An open letter to Dice. Some of us have legitimately lost all trust & faith in you...
9 postsMember, Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline, Battlefield, Battlefield 1, Battlefield V Member
I know I'm not the only one. And that has to be a MAJOR problem for you. You know that, right?
I've owned every Battlefield (& Battlefront) game since Battlefield2. A lot of my gaming pals were the same. I'm currently the only one who owns BFV. There are so many great games out there competing right now, they were all waiting to see what I reported back on Firestorm & would then take advantage of the sale. But as much as I'd love the squad mates, I can't tell recommend they buy it. Not when I keep getting thrown into servers with 200ms ping and no option to select local only servers (Australia) or browse servers. The core game is fine... but lacking in content a little. I love Firestorm, but... not at 200ms. And tbh we didn't get that much value out of BF1. BF4 is so much more fun in every way comparatively. (I would kill for an X enhanced patch... but obviously that'll never happen, as it would cannibalise BFV. Shame)
I'm one of the few who purchased BFV specifically for Firestorm, I'll admit it. It was %50 off & I caved. I played the BF5 beta, and while it was fine, I still enjoyed BF1 and hadn't played it a lot. I had DLC maps I'd barely touched, and BFV didn't seem that different. A few of us had gone back to playing BF4 a lot more recently, despite the lack of AA & 720p res on xbox. There's just something about BF4 (& BF3) that's missing in the newer titles.
Also... I wanted to not buy BFV in sorta protest. The whole SJW fiasco with BFV...sure. But also, I'm still livid at your handling of Battlefront 2 (and one).
I have a half dozen friends who are all massive Star Wars fans... and we played Battlefront 2 for all of a couple of weeks before we started getting thrown into empty lobbies (Australia) repeatedly. It never recovered. I'd check every couple of weeks, and every time there was an update. But the only games we could get into were the Galactic Assault mode, and we all prefer the smaller team games. Initially I believe it was likely the matchmaking at fault. The problem was, if it was eventually fixed, then it was at a point where player numbers were terrible, so the problem continued.
The thing is... BF1 had the exact same problem if you didn't use the server browser. If you selected a game mode that had no player count, rather than tell you... it would throw you into empty servers on a loop.
Such was your arrogance that our pleading for a server browser fell on deaf ears. And it's what killed BF2, at least in my region. That's an absolute fact. Why would anyone spend a half hour to an hour of a night waiting to get into empty lobbies night after night when there are so many other (working) games to play? It's why the player count is so low despite it being a STAR WARS game (which SHOULD be a license to print money) and despite being able to buy it for, what? $7 during some sales? Millions of people have it. It's actually a fantastic game. But you killed your own player base with monumental screw up after monumental screw up.
So that's it for me, and definitely a lot of the people I play with. No more buying your games sight unseen. Or possibly at all. We've been burnt too many times now. There are an overwhelming number of quality games to choose from now that all work perfectly... that have a large player count and local servers. That's the reality. I'm not being dramatic, but it boggles the mind how this happens at such a large company. People should be fired. They're clearly not doing their job. How Disney hasn't sued you for lost revenue is beyond me. How do you screw up a Star Wars game? It has a built in fan base chomping at the bit for content. The hubris required to not listen to your fans/customers is alarming. "You can't find a game & want a server browser to help keep it alive? No problem...done!" should have been the appropriate response. Not silence. How hard can this stuff be? EVERYONE else seems to not have any problems with their matchmaking. You know what's going on. You would have people reading the forums. You would have statistics coming back on people playing.... searching.... quitting... crashing. You know player numbers of your games vs other games. It's like you're actively trying to self sabotage. It's infuriating.
It's like the whole fiasco with the 'women in BFV' thing. I can't speak for everybody, obviously. But nobody I know has a problem with women in games. It was the CONTEXT. I didn't like having female soldiers rammed down my throat in WW2 for the same reason I didn't like stormtroopers without helmets in Battlefront1. It took you out of the moment. It was jarring. It wasn't authentic. This was positioned as an authentic WW2 experience & all we could see was a company pushing an agenda. I'll play female characters til the cows come home in other games. Fortnite, Apex, GTA, Division. Whatever... bring on the female characters. If I'm playing Madden, however... I don't want a cheerleader to suddenly be the quarterback. Just make it authentic where appropriate. Jeez. I know you're listening. It was curious that there wasn't a single female character in the Firestorm trailer.
But the damage is done. My pals & I have a Star Wars game we can't play. It's our fault really. The first Battlefront had the EXACT same matchmaking issues & we all (foolishly, apparently) figured you would have fixed the issues, since... you're a AAA game developer & it would have been ludicrous for you not to. Of COURSE they'll fix it, right? It would be amateur not to. It would make no business sense. They could lose the Star Wars license. It would be economically irresponsible! 'All good reasons to believe you'd get your act together' I thought at the time as I pre-ordered. Nope.
And now BFV. Firestorm. It's great! (apart from the looting system... but you already know that). Only problem is.... lag. Ping.
History is gonna repeat itself here guys. 2 nights in & I've already bailed on it to go play Apex (with my friends, who don't own BFV). You have DAYS... not weeks or months... to fix these issues or you'll lose players you won't be able to get back.
You want to earn some good will back from your loyal customers? Let us see whose playing on local servers & give us the option to wait 10 minutes to play on local servers. No gamer likes playing on servers in another country. You're gamers yourselves. You KNOW this. If the player numbers are too low, eat humble pie... make Firestorm F2P & try to get revenue from cosmetic items. (NOT items that affect gameplay...I'm sure you've learned your lesson from the BF2 loot boxes drama)
While you're at it... give us a server browser in Battlefront2 so we can play what we paid for.
And a quick BF4 enhanced patch for X/pro console players at 1080p with some anti-aliasing would be a real feel-good move.
Then... maybe... we'll trust you enough again to get your next game. Until then though... there's no way in hell.
I've owned every Battlefield (& Battlefront) game since Battlefield2. A lot of my gaming pals were the same. I'm currently the only one who owns BFV. There are so many great games out there competing right now, they were all waiting to see what I reported back on Firestorm & would then take advantage of the sale. But as much as I'd love the squad mates, I can't tell recommend they buy it. Not when I keep getting thrown into servers with 200ms ping and no option to select local only servers (Australia) or browse servers. The core game is fine... but lacking in content a little. I love Firestorm, but... not at 200ms. And tbh we didn't get that much value out of BF1. BF4 is so much more fun in every way comparatively. (I would kill for an X enhanced patch... but obviously that'll never happen, as it would cannibalise BFV. Shame)
I'm one of the few who purchased BFV specifically for Firestorm, I'll admit it. It was %50 off & I caved. I played the BF5 beta, and while it was fine, I still enjoyed BF1 and hadn't played it a lot. I had DLC maps I'd barely touched, and BFV didn't seem that different. A few of us had gone back to playing BF4 a lot more recently, despite the lack of AA & 720p res on xbox. There's just something about BF4 (& BF3) that's missing in the newer titles.
Also... I wanted to not buy BFV in sorta protest. The whole SJW fiasco with BFV...sure. But also, I'm still livid at your handling of Battlefront 2 (and one).
I have a half dozen friends who are all massive Star Wars fans... and we played Battlefront 2 for all of a couple of weeks before we started getting thrown into empty lobbies (Australia) repeatedly. It never recovered. I'd check every couple of weeks, and every time there was an update. But the only games we could get into were the Galactic Assault mode, and we all prefer the smaller team games. Initially I believe it was likely the matchmaking at fault. The problem was, if it was eventually fixed, then it was at a point where player numbers were terrible, so the problem continued.
The thing is... BF1 had the exact same problem if you didn't use the server browser. If you selected a game mode that had no player count, rather than tell you... it would throw you into empty servers on a loop.
Such was your arrogance that our pleading for a server browser fell on deaf ears. And it's what killed BF2, at least in my region. That's an absolute fact. Why would anyone spend a half hour to an hour of a night waiting to get into empty lobbies night after night when there are so many other (working) games to play? It's why the player count is so low despite it being a STAR WARS game (which SHOULD be a license to print money) and despite being able to buy it for, what? $7 during some sales? Millions of people have it. It's actually a fantastic game. But you killed your own player base with monumental screw up after monumental screw up.
So that's it for me, and definitely a lot of the people I play with. No more buying your games sight unseen. Or possibly at all. We've been burnt too many times now. There are an overwhelming number of quality games to choose from now that all work perfectly... that have a large player count and local servers. That's the reality. I'm not being dramatic, but it boggles the mind how this happens at such a large company. People should be fired. They're clearly not doing their job. How Disney hasn't sued you for lost revenue is beyond me. How do you screw up a Star Wars game? It has a built in fan base chomping at the bit for content. The hubris required to not listen to your fans/customers is alarming. "You can't find a game & want a server browser to help keep it alive? No problem...done!" should have been the appropriate response. Not silence. How hard can this stuff be? EVERYONE else seems to not have any problems with their matchmaking. You know what's going on. You would have people reading the forums. You would have statistics coming back on people playing.... searching.... quitting... crashing. You know player numbers of your games vs other games. It's like you're actively trying to self sabotage. It's infuriating.
It's like the whole fiasco with the 'women in BFV' thing. I can't speak for everybody, obviously. But nobody I know has a problem with women in games. It was the CONTEXT. I didn't like having female soldiers rammed down my throat in WW2 for the same reason I didn't like stormtroopers without helmets in Battlefront1. It took you out of the moment. It was jarring. It wasn't authentic. This was positioned as an authentic WW2 experience & all we could see was a company pushing an agenda. I'll play female characters til the cows come home in other games. Fortnite, Apex, GTA, Division. Whatever... bring on the female characters. If I'm playing Madden, however... I don't want a cheerleader to suddenly be the quarterback. Just make it authentic where appropriate. Jeez. I know you're listening. It was curious that there wasn't a single female character in the Firestorm trailer.
But the damage is done. My pals & I have a Star Wars game we can't play. It's our fault really. The first Battlefront had the EXACT same matchmaking issues & we all (foolishly, apparently) figured you would have fixed the issues, since... you're a AAA game developer & it would have been ludicrous for you not to. Of COURSE they'll fix it, right? It would be amateur not to. It would make no business sense. They could lose the Star Wars license. It would be economically irresponsible! 'All good reasons to believe you'd get your act together' I thought at the time as I pre-ordered. Nope.
And now BFV. Firestorm. It's great! (apart from the looting system... but you already know that). Only problem is.... lag. Ping.
History is gonna repeat itself here guys. 2 nights in & I've already bailed on it to go play Apex (with my friends, who don't own BFV). You have DAYS... not weeks or months... to fix these issues or you'll lose players you won't be able to get back.
You want to earn some good will back from your loyal customers? Let us see whose playing on local servers & give us the option to wait 10 minutes to play on local servers. No gamer likes playing on servers in another country. You're gamers yourselves. You KNOW this. If the player numbers are too low, eat humble pie... make Firestorm F2P & try to get revenue from cosmetic items. (NOT items that affect gameplay...I'm sure you've learned your lesson from the BF2 loot boxes drama)
While you're at it... give us a server browser in Battlefront2 so we can play what we paid for.
And a quick BF4 enhanced patch for X/pro console players at 1080p with some anti-aliasing would be a real feel-good move.
Then... maybe... we'll trust you enough again to get your next game. Until then though... there's no way in hell.
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Comments
Starts off stating that they're a veteran of the series (like these posts always do), then that they bought the game on sale solely for Firestorm and don't have any friends playing the game, implies that they don't know how to use the server browser, starts talking about SWBF2, says "so that's it for me" but then carries on moaning, wonders how Disney haven't sued EA yet, meanders in to the old complaints about SJWs and muh historical accuracy/immersion, back to SWBF2, praises Firestorm but complains about ping (they DO have a point here since there isn't a browser for Firestorm), says it would be good for all regions to have local servers (I agree), something about pie (mmmmm pie), wants Firestorm to be F2P, back to SWBF2 again, asks for an enhancement patch for BF4.
There is a topic to be discussed buried in there but I suspect most people will either not bother due to the wall-o-text or they won't take OP seriously due to the fluff and nonsense.
The point is... I have been a long term fan. As have a lot of friends who, along with me, have bought every game and season pass for years. If I'm the only one out of a dozen or so who bought BFV after being fed up with all of these constant disappointments and issues, then I can only assume this is the case the world over. The sales figures would suggest so. So I'm left wondering.... when are Dice/EA gonna actually do something about it?
But forgive my long winded-ness. Your TLDR is fair enough. Although I never said I don't know how to use a server browser. I do... and love them. Which is why I wish BF2 had one & Firestorm was included in BFV's.
This reply is what your main post should have been as it gets to the heart of the problem without the waffle.
The bit about the browser was just because the op didn't make it clear you were talking about Firestorm.
They know what they did wrong, they will fix some things, break others and eventually BF V will become decent in
a year or so. Same story with almost every BF game so far.
Just relax.. IT'S A GAME
It's entertainment... that millions of people end up spending hundreds of millions on annually. That's why they do it.
Apart from the pov that we shouldn't have to deal with this stuff when we've paid money for a product.
We obviously all enjoy this stuff... which is why we play them, and care enough to come to places like this to praise or vent (mostly vent).
But it's frustrating as hell. I love both the BF & SWBF series. Dice's games are some of the best out there. Their graphics engine is second to none imho. They look amazing and play great... when you can play them.
I'd rather be playing them right now than most of the games in my library... but I can't... or if I can the experience isn't optimum compared to their competition.
It just doesn't make sense is all. More than anything, I'm simply confused as to why they go to so much trouble just to drop the ball at the end?
Why make an amazing Star Wars game & then cut it off at the legs with terrible matchmaking?
Why enter the battle royale arena (especially when the competition is doing so well) and go in half hearted?
Presumably they want a piece of the pie (mmmm, more pie). But if everybody else is offering local servers and rock solid matchmaking, how do you think you'll compete by offering less? They're already at the disadvantage of being 4th (or 6th, depending on if you take into account other games before Fortnite) on the block... as well as being a paid game.
These are all easy fixes. Some of the decisions they make are ridiculous. It's almost as if there's one top exec there whose the king of bad decisions that everybody is afraid to say 'Jorgen.. that's a stupid idea' for fear of losing their gig.
I'm relaxed, man. Just a little annoyed at this point.
I just want to play the game I bought.
And the old 'get a life' routine is cheap. A person doesn't have a life because they have a problem with something they bought being broken, or not working as advertised? We should all just contend with things we pay money for being in whatever condition the manufacturer deems fit to give us then?
No.
Been thinking that myself actually. Some moron from EA fresh out of business school calling the shots despite only using a computer for share trading with daddy's money. Can only see dollar signs. Damn shame.. If there is someone like that throw them back into the pit of hell they crawled out of FFS before we loose DICE and Battlefield.
Do they though? They seem to be under the impression that providing a game without proper servers is an acceptable practise.
Yeah, But sooner or later EA will unfortunately pull the plug on DICE due to poor sales figures again and again, (Or sales that don't meet EA's expectations rather.)
Not sure if they do. It seems to many people that Dice has no direction of development so they are trying to do random things and hope something works out.
Good God, how slow *do* you read?
Think this major tirning point has been coming for a few generations. They always had time, resources and sraff to fix the game, and showrd genuine interest in doing so. Now it looks like the have 3 devs and 10 markeying guys, and all we get is lame spin and delay tactics.
There's no waiting a year for proper fixes this time, the party is over. They screwed BFV, and I imsgine pre-orders and early sales for the next will be abysmal.
Gutted.
Lack of maps is my main gripe, and I have feeling EA is behind that as well. Making maps is the most time consuming part of making a game, and demands lots or resources, which means $$$. They tried to make this game on the cheap and charged full price for it.
I've played every BF game since BF2 except for Hardline.
BFV is so lacking in weapon and class balance and content that I just can't play it anymore. I haven't played in about 8 weeks now. I still keep up with the game here in hopes that'll improve, but I'm very doubtful it will much at this point.
Everything they add lately just seems to be "too little, too late."
I'll probably return to the game at some point, but I don't know when that'll be or how long it'll last.