Battlefield 3: Top 10 Things People Hate About BF3s Multiplayer

We’ve already covered why some people (namely me) hate Call of Duty’s multiplayer. Now, it’s CoD’s fiercest rival’s turn and of course, I’m talking about the Battlefield franchise.

You might or might not agree with what’s written below; but I’m guessing that most Battlefield players will be familiar with the gripes listed.

To clarify, this is not me hating on the Battlefield franchise, but just a few niggling issues the franchise/games face to this day. It’s fine to not agree with me, but to say I’m writing this on baseless facts is not. I’m a huge Battlefield fan and my countless hours with the franchise should prove that (don’t believe me? Battlelog username is excaliburps).

(Disclaimer: All views expressed here are from me only and does not represent Gameranx as a whole. I am basing the list on both Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 as they’re the most recent entries in the franchise. Same with the Call of Duty list, this article pertains to the console versions of the games). 

10) DICE and Patches

There’s a familiar saying when it comes to DICE’s games and they are, “don’t buy a DICE game until after two months of release or after the first patch.” It’s not a dig on the developer but it does ring true somewhat. Both Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 had some game-breaking issues early on at launch. Heck, Battlefield 3, which has been out in the market close to a year now, still has some big issues that I have no idea how it escaped their QA department. 

Quick, load a game of Battlefield 3 up. Now list down the little bugs and niggles that’s been there since launch. Yep, not fun to wait this long for a fix, right?

9) No Training Level = Everyone Running Around Like Headless Chickens

For some reason, DICE still has an aversion to people playing their games properly. That’s the only reason I have for them not wanting to include a tutorial level in Battlefield. It’s not like other first-person shooters where playing the single-player will teach you all you need to know for multiplayer.  You need to know how to give med packs/ammo, drive vehicles and spot. 

Oh, don’t get me started on spotting. Right now, you can either blame players for not spotting or DICE not teaching players that this feature is readily available. Also, putting a little blurb on the loading page does NOT count.

Whenever I play Battlefield 3, I surmise a good 70-80 percent of the people playing don’t know what they’re doing and now you know why.

8) Playing without a Proper Squad Sucks

This goes hand-in-hand with the complaint above. Most people don’t know how to play Battlefield properly. So, that makes playing without a proper squad a lot harder than it should be. I’ve lost count on how many games I’ve asked for ammo or med packs and the player who’s supposed to be helping me, just looks at me like I’m weird. There’s a reason why I have an ammo icon on top of my head…there’s also a reason why I’m constantly following you and shooting you in the face with a pistol.

You can argue that you can pick someone else’s kit and re-supply yourself. I do that, but that has gotten me killed more times than I can even remember. 

It’s not just the kits. Have you ever played with someone who literally did not want to move an inch from where he was hiding? Once all your other squadmates are dead, tough luck! Spawn on his camping ass and take it like a man. 

In Battlefield 3, it’s heightened more by “squad specializations.” It’s not uncommon for me to join a squad where two of the same people within the same squad are rocking the same squad perk which renders it useless. In case you were wondering, nope, they don’t stack.

7) Loadouts are a Pain to Customize While Playing

This is another sore point for me that I think would be easy to remedy, but for some reason DICE has yet to attend to it. 

For this example let’s use Battlefield 3. You’re playing the Medic class and you want to use your smoke launchers to provide cover for your team. Before you spawn in, you need to access a menu for your class’ loadout. Once you’re there, you need to go to the gadget icon and choose the correct one and then get out of the menu so you can then spawn on someone. Once you decide you want to use your med pack again, you need to repeat the whole process once you die. This whole process irritates me, I admit.

It might be a minor hassle, but it eats up precious time that could mean the difference between arming an M-Com or everyone dying. It wouldn’t be much of an issue if you could switch kits once you get killed, but nope, DICE forces you to watch the damn killcam that won’t let you do anything. What the hell, DICE?

The solution is so simple that I have no idea why they haven’t implemented it yet. Allow multiple class loadout templates. Hate to compare it, but Call of Duty does this so well that I have no idea why DICE doesn’t just copy it. 

Let me have multiple versions of my Medic, Support loadout if I want to. That way, I’m ready for any scenario and spawn quickly, too. This makes sense, right?

6) “Wookie” Infestation is Becoming Too Rampant

Quick question: who here doesn’t like snipers being in their squad? Yep, I thought so. The Sniper class (or infamously referred to as “Wookies” in Bad Company 2), has been the bane of many people who play for the objective. Don’t get me wrong, there are people who use the Sniper class well, but you rarely see them. What you do see is some schmuck parachuting or placing themselves at the highest point of any map, settles down like they’re camping in for the night and just tries to pick off enemies at a distance…and you know what the worst part? They’re not even spotting! 

DICE should let snipers have their own game mode where the objective is just to snipe at each other a million miles away. That should let these players “experience” the pain they’re causing to the other people playing.

5) Hiking is NOT Part of the Fun

One of the franchise’s trademarks is having big-ass maps that are perfect for vehicular warfare. However, when there are no vehicles around, this presents to be a major problem. 

Has this scenario ever happen to you where you spawn in an area where there’s no vehicles, you see the M-COM or flag that’s being contested waaay out into the distance and you hike to it but only to be shot down by a vehicle or sniper just as you’re about to come near it? Yeah, sucks, right? 

Yes, you can spawn to a squad-mate but what those times in Caspian Border where you hike from flag A to flag D simply because all the vehicles were occupied? Hiking without any action is not fun and if I wanted to just do that, I’d go outside and do it in real life.

Did I mention this problem is compounded due to spawn base raping? 

4) Playing by Yourself Should NEVER Be this Frustrating 

Battlefield is a very team-oriented game. I doubt anyone would argue against that, but in some cases, it penalizes those who don’t play with a proper set of friends/squads. 

Case in point, playing a round of Rush and you can only spawn from the base since the entire team squad-locked their squads for some odd reason. Not only are you out of a viable spawn point, but in Battlefield 3, it’s made even worse by squad specializations. You don’t have a squad? Sorry, no extra specs for you. 

This is even made worse by the fact that the using the mic is just plain broken on DICE’s latest game. Be it on Origin, or on consoles, using it – especially on an entire team – is an exercise in frustration. 

To Put it bluntly, if you don’t have friends who play Battlefield, or you’re a lone-wolf FPS player, you won’t like Battlefield much.

3) Knifing is a Pain in the Ass

Both the last two Battlefield games (Bad Company 2 and BF3) have had issues with its knifing mechanic. In Bad Company 2, it sometimes would not register at all. In some cases though, it would work too well. 

I’ve heard a rumor before that Bad Company 2’s knife’s hitbox is the same as the shotgun but with a smaller range. If true, this certainly explains why it’s a hit-or-miss.

As for Battlefield 3’s knifing, well, I’ll leave this little video here to let you decide what’s what. 

Here’s hoping Battlefield 4’s knifing system consistently works. If not, well, just use your gun.

2)  Touting “Battlefield Moments’ but No Way to Record It In-Game is Just Wrong

For a game that keeps touting its “Battlefield Moments,” it’s quite surprising to see that the game does not offer any way of recording in-game footage. Unless you play on the PC and use third-party software, it’s virtually impossible to record any of the things you’ve done in the game.

This isn’t just for those “L33t” moments, too. Without a proper Spectator mode, how can this be used as a viable E-Sport game? Not even mention that whenever you encounter a cheater, instead of just showing DICE the cheat you’ve done, you have to report it and describe it, and hope that other people do the same as well. 

There’s a reason why this is one of the most requested feature in any Battlefield game and it’s time DICE delivered. Hey, we’re not even asking for YouTube implementation out of the box here like a certain FPS franchise. Just give us a way to record stuff in-game and we’re set.

1) Vehicles (Sometimes) Ruin the Fun

Ask any non-Battlefield fan what they don’t like about the franchise, and I’d wager a guess that something about vehicles will crop up. Now, don’t get me wrong, vehicles are an integral part in any Battlefield game. But sometimes, they work just too damn well. 

I can’t even count how many matches I’ve been where I started the match in a tank or chopper and ended the game still in the same vehicle. 

You know that person who goes 40+ and O every match due to the jets, choppers or tanks? Yeah, that’s fun for him but not for everyone else. Think of it this way; imagine getting a Chopper Gunner in Call of Duty and being able to use it in a whole damn match. Now, imagine the enemy is the one controlling that chopper and using it against your team. Not fun, no?

Forget about taking it down. Unless you have a team who are dedicated in doing it, most people don’t give a shit since they die a lot in trying.

Well, that does it for this post but that doesn’t mean the problems listed are the only ones plaguing the franchise. I’m just hoping most – if not all – these problems will be gone once Battlefield 4 launches. 

Do you agree with my complaints or am I just a noob? Sound off and let me know.