News Battlefield 3 beta opens

Yeah Battlelog seems a bit odd - why have it external when it should be internal - however saying that i found it very easy to navigate and use. It was also very quick to join games. Yes i had to install a plugin - big deal it took 5 seconds!

the game:
Very jumpy/laggy my first few goes (around 5pm) making it pretty much unplayable however I left game and made sure my graphics drivers were up to date and restarted machine and went off to make dinner. Went back on around 7pm joined a UK server and game played fine.

I'm running a pretty good laptop but nothing compared to some of you guys. 2.53hz (6 MB Cache) Core 2 Duo, HD 4650 (1 Gig graphics), 6 gig ram, Windows 7 64 bit. I'm happy with the laptop and I'm certainly not going to change it just to get Ultra settings on a game - it's mainly a work laptop so think it's still got at least another year in it before i consider replacing it.

Graphics - set them at medium, looked good, around the same as BFBC2 I would say which is fine by me. I buy games for the gameplay more than the graphics. I do think the design/textures etc are better in BF3 than BFBC2 and I think the game overall looks a lot more realistic than BFBC2 but i can't put my finger on why...it's just evolved i guess and Frostbite 2 engine is doing what it set out to do.

Gameplay - I mainly play BFBC2 but i only play a couple of hours a week so am only on 17th rank. Doesn't bother me about always trying to rank up, i'll keep playing it as I enjoy it. i also still enjoy multiplayer on the old Call Of Dutys (2 and Modern Warfare 1) so i can't be bothered with the "ones better than the other " debate as they are different styles and thats preferential to whomever plays them. I personally prefer BFBC2. I have to say I was mighily surprised by the gameplay in BF3 - I didn't realise it would feel so different than BFBC2 but it felt a lot more real. Maybe it was the design layout of the level where it was easy to crawl within 5 metres of someone without being seen, the feel of the guns etc. I was loving the vaulting, very smooth. The map felt big and small at the same time - 32 players but sometimes you couldn't see any enemy - so this reflects the more mature/realistic nature of the game I suppose and it also means it fluctuates between deadly quiet and all out warfare in short bursts making it very intense and making you stay on your toes. This is a good thing.

I would say that you seem to get XP points for every single thing though and I think that needs to be calmed down...points for someone spawning on you? I suppose they are rewarding you staying alive but sometimes I was respawning after dieing only for someone else to respawn on me 2 seconds later giving me points...seems wrong.

A few other thoughts (some may see these as cons but i think they are less cons but just differences you have to get used to):
Team play: The map made it difficult to work as a team but this may be because it's full of people just playing the game to see what it's like instead of Battlefield players used to doing things the Battlefield way. or it's the nature of this indivdual map - I would guess Caspian border is better for team play as it's larger and more open but we won't know yet.
Loadouts: Again linked to team play I will have to get used to the new roles of soldiers - where in BFBC2 everything seemed quite defined (e.g. Medic, recon, assualt,engineer) the new loadouts mix this up a bit so will have to get used to that. not a bad thing but just something to get used to.
Weapons: didn't feel that different to each other but overall felt more refined and less forgiving than other Battlefield games. Sure my view will change when i start unlocking things.
Audio: Cant comment as couldn't be bothered setting up sound system and couldn't fine headphones so it was just coming through laptop speakers. BFBC2 audio was excellent though so I'd be surprised if this wasn't

Bad things:
BFBC2's squad sytem wasn't broken - they should of left it as is.
Map: We need to see a bigger map please - gameplay changes a lot in Battlefield games depending on which map you play, which to me is the beauty of them, - would like to paly vehicles and a larger map to get into some proper team playing.

Overall - mighty impressed. Some teething problems with Battlelog etc but this is a BETA. they probably won't change the battlelog system for launch as thats one of the things they have promoted a lot and it's in direct competition as a free version of MW3's new social network thing. If there is one thing they should change it's the squad management system so friends can play with friends...that's the most social aspect of these games not commenting on each others profiles on Battlelog.

 

Nice write up.

I'm with you on pretty much all of it.

Squad play does happen but only if you make the effort.

As i've been playing for a while now i've switched player type.
Everyone is a Medic/Assault! ok not all but a high %
You can rack up some really good points with it.
But only if you do it right.
Hardly anyone seems to be able to revive.

I've just unlock the UMP so i've added it as my Support gun.
Ammo points are great.
Lots of Blopers on moaning as well....

 

Yep, forgot about that one lol

 

Anyone having problems? Just done a fresh win7 install due to origin problems. Now I can't connect to games through battlelog. Of the three times I did get in game, two times it forgot to load the game up. I'm not having much luck with origin/alpha/beta its getting to the point where I'm considering selling my preorder. Which is in contrast to contemplating upgrading my rig (i7 920 / 5870 vaporx/ 64 c300) solely for this game a few days previous.

 

had a few problems with Origin to start with - not showing games etc - but just started it and closed it down a few times until it sorted itself out. Now it's fine. Use Google Chrome for Battlelog - it seems to prefer that to Firefox - and once you install the plugin you should restart the browser then reconnect to battlelog as that seems to sort a few niggles out.

You have to remember that this is a beta and these problems are the reason the run beta's - to see what problems people are having with all aspects of the game so they can be fixed prior to release. It's not a demo as such which a lot of people seem to forget, but at the same time I understand your frustration.

I believe EA are updating things in the Beta though to fix big issues so just keep trying for a few days...you can cancel your pre-order a couple of days before the release date so might as well not jump the gun before the end of the Beta testing.

 

Additionally, to those mentioning the map...

I saw yesterday that if you call up the map and press N twice it zooms in once, and then zooms out and shows pretty much the whole map. Though, it does not fill the screen, which is a bit of a kicker.

Will see how it works in release.

 

Yeah, the comments in that article are sadly hilarious. One thing that pisses me off about consoles and Macs is that it's technology without responsibility. I'm not saying everyone should get a Phd in computer science (lord knows I'll never have one of those,) but that you at least need to understand the basics.

You don't go out and buy a Toyota Corolla and then say "MY COROLLA HAS FOUR WHEELS AND AN ENGINE LIKE A BUGATTI VEYRON! THEY SHOULD PERFORM EXACTLY THE SAME!!!"

Oh, but my favourite comment was about the guy who said that consoles actually "saved" gaming because, well, games are getting shorter...but if everyone was focused on updating the hardware they'd be shorter still. Right. Because back in the late nineties, when the PC was king and hardware changed every six months, games were much, much shorter than modern ones. Never mind that it's the constant trade-in culture on the consoles that pushes shorter games.

 

No, I boycott Call of Duty games because they're ****.

 

Assault does seem to be the primary class at the moment but once you have tanks there'll be much more of a need for engies, I stopped playing engy tbh because the RPG is pointless and I refuse to run around using it on infantry.

Need to give support a proper go too, looking like that'll be tonight

 

I would absolutely love for there to be a map set in a built-up urban environment like one of the 2142 maps I've forgotten the name of. Can you imagine the havoc you could cause in a city with destruction?

 

You'll have to excuse my noobness about this but can some one tell me whether graphic settings affects ping? e.g. say you had a great graphics card and could cope with Ultra settings - would you need a better connection in general for it to work to it's best.

I'm presuming not but I was thinking about how much harder everything is working to give you those Ultra settings and whether this would affect anything - mainly affecting how quickly information can be sent and received. But then maybe it's a case of if oyu have good hardware it the same as having lower grade hardware running at a lower setting?

 

Short answer: yes.

Longer answer: sometimes. If your framerate resembles a slideshow then your ping will go up. I know this because I have, in the past, been auto-kicked from a game because my computer lagged so much my ping went through the roof.

But under normal circumstances I can't imagine any ping problems if you are running BF3 above 20fps.

 

Thanks Bede.

Also - does anyone else think the reason they released Metro as the beta level was as it was one of the smallest and most linear levels to not scare the CoD crowd too much?

I was trying to think as to why they had not released something a lot more Battlefield style like Caspian Border and thought that this is the most likely reason. If you let the CoD crowd who had never played Battlefield on to the Caspian Border level it might be too much of a change from what they are used to.

 

Now now leave the CoD crowd alone.....they cant help it

 

except not being able to see any f*cking thing

I pre-ordered my game from EB Games so I don't have access to the Beta. I didn't plan to play it but now that all my friends do, it's kind of annoying to wait

 

Knuck it's an open beta. Just download and install it o.0

@mongpong. Yes, just yes. I don't care really, as long as there's a mix of map types.

 

@Knuck - it's Open Beta - open being the main word here...it's OPEN to everyone now.

 

Loving the beta some flickering on screen when outside but other than that its all good and i dont mind running plugins and origin.

 

I just can't see this game making the changes it needs to in time for release.

I canceled my pre-order right after the alpha because I couldn't help but feel like I've already played bad company 2.

 

You should have played the Caspian Border map.... it truely is Battlefield 3....