May 11, 2010
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sold over 2.3 million copies in its first 2 weeks, making it an instant success. Despite a beta and lots of work, gamers still have complaints and want some answers to what they feel are ongoing issues with the MP experience. Luckily, DICE producer Kristoff Bergqvist sat down and answered questions in the last issue of GameInformer. Here are some tidbits from the article, to see more check out issue #205 or go to gameinformer.com.
Why can’t you go prone in the game? Is there a game design reason why you don’t let players drop on their bellies?
Yes. After playing around with it we all realized that prone didn’t add anything to the Bad Company 2 gameplay. It slowed down the pacing and made counter-sniping even harder. We don’t see a reason to keep game features out of legacy; we want everything in the game to make for a better gaming experience for everyone on the Battlefield.
Hardcore mode is a great concept, but everyone is sniping and it makes it annoying to play. Have you considered creating a custom game mode where players could turn off the recon class so not everyone hides in the hills, or employ a kit limit for certain game types like Rush mode?
I really don’t see a kit limit being the solution here. Battlefield players should be allowed to play the game their way – it’s still a sandbox after all – and not be limited by some abstract rule set. We are, however, aware of the problem with snipers being over-represented in Hardcore mode, and are currently looking into different solutions.
Why won’t the game let me switch teams after a match? Sometimes I get stuck on the opposite team as my friends, and it’s a hassle to back out, accept a new join game request, and cross my fingers to see if I get onto their side.
My friends and I typically roll deep (10-12 players) every night when playing Modern Warfare 2 and BFBC 2. In Modern Warfare 2 it’s easy, just form a pre-game party and we’re set. With Battlefield we struggle all night to end up on the same team. Why did you decide against creating a lobby where a larger group of friends could split into smaller squads and join matches together? Could you please add this in the future?
I’ll merge these two questions into one, honestly maybe not entirely satisfactory, answer. We have seen that there are a few odd occasions where our friend-join systems fail to meet players’ demands, and we will look into fixing these. Once again it’s a question about priorities in the post-launch plan. Team switching is already on the wanted-list, but I guess we didn’t see a lot of 10-12 player groups wanting to fill one team (if you’re fewer I’d suggest joining as squads, if you’re more use the Private Match system and get an entire server of your own).
The spotting mechanic doesn’t seem to work sometimes even though my crosshairs are right on an enemy or vehicle. What’s the deal?
That’s not the expected behavior of that feature. It’s something that’ll be addressed in an upcoming patch. Sorry about the inconvenience.
