Battlefield 3 weapon balance

[major_chaos]

so I have a question and was hoping my fellow Escapies could help me with: as a huge fan of BF:BC 2 I was planning to buy BF3 day one but I held off and now I'm on the fence over an issue that no professional reviews ever cover and the one issue that took alot of enjoyment out of COD:BO and BF:BC2 among others and that is weapon balance, to be more specific is there one weapon that everyone uses because it is significantly better than all the others/takes no skill to use (the GOW 2 shotgun, the FAMAS/AK-74u from black ops and some of the LMGs from BF:BC2 are examples)I get sick of this in games and fear of it is keeping me away from BF 3 because some places are saying that the balance in that game is terrible (but mostly it was user reviews on metacritic and those are.....yah)so I figured I would ask a place that I would say has one of the best communities on the net, and while we are on the subject of things that annoy me how bad is the camping? one of the things that I loved about BF:BC2 was that the camping wasn't that much of an issue


TL;DR: are the weapons well balanced in battlefield 3, so that no one weapon is amazing in all situation

 

[Kopikatsu]

They all seem about the same. Assault Rifles are good at all ranges (It's kind of their point), but aside from that, there are no 'best for everything' guns.

I do seem to get killed an awful lot by people running around with the AK-74u, though.

 

[MisterDyslexo]

I've only logged 3 hours, but so far it seems pretty fair. Then again, I haven't come across the UMP, which if you played the Beta, you know how bad it was.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I've only logged 3 hours, but so far it seems pretty fair. Then again, I haven't come across the UMP, which if you played the Beta, you know how bad it was.

The UMP-45 wasn't that bad in the Beta at all. The PP-2000 was WAY WAY worse. Especially with the Mag+ upgrade. Jesus, that thing was a beast.

Both were nerfed considerably, though. The PP-2000 is borderline UP now.

Edit: Forgot to mention, PDW were nerfed as a whole. Before it only took 4 kills with a PDW to get the ribbon (Which let you get INSANE EXP bonuses from getting 40 PDW medal awards), now it takes like 7 or something. So it's balanced out with the assault rifles.

Edit 2: The knifing animation has been sped up considerably. Which is awesome. I actually MVP'd using only the knife. (As a weapon, that is. I did run some people over with a jeep. No guns, though.)

 

[octafish]

I find it pretty good. There are unlockable weapons that give an advantage but you can unlock them too. The support class seems popular but I can never use LMGs effectively so they suck for me. (I get lots of suppression points but I never actually seem to hit anything. If you do pull off a suppress and flank move with your squad it is pretty sweet though)

Camping is there, but it is part of the game when you have objectives to defend. If you play a little cautiously you can flank any campers. You'll do it too when it is your turn to defend.

I've been playing on good servers and most poeple are playing the objective. DICE will probably tweak the game a little as it goes along, but nothing leaps out as too Noobish.

They all seem about the same. Assault Rifles are good at all ranges (It's kind of their point), but aside from that, there are no 'best for everything' guns.

I do seem to get killed an awful lot by people running around with the AK-74u, though.

I seem to get killed a lot by the m14a, so I guess there are a lot of engineers out there?

 

[Leon Pendragon]

Well after playing up to rank 11 I can say this. Yes,in this game like with all games there are some guns that are better than others. However, each gun in it's own class has distinct advantages and disadvantages, as well as certain attachments that make it "op". But saying any gun I have seen so far can be played just as well as the next if you learn to use the right accessory leads me to say this; Battlefield 3 has as good a weapon balance as you get in an FPS. That being said, there are still guns which are incredibly easy to use and as a result you see those being used more, but they are mostly starting weapons so you can have them right off the bat. Hope that helps.

oh,and a side-note, this game is absolutely worth every penny. Especially if you have a top-end or even moderate computer the visuals are damn breathtaking.

 

[major_chaos]

I've only logged 3 hours, but so far it seems pretty fair. Then again, I haven't come across the UMP, which if you played the Beta, you know how bad it was.

The UMP-45 wasn't that bad in the Beta at all. The PP-2000 was WAY WAY worse. Especially with the Mag+ upgrade. Jesus, that thing was a beast.

Both were nerfed considerably, though. The PP-2000 is borderline UP now.

Edit: Forgot to mention, PDW were nerfed as a whole. Before it only took 4 kills with a PDW to get the ribbon (Which let you get INSANE EXP bonuses from getting 40 PDW medal awards), now it takes like 7 or something. So it's balanced out with the assault rifles.

Edit 2: The knifing animation has been sped up considerably. Which is awesome. I actually MVP'd using only the knife. (As a weapon, that is. I did run some people over with a jeep. No guns, though.)

how fast is the knife? i'm ok with it being useful but I would rather avoid a modern warfare 2 situaion where people could run around with marathon/commando/lightweight effectively teleporting thrugh bullets and geting nukes

 

[Waaghpowa]

I would say things are pretty balanced. I've been playing Recon mostly and none of the sniper rifles ever one shot unless you specifically get a head shot. A few times I had to shoot a guy 3-4 times to get a kill if I missed the head. My personal best so far is 547 meter head shot against a moving target

 

[Waaghpowa]

how fast is the knife? i'm ok with it being useful but I would rather avoid a modern warfare 2 situaion where people could run around with marathon/commando/lightweight effectively teleporting thrugh bullets and geting nukes

It's slow enough that you'd be daft to use it in any situation other than 1 v 1 sneak attack.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I find it pretty good. There are unlockable weapons that give an advantage but you can unlock them too. The support class seems popular but I can never use LMGs effectively so they suck for me. (I get lots of suppression points but I never actually seem to hit anything. If you do pull off a suppress and flank move with your squad it is pretty sweet though)

Camping is there, but it is part of the game when you have objectives to defend. If you play a little cautiously you can flank any campers. You'll do it too when it is your turn to defend.

I've been playing on good servers and most poeple are playing the objective. DICE will probably tweak the game a little as it goes along, but nothing leaps out as too Noobish.

If someone is camping, go Engineer and fire a few rockets at them. I literally got 5 kills from firing one rocket into the window of a building where a bunch of enemies were sniping from. (Took out the building, too, so they couldn't snipe from there anymore)

Mortar users are annoying as hell, though. Youtube it.

I've only logged 3 hours, but so far it seems pretty fair. Then again, I haven't come across the UMP, which if you played the Beta, you know how bad it was.

The UMP-45 wasn't that bad in the Beta at all. The PP-2000 was WAY WAY worse. Especially with the Mag+ upgrade. Jesus, that thing was a beast.

Both were nerfed considerably, though. The PP-2000 is borderline UP now.

Edit: Forgot to mention, PDW were nerfed as a whole. Before it only took 4 kills with a PDW to get the ribbon (Which let you get INSANE EXP bonuses from getting 40 PDW medal awards), now it takes like 7 or something. So it's balanced out with the assault rifles.

Edit 2: The knifing animation has been sped up considerably. Which is awesome. I actually MVP'd using only the knife. (As a weapon, that is. I did run some people over with a jeep. No guns, though.)

how fast is the knife? i'm ok with it being useful but I would rather avoid a modern warfare 2 situaion where people could run around with marathon/commando/lightweight effectively teleporting thrugh bullets and geting nukes

To use? Slow as hell, and it only does 33% a swing. For the insta-kill, you have to be behind them...but if you're behind them, you could have already popped them in the back of the head with your rifle, so it's more of a humiliation kill than anything. But it's oh so satisfying to pull off.

Edit: When I said 'knifing animation', I was talking about the insta-kill. In the beta, trying to stealth kill with the knife would end up getting you shot. The slashing animation that does 33% damage is the same speed. (Which makes sense, because the stealth kill actually has you jam the knife into them/slit their throat. Which would hurt just a wee bit more than cutting someone with it.)

 

[major_chaos]

I thank everyone for the replies, this has relived many of my fears about BF3 so I will most likey be buying it when I get back from my vacation. this is why I love the escapist, fast honest replies and not a troll in sight

 

[Waaghpowa]

If someone is camping, go Engineer and fire a few rockets at them. I literally got 5 kills from firing one rocket into the window of a building where a bunch of enemies were sniping from. (Took out the building, too, so they couldn't snipe from there anymore)

What platform are you playing on? For me there seems to be less snipers/campers and more Engineers and Support. Seems engineers are chosen a lot because RPG's are easily mode kills.

 

[Kopikatsu]

If someone is camping, go Engineer and fire a few rockets at them. I literally got 5 kills from firing one rocket into the window of a building where a bunch of enemies were sniping from. (Took out the building, too, so they couldn't snipe from there anymore)

What platform are you playing on? For me there seems to be less snipers/campers and more Engineers and Support. Seems engineers are chosen a lot because RPG's are easily mode kills.

PS3.

Engineer is the most chosen class and Support is a close second for most maps, but a few maps (Like Seine Crossing(?) on Rush) seem to get Sniper spammed.

I don't know if people do it for 'easy mode kills', because it REALLY sucks being Assault or Recon when there is even one non-jeep vehicle on the map. You're basically defenseless...I always just go prone and pray that the tank doesn't notice me...(I actually haven't played Recon or Support yet. Can't give up my medkit and defibrillator. They're just too important to me...

Only exception is when I decide that my team doesn't need me, so I go running around with the Stinger and shoot down copters/jets.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Engineer is the most chosen class and Support is a close second for most maps, but a few maps (Like Seine Crossing(?) on Rush) seem to get Sniper spammed.

See, Seins Crossing is a relatively small map, especially considering you're playing on consoles, so people being snipers on a map like that is more likely. The nice thing about Battlefield is that generally the maps are so large, along with the bullet physics involved, that the people who are actually GOOD at sniping, are the only ones doing anything worth a damn. Generally speaking, a halfway decent Recon shouldn't necessarily be top kills, but having pretty high in points because of assists and suppression.

For example:
http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/342606/1/295198106/

I'm Payne121. I don't have top kills, but highest points on my team, and I was recon the whole time. My job is basically to make the other team shit their pants every time they walk out in the open, which is what I did very well.

In short: Sniping in BF3 is hard, so smaller maps + sniper = win for the bad players.