I assume many of you all jumped into the beta over the last few days. What are your thoughts?
For my part I think it would not be controversial at all to say that this is clearly a play for the Warzone and Apex audience. Everything from the running weapon animations (and running speed) and the sound design to the warzone-esque player model scales which make every engagement at 30m look as it if were happening at 60m. Low player weight etc. Running boost (not sure what to call it?). It appears as if Warzone and Apex players are enjoying it. Battlefield vets not so much.
It also looks set up from the go to extract maximum revenue, to the detriment of the game itself. The third-person assassinations seem to be there so that you can see your own assassination to set up purchasing more in future. Then there's the specialists which function as... well... generalists! Nothing is specific to any particular specialist except his or her particular very predictable gimmick. So you end up with dozens of identical soldiers all with weapons which can change their effective range on the fly. Seems to me this gives you more control of your engagement in the moment, yet takes away the relevance or gravity of picking your weapon or route to a building. Give more choice, i found it paradoxically limits the variety of gunplay. I would say perhaps that in spite of the ever-growing maps, Battlefield is making the transition from a sandbox FPS to an arena/arcade shooter in terms of design.
I want to hear more thoughts. I'm still excited about the game but come to accept it's not everything it could have been for me.
