I posted this on Total BF2 in response to someone's quote.
Part of that is true. The other part is that the anger is somewhat justified.
For instance, patch 1.2. A hotly debated topic in its time. You either were for the things it nerfed or against the things it nerfed. But the problem was, DICE took 8 months to release the patch. At that point you really shouldn't be doing so many major gameplay changes. Fair enough, it didnt break too many things asides from Battlerecorder.
Patch 1.3. This was the start of the end. After being put through a rigorous beta testing of "Okay did it install? Good. Does the game start up? Great! Upload it to the servers and release it tomorrow!", the horrid "patch" (an insult to real patches) caused tons of crashes and whatnot. Hardly a good way to appeal to a rather mad community. Mistakes happen, fair enough. But we waited... and waited.. it took DICE nearly a month to admit that they majorly screwed up. Then nearly 3 months to release a fix. I understand they wanted to not mess things up again; but why didn't they just put more manpower to it in the first place? Because DICE SE, the smart coders (it hurts to say this cause I'm half canadian, it is embarassing that my peoples are not skilled in coding) are working on 2142. Which will get given over to DICE CAnada later and go to hell just like BF2 but that's another story.
Patch 1.4. It is released. Cries of "server crashes fixed yay!" erupted in forums and IRC rooms. But all was not well. Not the infantry gameplay nerf (yes its slower). Not infanry only, not Jalalbad. No. It was the non-removal of server crashing and CTDing. It IS less frequent, but that's not good enough. For some reason, 1.22 was stable.. then 1.3 somehow screwed it up majorly. I rarely had server crashing before 1.3. Lame.
So the reasons people are rationally mad at DICE are:
-server crashing (it takes a lot to fill up a server... then to have it crash 2 hours later)
-client crashing
-tons of gameplay changes
I admit I still play BF2. It's an addicting game. But it's just not as fun as it was in, say, 1.12. All the gameplay changes are just annoying now. One thing is adapting, another thing is being arsed to change your entire gameplay approach each time a patch comes out. For instance, on CS:S when they removed quickscoping for the AWP... that's adapting. In BF2, changing the game each time a patch comes out (1.2 onwards of course, before 1.2 the game was almost perfect) is not adapting. It's being a pain in the ***.
It's not about the stuff that never made it in the game. It's not about "not being able to dive". Not about infantrly only or Jalalabad. It's about how DICE has continously tinkered with the game, driving it to hell. Not showing much care about their screw up that was 1.3. It's as if they're trying to kill all their BF2 players off so we get 2142... I see no logic in that. If DICE is gonna treat 2142 like BF2 then my money will be better spent on something else.
The final BF2 patch should be something like this:
-Mix of current and 1.12 AA... make it harder to use but that if you're really good at it, then pilots will be scared
-No noobtoobing but let it be effective against vehicles
-bring back shooting while jumping and dolphin diving and C4 chucking
-current rank and award requirements
-bring back squad hopping
-bring back the old blackhawk miniguns... the current armor and repair rates more than balance out the strength
-slight tweak to the G36E, make it as damaging as the M16 since it will still excel in everything else for instance
And all will be well. The gameplay will be quick and addictive. It will be what got me hooked on BF2. Now it seems like a cheap imitation of America's Army but with vehicles. I doubt this post will ever make it to the serious consideration of any BF2 directors at EA or DICE. But maybe it will. All I can say is that if 2142 goes bad: DICE, you brought it on yourselves. I love the BF series and I want to get 2142, but please dont treat it like you did BF2 and make BF2 more fun again.
Part of that is true. The other part is that the anger is somewhat justified.
For instance, patch 1.2. A hotly debated topic in its time. You either were for the things it nerfed or against the things it nerfed. But the problem was, DICE took 8 months to release the patch. At that point you really shouldn't be doing so many major gameplay changes. Fair enough, it didnt break too many things asides from Battlerecorder.
Patch 1.3. This was the start of the end. After being put through a rigorous beta testing of "Okay did it install? Good. Does the game start up? Great! Upload it to the servers and release it tomorrow!", the horrid "patch" (an insult to real patches) caused tons of crashes and whatnot. Hardly a good way to appeal to a rather mad community. Mistakes happen, fair enough. But we waited... and waited.. it took DICE nearly a month to admit that they majorly screwed up. Then nearly 3 months to release a fix. I understand they wanted to not mess things up again; but why didn't they just put more manpower to it in the first place? Because DICE SE, the smart coders (it hurts to say this cause I'm half canadian, it is embarassing that my peoples are not skilled in coding) are working on 2142. Which will get given over to DICE CAnada later and go to hell just like BF2 but that's another story.
Patch 1.4. It is released. Cries of "server crashes fixed yay!" erupted in forums and IRC rooms. But all was not well. Not the infantry gameplay nerf (yes its slower). Not infanry only, not Jalalbad. No. It was the non-removal of server crashing and CTDing. It IS less frequent, but that's not good enough. For some reason, 1.22 was stable.. then 1.3 somehow screwed it up majorly. I rarely had server crashing before 1.3. Lame.
So the reasons people are rationally mad at DICE are:
-server crashing (it takes a lot to fill up a server... then to have it crash 2 hours later)
-client crashing
-tons of gameplay changes
I admit I still play BF2. It's an addicting game. But it's just not as fun as it was in, say, 1.12. All the gameplay changes are just annoying now. One thing is adapting, another thing is being arsed to change your entire gameplay approach each time a patch comes out. For instance, on CS:S when they removed quickscoping for the AWP... that's adapting. In BF2, changing the game each time a patch comes out (1.2 onwards of course, before 1.2 the game was almost perfect) is not adapting. It's being a pain in the ***.
It's not about the stuff that never made it in the game. It's not about "not being able to dive". Not about infantrly only or Jalalabad. It's about how DICE has continously tinkered with the game, driving it to hell. Not showing much care about their screw up that was 1.3. It's as if they're trying to kill all their BF2 players off so we get 2142... I see no logic in that. If DICE is gonna treat 2142 like BF2 then my money will be better spent on something else.
The final BF2 patch should be something like this:
-Mix of current and 1.12 AA... make it harder to use but that if you're really good at it, then pilots will be scared
-No noobtoobing but let it be effective against vehicles
-bring back shooting while jumping and dolphin diving and C4 chucking
-current rank and award requirements
-bring back squad hopping
-bring back the old blackhawk miniguns... the current armor and repair rates more than balance out the strength
-slight tweak to the G36E, make it as damaging as the M16 since it will still excel in everything else for instance
And all will be well. The gameplay will be quick and addictive. It will be what got me hooked on BF2. Now it seems like a cheap imitation of America's Army but with vehicles. I doubt this post will ever make it to the serious consideration of any BF2 directors at EA or DICE. But maybe it will. All I can say is that if 2142 goes bad: DICE, you brought it on yourselves. I love the BF series and I want to get 2142, but please dont treat it like you did BF2 and make BF2 more fun again.
