Armored Kill Impressions

[Hgx]

I played a little bit for now, but only TS (tank superiority), and Rush.

TS = GREAT
RUSH = ONE SIDED

I mean, in Death Valley, the US team has: 1 Tank Destroyer + 1 Jet + 1 AC-130
And the Russia team has : 1 Tank Destroyer + 1 Jet + 2 QUAD BIKES (this looks like a joke)

[Snow1Wolf]

I am sorry guys, but this is the worst DLC out of the three. I have to give it -INF/10
Let me list the problem.

1. Choppers are OP.
2. AC-130 is as weak as a piece of paper.
3. 32 and 64 have same number of armor as far as I can see
4. Tank superiority? Try half the team sitting in base unable to do anything.
5. Rush = att raping def.
6. The AC-130 spawning flag is unbalance in term of a team's ability to defend a frontal assault.
7. The MA have spread that's wilder than a..nvm.
8. Impossible to aim with the MA.
9. Tank destroyers ya say? Can overpower tanks ya say? I destroy two and they fire first.
10. Base capture zone. Actually I don't know about ALL the base capture zones, but the few I've been to is WAY TOO SMALL I got to say through.
11. Transport can literal FARM AC-130 on instant spawning servers, I killed 5 in 10 seconds.

12. Tank destroyer's gun seem to be able to kill infantries faster than tanks.

[Calloutman]

I am sorry guys, but this is the worst DLC out of the three. I have to give it -INF/10
Let me list the problem.

1. Choppers are OP.
2. AC-130 is as weak as a piece of paper.
3. 32 and 64 have same number of armor as far as I can see
4. Tank superiority? Try half the team sitting in base unable to do anything.
5. Rush = att raping def.
6. The AC-130 spawning flag is unbalance in term of a team's ability to defend a frontal assault.
7. The MA have spread that's wilder than a..nvm.
8. Impossible to aim with the MA.
9. Tank destroyers ya say? Can overpower tanks ya say? I destroy two and they fire first.
10. Base capture zone. Actually I don't know about ALL the base capture zones, but the few I've been to is WAY TOO SMALL I got to say through.
11. Transport can literal FARM AC-130 on instant spawning servers, I killed 5 in 10 seconds.

Have to go to school now, HOPEFULLY somebody find something postive.

I seriously have doubts about this post, you can't seriously be saying that it's worse than close quarters? I played for half an hour and enjoyed myself. Which is far more than I can say for CQ.

1. How are choppers OP?? Did you not see the recent patch notes where stingers now obliterate choppers.
2. This is good, I don't want two guys to be able to dominate a match. Mobile spawn points shouldn't be fortresses either.
3. ... and what is the effect of that?
4. I don't get it, as in there aren't enough tanks for everyone so some have to go infantry? Not really gamebreaking imo.
5. Upcoming server patch should fix that apparently by changing the AC130 spawn time.
6. I don't follow you, are you talking about conquest or rush? Anyway your second point seems to contradict this.
7.practice makes perfect.
8.see 7.
9.I didn't feel that they were especially overpowered. I need to test this some more though.
10. The few games I played I didn't get that impression.
11. Instant spawn servers are silly and shouldn't be taken seriously.

I think people have just started playing these maps with lots of vehicles they aren't familiar with. Give it some time.

[Fields]

So far I've been spending 90% of my time trying to run to objectives, 5% dieing and waiting for respawn and 5% fighting players (Which I usually lose because everyone just camps outside objectives).

I really hate how half the time when a new round begins, everyone will get into a vehicle and drive off without letting passengers getting in. I'm not running 500+ meters to the closest objective, so that means my only real option is to suicide and wait for someone to capture an objective that spawns vehicles. The deployment definitely needs way more vehicles to start outwith. If you're on foot, you're fraked.

There's no reason to play anything besides engineer. Assault is entirely useless, which is kind of a nice change, but the support isn't really useful either. You can, maybe, c4 a vehicle on rare occasion. But more likely you'll just end up without the ability to repair your vehicle. Snipers, well, are of course never useful.

I'm really a bigger fan of the infantry play in bf3; it feels more dynamic and allows
for a greater variety of gameplay style/technique. I guess with that in mind, this isn't really the best DLC for what I like, but if this is the true battlefield experience that everyone says they love, then I think you're all nuts. This DLC is more downtime of just traveling place to place over MASSIVE stretches of empty land than anything else. Half the rounds I end up having like 5-8 kills, which is very paltry compared to typical conquest maps and accurately reflects the lack of actual fighting you'll ever get to do. I feel like I'm playing a driving simulator not a war game. I mean, it's really cool to have gigantic maps, but if your main goal is to kill enemies and capture objectives then the size of these maps is an exercise in tedium. It's literally just an increase in time wasted between fighting your enemy, which takes players out of the fight. In my opinion, that's some very bad game design. It wouldn't surprise me so much if the trailers didn't make it seem like a chaotic vehicle heavy battle with lots of intense fighting. The reality is you'll be spending most of your time figuring out what the closest objective is and trying to get too it while meeting virtually no opposition. I was expecting something dramatically different from what this is, and that's why it disappointing so much.

TLDR: Meh, not enough action. I want to fight people, not sprint hundreds of meters at a time.

[Kuchenfari]

My thoughts:
- Great Maps! :>
- Tank Destroyers are fun to play with ^___^
- The Mobile Arty is hard to use, but it hits hard as well
- The AC130 is pretty squishy, but if your team has air superiority, it should be able to do quite well
- Playing Inf is viable, but there is just a lot of vehicles, so you don't usually see too many enemies; that might change though

[Chefcook]

[Snow1Wolf]

I am sorry guys, but this is the worst DLC out of the three. I have to give it -INF/10
Let me list the problem.

1. Choppers are OP.
2. AC-130 is as weak as a piece of paper.
3. 32 and 64 have same number of armor as far as I can see
4. Tank superiority? Try half the team sitting in base unable to do anything.
5. Rush = att raping def.
6. The AC-130 spawning flag is unbalance in term of a team's ability to defend a frontal assault.
7. The MA have spread that's wilder than a..nvm.
8. Impossible to aim with the MA.
9. Tank destroyers ya say? Can overpower tanks ya say? I destroy two and they fire first.
10. Base capture zone. Actually I don't know about ALL the base capture zones, but the few I've been to is WAY TOO SMALL I got to say through.
11. Transport can literal FARM AC-130 on instant spawning servers, I killed 5 in 10 seconds.

Have to go to school now, HOPEFULLY somebody find something postive.

I seriously have doubts about this post, you can't seriously be saying that it's worse than close quarters? I played for half an hour and enjoyed myself. Which is far more than I can say for CQ.

1. How are choppers OP?? Did you not see the recent patch notes where stingers now obliterate choppers.
2. This is good, I don't want two guys to be able to dominate a match. Mobile spawn points shouldn't be fortresses either.
3. ... and what is the effect of that?
4. I don't get it, as in there aren't enough tanks for everyone so some have to go infantry? Not really gamebreaking imo.
5. Upcoming server patch should fix that apparently by changing the AC130 spawn time.
6. I don't follow you, are you talking about conquest or rush? Anyway your second point seems to contradict this.
7.practice makes perfect.
8.see 7.
9.I didn't feel that they were especially overpowered. I need to test this some more though.
10. The few games I played I didn't get that impression.
11. Instant spawn servers are silly and shouldn't be taken seriously.

I think people have just started playing these maps with lots of vehicles they aren't familiar with. Give it some time.

1. I see you AA rocket buff and raise you rocket buff, I got killed in a tank multiple times in just one strife.
2. I agree, but paper? I at least expect a cardboard.
3. Like fields said, 90% time are spend running to objectives.
4. Yes not game breaking, but they are wasting so much space to do so much more, and DICE promise (oh DICE, promised why did I ever believe them again?) everyone get a tank.
5. It fixes it for consoles, but for PC, I don't know what should be balance anymore. A decent team can bring AC-130 in 5 seconds, use some a watch you can see.
6. Sorry, wasn't clear on that. There is a clear unbalance for the Russian to American in terms of TOA on AC-130 base(not all 4 maps, I've yet to see the desert one), it seems to me that the one side that can get to the point faster also have better assaulting position than the slower team.
7,8. Yes, practice makes perfect, but the problem is I feel like I am using buck shot trying to out snipe a sniper 1500 meters away.
9. No I don't think they are over-powered I just heard the claims from DICE multiple time that the main gun it have will be more powerful than a MBT's main gun, and it was clearly not the case.
10. I don't know, I think I might have spend too much time on Alborz Mountain to know exactly how big the other maps are in terms of capture zone.
11. I understand that, but the problem is that transport heli is on every map, and from the fact that I can kill 5 in 10 seconds means AC-130 as I previously pointed out is a piece of paper.

Not trying to argue, just stating facts that I found.

But I am just going to say again(this would be argument) , that DICE shouldn't made battlefield for consoles, yes sure it make them a lot of money, but it basically ruin the game. Because since DICE won't balance the game differently for PC and consoles AC-130 will always be OP for consoles and a piece of paper for PC.

[Snow1Wolf]

Oh and chef, yes I would be one cry baby

[Undisparo]

snow1wolf... i fell like I cant listen to you about anything.. seems you bitch alot. Can't wait to get home from work and play later today.

[Snow1Wolf]

>_< Yeah. I loved battlefield.
I expected a full developed game play.
It is like you expected to get a Ferrari for your birthday, and all you get is a broken off chunk of engine department that have pass through the first stage of waste treatment plant.

I need to stop hoping that BF3 will actually get out of beta...It probably never will, till battlefield 4 comes out.

Oh, Sir Sliecy

[CountBelasarius]

>_< Yeah. I loved battlefield.
I expected a full developed game play.
It is like you expected to get a Ferrari for your birthday, and all you get is a broken off chunk of engine department that have pass through the first stage of waste treatment plant.

I need to stop hoping that BF3 will actually get out of beta...It probably never will, till battlefield 4 comes out.

Oh, Sir Sliecy

Surprise! BF3 is the beta for BF4.

[kidbagz]

Itd downloading at home.

Anyone wanna play tonight after 6pm PST?

I dont want to just jump into a pub server alone... I think this DLC requires a squad to have some fun.

[zorplex]

If you don't want to read a (mostly) negative review, stop now. Go blow up some tanks on the AK maps and see for yourself!

TL;DR: Beautiful, massive maps with some interesting new vehicles. But some purposeful design elements seem broken that can and should be patched (like the one coming later this week) before I'll truly enjoy playing these maps. Some things like armor parity and boring infantry play can't really be fixed by patching and will make the AK maps very specialized and greatly distinguish them from the BF3 and B2K maps. Whether for the better or worse I can't say before the necessary balance patches come into effect.


I've played a few hours of the expansion now and while I had fun for the most part but the time spent in the game still left a bad taste in my mouth. There are several major issues that need to be fixed before I'll be happy. I haven't played Rush since I've heard it's broken and will be until the patch later this week and tank superiority is basically just a mini-game to me, similar to Gun Game. So my post is mainly regarding conquest.


Major concern:
- What some refer to as "armor parity": Since there are so many pieces of armor that spawn in the middle of AK maps, it's very easy for one side to gain the upper hand in number of armor assets. (A good example of this is Gulf of Oman, but the problem is exacerbated by the huge flag distances in AK maps) This leads to matches that almost always end in landsides, even when the teams are balanced. All it takes is one stolen asset or a couple assets secured by the enemy team from your back flags, and your team will slowly, but steadily be pushed back into your uncap. This may just be due to players' unfamiliarity with the maps. I hope this becomes less common as time passes.

Rocket artillery:
- I love the concept and the way you use the mini map to target without having a reticule like the support mortars. But the rockets seem under powered and slow. It seems mainly designed for "fire for effect". (i.e. suppress the enemy by putting a lot of splash damage in a certain area) This can be useful for clearing flag zones on normal mode where you don't damage friendlies, but GC settings will make this a pain to use. With a maximum range of about 600m on flat ground, you can cover about half the distance between the farthest flags on the largest map. The vehicle is also very vulnerable as it has weak armor and is relatively slow moving; so once the enemy spots you and gets within their firing range, you're as good as dead.
- I think these could be very fun, but they need to be tweaked to become effective. Either up the damage and travel speed to give them more precision in firing, or up the range to 1000km and leave the damage as is so they can cover virtually the entire map and remain only to be used as area of effect suppression. Either option should give the rocket artillery more versatility on the field. At the moment, they feel like little more than a novelty item.

AC-130 woes:
- While the main canon is very nice without feeling too powerful; it takes a bit of skill to lead shots properly, the secondary machine gun on the AC-130 is almost useless
- The AC-130 circles the map, but not far enough out that one can target everything on the ground. E.G. it positions itself above the enemy uncap while making it impossible for the gunners to shoot anywhere near the uncap. This is fine if the enemy is being locked into their spawn, but it's basically impossible to kill an enemy AA sitting in the uncap before you are within range and can no longer fire on them.

Tank destroyers:
- Not much to say. They're small tanks that can carry more people than the MBTs. They seem a bit under armored, but it might just need to reach a nice balance between agility, armor and fire power. Balance patches should fix this.

Infantry play:
- AK maps are have many wide open expanses with long distances between groupings of 2-3 flags. The number of transport vehicles is adequate, but it really sucks to play these maps without access to armor. I guess this is the point of the AK maps and it's mostly fine as long as your team has a few flags to spawn on. But once you lose the middle ground, the game gets very boring, very quickly, as there isn't enough armor to go around.

ATVs:
- ATVs are quite fast and very fun but easily destroyed, as to be expected. I wish I could shoot forward while riding shotgun. : /

[Coloneluber]

As someone who has played a lot armor in Battlefield since 1942 and in every battlefield game since, I have a few concerns.

1. There is simply way too much armor. Everyone practically has their own vehicle. Each side already has 3 -4 armor pieces at spawn, then 1-2 are added for each flag capped depending on flag.

2. The maps are too big. Big is awesome, sure, but not when it's limited to 32 v 32. It takes forever and a half to travel between just about any given flags (except maybe A,B, and C on Bandar) even when in a vehicle. There isn't much room for infantry play beyond sitting and defending a point. Any attacks are going to be done almost exclusively by armor. I don't think I've seen any transport helis either to remedy this.

3. Air vehicles are overpowered again. I hate to kick off this debate, but the sheer sizes of the maps make it incredibly difficult to kill enemy air assets. Using stingers to keep it off one side of the map? No problem, it can go kill all the armor on the other side. There is just no way to establish a safe zone for most, or even a large portion of, friendly armor without skilled pilots of your own. The AA vehicle certainly has a presence, but it is greatly diminished with how massive these maps are.

4. MBTs are still bad compared to other choices. Having played the Tank Destroyer for a couple hours now, it seems like it takes approximately the same or just slightly more damage than the MBT does. But, it is disabled at ~43 health (I'm not sure exactly, something around there), while the MBT is disabled at 55. If you're in an MBT, good luck surviving a strafing run from a single air asset without a repair crew (which you're unlikely to have when traveling the several hundred meter distance between points).

5. I don't recall it working like this exactly in the latest patch, but I noticed with AK that if the MBT switches to guided shell then switches back without firing, it still has to reload the main cannon. RIP guided shell.

6. Something wonky is going on with spotting on these maps. I can't tell you how many times I've mashed Q at a target only a short distance away from me only to not get a dorito and not have it show up on the map. Normally I wouldn't care, but AK maps are really cluttered which can make it difficult to see targets which means you really have to rely on your map more than usual. If it's not working properly, you're going to get killed. A lot.

7. The rubber banding on many of the servers I played on was awful. Almost impossible to land shots at any distance. Most of the time it was so bad you couldn't even see where the shell went.

[LoA]

Cmon, you can't seriously start to complain on this DLC on the first day? You need to give it some time, this is 4 huge maps we're talking about and it will take some time for everyone to get used to it. Right now people are just testing the new vehicles and fooling around, trying to learn the maps. I'm sure a 4-man squad communicating will be alot of fun when you know the maps.

Also, these maps will be awesome on battledays. Can't wait.