Windows BF3 boycott due to preorder DLC in Full swing

Glad to see there are people out there sane enough to see beyond the misinformation and ********-mongering that went on at reddit. I certainly _won't_ be cancelling my pre-order considering the amount of effort and money that has gone into making BF3 a PC-centric release. If this is how the PC community treats Dice and EA for actually caring enough to make a game that breaks away from the trend of consolified crap that has been dominating for the last few years, I'm somewhat ashamed to be part of that community... people really need to get a grasp of the bigger picture and stop shitting on a developer and publisher that are doing them a massive favour.

 

There's a distinction between 'tiered' in the sense that weapons/items have to be unlocked progressively in a level up/ranking system (thus potentially being available to ALL users) and 'tiered' in the sense of never being available to some users (ie you pay for extra choice/advantage). This is inherently unfair, both in principle and in this example, for online FPS games! REGARDLESS of how crap the lmg is. I cant see - like the huge 93% of people in the EA thread on this matter - how this is anything but a shockingly bad idea.

BTW, people are saying boycott the PREORDER not the whole game. Obviously the only way to compel EA to change their stance on this is to either contact them, which they have been numerously in the past couple of days (hence why they have responded saying it wont effect game balance etc), or if enough preorders were cancelled for them to notice it in their boardroom.

 

This

+1 Dice and EA, not so great on charging for DLC, but Vietnam on BC2 was pretty decent and I enjoyed it.

BF3 has made Activision shat themselves which is nice as well. More than that, they want to charge people every month!

 

Giving people items which actually gave a true competitive advantage would be a bad idea. Giving people items which add a little variety as a thank you for having the faith to preorder is neither unfair nor a bad idea. If the LMG, for example, is crap or no better than any of the other LMGs that everyone gets access to what difference does it make if some people get it? Why would it be any different from having exclusive model skins? This campaign is nothing more than an orchestrated whine based on misinformation and assumptions and has nothing to do with trying to 'improve' things for gamers.

 

I can't believe people care this much, do they have jobs?

It's only slightly different from having the M1 Garand in BC2 if you've owned previous games. What was annoying about that was being teamkilled so 'team mates' could have access to it after picking up your kit.

If you don't like this pre-order DLC then don't buy it, kill someone in game who has it and pick up their kit.

Job done.

 

Hmm. Bearing in mind that people who play the BF series are going to buy this game anyway:

1) Pre-order game, get £10 off and get a bunch of free stuff that really doesn't look as though it'll affect the gameplay in any way.

2) Don't pre-order game, pay £10 more and don't get free stuff. But you get to stick it to EA apparently, who in my book has been pretty well behaved recently and are responsible for the awesomeness that is the Dead Space and Mass Effect series.

Hell, I wasn't even thinking about BF3 until someone mentioned this boycott. I might actually get it now (pre-order) as it looks quite pretty. Anyone know if it's coming out on Steam?

 

@Pete J: Considering how "soon" EA games are on Steam before the release, you have to wait few months. The game has a launch date and the end of October anyway. So it will show up on Steam in September or October.

 

Best. Solution. Ever.

 

But you don't understand, people with these items will have a huge advantage over you so you'll never be able to kill them to be able to pick up their kit!!1!111

 

I'll concede that there is a slight difference between the two, and were the DLC overpowered then you'd be "paying for power", something which i don't agree with.

However who's to say that you'll "never" be able to have access to that content? EA are saying that at the moment simply to respect Game and/or to not discourage players from holding off.

I think once you/we have unlocked everything else and then it's still not available then it'd be more annoying/significant. And even then, you'd probably have weapons/mods that outclass the DLC stuff anyways.

No offense, but as stated before Internet Statistics are one of the least accurate statistics to quote.

Especially in this instance because the only people QQ'ing at the moment are those who take up issue... those who are unaffected don't care enough to vote the majority of times.

However i shall play your internet statistics game:

a) It's a reasonable assumption that the BC2 community will be interested in BF3.

b) At this moment in time there are 2,885,778 players registered for the PC on BFBCS. TBH because i'm a fan of easy Maths i'll round that up to 3,000,000 (it's within ±5%) to also take into account those who didn't buy BC2. LINK

c) According to here, "Almost 3,000 Battlefield 3 fans voiced their discontent". Easy Maths mode, let's say that's 3,000.

d) Internet statistics say 3,000 QQers in a community of 3,000,000 makes you 0.1% of the community. And even if i didn't fiddle with the numbers to make it easier, you're still less than 1% of the community.

Internet statistics Cheesecake i say.

Well that's an even more ridiculous idea i say then.

It's one thing to QQ about the Physical Warfare Pack (boycott buying from Game/Gamestation instead), but about Karkand as well?

As DICE have stated, it's to reward loyal Battlefield fans who are pledging their support to BF3 early. Karkand will be its own separate game mode so it affects noone.

Also, if you boycott the pre-order and then QQ about Karkand not being free then suck it up. You had your chance, and deal with the fact that they didn't simply delay it by a few months and then charge everyone for it like BC2: Vietnam (not saying they delayed that, but with regards to retailing it as an expansion).

 

Oh sorry my bad, I didn't realise you got the Redeemer from Unreal Tournament as part of the pre-order DLC.

MAN AH HAETZ EA NOW.

 

Cool, I'll look into it then

Yeah, the 'phased deflection shield', 'thermoptic camouflage' and 'seeking shotgun rounds' will turn them into an unstoppable, unseeable killing machine .

 

Stop talking drivel about internet stats when you can just LOOK with your eyes at the outrage EAs decision has caused. They even responded, hence acknologedging that this kind of thing is a touchy and big issue. (don't have to post this again but you are clearly and rightly in the minority on this: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/6801802.page)

 

Don't post internet statistics to your advantage when you're unwilling to accept statistics that contradict your own then.

The fact that you even think that you have the majority of votes is painfully laughable and just shows how narrow minded you are with regards to things.

It's painfully obvious that the entire BF3 community does not simply comprise of the 3000 players that you're trying to imply (and that's with all the voters added up).

IMO my statistics were much more reliable than yours since i can assume that the majority of people who care have voted, and the majority of people don't care (i.e. the rest of the actual player base).

Thus i repeat myself, 3,000 QQers in a sea of 3,000,000 Players.

 

I like how so many people have to resort to personal attacks and insults to get their point across here - On both sides of the argument. Grow the **** up the lot of you.
You may think you seem mature and level-headed by calling each other names and talking about 'drivel' or 'whining' but all you do is undermine your own arguments and come across as angry internet keyboard warriors.
Some of the posts above aren't surprising at all - The posters frequently act like antisocial dicks here when people disagree with them, but others are just disappointing to see.

It isn't just about gameplay balance nor is it solely about the money difference. It's about fairness and consumer choice.
I want to able to choose where to buy the game, not be forced into buying from a specific retailer just to get the complete package - Especially if none of the retailers where I live are offering it.
Or maybe I just want to buy the game when I can afford it instead of preordering it when I can't.
Or maybe I'm just sick of the supposed 'value add' concept of DLC when we all bloody know that most DLC is developed alongside the games and artificially stripped out and delayed for the sake of adding to the base price and gouging the consumer; especially when we used to get it for free when the games industry wasn't being manhandled by corporate pricks quite as much.

Yes it's a matter of principle. Are we all to piss on our principles for the sake of going with the flow and not 'whining'? That kind of attitude is what got us where we are today in the games industry, being raped and gouged by publishers on almost every new release because the majority of consumers just don't give a shite.
Are we to roll over and suck it up just because we're afraid the publishers will turn around and say "You guys whine too much, no more PC games for you"?
That's spineless and that is what would make me ashamed to be a PC Gamer, not standing up for my rights as a conscientious consumer.
There's a difference between "complaining about everything" or "never being happy" and being frustrated at getting a raw deal for the sake of some marketing.

 

Does an extra LMG, a flash supressor and some flechette ammo (the latter two only being able to be used on one specific gun each) really add that much to the game that you feel it'd be incomplete if you didn't have it? Personally I couldn't care less about the Physical Warfare Pack, i'll probably end up with it because Game is currently the cheapest place for me to preorder it from but I can't see myself ever actually using the items to any real degree. And if later down the line it turns out I can get it cheaper elsewhere then i'll do without the PWP and save myself a bit of cash.

And as for 'Back to Karkand' i've never seen any info to suggest it was going to be anything other than a paid for extra which will be released at some point after the release of BF3. Now if EA want to give it to me for free if I preorder (which I would have done regardless) then i'm not really all that fussed by it.

What principle or rights are you sticking up for? The right to demand you get given free stuff for the entire lifetime of a game? How is getting stuff for free if you preorder giving the customer a raw deal for the sake of marketing? This campaign has nothing to do with people gettin a raw deal or the idea of getting 'Back to Karkand' and possibly some bonus items for free being detrimental to the consumer. It's about finding something to complain about and then complaining about it for the sake of complaining. If the Limited Edition was more expensive than a standard edition that you could also preorder then there might have been a point but the fact is for all intents and purposes the Limited Edition is the standard edition and you're simply getting additional stuff for free as a thank you for preordering.

 

i wanted to ask ask why would you want a flash suppressor its not sound suppressor it just hids the flash. a sound suppressor hids the flash and dampens the sounds frankly speaking there is no point boycotting and i'll probably just borrow the game of my friend who doesn't play online , just plays single player

 

This is all back to front. The whole pre-order system is against customer choice. If you want to be an educated consumer why would you possibly pre-order a game when it's not in your interest.

I'm really confused as to why those who don't care about pre-orders are so passionate about arguing for exclusive pre-order DLC (vendor specific or not) when you're not getting anything in return.

The people saying boycott the pre-order are a lot less evangelical than those telling them they're dumb. All we're saying is we think this deal is a reason not to pre-order. No one really gives a damn about the PKM, one shitty useless attachment, or a vaguely interesting shotgun round.

All I'm interested to know is why anyone would rush out to a terrible shop like GAME to preorder, thus getting DLC that no one really seems to care about.


I suspect the world is jam packed with frothy mawed raving morons. I can see no other explanation.

 

Can someone clarify?

Is the expansion pack with the extra 3 maps/weapons a dedicated mode where only people who have purchased the pack play together or is it integrated into the full game where BF3 players and the expansion pack players play together with their extra weapons?

If so, this reminds me when EA did this back with BF2 and Special Forces which was unfair!

 

Yup. Some of the most fun I had in BFBC2 was when using my M1 Garand at a low rank - Something I wouldn't be able to do if I hadn't already bought the other BF games earlier and 'earned' a veteran rank on my EA account. As a BF fan living in Ireland I'm apparently denied the complete package because the retailers here haven't made a deal with EA. I don't care if the weapons are crap or overpowered, I'm still not getting the same game for my moneya as someone who chose (or has the option) to buy the game at one of the select retailers.

It's a combination of being impotently frustrated at the changes in the games industry between now and 10 years ago; and being more justifiably frustrated at seeing the change in DLC development policies even in just the past couple of years.
Companies like iD and Epic used to produce free map packs, content patches and addons for their games just to support them and to thank their fans. Now everything outside of the core game is snapped up by publishers and given a price tag and the 'DLC' title as if it's something we're supposed to be happy about getting as loyal fans instead of something that we so often have to pay more for, often in the region of 25% of the core game's price.

Footage has shown that Back To Karkand is already in development during BF3's development cycle, meaning it's all part of a moneymaking roadmap. It used to be, a year or two ago, that DLC was the content the devs didn't manage to squeeze into the normal development cycle and was developed after the game went gold or after its public release. A way to keep interest in the game after its initial release surge while allowing publishers to make a little extra money from the developers' work. We used to get that stuff for free, we don't now, fair enough - I accept that even if I detest the way this industry has changed.
Now however, DLC is being developed during the game's own development and unquestionably at the expense of the core game in terms of development time, yet they charge extra for it after the release if you weren't 'loyal' enough to pre-order the game before getting to read reviews or waiting for any of the other justifiable reasons for not plonking down money before the game is even out.

The stuff isn't 'free', you're just being given the stuff for free if you show your 'loyalty' and give up your chance to make an informed decision about purchasing the game after the reviews are out and its quality can be measured.
In this day and age of never getting demos I think that's a reasonable thing to be annoyed by.