**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

[moonbogg]

Enjoying the new maps, although capturing the flag can be a pointless effort. I like the pipeline map a lot. Sniping people off their bikes is wonderfully satisfying. After running this new expansion into the ground, i'll be all ready for BF4. I don't think it can come soon enough actually, i'm already looking forward to it. I'm glad we don't have to wait another 8 years for a new BF personally.

 

[Nemesis13]

Just a question how many FPS do you guys average, I ask bc i have a ageing system i thought this game would punish but I hit 120 Fps most of the time.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Battlelog - March Double XP weekend live now!

By: trydling

To celebrate the launch of End Game, we are running 72 hours worth of double XP for all of our Premium members starting now! You will effectively get double score on all rounds on all Ranked servers. The event is live now and runs until the end of the weekend. Sample end times below:

Los Angeles 02:00 March 18
Stockholm 10:00 March 18
Tokyo 18:00 March 18

We are also happy to announce our final dog tag challenge. If all players can collective reach 200,000,000,000 in score by the end of Sunday March 17, we will unlock the new "Forever a Noob?" dog tag for all players.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[darkewaffle]

Only played for an hour or two last night but those dirtbikes sure are fun, and it's nice to have a vehicle with tight controls available. Plus CTF seems pretty solid. I'm digging Endgame.

The only thing I found weird so far was that I attempted to C4 the jeep with the rocket launcher on top of it, I put two on it and thought for sure that'd be enough but only got a disable. Might have missed one of the C4 or gotten a bad placement/unlucky though.

 

[jackstar7]

Have capped ONE flag thus far over the course of many rounds. I do have a ton of fun though. Flanking around the back of whatever to stab some snipers/campers in their tents... all of them using Soflam so no Tugs to warn them...

The bikes really facilitate quicker and less conspicuous movement and I appreicate that.


If BF4 integrates everything they've learned from 3 and then brings back Commander and some other elements from 2... (I'm not getting my hopes up for it)... then we'd have a game. Though I'd also like larger squads again, though I can see why balance kinda requires them to be small-ish.

 

[Midwayman]

If BF4 integrates everything they've learned from 3 and then brings back Commander and some other elements from 2... (I'm not getting my hopes up for it)... then we'd have a game. Though I'd also like larger squads again, though I can see why balance kinda requires them to be small-ish.

If the expansions packs indicate anything, it means they will lean even further towards being a COD clone. I'll be really pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong, but the majority of the audience wants a small tight shooter where teamwork isn't important it seems. Larger squads, only respawn on the squad leader, commander mode, larger maps...... I can dream.

 

[Deaks2]

I miss BF2 jets

 

[Childs]

I miss being able to sabotage the other teams assets. Sometimes I'd also get in a couple man squad and go around repairing assets, like the Army Corps of Engineers. Thats the only major thing I miss from BF2.

 

[DeadFred]

Have capped ONE flag thus far over the course of many rounds. I do have a ton of fun though. Flanking around the back of whatever to stab some snipers/campers in their tents... all of them using Soflam so no Tugs to warn them...

Ive found it to be much easier to cap flags on less populated servers, say 10 or 12 players. Large full servers make it nearly impossible to cap with 15-20 people camped around each flag.

 

[jackstar7]

Ive found it to be much easier to cap flags on less populated servers, say 10 or 12 players. Large full servers make it nearly impossible to cap with 15-20 people camped around each flag.

Oh, I can see how that'd be true. I just enjoy the challenge and stress level of the full 48-64-man servers where it really is a nightmare. Makes it fun!

 

[Grooveriding]

Has this been posted. They are announcing BF4 on the 26th. I figure it will be done CoD style. Basically BF3 with brand new maps and the DLC to follow. At least I enjoy BF3, so it will be good.

Release.. maybe Summer ?

 

[Zargon]

Winter. Next gen console title

 

[jackstar7]

Looks like Gully has a new thread to start!

Also, I'd bet release in Sept/Oct. They'll want it near holidays AND gives them a long time to beta/hype.

 

[Zargon]

They were pretty clear that release announcement had to wait for console announcement

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Battlefield 2043 incoming.

 

[TallBill]

Something I might be interested in.

 

[CrystalBay]

BF4 ,yeah this time it is in Shanghai.

 

[destrekor]

I don't expect BF4 to be like the COD releases. One, EA seems committed to the flagship Battlefield titles now on a every-other release cycle, MOH seems to be the filler but I think EA might switch that up depending on success... and, was MOHW that successful? I need to fire it up again after all the patches, but I was shocked at how miserable it felt with mouse and keyboard compared to most other FPS titles, among other issues.

Anyhow - they'll have a new engine, one ready for next-gen consoles. Frostbite 2 was great in that, even with consoles holding back the PC at that time, they still managed to push the visuals for PCs and do so efficiently.
BF4 will either see Frostbite 2.5 or Frostbite 3.0. BF4 won't use Frostbite 2 vanilla, I'm calling that as fact. I don't even expect them to only offer simple improvements and call it 2.5 - there will be significant engine changes.

Now, who knows what they'll do with the rest of the game - but I expect it'll be a treat visually. Curious to see how they'll handle multiplatform releases.

If the PS4 doesn't launch until mid to late November, will they delay all platforms to match PS4 launch availability? Or, whichever is first, PS4 or Xbox 3rd Gen? What if both don't make the holiday timeframe Stateside?
Honestly, I think they'll push for another October release regardless, and have the title available at launch for the new platforms then. Or, if they actually make it to market prior to BF4 release in late October, then it won't be a true launch title and EA will do a multi-platform release party.

 

[Grooveriding]

I'm near certain BF4 will use Frostbite 2.0. Likely with some tweaks, but it will still be FB 2.0. Think in terms of Crysis 2 to Crysis 3, both using Cryengine 3.0, but Crysis 3 has some new features added. Developing a top to bottom engine is very expensive and FB 2.0 is already robust and powerful enough to carry through for BF4. It also takes a lot more time than they've had since BF3 to create a new engine.

Expect BF4 to look and play very much like BF3 does. FB 2.0 is already capable of visuals on the PC that require far more power than the new consoles will have or be able to match. It's already one of the best engines around, rivalled only by Cryengine 3.0.

 

[Zargon]

I'm near certain BF4 will use Frostbite 2.0. Likely with some tweaks, but it will still be FB 2.0. Think in terms of Crysis 2 to Crysis 3, both using Cryengine 3.0, but Crysis 3 has some new features added. Developing a top to bottom engine is very expensive and FB 2.0 is already robust and powerful enough to carry through for BF4. It also takes a lot more time than they've had since BF3 to create a new engine.

Expect BF4 to look and play very much like BF3 does. FB 2.0 is already capable of visuals on the PC that require far more power than the new consoles will have or be able to match. It's already one of the best engines around, rivalled only by Cryengine 3.0.

I agree, they might call it fb 2.5, it wont be 3

 

[Demo24]

There was a tweet out a few weeks ago about new dice games being 64 bit, I wonder if bf4 will make that cut. It would be nice and something I would expect them to update the engine number for. I just hope they adjust the color palette and make things easier to see.

 

[destrekor]

I'm near certain BF4 will use Frostbite 2.0. Likely with some tweaks, but it will still be FB 2.0. Think in terms of Crysis 2 to Crysis 3, both using Cryengine 3.0, but Crysis 3 has some new features added. Developing a top to bottom engine is very expensive and FB 2.0 is already robust and powerful enough to carry through for BF4. It also takes a lot more time than they've had since BF3 to create a new engine.

Expect BF4 to look and play very much like BF3 does. FB 2.0 is already capable of visuals on the PC that require far more power than the new consoles will have or be able to match. It's already one of the best engines around, rivalled only by Cryengine 3.0.

There was a tweet out a few weeks ago about new dice games being 64 bit, I wonder if bf4 will make that cut. It would be nice and something I would expect them to update the engine number for. I just hope they adjust the color palette and make things easier to see.

And that's the kind of stuff I am expecting most. A full fledged, true Frostbite 3, shouldn't be in BF4 because they shouldn't have had the time to develop it just yet.

But there is plenty they can do to make a worthwhile FB2.5. They can now up the baselines, force the engine to do enough work so that the next-gen consoles can pump out a beautiful image, and provide more growth room so that on the PC there is still a max that most people can't utilize just yet.

They can include more DX11 flourishes since it's the standard for next-gen; they can change more how much is tesselated (not much at this time); they can tweak lighting and shading; they can add a number of things and call it 2.5. They can also do the most minimal of tweaks, practically changing nothing, and call it 2.5.

The one new addition to the engine they can add without doing anything else and calling it 2.5, and I'd be happy to accept? Editor Tools
Just think: a new Battlefield that supports a mod community. I would LOVE it.


Otherwise, I also realize they can't go and do too much just yet. They can bump the baseline up due to new consoles, but I expect they won't because they still want to support the older consoles and the older PCs.
I'm curious if they would make it DX11-only for PC - there really is hardly any reason to even support DX10 at this time. DX9 support is the big hot-button issue, but for a game/engine like this, it's pointless (though I think it's used on the current consoles).

They can add to the top-end of the visual spectrum, but I wonder if they would bump up the minimum requirements. Must be 64bit, perhaps? More RAM, perhaps more VRAM?

 

[uclaLabrat]

DX11 only is my call, the new consoles will be running it, might as well go all out.

 

[TheSlamma]

DX11 only is my call, the new consoles will be running it, might as well go all out.

BF3 already is, it's not a port to PC

 

[destrekor]

BF3 already is, it's not a port to PC

BF3 on PC supports DX10 as well.

They should force DX11 - there are optimization improvements that can definitely help, and they can get the engine to do a few more tricks knowing that they don't have to worry about it breaking support for older systems incapable of running DX11.