Beta reports

The beta is available for Premium members now and I had some time to play it last night. I'll post up my feelings a little later but for now, here's a couple of videos of the game play. There's 2 modes available right now. Here's one of each.

My thoughts so far from my limited play. I can't shoot for crap!! I think there may have been some lag involved there as well but for me it seemed to take a lot to put people down and I did see a few instances of people magically disappearing or skipping across the map.

Besides that, first for the good stuff. The destruction is ramped up from BF3, I watched a sky scraper fall to rubble at one point, moving the capture point with it. I like the interaction, like riding the elevators or raising bollards to block a bridge. 5 man squads give you plenty of different spawn points and the view of what they see when picking is a nice feature (lower left corner of the videos.) I also like that if someone tries to knife you from anywhere but the back you can try to fight them off (I lost mine as you can see in the video.) Though the maps are pretty big I really didn't feel like I spent a lot of time doing nothing, there was plenty of action.

Now for the not so good. I'll put some of this towards being a beta but not all of it. First up the control button changes tend to screw me up after so many hours of playing BF3. They seem to have done this for 2 reasons, to make Battlelog accessable all the time and to make it more like COD. I hold judgement completely until I get a feel for it. I couldn't find anywhere to invite friends or change up my classes unless I was in the game. No changing things from the menu screen before going into a game. I did discover that I can change my class set-ups on Battlelog but being the simple old guy I am I prefer to pay attention to 1 thing not the game and my laptop or smart phone. Maybe it was lag or maybe it was the crap level one weapons but it seems to take a lot for me to kill someone. Bullet drop seemed to be a little extreme to me as well. I should be able to at least hit a guy from 35m with an LMG. Then again at one point I was shooting at guys with no names thinking they were bad guys and my squad mate told me they were good guys so that might have been what was going on. There were also certain spots where I couldn't climb or jump over items that I thought I should be able to.

No score yet based on a beta and I'm still going to have to play some with friends for my final judgement.

Yes, I managed to play last night, and like Shane, the is good, bad and ugly. The good is the feel that it give of BF3, and having 5 member squads is nice,(even though at one point we had 6  ). Main menu can be improve, but this is a limited beta, so its condensed. In game menu is nice, and like how you can pick where to deploy and know if its safe or not.

Bad: Like Shane, I felt that some of the weapons lacked any true stopping power, depending on what you are using bullet drop was over done for some weapons. Found engi weapons the best.

Ugly: after playing 3 complete matches, PSN decided to do an update, after said update I was being disconnected a lot in games.

Otherwise its a beta. And Shane, if go into the menu and under game controls, you would want to change the button layout from default to Veteran. That is the BF3 layout, it is night and day, went from 7-11 twice to 4-1 and 9-2 in the complete games that I had.

I saw that setting but it looked like the spot button was still R2 so I didn't bother with it. I'll check again later on.

The Battlefield 4 beta began yesterday for early access players and as to be expected a few bugs have been discovered. DICE has collated all known bugs into one handy list and has promised that it is currently investigating each of them.

The beta will be available for all on October 4 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Battlefield 4 is set to release October 29 in North America and November 1 in Europe for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. You can check out the full list of known bugs below:


Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

   If you’re disconnected from the EA Servers, the Main Menu tiles remains fixed in the front end.

PlayStation 3

   When you choose to quit during the EOR, you may be able to see “underworld” for 1 second.
   The camera transition before the EOR screen is under water.
   If you destroy an enemy tank near the Flag A, it may triggers the map’s Mini-Levolution event.
   If you quit from the XMB™ menu after the “Press Start” screen, you may experience a forced shutdown.
   The background screen for the losing team during EOR, is placed “under the game world” for Domination and Obliteration game modes.
   The Hit Indicator is not present when shooting at enemies.
   The EOD Bot can’t arm or disarm MCOMs on Rush mode.
   If you disconnect and reconnect your Ethernet cable while playing, the Game may remain in an endless loading loop.
   You may not be able to perform a knife takedown on an enemy using the TAW Launcher.
   If you sign out from PSN while loading into a MultiPlayer server, you may experience an infinite loading screen.
   In the Soldier Progression menu, you may be able to see upcoming vehicle unlocks that will not be available in the Beta.
   You may be able to see several Medals, Ribbons, and Dog Tags in the “My Soldier” menu.

I played for a couple more hours last night. I never did change the control layout. It just took getting used to, as it is, it's pretty close to the COD layout if we're going to be honest about it. With the upgrades to weapons, I did do better on Conquest, not so good in Domination but I think a lot of that might have been due to changing the server and/or the lag introduced.

A couple of things, the controls for vehicles have changed. While it's different, for me, it's much easier to run. I maybe should have checked the controls for the helicopter before jumping into it. I saw the building, I just couldn't figure out how to go over it but even that seemed easier from my 2 minutes of flight time.

I'm still not real keen on the modifying classes in game or through Battlelog but it is what it is. When a game starts I want to start not be messing around with classes. I did that once and by the time I got in the game we had lost all 3 flags.

Now for lessons learned, unlike COD where you might have 2 or 3 levels you need to pay attention to this one has lot's of levels and they are all pretty easily accessable. You might be getting shot by a sniper 50 stories above you and never know where he is if you look at your level. Also unlike COD, pretty much everything can be destroyed. You might think you're covered and suddenly it will be gone. And that sniper 50 floors up, could find his building going down under him with little and no notice.

As always teamwork is essential, a good squad can actually turn the game around. I'm not so keen on the comm rose but that's just getting used to more than anything.

Overall I have a more positive feeling about it than I did yesterday.

Never been one for playing Beta's personally but it sounds like you guys are helping to iron out all the creases before i get my mits on it  

The beta is due to be out for everyone some time today. I know they brought the servers down to prep for it earlier. Rocker and I managed a few games last night. I'm glad to report that comms work... as does mute. Someone joined our squad and promptly started singing and babbling.... mute!!

I'm still not sure about how much emphasis they are placing on tying this to Battlelog. Not everyone has a pad, laptop, or smart phone you know and that seems to be how they want you forming parties and changing setups otherwise you waste time messing with all that in game. Example, Rocker and I both unlocked defibs at the same time last night, so by the time we equipped them (and you can't do this in between games unless you are on Battlelog) all 3 flags had been taken by the other team and we really didn't take that long to change over but 30 seconds in a game that lasts 10 minutes tops can be a long time.

I did just discover that if I'm connected to Battlelog on my laptop and logged into the game on the PS3, I can select a friend and join their game that way.... I think.

Good Games last night, it was running smoothly, even if it was dom. Changing set up are a pain, hopefully it wont be like that in the finish product, because I would hate to have my laptop on and going because that increases my chances for disconnects.

Okay, except for the plague of freezes yesterday, this actually seems to be quite enjoyable the more I play it. The connection to battlelog is kind of a pain but if you can do it, it's pretty cool to see in action. I had the list up, hit join server next to Rockers name, and on the PS3 it said I was joining him.

The controls take a little getting used to but once you do it's pretty easy to do things, at least for me. One stick to control driving is okay by me.

Now we don't get to see all the game modes, but for those of you who like the fast pace of COD, I think you'll find the domination mode to be right up your alley, no vehicles, lot's of action, no respawn delay. I've heard from several die hard COD players who have tried it that they like it.... a lot.

Oh and as much as I detest it, I gave the recon class a go since I was on my own. I can actually hit someone this time around. I ended up 7th on the team but got a whole lot of spot points and awards.

Now onto the really interesting part of last night. In my last game, I hopped into a tank with someone not on my squad, just running the gun and repairing as needed. We went to the flags we could capture only. In the end he went 10-0 and I went 9-0, we were players 1&3 for the win in the same tank. As I was typing up a "nice work" message, the same popped up on my screen. It's nice to get something besides hate mail once in a while.

I've gotten used to the controls now, but they may change with ps4. Had some decent games, unlocked a number of weapons and out equipment. I can say that there will be complaints about the weapons balance of a lot of weapons and complaints from chopper whores. But all of that is nothing new.

The all-new explosive game mode Obliteration is now available in the Battlefield 4 Open Beta! Obliteration features two teams fighting over control of a bomb that must be planted on specific enemy targets on the Battlefield. This spells hectic all-out war with many epic Battlefield Moments guaranteed. Please join the Beta now and try out Obliteration on the Siege of Shanghai map and let us know what you think. We appreciate your feedback. Thanks for playing!

On consoles you need to use the manual server browser to filter for Obliteration game mode. It is not available through Quick Match during the beta.

Because it doesn't come up on the quick match menu, it was hard to find a game but we did manage to get in a couple. This is going to be a team orientated mode,which we really didn't have a whole lot of last night. It also has some issues still. When some yahoo decided to drop a building on the bomb, there was no way to get it, meaning the game would never end. You'd think they would have thought of that little issue with their touting of the destructible environment. Second don't be too close to the bomb when it does go off.... you die. Lesson learned the hard way, but I did get a bunch of diffuser kills before it happened.

Yup, and that game last 10 hours and 10 minutes. But when you do find a workable squad and team, it can be accomplished in a decent amount of time.

They catch on pretty quick...

Battlefield ‏@Battlefield
Rolling out a 20-minute time limit in Obliteration mode in the PC #BF4 Beta. Full game has time limit settings on all platforms. Go go go!

The beta is now done. Any thoughts from those who took part in it?

Beta done..............Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, as a Beta, I would give it a 7.5. As for what the game has to offer in game modes, access of menus, set-ups, maps, replay-ability, and such it looks like it could go as high as a 9.5.

So far the only complaint is the some weapons balance issue, but that should be cleared up some for the main game.

Take this with the thought that we only got to see one map but what I saw was pretty good. The one map we were on was a good size, not huge, not tiny, either way there wasn't a whole lot of time spent running around looking for the action.

I'm sure if I thought about it I could come up with a list of bad things I found but I found more good things so I'll list those as things they changed that I like, in no particular order.
-Vehicle controls are easier to use
-Beginners actually get decent weapons from the beginning
-Teamwork is still a must
-Comrose for those non-mic owning dweebs
-The dynamic maps are really cool, elevators that work, buildings coming down, etc.
-They upped the destruction from BF3 some
-Hey even I could use the base sniper rifle.... if I felt like slowing things down a little
-Auto squadding up when joining friends
-The ability to fight off a knife attack from front or side
-The pretty much non-stop action in all the game modes I tried, there wasn't a whole lot of down time
-The mute button
-The ability to use Battlelog to join friends or servers (slick piece of work there.)
-Giving C4 back to the recon class

Here's the changes they have come up with from feedback during the beta...

Controller layouts (X360/PS3)
We’ve increased the available controller options in Battlefield 4, including the new controller layout and multiple alternatives that we hope will make you feel right at home. If you’re more comfortable with the controls from Battlefield 3, we’ve got you covered. Just by bringing up the options menu, you can choose the “Legacy” layout, which is similar to that in Battlefield 3.

Empty server listings (X360/PS3)
While in the Server Browser you may have seen lists of empty servers. By changing the filter options, you’ll be able to find populated servers that you can join. You can also use the “Quick Match” function to quickly get into the action.

The elevator catapult (All platforms)
Although an interesting concept, elevators were never designed to act as a catapult or teleporter. The bug where the elevator button would catapult you up into the air is fixed for the final game. But we did enjoy all the crazy videos you’ve posted. Thanks!

Gameplay balancing
We are still balancing gameplay, and in true DICE fashion will continue to do so well after the release of Battlefield 4. Below are just some of the gameplay changes based on your feedback that we’re making in time for the launch of the game.

Infantry Changes
-Fixed how the player only receives a single local damage sound effect if he or she was the victim of a quick, clean kill. The sound and camera impact effect had too long a cool down between hits. This should improve the responsiveness of being killed and taking damage.

-Reduced the fire rate of the AK12 in burst from 1000rpm to 750rpm. The rate of fire was too high when combined with the low recoil of the weapon, making it more powerful than intended in burst mode.

-Tweaked the compensator and muzzle brake so they’re properly less accurate in sustained automatic fire.

-Reduced and rebalanced full auto accuracy based on rate of fire for all automatic weapons to balance low ROF weapons. Low ROF weapons were remaining accurate long enough to get easy kills outside of their intended optimal range.

-Increased the default throw distance of the portable ammo and med packs. This makes it easier to throw these packs to teammates.

-Portable ammo packs now reload 2 magazines of bullets instantly and up a total of 4 magazines per pack over time. The player must stay on top of the ammo pack in order to benefit from all of the ammo reloading. Grenades, RPG’s, and other explosive launchers do not benefit from the instant reload function of the Ammo Pack.

-Increased the muzzle flash of the 25mm and 40mm launchers to make their threat position more visible.

-Fixed an issue where the knife stab didn’t align with the kill event.

-The revive time has been increased from 7s to 10s.

Vehicle Changes
-Fixed some descriptions of weapons for vehicles that incorrectly described the function of the weapon.

-Increased the damage of the Stinger and IGLA to 3 hits to kill attack choppers (was 25%, now 35%).

-Increased the speed of all TOW guided missiles to 75m/s from 50m/s so they can catch-up to fast vehicles like the Quad bike.

-Increased the sustained fire accuracy of the Coaxial LMG on armored vehicles because it was underpowered.

-Reduced the damage the 40mm and 25mm infantry weapons do to armored vehicles to highlight their anti-infantry role.

-Reduced the damage main gun on the IFVs against other armor to highlight their primarily anti-infantry role.

-Fixed an issue where the tank main gun did not correctly hit the center of the crosshair at all times.

-Multiple options are now available for controlling how your vehicles steer with a joystick on all platforms, as well as improved the responsiveness of steering while accelerating.

Locking Weapon Changes
-RPG7 and SMAW can no longer lock on to Laser Designated Targets. It was inauthentic and not balanced.

-Fixed some projectiles not warning vehicles when they were fired on a Laser Designated target. Reduced the lock on distance for RPGs, SMAW, and MBT LAW missiles to 350m from 500m. This gives the IGLA the clear long range AA role for soldiers, and keeps the team play element of Laser Designation.

-All Laser Designated missiles now do a maximum of 90% damage to Attack and Scout helicopters (down from 100%). This was done to give helicopters a chance to use their Fire Extinguisher countermeasure even against Laser Designated weapons.

General Changes
-The kill string in the score log now appears sooner, making the UI more responsive to a kill event.

-The aim assist on X360/PS3 has been tweaked to be more consistent at all ranges. The assist was over powerful at close range, and not powerful enough at medium range. Players should now find that close combat requires much more player input and the snap to a target is far less forgiving. At medium range the player should experience a bit more assistance tracking targets, but generally still reduced aim assist effectiveness.

I likeyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that list is full of bullshit,

Legacy is not the bf3 controller scheme it's not even similar.

The elevator teleport was fun, it caused no harm and made a shit day seem better.

750rpm is the AK74, 1000rpm is the AK12, boost the recoil don't reduce the rpm.

'laser guided RPG is unrealistic' Who the hell it their weapons systems expert?! the RPG has got a laser guided lock-on assistance attachment.

All of the other changes are logical and nicely executed.