1901

To be fair I only had three or four games on it last night, so perhaps I am being a touch premature in my assessment.

So far I am loving the game itself but really not too impressed with the friend and squad systems. The interface on those feels like a real step back from BC2 - I was in a party of three last night and we struggled to all get on the same team, let alone in the same squad. In BC2 getting in the same squad together took moments. Am I missing a trick or something?

1902

http://www.oxm.co.uk/35425/uk-charts-battlefield-3-week-one-sales-beat-all-17-previous-battlefields-combined/

BF3 sells a ton, twice than the MoH 2010 launch.

1903

Yeah, this is a real downside for me also. I’m not a hardcore player, and when I play (e.g. BF:BC2, my favorite) I enjoy going in with a couple of buddies and we create our own squad, voice chatting with each other, and the experience of playing with the friends is a major draw. Having to join, quit, try to join an empty squad, try to get my friend to somehow get out of where he was auto-assigned, get him into my squad, not have some 14 year old immature kid join in with us, etc. is a significant negative for us.

1904

Damn those kids playing our games! ;-)

1905

Heh. But I have had some games messed up when we have 3 or 4 adult friends in a squad and some obvious kid joins, and he acts in really immature ways in the game.

But yeah, I do wonder what the age distribution is at any given time in a game like BF3.

1906

I would hope it sold more than that stinker.

1907

The biggest problem on all the maps I have played is when Friendly Fire is disabled, as it allows people to just spam rockets and grenades. This is especially noticeable on Metro.

Regarding the tunnel, you have 2 main areas, where you can use vehicles, you also have the side tunnels that allow for an infantry approach. And lastly you have the chopper approach.

Unfortunately, these all fail when you have retards taking the vehicles or choppers and getting them immediately destroyed, or when you have a turret gunner who just fires blindly into the air instead of spotting and dealing with threats to the vehicle.

Basically; You need at least one other person with you, in a squad, on voice chat, that isn’t an idiot, and you can do some damage to the enemy team, instead of only to your own.

1908

Yeah, I only play on Hardcore servers now - its the only way to do it. I cant imagine playing with even MORE RPG spam…

1909

My map rankings:

I like the ones in the second tier a lot, the ones in the third tier I do not. The ones on top are pretty divine.

=Tier 1=
Caspian Border
Operation Firestorm
Siene Crossing

=Tier 2=
Noshahr Canals
Kharg Island
Damavand Peak

=Tier 3=
Tehran Highway
Grand Bazaar

=Fuck This=
Operation Metro

1910

I’m not a huge fan of Rush, but I played Seine Crossing on Rush for the first time last night and it really shines.

1911

After 10 hours of multiplayer, I think I really like it but my mind isn’t quite blown. I was more excited by BC2 at the time. That’s because I hadn’t seriously played a multiplayer shooter for years. It was a totally new experience. BF3 seems more like an evolution of that excitement level. It’s compelling but not a personal top ten favorite game or anything.

I appreciate Conquest a lot more in this game. Respawns are fast enough that you can identify a new front line, then run back and try to figure out how to flank it or take it out. And now that I’ve unlocked smoke, I think I enjoy Rush equally with Conquest.

1912

Someone point me to a Complete Newb’s guide to Battlefield 3 please. I have no idea what the hell I’m doing and why I get killed so often and easily. I think my KDR is around .01.

1913

There’s a short video for Bad Company 2 that might help. Do a YouTube search. I think it listed 8 things to do differently compared to a standard deathmatch game like Call of Duty.

Then like it was mentioned before, run behind someone that looks like they know what they’re doing. You’ll learn the maps and they usually get shot first.

1914

It’s good to stick to support roles at first. Jump in vehicles and hit F2 to go to a gunner seat, if you’re running up to a group of your own guys as Assault or Support hit 3 to throw your support pack at them. Always get your grenade out early. Hang back from the main fight and get rounds down range to suppress. Go support and camp/protect a flag with C4 and a good shooting nest.

The important thing in BF is to give yourself a little room to think. If you spawn and rush the front line then someone who is calmer and better than you is already lined up on the corner you’re going to go around and will burn you down every time.

1915

Pretty much everyone dies very quick.

If you have a hard time, maybe you can do this: from the join screen, try to see if the teammate you are using to spawn is on a safe spot.Maybe will be a good idea to not spawn in the frontlines, under fire. So you can walk to the frontlines and try to understand the context. You can spawn on your base, or on a unattaked base.

All these skull and bones may also help you. If theres a lot in a area, something very wrong is there killing everyone.

Like any other BF game, the point is to understand the battle, and try to help your team.

1916

I found I was confused and terrified for the first 2 hours, but things have started to click. Be more cautious than in other shooters. Hang back, get the lay of the land. Once you start to learn the maps, you’ll have a sense of when to rush into a cappable flag, and what areas to check while clearing one out.

I felt the exact same overwhelm-ment when I started playing BF2.

1917

Don’t ever stand open and exposed. Your life expectancy will be measured in seconds.

1918

So I finally got my joystick set up for aircraft… am I just fucked since I didn’t get my unlocks early?

1919

Learn the maps. Plan out movement from cover to cover, and keep in your mind’s eye where the enemy team is in relation to the map and the cover. If you get shot in the back, just add that new information into your battle awareness.

1920

Stick to teammates. If you go Rambo and you don’t know what you are doing, you are going to die very quickly. You can usually find a good squad on every map (they’re the ones that stick together). Stick with those guys. And make sure to provide help (if you’re assault, drop med kits and use your defib paddles to resurrect teammates. if you’re support, drop ammo for your guys. if you’re an engineer, repair that buddy’s tank that’s beginning to burn. If you take care of your teammates, they’ll take care of you.)