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

[zerocool84]

So Oct 25 official. Gives enough time for the refresh of video cards to come out. I'm sure my 5870 would still be able to run it decently at 1080 but I'll definitely buy a new card just to play BF3 so I can have everything turned up.

 

[scooterlibby]

This rig was built in anticipation of BF3 (and Crysis 2, but that did not turn out to be the graphical marvel I had hoped). I think I can max everything at 1920x1200. Hell, I almost hope I can't.

 

[minmaster]

i hope that runs it maxed out, why would you almost hope it can't?

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

If the graphics are so good that 580 SLI and a 2500k can't max it, then it probably means it's just poorly optimized, lol. BUt I know what you mean, that you hope it's literally so good it genuinely can't run it max even though it is optimized.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Planet Battlefield's E3 Day 3 round-up:

Battlefield 3 E3 Day 3 Wrap Up
17:24 PST | ^Scott^
E3 2011 has come to an end and Battlefield 3 was one of the biggest games of the show, if not THE biggest. I think it says something when people are willing to wait 4+ hours in line just to play the game for 20-30 minutes.

We are in the process of writing up our report on the trip and Battlefield 3 as well as posting up pictures. Meanwhile, here is a wrap up of today's Battlefield 3 news.

GT Video Interview w/ Patrick Söderlund
Console Footage Next Thursday
GameSpot Patrick Bach Interview
Pixel Enemy Hands-on Recap
Xzibit Playing BF3
Video of BF3 Line
31 Best of EA Nominations, 1 Win
Gamestar Interview w/ Patrick Söderlund
EA & Razer to Create BF3 Accessories
Battlefieldo Chat w/ Zh1nt0
Frostbite 2 Engine Commentary (Stream)
Hands-On - Neowin
Playing the Battlefield Theme on Google
NVIDIA Interview w/ Patrick Söderlund

 

[Red Hawk]

I'm sure you guys have already heard this, but since it's not been posted in this thread yet: Did you hear that apparently Kotick wanted to play BF3 at E3 and got repulsed? Lol.

He wanted to get into a private showing of the game and EA wouldn't let him. Good call on EA's part, the last thing they want is Kotick coming out and claiming that his (MW3) is better based on the private showing.

 

[zerocool84]

He wanted to get into a private showing of the game and EA wouldn't let him. Good call on EA's part, the last thing they want is Kotick coming out and claiming that his (MW3) is better based on the private showing.

It's like letting the opponent in the playoffs see your practice session before the game.

 

[minmaster]

he could've just waited in line just like everyone else

 

[GullyFoyle]

This looks like an interesting post by zh1nt0 in the EA UK forums.
The version I see has lost some of it's original formatting, so it may be confuse the meaning a little (I guessed at some of it). I will try to fix it up tonight.

Edit: this looks like the original source (not zh1nt0)

Daniel Matros wrote on 2011-06-10 @ 09:02 in the forums:
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Beta Date: September 2011 (Multi-Platform)
Development Stage: Pre-Alpha

Game Engine: Frostbite 2.0
Audio: All new recordings
Motion Capture: EA Sports’ ANT
Computer Specs used to demo:
Video card: GTX 580

Preorder Bonuses:
Back to Karkand Expansion Pack
Physical Warfare Pack (UK)
Type 88 LMG (Exclusive Weapon)
DAO-12 Shotgun (Day 1 Access)
Flash Suppressor (Exclusive Weapon Mod for SKS sniper rifle)
Flechette Ammo (Exclusive Ammo)
Physical Warfare Pack (US)
TBA


Expansions:
Back to Karkand
--Four re-mastered BF2 maps
--Wake Island
--Strike at Karkand
--Gulf of Oman
--Sharqi Peninsula
--Classic BF2 weapons and vehicles
--Unique rewards
--New achievements and trophies
Download Content:
--TBA – Three times the DLC of BFBC2
Genre: First Person Shooter

Locations:
North America
Europe
Middle East


Game Modes:
Campaign
Co-Op
Multiplayer (Conquest, Rush, Team Deathmatch, and more?)
Regular and Hardcore modes

Military Forces:
US Marines
PLR (People’s Liberation and Resistance)
Russia

Game Features:
64 Player Multiplayer (PC) and 24 Player Multiplayer (Consoles)
Battle Log (social networking)
--Real-time Stats Tracking (updates within seconds)
--Talk to other players
--Create Platoons (clans)
--And more
Dedicated servers through Server Providers
DX 11 Support
Eyefinity Support
Features land, air, and sea vehicles (Tanks, LAV, Transports, Helicopters, Jets, and etc)
Supports lone wolf and teamplay

Unconfirmed “Community WANTED” Features:
--Battle Recorder or any In-Game Recording
--Commo-Rose
--Mod Tools
--Public Server Files

New to BF Gameplay Features/Mechanics (or things in older BF games not in BC2):
3D Spotting (new form, TBA)
4 man squad, including a Squad Leader
Squad Respawning details
--Displays countdown timer of how long until a squad member can respawn and on who
--Squad spawning only on Squad Leader
Bipods
--Just zoom in next to a mountable environment and bipod automatically deploys
--Reduced aiming angles, but more accuracy
Death screen stats
--How many you killed? How many times you’ve killed them and they killed you?
--When you die you can see how much health your killer has left
Drag fallen soldiers to safety (single-player only?)
Equip-able knife and quick-knifing
More dramatic animation
2 knife swipes to kill from the front (think Counter Stirke’s right mouse click)
Falling debris can injury/kill soldiers
--Currently does no damage to vehicles except for soldiers exposed to the elements
Firing modes: Single, Burst, and Auto
Hold breath while in sniper scope
--Mega swaying after you let go of hold breath key
--More sway in general use
Hold down left mouse button to revive players
--Can opt out of being revived
--After a medic uses defibrillators on a dead solider they then get the option to revive or die and respawn (Think Brink’s revive syringe)
Immobilizing vehicles
--Vehicles will become immobilized prior to explosion to allow crew members to escape or an engineer to repair
Kill Cam (new form, TBA)
Mantling over objects
Mounting weapons to any flat surface
Picking up kits button is different from arming objectives
--So you don’t pick up a bunch of dead soldier kits next to an MCOM without ever arming it (BC2)
Prone
Balance Check: A sniper’s scope will reflect sunlight giving away their position
Balance Check: Going prone and leaving prone will take some time (no dolphin diving)
Shooting out light sources to darken environment
Sliding
Steal enemy dog tags via stealth knife kills
Dog tag customization
Suppression
--Blurs screen and other effects to discourage enemies from firing back
Weapon attachments
Disorientate enemies with attached flashlights

Classes:

Rifleman – Job is to be a frontline soldier and medic. Carries an assault rifle.
Engineer – Job is to destroy enemy vehicles and repair friendly assets. Carries a sub-machine gun.
Recon/Sniper – Job is to provide long range support and set traps with explosives. Carries a sniper rifle.
Support – Job is to provide suppressing fire and ammo resupply. Carries a machine gun.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

"2 knife swipes to kill from the front "

At last, the aimbot knife can't be used as an insta kill around the corner weapon that lets you knife through a hail of bullets.

Unless you can swipe faster than I presume, but...nah...surely not.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Battlefield 3 hands on impressions by d0n7bl1nk

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Battlefield 3 hands on impressions by d0n7bl1nk

Hm. Those guys seemed convinced that the squad leader changes based on performance, and they aren't the only ones who have been saying that, but Demize specifically stated that the squad leader is who makes the squad and it doesn't change.

Maybe they just did that for the demo so people could take turns being SL.

 

[JTsyo]

This looks like an interesting post by zh1nt0 in the EA UK forums.
The version I see has lost some of it's original formatting, so it may be confuse the meaning a little (I guessed at some of it). I will try to fix it up tonight.

Edit: this looks like the original source (not zh1nt0)

I would have preferred 6 man squads like old. Much easier to get a well rounded squad.
Hope squad leader could toss out spawn beacon like in 2142.
Knife change is welcomed. Hope bullets will knock someone back that's charging with a knife.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Hm. Those guys seemed convinced that the squad leader changes based on performance, and they aren't the only ones who have been saying that, but Demize specifically stated that the squad leader is who makes the squad and it doesn't change.

Maybe they just did that for the demo so people could take turns being SL.

In BF2 if the existing squad leader quits, another person is "randomly" (rules unknown) assigned. That was my guess what happened.

 

[Termie]

In BF2 if the existing squad leader quits, another person is "randomly" (rules unknown) assigned. That was my guess what happened.

I'm not sure it was entirely random. I seem to recall that it may have been based on how well a particular player was doing. I'd say that's probably still the fairest way to select a new squad leader, since doing so based on how long they've been playing could stick you with a player that's been hiding in the bushes the whole time, and doing so based on position on the map, as suggested in the posted video, seems really arbitrary. I don't think the game can or should be allowed to determine what your best position is.

 

[Spg1]

So from what I have read the single player is all scripted missions like COD and nothing like BF2 where you can run around using anything you want to cap flags.

Is this true?

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I'm not sure it was entirely random. I seem to recall that it may have been based on how well a particular player was doing. I'd say that's probably still the fairest way to select a new squad leader, since doing so based on how long they've been playing could stick you with a player that's been hiding in the bushes the whole time, and doing so based on position on the map, as suggested in the posted video, seems really arbitrary. I don't think the game can or should be allowed to determine what your best position is.

I don't see a point to worrying about a complex system. People join squads with their friends, and one particular person is often the squad leader by choice. Especially considering the SL has to stay back and stay alive, it does not necessarily need to be based on any statistic. You can measure kills and kd/r with stats but you can't measure whether or not a squad leader makes effective decisions when deciding where and how to attack.

And besides, half the time if a squad leader leaves mid-round, it's a linkdead issue, and he'll be back to assume leadership again. And in the meantime, whenever our intended squad leader leaves, if we get stuck with a bush wookiee as the random new leader, we leave and form a new one with a squad leader who intends to play like a squad leader.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

So from what I have read the single player is all scripted missions like COD and nothing like BF2 where you can run around using anything you want to cap flags.

Is this true?

Uh...BF2 didn't have a single player. The ability to load up a so-called "single player" and fight bots was essentially an emergency provision to plug the hole. And so far as we know, BF3 will not let you open up a single player map against bots, no.

 

[GullyFoyle]

So from what I have read the single player is all scripted missions like COD and nothing like BF2 where you can run around using anything you want to cap flags.

Is this true?

This is true. They have been open and clear on this.

 

[Spg1]

So not even using coop against bots to play by yourself? That sucks.

Oh well, thanks for the info.

 

[Bill Brasky]

So not even using coop against bots to play by yourself? That sucks.

Oh well, thanks for the info.

Well there will be a coop, but I haven't seen many details on what it actually is. I assume you won't be able to play coop by yourself.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Well there will be a coop, but I haven't seen many details on what it actually is. I assume you won't be able to play coop by yourself.

My understanding is, there will be coop missions on 10 maps from the single player game. Only two people at a time.

 

[scooterlibby]

If the graphics are so good that 580 SLI and a 2500k can't max it, then it probably means it's just poorly optimized, lol. BUt I know what you mean, that you hope it's literally so good it genuinely can't run it max even though it is optimized.

Yeah exactly. It's kind of a pipe dream, but I miss when a game came out and literally nothing could max it out for a bit (I can't claim to have enough coding knowledge to wade into whether or not those games were optimized well ). It seemed to push things forward.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

With Origin (EA steam) around I wonder if the only digital version will be from Origin. I could easily see this being like the orange box that requires origin.

 

[GullyFoyle]

With Origin (EA steam) around I wonder if the only digital version will be from Origin. I could easily see this being like the orange box that requires origin.

They sure aren't doing anything to dispel that rumor, either. I already have it pre-ordered from Direct2drive.
They have already said that Origin will have some sort of exclusive for orders from them, probably a Physical Warfare Pack. No need to rush in to ordering it, wait and see what they offer. It's not like they are going to stop taking pre-orders...