Yoru Shakou
Well-Known Member
Star Wars Battlefront: Because Kark Teamwork!
When Star Wars Battlefront was announced I went wide eyed like many people. When I got a chance to play the Beta, I defended it as an incomplete game, that the Walker Assault was meant to make it feel like an impossible task to stop the AT-ATs when you were playing as the Rebellion, and that it was meant to make it feel like you were unstoppable when you played as the Empire.
Much of the problems the Beta had were fixed (minorly) as there are still many problems that remain.
After playing for months and nearing the end as I come up on Rank 45 with Rank 50 just over the Horizon, I've begun to notice quite a few problems.
1. Because Kark Teamwork!
I do not know what pushed Dice to make the decision of only supporting local already installed hardware (ie the Playstation's internal communication and the Xbox One's internal communication) instead of supporting headset capabilities. This means that you can only chat among your friends if they're playing on a map with you which is a problem for those of us who often play it alone.
Without that capability to speak to anyone on your team unless they're your friend, they're essentially telling you that Teamwork isn't needed (even though in the game Teamwork is karking everything). There are plenty of times when you feel alone even though you've got 19 other people on your side because you'll be attempting to accomplish a task by yourself.
The enemy team is holding the skies and no one on your side (beyond yourself) is even willing to attempt to try and clear them out. It comes down to you, a single starfighter, against three or four starfighters and for each one you manage to take down, you're hoping someone doesn't pick up the power ups. Then if you manage to some how pull a miracle out of no where and clear everyone out, only then does your team take to the skies.
In many of the games that require you to hold a specific point, your team will take it, then just run off, often leaving you as the lone defender while the other side comes rushing in (presumably to do the same to someone on their side).
This is a major problem that needs to be fixed. Dice needs to implement headset support otherwise all of their planned DLCs and future updates are not going to mean much when many people ultimately set their copy aside and walk away from it or return to games like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 where they can talk over headsets to people on their team.
2. Spawning Next to the Enemy: How to Die Instantly
This was another problem I came across multiple times.
You've just died, you change your blaster, choose your second card hand and spawn...
Dead... Again..
Okay, you spawn and then...
Dead... Again...
The game still has a horrible spawn rate where it'll spawn enemies behind your position, or it'll spawn you next to the same person (this happened recently to me on the Jakku map where I spawned next to the same enemy four times in a row before the game spawned me in a new location). There have been multiple times where I've witnesses other players spawn next to an enemy multiple times in a row. It's frustrating when you've just died and spawned only to die within a second.
3. No Spectators!
This by far is my biggest gripe about Star Wars Battlefront.
In the Battlefield game series and in many current FPS games, there is a spectator mode; where when you die you can choose to spectate and watch the other players, or if you're not even able to join you can still spectate on a game.
The Spectator mode has seen many Cheaters caught in the act and had the videos uploaded and their profiles banned for their actions. Yet why is there no spectator mode in Battlefront?
There have been multiple times when I've been suspicious of others players, for instance the one player whose got five enemies firing on them and yet when he's killed the last one, its showing he's got 100 health. Or when you're sitting in front of an enemy with the short ranged weapon (that poodooty little ion shotgun thing) and you hit them point blank, and the game says you hit; yet when the enemy kills you they're still at 100 percent (even accounting for lag and your game is showing you've got a strong connection).
Or, as everyone is using the same blasters (with there really being no difference between any of them beyond short, medium and long range); you're in a fire fight with an enemy and you're hitting them multiple times yet they're fine or only down to half health, while they shot you with the same gun that kills you in one hit. That alone becomes suspicious.
There are multiple other minors little problems I've seen here and there, mainly with some of the maps and some balancing issues that arise. There's been a couple of times when the game has launched and it's been 20 vs 10, or 8 vs 3 and the game has run rather than waiting for additional players.
For the most part, my happiness with the game has been slowly dwindling and even now the only reason I keep playing online is just to finish that karking diorama in the collection section.
Once I've finished with that though, I don't foresee a new map or a shiny new blaster pistol holding my attention or having me going back to playing online.
*Disclaimer: A sizable portion of this is ranting, mainly to vent off steam and frustration from the most recent playing (about 10mins ago or so). Though the problems still are viable.
When Star Wars Battlefront was announced I went wide eyed like many people. When I got a chance to play the Beta, I defended it as an incomplete game, that the Walker Assault was meant to make it feel like an impossible task to stop the AT-ATs when you were playing as the Rebellion, and that it was meant to make it feel like you were unstoppable when you played as the Empire.
Much of the problems the Beta had were fixed (minorly) as there are still many problems that remain.
After playing for months and nearing the end as I come up on Rank 45 with Rank 50 just over the Horizon, I've begun to notice quite a few problems.
1. Because Kark Teamwork!
I do not know what pushed Dice to make the decision of only supporting local already installed hardware (ie the Playstation's internal communication and the Xbox One's internal communication) instead of supporting headset capabilities. This means that you can only chat among your friends if they're playing on a map with you which is a problem for those of us who often play it alone.
Without that capability to speak to anyone on your team unless they're your friend, they're essentially telling you that Teamwork isn't needed (even though in the game Teamwork is karking everything). There are plenty of times when you feel alone even though you've got 19 other people on your side because you'll be attempting to accomplish a task by yourself.
The enemy team is holding the skies and no one on your side (beyond yourself) is even willing to attempt to try and clear them out. It comes down to you, a single starfighter, against three or four starfighters and for each one you manage to take down, you're hoping someone doesn't pick up the power ups. Then if you manage to some how pull a miracle out of no where and clear everyone out, only then does your team take to the skies.
In many of the games that require you to hold a specific point, your team will take it, then just run off, often leaving you as the lone defender while the other side comes rushing in (presumably to do the same to someone on their side).
This is a major problem that needs to be fixed. Dice needs to implement headset support otherwise all of their planned DLCs and future updates are not going to mean much when many people ultimately set their copy aside and walk away from it or return to games like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 where they can talk over headsets to people on their team.
2. Spawning Next to the Enemy: How to Die Instantly
This was another problem I came across multiple times.
You've just died, you change your blaster, choose your second card hand and spawn...
Dead... Again..
Okay, you spawn and then...
Dead... Again...
The game still has a horrible spawn rate where it'll spawn enemies behind your position, or it'll spawn you next to the same person (this happened recently to me on the Jakku map where I spawned next to the same enemy four times in a row before the game spawned me in a new location). There have been multiple times where I've witnesses other players spawn next to an enemy multiple times in a row. It's frustrating when you've just died and spawned only to die within a second.
3. No Spectators!
This by far is my biggest gripe about Star Wars Battlefront.
In the Battlefield game series and in many current FPS games, there is a spectator mode; where when you die you can choose to spectate and watch the other players, or if you're not even able to join you can still spectate on a game.
The Spectator mode has seen many Cheaters caught in the act and had the videos uploaded and their profiles banned for their actions. Yet why is there no spectator mode in Battlefront?
There have been multiple times when I've been suspicious of others players, for instance the one player whose got five enemies firing on them and yet when he's killed the last one, its showing he's got 100 health. Or when you're sitting in front of an enemy with the short ranged weapon (that poodooty little ion shotgun thing) and you hit them point blank, and the game says you hit; yet when the enemy kills you they're still at 100 percent (even accounting for lag and your game is showing you've got a strong connection).
Or, as everyone is using the same blasters (with there really being no difference between any of them beyond short, medium and long range); you're in a fire fight with an enemy and you're hitting them multiple times yet they're fine or only down to half health, while they shot you with the same gun that kills you in one hit. That alone becomes suspicious.
There are multiple other minors little problems I've seen here and there, mainly with some of the maps and some balancing issues that arise. There's been a couple of times when the game has launched and it's been 20 vs 10, or 8 vs 3 and the game has run rather than waiting for additional players.
For the most part, my happiness with the game has been slowly dwindling and even now the only reason I keep playing online is just to finish that karking diorama in the collection section.
Once I've finished with that though, I don't foresee a new map or a shiny new blaster pistol holding my attention or having me going back to playing online.
*Disclaimer: A sizable portion of this is ranting, mainly to vent off steam and frustration from the most recent playing (about 10mins ago or so). Though the problems still are viable.
.
