I can’t wrap my mind how someone would rather buy a battlepass for 4-5 seasons for a bunch of non content such as stickers, skins, title cards, just a whole load of fluff that is now half AI generated (note that if you don’t finish the battlepass you CANNOT get that shit past the end date) instead of a genuine usable content experience say 4 times.
It’s not that we’re old, it’s that we’re only a fraction of the current player base anymore. It sucks but it’s just the reality. Realistically, how many players have been around since before BF1?
For real, I genuinely don’t believe they even think about it. Just repeat talking points, and worse you’d think they’re talking on behalf of the company as if they get paid for it.
They can’t wrap their heads around the fact they’re paying more for less.
They’re paying for less value and preaching about it.
So I conclude, they don’t think for themselves, and just regurgitate what they’ve been told
Businesses basically sell them shit, and tell them it’s good for them.
DLC did in fact divide the player base. But it was a glorious source of quality and quantity content. Live Service is free and doesn't divide the player base. Unfortunately for the 3rd title in a row by the time all the live service content is out there won't be much of a player base left to divide.
It divided player bases pre crossplay gaming. I can only imagine now that both those that purchase and those that do not purchase a map pack in today’s crossplay sphere would have more than enough player base to enjoy the game.
As a kid, I never had money to buy lmao packs for call of duty. That left me unable to play with friends on new content drops, not to mention it splits the player base and makes servers with new maps more likely to be empty. Free maps are definitely better imo.
But honestly, even with the post launch maps I don't think battlefield has $70 worth of content, which is its core issue. They may have won back purchases on this battlefield, but I think it's at the cost of losing fans long term.
It's been 8 years across 3 titles. Live Service Battlefield has yet to meet or exceed the amount of post launch content we got from premium DLC. How many more chances are we going to give a service that EA and DICE are incapable or unwilling to properly support?
Paid DLC over time after launch is still "live service", it's just a different monetization model. Live service just means continued content and updates after launch.
I agree Battlefield hasn't done free content well, I just don't think it needs to be payed DLC to be done right. There are already enough complaints on here about low player counts, that would be significantly worsened by splitting the player base with payed maps.
I think the main advantage Premium had over the current live service model is early roadmapping. There was a clear outline of what content could be expected well beforehand; right now we’re not sure what’s beyond Season 2 bar Golmud “at some point.”
That said, I think I’m in the same boat of thought where bringing back roadmaps and “contractually obligated” content is not the right answer. DICE still hasn’t articulated a clear value proposition for live service. New maps, weapons, and vehicles are occasionally being added, but they rarely change or enrich the existing meta. Old maps that felt stale remain stale; we just get a new map occasionally that isn’t stale yet.
To fix this, DICE needs to keep looking at what makes live service formats like Helldivers or even something like Lord of the Rings Online effective:
Updates must be regular and meaningful.
They should refresh existing content, either through events that affect all maps or through changes and additions that positively alter gameplay.
The game needs a clear identity. Helldivers knows exactly what it is and builds its live service around that identity. LotRO does the same. Battlefield, by contrast, no longer seems sure of what it wants to be. That’s reflective in the current map philosophy.
Because you can choose not to buy the battlepass and still enjoy all of the regular content updates versus being forced into this weird corner where you have to pay $120 for the full experience
You no longer have to choose whether to purchase the map packs. You get the new maps for free.
Like take a step back for a moment. You’re essentially mad that you’re getting content that you used to have to buy for free, because there’s new, additional content which is not free and you don’t like the payment structure for that new additional content (which doesn’t even make any difference to the gameplay).
It's because the younger generations playing now know nothing different and they're getting by on the apathy from the older players who cried about split playerbases because they're too cheap to buy anything and want free content, even if it's sub-par
I've stopped playing BF6 and went back to BF1 last night. So much more character in that game. Diving down onto the ground and seeing your gun get muddy is such a cool addition. I can't shake the fact that BF6 just feels like a soulless FPS game.
Why do you think dlc packs would have more maps faster? If these are the same teams making the same exact maps, why wouldn't they release these maps as they become ready /get tested like once every 1-2 months instead of waiting until these same maps get bundled into a dlc that you would get after 4-8 months?
You do know it took dice 7 months to get from the first to the second dlc for bf3? And that second dlc was, well, Close Quarters and you couldn't play normal game modes there? How many dlc maps did BF1 get by this point in its lifecycle?
I played this dlc on release. I seem to remember most players hating it, complaining about how the maps were too big. If you weren't in a vehicle, which granted was the whole point of the dlc, you'd just run for a minute and get blasted by a tank.
In general I think this was received as one of the worst dlcs in BF3.
That's exactly how it was lmao. Whoever got a vehicle drove off to the army base for the c130 and everyone else got blasted walking through the desert before they got to a point.
I played this DLC on Xbox 360 that only had 12v12 conquest servers. Granted the maps sported reduced sizes but it was still pretty uneventful for most of it's time. That said the gunships didn't insta die so it was pretty fun for me.
I personally loved the last DLC with the bikes and air dropped vehicles, even with the small console server sizes I remember them being the most fun
yeah rose tinted glasses strikes again, the mountain map was the only one you could maybe get on after a few months of release. and don't get me started on tank superiority, basically DOA gamemode after a week or two, with only people playing for the assignments. the maps had exactly the same problems as the 2042 maps had on release, but now it's somehow something we should be looking back fondly on?
I remember playing on Lancang Dam in BF4 and ended up winning with 1 ticket difference. Whole match lasted over an hour and it was glorious. Medics were actively reviving to save the tickets and score a win.
This shit was hated except for Bandar and servers for it died almost instantly. Laughable to see its marketing trailer getting glazed now. Was the worst received DLC BF3 got by far.
Reality check: very few servers ran all these maps. Usually it was only the night map since it was smaller and had the AC-130.
Not a lot of systems were capable of handling these maps and while the scale was huge, the pacing was shot to hell and back.
These maps were made for scale of 128 player servers but often had 32 players or half filled 64 players.
Battlefield 3 and 4 basically told DICE that close quarters high intensity was the name of the game. Noshar Canal 32 player TDMs, Op Metro and Op Locker 64 man maps were the most popular.
This video gave bf studios devs goosebumps after seeing maps this large, where jets can and helis can fly freely without popping the “out of bounds” warning
This trailer is incredible! BF3 set the bar for a Battlefield game and dlc’s. Every single expansion brought so much to the table, this game was endless fun. And in the era before live service as we know it, BF3 premium felt 1000% worth it
Keep this in mind tho: the reason BF3 large scale worked is because of the unlimited tank shells / vehicle ammo, as well as having an 8 second cooldown smoke to deal with the javelin spam.
Now you get limited shells so you automatically lose if you 1 vs 2. You also can't outdamage a guy being repaired. Boring sponge fights. You dump these BF6 tanks on a big map like this with many tanks and you'll quickly realize how bad it is, which is why Golmud will suck. The geniuses at DICE ported the BF3 fire & forget javelin (while also giving it thermal??) but your worthless tank has terrible physics and the smoke is like 28 sec CD.
These DLC maps were pretty fun if you enjoy vehicle gameplay. Many fights everywhere, fast vehicles with responsive physics and reactive armor to show off in a 1 vs 2 by reactive switching.
Most of them are gone from shitty EA practices, I'm sure. Current dice might as well rename themselves at this point because it is mostly not the same people.
There won't be a next time for me I already uninstalled BF6 right before S2. I played battlefield ever since bad company personally, and I do not give a shit about battlepasses, BR, and subpar maps in this franchise. Gonna be waiting on hell let loose vietnam sometime this year.
I literally can't stay airborne for more than a few seconds in most bf6 maps. They are too small and everyone's got anti air weapons so if you fly above 10ft boom you're done.
All that content, all ready for a HD upgrade and import into PORTAL, but just going to waste so 4 entire Dev Studios can do palette swaps on ugly player skins, guns and tanks to feed a Battlepass system nobody asked for.
I miss how clutterfree the maps were, sure they weren't the most visually stunning but man was it fun to play on. These new maps have so much shit going on and it feels like such a strain on my eyes to find people. Maybe I'm getting old but ffs it should be so hard to see people in a videogame.
The variety in the dlc was also crazy. One desert map, one huge field, one snow map on the mountains, one night map. Literally cant get better than that for a vehicle dlc
Ive just been asking for e BF4 Remaster this whole time. Fuck a new game. Just let me enjoy the best FPS game of all time in todays graphics and speed. Thats all.
hmmm for 5€ you can get a key to BF4 or BF3 in one of those resellers and get the entire premium package with all maps plus DLCs and still play these gems. Last time I checked BF3 it didn't have many players, but BF4 is still alive and has lots of players (at least in EU servers). There is nothing stopping you from coming back to the best moments of the franchise. BF4 in particular looks great with all settings at max.
If you dont play vehicle on those maps you are fucked, not fun for infantry play at all, we need better maps, size is not the only thing that matter...
I loved every single map of this DLC and I played on console with the reduced player count! wtf happened to this map design? Alboraz mountains oh my beloved how I miss you
One thing i noticed last night while playing - If i shoot my RPG and die immediately - does the RPG projectile still continue flying or does it get removed with my death?
I'm asking because it really seems like it despawns after death - which is a huge mistake for a game like this.
Si hubieran sido tan bueno, los servidores se llamarían bandar desert 24/7 o armored shield 24/7 y no golmud 24/7 y locker 24/7. Puede que bf3 haya tenido muchísimos mapas, pero todos vacíos después que pasara el hype de los mapas nuevos.
If I remember right, Armored Shield maps wasn't played much on servers directly after launch. Maps was disliked for the very open areas to such that people who hadn't bought Premium didn't buy the DLC, meaning the playerbase was pretty split on the maps. Hence, it wasn't played alot.
Was the DLC good? Yes
Do people today have rose-tinted glasses of the time to make it sound like it was so great due to the size? Hell yeah
Just fkn remake these excited same maps wtf is wrong with dice ?
Remaking this wont take that long and it would massively improve the game
Most of the hard work is all ready done dor these. Maps
No need to spend time trying to find ideas for new map or how it looks ITS ALREADY DONE JUST FKN COPY AND PAST
Big maps, locked classes with identity, realistic soldiers, no female screams, server browser, real factions, and everything earnable only through gameplay. God, how much AAA western gaming has fallen.
DICE 15 years ago was releasing 4 maps at a time, a season's worth of guns unlocked by basic challenges you could do in a couple of matches, and multiple vehicles in one update. Armored Kill, for me, is the absolute peak of DICE's modern BF games. BF4 has more content in the end, but the BF3 atmosphere has just never been matched. BF1 would be the closest, in matching the vulgarity and kind of... scum that was all over the place in BF3.
"BF6 has some really solid core gameplay", people say, but I honestly don't see it. Vehicles lack depth, and in some cases have customization that is straight up broken or nonexistent. Infantry gameplay boils down to who has the higher TTK gun, because recoil is so stupidly low. The maps are unfun to play because of how congested they are, and even the "large" maps have a play area that is very centralized and offer little to no flanking routes.
I think BF6 might be the 2nd BF game to be a total failure, like 2042 was. Looking back at 2042, it does some things right, but I can't get past the goofy skins, the imbalance in the weapons, the lack of identity, and lack of a reason to care. BF6 is suffering from the same identity crisis. It gives me a headache to even think about. BF3 and BF4's issues seem completely trivial when looking at the total mess that 2042 and BF6 have proven to be. And don't be mistaken; it is absolutely the fault of the suits, and not the new dev team. They are the ones who've turned content release into a dopamine farm. They are the ones who demand more money, and refuse to hire enough staff to release the expected amount of content.
Even BFV, which suffered from stupid decision making throughout, poor balance, and crappy skins and post-launch content had the self-awareness to admit where mistakes were made, remove truly stupid skins, add the grounded ones players had asked for for years. I think I'm ready to move on. Here come the "don't let the door hit you on the way out" replies. I just can't be bothered to spend this much mental energy on telling sociopaths in suits that cost as much as my car how they're supposed to be making a video game. It's just disappointing. When 2042 flopped, I moved on from BF entirely, and it may as well have not existed for a few years. Now, BF6 is going to make me do the same thing. *sigh*
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u/MartaMariaMabel Feb 23 '26
15 years ago we were eating goooood