck a tail pipe, hang yourself…borrow a pistol from an NRA buddy, do something…rid the world of your evil fuckin’ presence. ~ Bill Hicks
I never played NHL 10 online for this very reason. People could pay to unlock items that gave their digitized athletes an unfair advantage over everyone else. It’s the reason I have not purchased another EA NHL title since 2010.
All multiplayer should be on an even keel from the get go. Everyone who pays $60 for a multiplayer game should go into the MP experience on exactly the same level. No one should be given the opportunity to pay an extra $10-20 to get an advantage over everyone else. It’s a rich get richer scenario like killstreaks in Call of Duty, a NO-WIN situation for people that have to be more budget conscious with their entertainment funds. I don’t play no-win situations.
This has me very, VERY upset. I’ve been looking forward and anticipating the patch for weeks now and EA goes and does this. I feel like I’ve wasted my money. If I had known EA was planning to do this, to charge people for unlocks that have an affect on multiplayer gameplay, I would have never bought the game. I would have bought Skyrim.
As it stands right now, the mere thought of playing BF3 sickens me. And this royally sucks because I was really enjoying this game.
FUCK YOU DICE & EA
FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU.
Today they charge you for vehicle unlocks, tomorrow they charge you for the bullets. You can quote me on that.
BF3: Patch in CERTIFICATION
VIA GAMEINFORMER;
But even before the first map pack releases in June, DICE has several other Battlefield 3 enhancements nearly ready for deployment. Executive producer Patrick Bach says a huge patch featuring several requested tweaks is going through certification right now with Microsoft and Sony, and the studio plans to roll out a server rental program in the coming months.
So, if everything goes well. One week if we are really lucky. Two to three weeks if not. Regardless, this is good news.
Battlefield 3: Close Quarters Gameplay Premiere Trailer
Yeah, looks cool but I will not be getting this if it’s only Team Death Match. I don’t play TDM enough to justify me buying 4 maps for that game mode. In fact, I don’t play TDM at all. There better be some good stuff in the patch, else I’m going to be a wee bit disappointed.
On a side note I don’t think DICE needs to market the game to the CoD kiddies any more. We have enough of them already. Every game is now a T-bag fest. Seriously, assholes, grow the f— up.
The sad part is it’s not prepubescent teens doing this, it’s emotionally and socially stunted jackasses in their 20′s for the most part. The people from my generation should have used more contraception. You’ve all raised some real pillars of society there.
Now matter how far a jackass travels, it won’t come back a horse. ~ Batou, Ghost in The Shell
BF3: Some good news regarding the patch.
DICE has tickled my coin purse yet again this week!
MP1st is reporting that DICE is indeed aware that dropping an update in the same month as the DLC is “crazy.”
EA Community Manager Daniel Matros said he was unable give an exact date for the patch but he assures us the “game update will drop before the DLC.” He also mentioned the update should be released “very much closer to now” and hinted we may get a tentative date the end of next week.
Alan Kertz took the time to explain why DICE chooses to release big, spaced-out patches over smaller, more consistent ones, saying it’s “not possible due to the overhead of the patch process and the interdependency of patch fixes.”
That, to me, is a reasonable excuse. Kudos, DICE, kudos.
BF3: DLC NEWS & PRIVATE SERVERS CONFIRMED
Still going after that CoD money eh, EA?”
Not 1, not 2, but 3, YES THREE, DLC expansion packs were announced today at GDC.
These aren’t just map packs. They are EXPANSION PACKS. That means new weapons, new assignments and possibly new game modes as well. That’s pretty good. The first one to be released is called Battlefield 3: Close Quarters.
In Battlefield 3:Close Quarters, players are dropped into a frantic, infantry-only theater of war. Frostbite 2 high definition destruction makes the environment come alive as everything from furniture to plaster gets shot to pieces. Players will feel the intensity of the world exploding around them as rubble and broken pieces pile up on the floor, while tight level design and vertical gameplay create a highly competitive environment. Battlefield 3:Close Quarters also introduces new weapons, assignments and unique dog tags to bring back to the base game.
I don’t know about you but that entire description makes me think, “still going after that CoD money eh, EA?“
The second one to be released is called Battlefield 3: Armored Kill and will feature new vehicles and huge battlefields including “the biggest map in Battlefield history.” The third and final expansion is called Battlefield 3: End Game and will not ship till Winter and they aren’t talking much about it.
No patch till JUNE??? WTF?
AND NOW FOR SOME BAD NEWS
You didn’t think it was going to be all double plus good news did you? The release date for Close Quarters is June. So we almost definitely will not see a patch till then. This really sucks. I’m not being a Negative Nancy here. I’ve stated before you can’t effectively test any game balancing updates until they fall into the hands of the community that will inevitably find ways to manipulate them. We really need a patch sooner than June mostly because the next patch will be inherently flawed and will need patching itself.
AND NOW FOR SOME MORE GOOD NEWS
Thought I was going to leave you on that sad note did you? H, E, double hockey sticks NO! Overall this is all very good news for the loyal Battlefield 3 community. But what’s even sweeter news–and news I hope my friends over at PreGameLobby will be glad to hear–is that not only will consoles be getting private servers, they will be getting CUSTOMIZABLE PRIVATE SERVERS.
“All active players out there playing on consoles today will now have the opportunity to customize their servers and set them up exactly how they want them to play, now this is a feature that in Battlefield on PC we’ve had for some time, but it’s an absolute first on console. So, we’re pretty excited about this.” ~ Karl-Magnus Troedsson, CEO of Battlefield developer DICE
The gaming news sites are hinting there may be an additional cost for this. How much would you pay to eliminate frag rounds from your game?
The only thing that could tickle my coin purse more this week is if DICE put up more elaborate details regarding the Johnny-come-lately patch.
AND HERE’S A SCREENSHOT OF ONE OF THE NEW CQ MAPS
Thank you Battlefieldo TV! (for posting the initial video this screenshot is from.)
EDIT: I had a video here but In true corporate fascist fashion EA took the video down.
Yeah, f— you EA!
Looks a wee bit small wouldn’t you say? Basically the map looks like a well lit version of the office from the coop mission Hit and Run. Lots of glass and tight hallways. Some would call it a potential camp fest. I can see all the Recon douches glitching themselves halfway in the walls as they wait for you to round the corner. I’m not griping here, looking forward to the map pack, just letting you know what to expect!
BF3: Inside DICE is up and running.
Inside DICE has gone live on the US site.
In light of all the Negative Nancys that seem prevalent in the BF3 community I just want to take a moment and say that while I am a wee bit disappointed in the length of time we are expected to wait for a patch to balance the game I still feel BF3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played. The actions that DICE has taken over the past two weeks illustrate their unflinching and resolute commitment to the community and their game.
“Everywhere I go, there’s always an asshole.” ~ McCoy, Streets of Fire
After careful introspection of my grievances with BF3 I realize it is not the game I am upset with but a portion of the community, the griefers, the Tiamats of gaming. While I feel DICE and EA could be doing more to end their reign of terror, I understand the developer’s position.
Having said that, no amount of in house testing can weed out the inherent flaws of a game balancing patch or update. You can’t effectively test any game balancing updates until they fall into the hands of the community that will inevitably find ways to manipulate them to their advantage. And the only way to effectively combat griefers is to take away their tools of griefing. This can only be accomplished by frequent and sustained patching of the game.
At the end of the day it is the community that must take responsibility. When we come across someone using a blatant cheat or hack (like this guy or this guy) we must take the time to report them.
There is not much we can do against those that choose to take advantage of poorly thought out game mechanics (such as MAV riding and USAS frag rounds.) I choose to avoid people that overtly abuse these things. I give people the benefit of the doubt but if after 2 games your only weapon of choice is the USuckAtShooting with frag rounds, you’re going to end up on my avoid list for unsportsmanlike conduct. I simply have no desire to game with miscreants like this.
BF3: Still no DLC news but Inside DICE is up and running… In German!
Thanks to DundA over at BATTLEFIELDO for posting this in the comments…
It seems as though DICE is following through on their promise to have more open lines of communication with the BF3 community. Inside Dice has gone live on the official German Battlefield site.
One major disappointment DundA was able to glean from it is the patch won’t arrive till spring. Which means we may not get a patch till June. That sucks. That really, really sucks. They could at least release a smaller patch to fix the MAV and USAS.
At this rate I’m not too sure I would buy any DLC they release for this game right away. Might be better to wait a year and pick it up when it goes on sale. There would be a better chance of it being patched properly by then.
I don’t know how much I’m still going to like this game after 4 more months of USAS and MAV griefing. And if I put it down for that long I just may loose all interest in it. You know, I really need to start working out again! Looks like I have plenty of incentive now. EA better pray my addictive nature kicks back in at a later date.
And now, in the sense of openness: the next update for Battlefield 3 will be released for all platforms and will be a major update. It is now in progress for some time and the reason why it takes so long is that it includes so many things and bring new features with it is. This and of course the fact that updates are regulated at the consoles of the respective manufacturers, as well as some technical factors, cost of course time. I do not think this is bad. This is one of the reasons why we can not fix every little for a patch. You must also decide when it makes sense and enough new content is available to really send an update to the world. Of course it is, in extreme cases, always give back some exceptions, such as VOIP fix for the PS3. ~ Karl Magnus Troedsson, General Manager, DICE
There are supposed to be more announcements at the EA press conference at GDC next week (March 5-9th.)
What stands in the near future with me? I’m pretty excited and working on it, the final touches on an exciting presentation for the GDC to do in San Francisco. For all Battlefield fans give the GDC is great news about the future of Battlefield third… ~ Karl Magnus Troedsson, General Manager, DICE
Thank you Google Translate.
