Community Feedback for EA - your thoughts [SENT]

mrhahn · 08-04-2005, 02:22 AM

Sent to EAComsMike: 4:58am - 5th August 2005
If you have any ideas not already mentioned, let me know and I'll pass them on.

Hey guys. I'm in the process of writing some 'community feedback' for EA, and I'm hoping to get your input - what you like, what you dislike, what you'd like to see in the future, etc. I'll show you what I've got so far, and if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate them. Here we are:

Transparency issues: in the menu it has a slider for Transparency for the map, crosshairs etc., if you set it to 0% transparency logically speaking the crosshairs should be 100% opaque, like in BF1942. However, instead they still have a small degree of transparency which means when you aim at an aircraft they disappear because the sky shines through them and you can't see
Vehicle damage (touch one and you're dead)
Server glitches (shown: http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/3286/wtf6rn.jpg) also problem of awards not always showing up. Maybe impossible to fix due to the volume of data being processed.
Default for TK punishing is to punish after the time runs out - generally people seem to prefer the default to be no punish
Lack of mod tools. EA are working on this so I guess there's not much to improve on this one.
Changing names. People want the ability to have a clan tag separate from their name E.G. [Clan]Nickname, so that if they change clan they don't have to lose their stats and start over. http://www.planetbattlefield.com/ima...ews/clanhq.jpg suggests there might be hidden features for a future patch - any more information on this?
Friendly soldiers showing up with red name tags - still seems to be a problem after 1.0.2 hotfix
Teamswitching: the game will autobalance you to the other team, even if you're a commander or in a squad. I've seen some python workarounds for server admins, but obviously this is just a quick fix until EA do it properly.
Hotfix 1.0.2 failed for a lot of people because they didn't have enough spare disk space, but the error message wasn't very indicative of this. Understandably this patch might have been rushed a little, but maybe for future patches it should be clearly stated that X GB of drive space is required.
Sometimes the medic's paddles don't revive the teammate - even when your aim is perfect - problem with hit detection?
If you're proned or crouching when you send a radio message, the game makes you stand up
When the map's changing, you have to wait a long time to see what it's changing too. Screen says "map loaded, press Join Game or press Escape to join" - but this takes you into the map you just played, with the round over.
Lack of buddy list - showing buddies ingame with custom colours (as 1942 and Vietnam had). Also the ability to track buddies, i.e. see what server they're playing on right now.
Helicopters continue to spin after they've been abandoned
L85A1 inaccurate, even in short, 3-shot bursts
Points are taken for a teamkill, even when it's not punished (although it's less points than if it had been punished). Annoying when you combine it with the vehicle's over-poweredness
Bunny-hopping: some people love it, some poeple don't mind, some people hate it. A CoD-style anti-hopping system has been suggested
Radio commands are almost impossible to use while you're flying - especially if you use a joystick
Certain vehicles seem to have trouble even with small inclines (transport vehicles, for example) - and also continue to slide down a hill even when stopped
Surface-to-air and air-to-air - inaccurate. Missiles shouldn't change course once they've been locked and fired
Sniper rifles - lack of headshot, overall lack of fire powr it seems. Also is there a maximum bullet travel distance? The "fog" should be the limiting factor, not some invisible limit.
Different sniper gilly suits on different maps. On a lot of maps the suit doesn't match the terrain and so sticks out, defeating its purpose
When you spot an enemy through a scoped weapon, it just sends the generic "enemy activity" message with a question mark on the map - whereas if you leave scope it uses the proper message ("enemy soldier/tank/etc.").
Some users report problems with non-standard key configs and chat. For example if H is assigned to the squad menu and they press any chat key (all/team/squad) and type H in their chat message, it erases what they've written and opens the squad menu.
Vehicles that are far away disappear when you put your crosshair over them - move 10 or so pixels away and they reappear
When a supply crate is dropped an icon on the map showing its location would be useful

I'm hoping to get this out ASAP, probably by the end of tomorrow (August 4th) - so please speak up now if you've got something to add.

Thanks.

420 · 08-04-2005, 03:49 AM

nice work hahn.

Rambo_Medic · 08-04-2005, 04:34 AM

Make the abandoned helis not spin around up in the air for a few minutes.

mrhahn · 08-04-2005, 04:37 AM

Added - thanks.

Monkeyfeng · 08-04-2005, 06:11 AM

might be controversial but:

better accuracy for L851 and machine guns. (has nothing to do with realism, it just has ridiculous accuracy)

no points should be taken off for tk when teammates forgives you.

jackbauer06 · 08-04-2005, 06:41 AM

how about an anti spawn kill thing. if they shoot you within seconds, they get punished.

Cøyøte · 08-04-2005, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackbauer06

how about an anti spawn kill thing. if they shoot you within seconds, they get punished.

Hell No,.. A hot LZ is a Hot LZ, and I can think of no better game simulation than a spawn camper.
Theyre frustrating, But it feels -REAL- good to stick the barrel in their eyeball,.. with that little *pop* noise it makes,..then you wiggle it around, while theys all *gurgle-y* with shock,.. ANd THEN you,....

..Waitaminute...Um,.. Yah. Nevermind the punishment thing.

Tell you what tho. Get rid of mutinies, votes, ..
...ACTUALLY,... Get rid of in-game chat!

Im serious! Get rid of the in game chat! Use the commo-rose thing to communicate, and VOIP if you have to.

Im dead tired of seeing all these id10ts bitching, whining, complaining,coercing,cajoling, FECK!!!!!
While your typing out what a waste of space <player X> is, YOURe now a waste of space, TOO! Your not contributing to the team at all, typing up a storm, no matter HOW witty you might perceive yourself. Your not capping/defending/ attacking,.. YOUR TYPING! Youve become your mothers and grandmothers! Hell, better yet, let them at the keyboard, theyre probably more challenging then YOU are!..

<scuffle/scuffle.>

Uh... sorry about that. Apparently Dennis Leary broke INTO my home, drank all my beer, and made a post... Hm.
I think Ill leave that. S'not a bad I dea.

<burp>

*Edit* Or at least make it some kind of toggle that server admins can switch on/off. God, Id buy a server just to shoot someone in PEACE...

slytiger · 08-04-2005, 10:11 AM

What about NO negative points for tking a squad member. Sometimes one teammate must die in order for the entire squad to survive. And come one, if they are in your squad then its probably to work closely together, more chances for friendly fire.

Fishfinger · 08-04-2005, 10:14 AM

Nice work can you add Bunny hopping to the list please?

Deathmaker · 08-04-2005, 02:42 PM

And the APC's that, at range, vanish when you place your crosshair over them, move 10 or so pixels off the APC & they reappear.

TitanSound · 08-04-2005, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deathmaker

And the APC's that, at range, vanish when you place your crosshair over them, move 10 or so pixels off the APC & they reappear.

Yep.....and some other vehicles do too...not just the APC's

And also I think I am still suffering from the memory leak problem. Was fine after the patch but for the last week the game has been causing my system to hard reboot at random times. Often it will hard reboot 3/4 times then be fine for the rest of the evening :/

mrhahn · 08-04-2005, 03:22 PM

Okey, I've added those suggestions - if there's any more discussion to be had on them, feel free. The list is not definite or anything.

TitanSound: If I can get a few more people having the same problem I'll add it - otherwise they'll just treat it as a user problem.

TitanSound · 08-04-2005, 03:55 PM

Cool mate

MM | Hollywood · 08-04-2005, 05:51 PM

The buddy list sounds good, but this version needs more. At the very least, some icon identifier like the one for the numbers of the squad leaders on the map.

Maybe a letter A, B, C, D, E plus a number for the SL.

So if you see a green A, B, E and 1 show up in your chopper - you'll know who it is via a quick check of your score sheet. Another green or other colored blob means nothing at this point.

This definitely needs to be improved.

Caslon · 08-04-2005, 07:51 PM

This may be a gameplay design on purpose by DICE, but I'd like to see the assault rifle's grenade launcher do more splash damage to infantry.

As it stands now, you can land one exactly 2" from an opponents foot and he keeps on ticking and you take a licking. While on the other hand, a grenade will splash damage kill you as your running away and are a good 8 feet away. I know I know, the class with grenade doesn't have the fire power of other weapon classes, but still...

TitanSound · 08-04-2005, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caslon

This may be a gameplay design on purpose by DICE, but I'd like to see the assault rifle's grenade launcher do more splash damage to infantry.

As it stands now, you can land one exactly 2" from an opponents foot and he keeps on ticking and you take a licking. While on the other hand, a grenade will splash damage kill you as your running away and are a good 8 feet away. I know I know, the class with grenade doesn't have the fire power of other weapon classes, but still...

I'll second that....you have to be bang on with the GL to get a kill.

Rataboy · 08-04-2005, 09:02 PM

Need quicker way to communicate when flying. Possibly just add ability to hotkey a few important call outs for flyers w/out having to let go of joystick to get to comm rose. Need to at least be able to call out:
- tank sighted (maybe just vehicle sighted)
- infantry sighted
- need assistance?

Any others?

Caslon · 08-04-2005, 09:33 PM

The change in communications is one of the biggest letdowns as far as I'm concerned (Teamspeak capabilities aside).

BF2:
Press key...navigate mouse to radio message you want (wasting time with clumsy HUD)...click.

BF1942:
Tap two keys. Done. Message sent.

08-04-2005, 02:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
mrhahn General Join Date: May 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,965	Community Feedback for EA - your thoughts [SENT] Sent to EAComsMike: 4:58am - 5th August 2005 If you have any ideas not already mentioned, let me know and I'll pass them on. Hey guys. I'm in the process of writing some 'community feedback' for EA, and I'm hoping to get your input - what you like, what you dislike, what you'd like to see in the future, etc. I'll show you what I've got so far, and if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate them. Here we are: Transparency issues: in the menu it has a slider for Transparency for the map, crosshairs etc., if you set it to 0% transparency logically speaking the crosshairs should be 100% opaque, like in BF1942. However, instead they still have a small degree of transparency which means when you aim at an aircraft they disappear because the sky shines through them and you can't see Vehicle damage (touch one and you're dead) Server glitches (shown: http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/3286/wtf6rn.jpg) also problem of awards not always showing up. Maybe impossible to fix due to the volume of data being processed. Default for TK punishing is to punish after the time runs out - generally people seem to prefer the default to be no punish Lack of mod tools. EA are working on this so I guess there's not much to improve on this one. Changing names. People want the ability to have a clan tag separate from their name E.G. [Clan]Nickname, so that if they change clan they don't have to lose their stats and start over. http://www.planetbattlefield.com/ima...ews/clanhq.jpg suggests there might be hidden features for a future patch - any more information on this? Friendly soldiers showing up with red name tags - still seems to be a problem after 1.0.2 hotfix Teamswitching: the game will autobalance you to the other team, even if you're a commander or in a squad. I've seen some python workarounds for server admins, but obviously this is just a quick fix until EA do it properly. Hotfix 1.0.2 failed for a lot of people because they didn't have enough spare disk space, but the error message wasn't very indicative of this. Understandably this patch might have been rushed a little, but maybe for future patches it should be clearly stated that X GB of drive space is required. Sometimes the medic's paddles don't revive the teammate - even when your aim is perfect - problem with hit detection? If you're proned or crouching when you send a radio message, the game makes you stand up When the map's changing, you have to wait a long time to see what it's changing too. Screen says "map loaded, press Join Game or press Escape to join" - but this takes you into the map you just played, with the round over. Lack of buddy list - showing buddies ingame with custom colours (as 1942 and Vietnam had). Also the ability to track buddies, i.e. see what server they're playing on right now. Helicopters continue to spin after they've been abandoned L85A1 inaccurate, even in short, 3-shot bursts Points are taken for a teamkill, even when it's not punished (although it's less points than if it had been punished). Annoying when you combine it with the vehicle's over-poweredness Bunny-hopping: some people love it, some poeple don't mind, some people hate it. A CoD-style anti-hopping system has been suggested Radio commands are almost impossible to use while you're flying - especially if you use a joystick Certain vehicles seem to have trouble even with small inclines (transport vehicles, for example) - and also continue to slide down a hill even when stopped Surface-to-air and air-to-air - inaccurate. Missiles shouldn't change course once they've been locked and fired Sniper rifles - lack of headshot, overall lack of fire powr it seems. Also is there a maximum bullet travel distance? The "fog" should be the limiting factor, not some invisible limit. Different sniper gilly suits on different maps. On a lot of maps the suit doesn't match the terrain and so sticks out, defeating its purpose When you spot an enemy through a scoped weapon, it just sends the generic "enemy activity" message with a question mark on the map - whereas if you leave scope it uses the proper message ("enemy soldier/tank/etc."). Some users report problems with non-standard key configs and chat. For example if H is assigned to the squad menu and they press any chat key (all/team/squad) and type H in their chat message, it erases what they've written and opens the squad menu. Vehicles that are far away disappear when you put your crosshair over them - move 10 or so pixels away and they reappear When a supply crate is dropped an icon on the map showing its location would be useful I'm hoping to get this out ASAP, probably by the end of tomorrow (August 4th) - so please speak up now if you've got something to add. Thanks.

08-04-2005, 06:11 AM	#5 (permalink)
Monkeyfeng Captain Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Taiwan, can you find it on the map? Posts: 2,785	might be controversial but: better accuracy for L851 and machine guns. (has nothing to do with realism, it just has ridiculous accuracy) no points should be taken off for tk when teammates forgives you. __________________

08-04-2005, 10:11 AM	#8 (permalink)
slytiger Master Warrant Officer Join Date: May 2002 Location: LAX Airport/Downtown Phoenix Posts: 1,071	What about NO negative points for tking a squad member. Sometimes one teammate must die in order for the entire squad to survive. And come one, if they are in your squad then its probably to work closely together, more chances for friendly fire. __________________

08-04-2005, 10:14 AM	#9 (permalink)
Fishfinger Major Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: The Shire of Wilts Posts: 3,508	Nice work can you add Bunny hopping to the list please? __________________ Your message here My Stats

08-04-2005, 02:42 PM	#10 (permalink)
Deathmaker Sergeant Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Manchester, England Posts: 349	And the APC's that, at range, vanish when you place your crosshair over them, move 10 or so pixels off the APC & they reappear. __________________

08-04-2005, 03:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
420 General Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 2,605	nice work hahn.

08-04-2005, 04:37 AM	#4 (permalink)
mrhahn General Join Date: May 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,965	Added - thanks.

08-04-2005, 06:41 AM	#6 (permalink)
jackbauer06 Private 1st Class Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Tempe, Az Posts: 120	how about an anti spawn kill thing. if they shoot you within seconds, they get punished.

08-04-2005, 03:22 PM	#12 (permalink)
mrhahn General Join Date: May 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,965	Okey, I've added those suggestions - if there's any more discussion to be had on them, feel free. The list is not definite or anything. TitanSound: If I can get a few more people having the same problem I'll add it - otherwise they'll just treat it as a user problem.

08-04-2005, 03:55 PM	#13 (permalink)
TitanSound Captain Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: London, England Posts: 2,808	Cool mate __________________ "You often find drummers have amazing memories, they have to remember long musical phrases as pure data, its almost binary"

08-04-2005, 05:51 PM	#14 (permalink)
MM \| Hollywood Private Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Philly Posts: 33	The buddy list sounds good, but this version needs more. At the very least, some icon identifier like the one for the numbers of the squad leaders on the map. Maybe a letter A, B, C, D, E plus a number for the SL. So if you see a green A, B, E and 1 show up in your chopper - you'll know who it is via a quick check of your score sheet. Another green or other colored blob means nothing at this point. This definitely needs to be improved.

08-04-2005, 07:51 PM	#15 (permalink)
Caslon Lieutenant Colonel Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Deep inside the Earth. Posts: 4,782	This may be a gameplay design on purpose by DICE, but I'd like to see the assault rifle's grenade launcher do more splash damage to infantry. As it stands now, you can land one exactly 2" from an opponents foot and he keeps on ticking and you take a licking. While on the other hand, a grenade will splash damage kill you as your running away and are a good 8 feet away. I know I know, the class with grenade doesn't have the fire power of other weapon classes, but still...

08-04-2005, 09:02 PM	#17 (permalink)
Rataboy Private Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 32	Need quicker way to communicate when flying. Possibly just add ability to hotkey a few important call outs for flyers w/out having to let go of joystick to get to comm rose. Need to at least be able to call out: - tank sighted (maybe just vehicle sighted) - infantry sighted - need assistance? Any others? __________________

08-04-2005, 09:33 PM	#18 (permalink)
Caslon Lieutenant Colonel Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Deep inside the Earth. Posts: 4,782	The change in communications is one of the biggest letdowns as far as I'm concerned (Teamspeak capabilities aside). BF2: Press key...navigate mouse to radio message you want (wasting time with clumsy HUD)...click. BF1942: Tap two keys. Done. Message sent.