My first 25 hours of game play...

I just completed my first 25 hours of game play in Battlefield 3 and I can say that it has been a lot of fun and a lot of frustration...

The number one topic that will either make you happy or make you want to punch a goat would have to be the squads and the teamwork that comes with that. As long as you are not the only Assault in an all Sniper squad then you shouldn't be banging your head on the wall.

The ideal squad would be one Assault, one Support and then one Engineer if there are vehicles to deal with. While I may be downplaying the role of Engineer right now, understand it is only due to the fact that I currently only see them doing well when there is something for them to be working on.

Snipers/recon seem to just annoy the hell out of me and there seem to be a whole hell of a lot of them out there... I have not tried the class so I don't know what all they can bring to the table outside of "Ha! I killed another person that just spawned!"...

So, if I had it my way for a non vehicle map, my squad would be two Assault and two Support.

Now, when you don't have access to a group of friends to jump online with, you can get stuck with some people that don't seem to understand that there is more going on in the game outside of what they are dealing with. I say this for one reason...

Hey Support people! Throw out some damn ammo!!!

You will see a metric fuckton of health boxes all over the place... But trying to find an ammo box, even if there are a good amount of support people on the server, is damn near impossible.

When you do find a Support person and you run up to him requesting ammo, they seem to not hear it and keep moving up or whatever they are trying to do... This is understandable if they are not in your squad as you can't just yell in your mic "Hey [insert rather childish name here]! I need ammo!"

So, one more time... If you are Support, throw out ammo boxes just like how you see health boxes everywhere! You should be throwing them out every chance you get when there is a group around. Remember, people don't need ammo when they are completely out... They need it before they run completely out...

Ok, so you have your squad, now what? Move as a squad! Don't have four people all doing their own thing... The squad leader needs to be directing people what to attack and you all should be moving as a group...

I have only been in a few squads that have done this well. Those are the squads that get the Ace Squad ribbons and end up winning the game for everyone...

Another thing that is great about Battlefield 3 as long as people do it is spotting... Spotting is an awesome tool for your whole team and if you are not spotting every person to see at a distance... You just suck... Stop playing... Really... Now...

Vehicles... Tanks are good, APCs are good... Jets are worthless and helis are just fun to watch people kill themselves in just like the past Battlefields...

The deal with jets is that they seem to not do anything for the ground objectives... They are just a lone person up there fighting another lone person for the most part...

APCs are awesome for getting to objectives and capturing them quickly as long as people understand the plan. Pulling up to an objective for the gunner to be looking the wrong way as you try to cap an MCOM is annoying to say the least...

Tanks are great, but as time goes on in the game it seems like you see a lot of rocket launchers and mines.. So tanks don't seem to last that long like they did in the start.

I have been playing Assault for the majority of the 25 hours. I received my Assault service star and with that have unlocked all of the Assault guns and such... The best gun for me is the AEK-971... Put the IR 1x scope on it and it is just nice...

I will now be moving on to Support and working on getting my service star with it. And you can bet your ass I will be dropping ammo boxes everywhere I can! 🙂

All in all, great game! I have had a lot of fun playing so far and look forward to unlocking the weapons and perks of all of the classes... Well... Except for snipers... They are just dirty bastards! 🙂

Nice, think I have been able to bust out 1 hour of game play. Think they need to have real time update of stat's instead of just at the end of the map. Oh I know, maybe not real time but at least right before "bf3.exe has stopped responding" message!

I've got about 7 hours in and have made level 7 - close to 8. Overall, I'm really enjoying the game. Have yet to be overly bothered by helis or jets. Probably the thing that is bothering me the most is that I've spawned into instant death a lot by spawning on squadmates simply because no one talks.

Been playing mostly assault and engineer with a little of support and just a few minutes as recon. I second ephil's complaint about ammo but that has always been the case with the support class since BF2. It would be nice if they supplemented with ammo dumps at spawn points or something. I got my first knife kill yesterday and first grenade launcher kills today 😈

Really like the tanks and have had some great teamwork with random squadmates as support gunners/engineers. Don't quite have the aim down for long distance shots (with rifles or tanks) but am getting there.

The game is running pretty well for me. I've crashed once and had this wierd thing happen last night where my spawn screen wouldn't come up. After a few minutes it did and I was able to keep playing. I've got most all video settings on low as I'm running a 9800GTX at the moment but don't seem to have any framerate issues. My biggest problem seems to be hitting the windows key and putting the game into a small window or the ~ and opening the console without realizing and wondering why I suddenly can't move. Tonight those keys are going to be disabled or remapped so I can get rid of that headache.

Funny thing... The FIRST game I get into where I am all "I am going to be the bestest support evar!"... 90% of the team is support... Ammo boxes everywhere... My squad... 4 support...

/wrist

I noticed that the Jets were up there doing nothing to the ground. I keep thinking once they unlock bombs, this is going to suck. :-)

I've already ran into quite a few really good Helo pilots that make ground pounding a pain. This is where a good Plane Pilot comes in. If they can keep taking out the helo's, it will make a big difference.

Well, if your "recon" [aka Dirty Bastards] would 'paint' the targets, the jets could be blowing up the buildings/tanks/etc...

From what I have read though, people in jets are happy if you just spot the tanks as they have a hard time seeing them.

I believe recon also gets to throw out spawn points that are supplemental to the capture points and the squad spawns, and are available to the whole team not just their squad.

When that is unlocked I don't know but each squad gets a special and that is supposedly the special for recon.

That being said, I have avoided teh assault squad like the plague for some reason, have only played support and recon. Good points come from dropping that ammo box, especially when there is a croud and with the pc scene there is always a crowd.
That being said I can't count the number of times I have died upon spawning as the squaddie I spawn on is getting shot with a grenade/rocket/tank/sniper, I think over half my deaths have come from that.

Disadvantage to support = range, it aint there. Even with the SAW, which I know from first hand experience can be as accurate as an M16 [not easily, but these are elite bastards] out to a reasonable distance. That range is a reason I am thinking about switching to recon/engy.

Silent Cold wrote:I believe recon also gets to throw out spawn points that are supplemental to the capture points and the squad spawns, and are available to the whole team not just their squad.

I think, don't quote me, that the spawn is only available to the squad. Every time I see a mobile spawn and there isn't a recon in my squad, it isn't available for me to spawn at.

Silent Cold wrote:That being said, I have avoided teh assault squad like the plague for some reason, have only played support and recon. Good points come from dropping that ammo box, especially when there is a croud and with the pc scene there is always a crowd.

Funny thing, you get a ton of points more as Assault than my experience with Support. While Support you get the points from giving ammo, Assault gets the points for giving health AND 100 points per revive... You get to a crowd of people taking a lot of fire, you just made an ungodly amount of points.

Saying "Well, support also gets points for suppressive fire" is kinda silly as all classes get that as well... But yes, with support you can get it more if you are able to put down a lot of fire on a crowd.

Silent Cold wrote:That being said I can't count the number of times I have died upon spawning as the squaddie I spawn on is getting shot with a grenade/rocket/tank/sniper, I think over half my deaths have come from that.

Yeah, mics are handy with that and more people need to get their headsets on...

Silent Cold wrote:Disadvantage to support = range, it aint there. Even with the SAW, which I know from first hand experience can be as accurate as an M16 [not easily, but these are elite bastards] out to a reasonable distance. That range is a reason I am thinking about switching to recon/engy.

Yeah, trying to burst fire with a M249 at a pretty long range just gets me sniped by that recon I am shooting at... Best just to 'spot' him and let someone else deal with him.

A decent review of the BF3 multiplayer on RPS

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/03...yer/#more-80476

They share some of the same frustrations and enjoyment as I do. Some nuggets of information in there regarding upcoming changes.

Ok, after playing the support class for a bit I have been having fun with it... Points do come in now due to the amount of Suppressive assists you get [50 points each]

Setting up at a bottle neck and ripping through the mass amount of people wanting to get through that area just makes me giggle. [Perhaps a little to much to be honest]

Going from Assault to Support is a little hard as the play styles are different... With Assault you run and gun for the most part... With Support, you setup in a defensive position and wait for them to come to you or setup in a spot and put down a ton of fire to allow your team to move up.

Good times with it so far!

As far as recon and my impression of it.... FINALLY!!

Really, its about time there was a long range class worth something in the FPS game. It is separate enough from the other weapons to actually have some range, at least at the start prior to excessive rank ups and the eventual scopeups for everyone. I have gotten into more actual sniper-sniper battles in the few games that I have played as a recon than any other BF game. Not only that but the knife has returned. Thrilling that. There is range and the bullet hits where you expect, the bullet drop is present so you have to adjust depending on the type of gun you are using. Camoflauge is just enough that its annoying yet if you care to look its apparent. I can see myself getting used to the beast, just wish I could pull the claymores from support to recon. Then I would have my DeltaForce revisisted...


on a side note..

Has anyone played any of the COOP maps? I just noticed taht there are some coop only unlocks, and would sure like to play with the recon one.

Silent Cold wrote:Has anyone played any of the COOP maps? I just noticed taht there are some coop only unlocks, and would sure like to play with the recon one.

I have not played them yet... If you had this on PS3, we could unlock these as I want some of the other weapons as well...

Got done with Support yesterday!!!

I have a service star in Assault and now Support... Working on Engineer now and going from Support to Engineering is a P.I.T.A.! After I unlocked a sight for the AKS-47[whatever] I was able to get my kills in order again...

Mines = Meh [so far].
RPG = Ok... Liked C4 on Support better for blowing up tanks...
Repairing = STOP DRIVING AWAY DICK!!!

So I have worked through pubbers on the first two missions. They all seem to be scripted affairs that go for 12-20 mins depending on how fast you kill the bad guys. The helo mission can be good practice to flying helos in BF3, though I would hazard a warning not to pub it as I just spent a mind-numbing 20+ mins either dying as we crashed or playing fast mover helos, let me say that as a gunner this is not fun, I am only effective in the front 180 deg or so, and the gunner is the most effective when oh I don't know the helo hovers.

The first mission was fun, just general mayhem and slaughterfest, good for a few minutes of fun. The other missions are still in limbo, mainly because I am afraid of another helo drunk fest, but will likely be done as I can as I really want that M39.

So if anyone wants to practice their helo skills over a mic'd game, lets go.

I just maxxed out my engineer and your crazy. The engineer with a badass carbine is one of the best fast moving infantry options in the game. Plus, annoying guys hiding in buildings? RPG!

Ron, what platform are you playing on?

Megaron wrote:I just maxxed out my engineer and your crazy. The engineer with a badass carbine is one of the best fast moving infantry options in the game. Plus, annoying guys hiding in buildings? RPG!

Nothing I said was crazy, so I don't know if that was directed towards what I said about Engineer.

The engineer is great and a lot of fun. I said going from Support to Engineer was a PITA just due to the different play styles...

I will say now after spending more time with the Engineer that mines are awesome and the EOD bot is a beast! [but hard to get used to driving...]

I bought it for the 360 atomm, once the bugs are worked out I might pick it up for the pc. For now though the 360 was the best choice for the game.

Managed to find my dream weapon in a COOP match, that M39 is just my style.. now to grind teh coopers.

And who knows a christmas bunny might bring me the BF3 for the PS3..

Montivagus wrote:And who knows a christmas bunny might bring me the BF3 for the PS3..

awesome!

Ok, got done with the Engineer class... So now I have a service star in Assault, Support and Engineering... That means... Recon time... /sigh

So, what did I learn as an Engineer? One, mines... Screw trying to repair anything... MINES!!!! Two, I will take an RPG over a Javelin any day... Three, hunting down people behind walls is pure fun with an RPG 🙂

I had a lot of fun with the class but I did feel like I was not really contributing to the team/squad. This could have been due to the fact that I didn't have a torch with me, but as I have not been playing with any real vehicle squads, there was not a need for me to have one... [MINES!!!]

So, now I struggle my way through recon... I played a good amount yesterday and am not doing too bad... Just need to find my positions and such... I did enjoy one time yesterday when I got a headshot on one guy and noticed something ran to the left of me in my scope... Switched to suppressed 1911 and lit him up...

I do have to refrain myself from trying to run after tanks though... [Support and Engineering was too much fun being a tank killer]

ephil wrote:So, now I struggle my way through recon... I played a good amount yesterday and am not doing too bad... Just need to find my positions and such... I did enjoy one time yesterday when I got a headshot on one guy and noticed something ran to the left of me in my scope... Switched to suppressed 1911 and lit him up...

Knives, pistols and bushes.. thats all you need, the more walked by the bush the better. Nothing better than sneaking up on an enemy sniper and stabby stabby. A lot of the same positions that you could use as a support guy you can use as a sniper, depending on the weapon and how fast you can fire it. Interesting note, drop the spawn beacon whenever you can. I now will start recon, place the spawn beacon somewhere useful for the squad, then switch to support to continually reuse the beacon without having to replace it after every spawn.

Granted if I feel like playing solo then it is just my own personal beast, but normally I am squad friendly.

Note to self, when playing Silent, look for the spawn beacon.

Got it! Thanks!

Atomm wrote:Note to self, when playing Silent, look for the spawn beacon.

Got it! Thanks!

Hah, you know you have driven past it a couple of times.. and walked by it a few as well.. how do you think me and sarge kept getting to you so fast that night it was the three of us.

So I've unlocked the CITV and man it might be the worst unlock ever. Unless your working with a really decent squad your never going to get any points of out it. Sux

Megaron wrote:So I've unlocked the CITV and man it might be the worst unlock ever. Unless your working with a really decent squad your never going to get any points of out it. Sux

Maybe not, but it allows someone to spawn with the other spots already being filled. So spawning in and repairing you while the other two are still gunning away, or just adding another gun or rocket to the fight should be handy enough.

I could probably answer this question with a quick search, but what is the CITV?

http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/CITV_Station

"In multiplayer, CITV Station is a specialization that acts as a third "Commander" seat in tanks.[1][2] The player can enter a tank already occupied by two teammates (the regular seating limit). He benefits from the tank's mobility and armor, and can assist the crew with day and night optics and laser designation, but is not provided a weapon.
Other players cannot use the CITV until they have unlocked it.
This unlock is a permanent upgrade, therefore it is constantly on during combat, similar to a fourth upgrade."

[I had to look it up...]

It's very situational. It can lock onto targets for your team, but unless your driver is using guided shells it will give him no benefit.

Thanks for enabling my laziness. Seems like it would be a good seat to keep a spare engineer to provide extra repair or AT help as well as the ability to keep one man in the tank and repair or deal with close infantry.

I have about 21 hours to go before I can really comment about my first 25 hours.... but the maps are too long.

Or I guess a better way to say it is if you leave a map before it is ended, you do not get credit for anything you accomplished while in the map.

Unlocks, Ribbons, Rank - are applied when the map ends. If you earn a cookie (what ever that may be) and leave - cookie is reset - I've managed to unlock red dots for the same weapon 3x and another 2x only to not be able to use them and have to unlock them for a 4x and 3x because a customer calls and I need the PC to help them.

Leave game, lose cookie.

Dumb.

Play the smaller maps. I played on a server last night that started with 250 tickets per side as opposed to the 500-600 i've seen on other servers. I'll check on the name and post it.

But yeah, the save actually occurs during the loading of the next map so you have to stick around for the game to load something that you aren't planning to play - it's stupid.

Yeah I have done that ALOT. I am used to leaving between rounds.

Having strangeness in the Single player too -
(I always like to complete a SP in games)

I'll die - and come back with no weapon but sights or come back with squad of floating weapons and voices - no platoon bodies - lots of missing video elements that constantly forces me to turn the game off, and restart to get them all back.

Which may elude to me not seeing the people who killed me in Alpha and Beta ..... also noticed on Friday night with Atomm and Sargiepoo the refinery map, I would NOT see the tanks that killed me until I died then on death cam, they were there clear as day.... respawn, die by thank, kill cam - poof they were right where they were when they killed me last time.

I had to change class, go to a different part of the map - fight, die change class, comeback and then I could see and fight the tank I could not see.

Start at 13:35 - Specifically 14:22 to the end

hmmm.
Got a REAL problem with the game now.
There is a point in the SP game where you are suppose to support a Russian Specnaz while your tracking down stolen nukes.

Your an American Marine, another American Marine comes down the stairs and the Russian tells you to shot the other Marine -

Can't do it.
Why in the hell would Dice and EA (Rat fucking bastards) do that?

Pissing me off to no end now.

Sarge wrote:But yeah, the save actually occurs during the loading of the next map so you have to stick around for the game to load something that you aren't planning to play - it's stupid.

I always leave after I look at the scores at the end of the map, never really had a 'save' problem. Though I have seen that posting on the complaints about having to wait for the next map to load up. -shrug-

Not bad if you have time for the full map - but I find I'm part of the Short Attention Span theater more and more lately and just can't be bothered to stay in a bad map, bad game, short on time....

And it does suck to put so little effort in to it and get nothing out.....

The part that drives me crazy is this worked in both BF2 and BFBC2. Again, they go backwards.

Duck, if you pause a youtube video on the spot you want it to start, then right click on the video, you can copy the URL and it will start exactly where you want. It only works on video's actually on the youtube site.

Apparently our forums doesn't respect the start time. Dang. I thought you should know just in case.

Filed away - thanks...... technology - ain't it amazin'?

And haven't gone back to SP since. Still pisses me off. Rat Bastards.

I haven't played past the subway scene in single player. I can't seem to time the jumping right to grab the damn rail and climb up after the guy blows up the cars on the train. Every damn time I end up dead on the tracks.

It really has a console port feel to the PC SP game.
At points you have to mash the space bar in a specific sequence - then the A key then the LMB to pass a specific "test" or sequence.

As you have seen - the jumpie sequence in the train space then A then space to get in to the train - there will be more inside the train - so you'll have something to look forward to.

Duck wrote:It really has a console port feel to the PC SP game.
At points you have to mash the space bar in a specific sequence - then the A key then the LMB to pass a specific "test" or sequence.

As you have seen - the jumpie sequence in the train space then A then space to get in to the train - there will be more inside the train - so you'll have something to look forward to.

Consoles have for the most part left the QTE [flashed button sequence] behind as they were pioneered by God of War and then subsequently overrused to the point where a lot of very loud people were complaining about them. It was surprising to come upon them, but as a general player of anything from board to console to pc it wasn't that jarring as I am fairly used to them. It was surprising that they were used at all, but slightly preferred over just a cut scene.