Am I the only person who thinks Battlefield 3 is overdoing it?

[anthony87]

Paying for servers, paying to unlock stuff, and now paying for Battlefield Premium which gives you new weapons and such you can't get otherwise?

Am I the only person thinking they are going a little money crazy with all this? I love the game but it just seem like their money grubbing. What do you guys think?

Paying for servers has been around for ages. How do you think all the PC gamers get their nice custom clan servers?

Paying for unlocks is purely optional and is for those people who are too shite/impatient to unlock the stuff yourself. The guns you unlock at the higher levels are no better than the starting guns, it's all about personal preference and loadout.

Battlefield premium is a once off i.e. NOT A SUBSCRIPTION payment that gives you access to all present and future DLC at a reduced price compared to buying them individually, as well as some vanity items (New dog tags, new knife skin etc). Said DLC will contain new guns, maps, game modes and vehicles. I still don't understand why people are saying this is a bad thing. Can anyone honestly give me a legit reason beyond "BOOO! EA ARE EVIL!! DOWN WITH THE CORPORATIONS!"?

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

Paying for servers: This is usually fine, but it all depends on the community and the ratio of good to bad server admins. And there's an expectation that on consoles there will be at least some official servers, but they've all been converted to rentals.

This was a temporary issue. They didn't anticipate as many rentals as they got, so when the server slots got full they started overriding the official ones. Was only that way for 2-3 weeks and they added a bunch of official servers that cannot be overridden.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I'm really confused by the notion that you need to buy the kits to have a chance. The starting weapons for every class are perfectly fine, the others just offer different traits that may complement your playstyle better or worse.

You unlock stuff so quick on that game anyway I can't figure out why people would buy the weapons packs.

But then he has nothing to blame his poor performance on.

Again, if people don't agree with this stuff, stop buying it.
Paying for servers is pretty pants though.

You've always been able to rent servers in Battlefield games. The only thing that's different is now console players can do it.

Oh that's what they're moaning about?

Fuck me.

It's not just that, it's that EA require an online pass to use multiplayer to offset the costs of running dedicated servers, yet they took away all their dedicated servers. If you buy the game used then you have to pay to use the multiplayer, the whole point of that cost is so that EA can subsidise their dedicated servers of which they have none.
For every server you see on Battlefield 3 EA are getting £25 a month, yet they still have the gall to require every user have a valid online pass.
On top of that they offer a premium service, which gives you priority over other users in waiting queues, and may even lead to players being kicked out of a match because someone else with the paid-for priority scheme wants to play on the full match.
Not to mention the leveling system which is designed to make paying for unlocks more advantageous and desirable than grinding for them.

A person who buys Battlefield 3 and doesn't pay for anything else gets a far diminished experience than someone who obliges the microtransaction schemes they have going. If you want to fully experience all the game has to offer and not be at a disadvantage to other players, then you need to pay EA more money, because apparently the original game price does not entitle you to the expected product.

 

[Acton Hank]

No you're not, and the next time you think of starting a sentence like that, shove it in your colon.

 

[Vrach]

Am I the only person thinking they are going a little money crazy with all this? I love the game but it just seem like their money grubbing. What do you guys think?

Spoiler: Obligatory response

Paying for servers, paying to unlock stuff, and now paying for Battlefield Premium which gives you new weapons and such you can't get otherwise?

- Can you play without paying for the servers? Yes (in fact I'd say most people don't pay for them unless they're in competitive clans)
- Can you get everything that you can unlock by paying for it by playing? Yes (in fact, most people unlocked most of the stuff and definitely everything they need/want to unlock by now)
- Does Battlefield Premium give anything that's actually useful that you can't get by getting the DLC? No - it gives you vanity weapons and at best some diversity (I've yet to hear of the latter among the Premium-exclusive weapons; there's already enough of them for you to pick a weapon that's just as good)

And why do threads like this evoke "of course - it's EA, what did you expect" type of responses when Guild Wars 2, doing the SAME GODDAMN THING is being called the "least greedy MMO on the market"? Yes, it's an MMO, so we're used to being ripped off a bit more, but look at the philosophy the developers have to back up GW2's MT system. If you agree with it, there's no reason to disagree with it here, it's the same principle.

 

[kortin]

NO, you are NOT the only person who thinks that; you NEVER are. Please, never start a sentence Like that again.

No you're not, and the next time you think of starting a sentence like that, shove it in your colon.

There's a special place for people like you who take everything everyone says literally.

Honestly, I don't exactly see a serious problem. Buying all the dlc they have lined up (I think it's about 5 in total for every dlc they have and plan to release) would cost you about $75, assuming they are $15 each like whats usual with dlc. $50 is getting all the dlc plus the bonus sort of stuff is not exactly a bad deal.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

The sad thing is even though there will be these new maps, no one will play them. It'll be the same shit of Siene, Metro and Bazaar over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Not seen one of the back to Karkand maps in a looooong while (except IF I decide to play Camp Rush) and I expect it to be the same with the new maps.

Not sure why you don't get them, would depend on the server you are on. There are many Dice-run 'Back to Karkland' only servers which run a variety of modes. Epic Battle servers run all the big maps with an emphasis on vehicles, this includes Gulf of Oman (a 'BtK' map). Many of the TDM and SQDM servers have quite a few 'BtK' maps. Honestly if you aren't seeing any maps from the expansion,you have to be playing on original BF3 only servers, because BtK is represented in every mode.

 

[anthony87]

NO, you are NOT the only person who thinks that; you NEVER are. Please, never start a sentence Like that again.

No you're not, and the next time you think of starting a sentence like that, shove it in your colon.

There's a special place for people like you who take everything everyone says literally.

Honestly, I don't exactly see a serious problem. Buying all the dlc they have lined up (I think it's about 5 in total for every dlc they have and plan to release) would cost you about $75, assuming they are $15 each like whats usual with dlc. $50 is getting all the dlc plus the bonus sort of stuff is not exactly a bad deal.

No, it's not a bad deal at all. In fact it's a great deal but people seem to have this need to complain simply because it's EA and complaining about EA is the hip thing to do even when there's no problem.

 

[anthony87]

NO, you are NOT the only person who thinks that; you NEVER are. Please, never start a sentence Like that again.

No you're not, and the next time you think of starting a sentence like that, shove it in your colon.

There's a special place for people like you who take everything everyone says literally.

Stop pushing your belief system on me. you may think there is a hell but I know there isnt.

.....I didn't say that.

 

[kortin]

Stop pushing your belief system on me. you may think there is a hell but I know there isnt.

I never said anything of the kind. I said there is a special place for people like you. You inferred information that was not there. This special place just so happens to be my ignore list, thank you very much. Hope you enjoy your time there. ^^

 

[Stripes]

I have given up on that game and the series. Paying for servers means that now there are no 1st party servers whatsoever and the quality of servers is very much a case by case sort of thing. When I bought the game I expected EA to run servers so I could enjoy a game. Now there are waiting times, unacceptable. You can buy weapons which cannot be unlocked elsewhere. Unnaceptable. You need to pay for access to multiplayer which they already sold and thus no longer own. Unacceptable.

Its a shame really but it isnt worth it any more. They already did dum things like unlocking vehicle upgrades, stupid for a number of obvious reasons, and the destruction is smalll scale, the big scale was what people loved from bad company 2.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Stop pushing your belief system on me. you may think there is a hell but I know there isnt.

I never said anything of the kind. I said there is a special place for people like you. You inferred information that was not there. This special place just so happens to be my ignore list, thank you very much. Hope you enjoy your time there. ^^

I see what you did there

OT: I'm not opposed to the idea of DLC and see it as a great tool for developers to extend the life of a game. However, I personally never spend money on a game I have already purchased, mainly because money is very precious to me, lol. Also because I've yet to come across content that is worth not getting another game for instead. Even if it's, say $15--that's a few games if you look in the right places.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

I have given up on that game and the series. Paying for servers means that now there are no 1st party servers whatsoever and the quality of servers is very much a case by case sort of thing. When I bought the game I expected EA to run servers so I could enjoy a game. Now there are waiting times, unacceptable. You can buy weapons which cannot be unlocked elsewhere. Unnaceptable. You need to pay for access to multiplayer which they already sold and thus no longer own. Unacceptable.

1. Plenty of Dice servers up, the issue with them being overridden was unintended and temporary.
2. No weapons are available strictly to Premium Members. They are all available to everyone in the Map DLC. The only exclusive thing related to weapons is weapon skins, nothing effecting play at all.
3. I will agree with the hate on "Project Ten Dollar" it needs to die a painful death.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I have given up on that game and the series. Paying for servers means that now there are no 1st party servers whatsoever and the quality of servers is very much a case by case sort of thing. When I bought the game I expected EA to run servers so I could enjoy a game. Now there are waiting times, unacceptable. You can buy weapons which cannot be unlocked elsewhere. Unnaceptable. You need to pay for access to multiplayer which they already sold and thus no longer own. Unacceptable.

Its a shame really but it isnt worth it any more. They already did dum things like unlocking vehicle upgrades, stupid for a number of obvious reasons, and the destruction is smalll scale, the big scale was what people loved from bad company 2.

Oh how I despised the large scale destruction in Bad Company 2. I'd be camping somewhere nice, minding my own, shooting people in the head with my improvised sniper rifle (I mostly sniped with ARs and subs) and BAM my cover blows to Hell and I go with it.

 

[Stripes]

I have given up on that game and the series. Paying for servers means that now there are no 1st party servers whatsoever and the quality of servers is very much a case by case sort of thing. When I bought the game I expected EA to run servers so I could enjoy a game. Now there are waiting times, unacceptable. You can buy weapons which cannot be unlocked elsewhere. Unnaceptable. You need to pay for access to multiplayer which they already sold and thus no longer own. Unacceptable.

1. Plenty of Dice servers up, the issue with them being overridden was unintended and temporary.
2. No weapons are available strictly to Premium Members. They are all available to everyone in the Map DLC. The only exclusive thing related to weapons is weapon skins, nothing effecting play at all.
3. I will agree with the hate on "Project Ten Dollar" it needs to die a painful death.

Maybe I was wrong on the server thing, I havent seen any though and having to queue is ridiculous.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Am I the only person...

No. You are never the only one. Never.

 

[Sassafrass]

A little bit but honestly, seeing as you can still use the weapons of the guys who have the DLC when you kill them, it doesn't really matter. As for the server issues, kinda annoying that there seems to be few DICE servers on the 360 but eh, the ones that replaced them are just pretty much DICE, just with a better map/gametype rotation and some dodgy admins every tenth server or so.

Premium actually sounds like a good deal. 16 maps over the course of four DLCs, tips and tricks that will probably be shared online anyway and other goodies like that make the £40ish its worth here, although I probably won't get it.

As for the gun balance and people having an unfair advantage over others as they've purchased the unlock kits, it really makes no difference. Someone with a M16A4 can still easily kill someone with an AS Val or an A-91. Hell, I still use the starting weapons on some classes and I'm level 50 (Or Colonel service star 5, whatever.) so I have access to all the guns, except a couple of co-op ones.

So yeah, EA are money grabbing. But it really makes no difference on the overall game from what I've seen so far.

 

[JochemHippie]

Heh. Knew this was coming.

EA lives off it's bigger titles, it's the only way it stays up there. They make good games for the masses and will exploit them in whatever way they can.

Then again, renting out servers is good. Admins are always better then no admins.

Weapons... Well, fun for you. The starting weapons in each kit are very good. And their second unlock too. You really don't need extra weapons to kill.


The price, worth it? Probably not, will I be buying it? Yeah, probably. It's a good game and I play it a lot, that alone should be justification.