Battlefield 3 in decline ? (Updated)

Some days it sucks to be a BF3 player.

Why?

Two words, Cheaters and campers.

BF3 was supposed to be designed so nobody could live too long without moving at some point.

Yes, there are exceptions like snipers, support guys with mortars and the like.  

That's not what I'm getting at.  No, I'm irritated at the guys who hide out for half of the game in a building waiting for someone to come get a flag then spring on them before going back to hiding.

Yes, there is such a thing as defending a flag and even a bonus for it.  Yes it's perfectly legit to sneak up and knife somebody who doesn't see you (even though it's annoying).

I hear lots of "experienced" players bitching and moaning about how the word "camping" is almost cliche' and misused.  Of course said bitching comes from the campers...

Hey, I've been accused of it myself while manning a stationary gun emplacement while actively firing on aircraft.  That's obviously not the definition any more than expecting a sniper to capture flags.

If you want to know if you're a camper the definition is simple;

• If you spend most of the game hidden at one flag waiting for someone to approach...
• If you come out only to refresh the m15 claymore mines that blew up the last guy who dared come up in a jeep...
• If your stats are heavy on C4 kills and have 10 medals for flag defense...

You're a camper.

It's gaming the game and it ruins it for everybody.  I will admit, however, when I blast through a wall with a tank and send you to respawn land it is very satisfying.  Much like it's satisfying to squash a roach.  

Yes I'm saying you're the gaming equivalent of a household pest.

There are lots of dark spots and places to hide in BF3 depending on the map and unless you somehow procure night vision goggles while on foot, you'll never see them coming.

I recently had to prove this to a new player in one of my least  favored maps, Noshahr canals.  I hate this map and Tehran highway for the same reason, it's camper heaven.

This guy was about half my rank but managed to take me out 3 times by camping.  First he hid in a jeep parked in a garage until someone went for the flag, then and only then did he open up.

There's no defense since he was far enough away from the flag to be obscured.  For a sniper this is standard fare, for an assault guy it's just camping. 

That's another hint by the way, you shouldn't be lying in wait for anyone unless you're a sniper or someone's attacking your home base (which is against the rules but there's a hack to allow it)

Later he actually moved to another flag where he manned another jeep waiting for someone to come up.  He got me once, I told him about it, he protested and then without him knowing it I rushed him and proved to him that he was camping.  He again protested that he was getting attacked by another player whom I'd actually passed on the way in.  

Really? if you can't take out another player then leave!  That's common sense unless you found an invincibility hack.  In the end is was nothing more than a lame defense.

Speaking of hacks or which I'm sure invincibility is one, I've fed more than one player on foot an M1 Tank round and he didn't die.  

Want reality in gaming?  

Ask how many people survive a direct hit on their body from a 120mm canister round.  Pretty sure it's zero.  So unless it's a hack it's not reality Dice/EA.

Yes there's a fine line between defending a flag and camping but I use a basic rule of thumb.  If you get a flag only defend it if it's immediately in danger otherwise move on and help your team.  Leave the lying in wait to the snipers and mortar teams. 

There's a special kind of camper that's earned its place in my own version of hell.  The C4 ambush camper.  

These campers could care less about team goals.  They only care about getting to the next unlock.  Worse they're hard to defend against.  I have multiple armored warfare ribbons plus a service star in BF3 and I can't tell you how many times one of these miscreants have blown up my tank simply because you never know they're there.  

It's another indefensible attack like the knife takedown.  Just this side of impossible to fend off because of the design of the game.

I've gone to great lengths to try to defeat the tactic like switching almost exclusively to night vision while driving in a armored vehicle and and never staying in one place too long.  

I'll literally rock the tank back and forth just to make it hard for one of these idiots to get the drop on me.  They still do but sometimes I get to run over them and get a roadkill bonus.  Hey, a kill is a kill I just used a bigger flyswatter on the pest.

Look, C4 is a legitimate weapon and I've seen some creative uses such as packing a jeep with it and ghost riding it into a tank before setting off the c4 charges.  It's far more effective than a javelin hit and takes some ability to master.  I almost like it except when I'm the target.

The latest twist on this tactic is to pack a chopper or jet with c4 and fly it into the enemy team.  I guess it was only a matter of time till we redefined "Death from Above."

Ah, but it's human nature to exploit the flaws in a game isn't it.

Which leads me to my next topic, Cheating.

I've bemoaned the evils of cheating before but it seems the cheats are way ahead of EA and Dice in BF3.

Take a look at the screen captures I put at the end of the video.  In seconds I found 3 sites actively selling BF3 hacks, some even come with guarantees!

I have about 20 favorite servers in my Multiplayer list that I play on because they usually host a good mix of players of varied skill levels.  

It's how I've leveled up with less than 100 hours in the game.  So when someone has a cheat going on one of these game servers it's pretty obvious to the rest of us.  

The One shot one kill hack or instant kill (Instakill),  the aim-bot and the auto attack only take a few minutes of play to ferret out.

The auto attack is interesting as it could stop you from being knifed from behind by automatically attacking any enemy that gets near you without you having to do anything.  This is a great defense against the completely legitimate but almost indefensible knife takedown.  So I can see the popularity.  Still, it's defeating the design of the game however bad it may be.

If you find yourself being dispatched on a regular basis by the same player without ever seeing them chances are they're using an aimbot. Most of them take advantage of the fact that games on Windows or any DirectX (like Xbox) based platform have to communicate with the hardware by passing commands through DirectX   

That communication can be intercepted and used by the hack to quite simply display information that normally would be hidden.  

Part of the mechanics of online gaming is that every client  has to be aware of what every other client in the game is doing.  So the information is already there just waiting for a bright programmer to take advantage of it.  

The end result.  all the enemy players on the map light up like lights on a Christmas tree.  Some mods even go so far as to negate any physics applied to weapons.  In short, if you play straight up, against the hack you don't have a chance.

I see plenty of "player banned for gamehack 0933840" or "banned for aim-bot 3434" or whatever.  Glad Punkbuster got around to catching the cheat but in the meantime I've been taken out 5 times and my stats don't care that someone did it with a cheat.

Believe me, I play straight up and wouldn't have the achievements I do if I couldn't play the game.  It's not a matter of experience or ability.

Why EA or Dice doesn't pursue legal action and appear to take a passive stance against an issue that is such a prevalent problem is a mystery.

With the release of the shortcut kits which equate to little more than a legitimized stat hack the problem has only gotten worse.

It almost seems like a case of if you can't beat 'em join 'em.  What else could explain the apparent lack of attention to an obvious issue.  

First the shortcut kits (which I've already admitted to taking advantage of myself just to stay on a level playing field) now we have an apparent lack of interest to pursue enterprises that exist just to cheat the game.

Of course if you get banned your game is useless.  If you're hardcore enough you'll just buy another copy and use a free email account to register it.  Ka-Ching! for EA!

Maybe that's the idea because the cheating problem doesn't seem to be getting any better and the response to it is little more than lip service.

This is why I have to wonder if the BF3 is in decline.  EA just wants to sell premium memberships and DLC packs these days and more and more servers are cheat havens.  

Worse, if you don't buy a premium membership you could find your online server choices further reduced by EA's policy of favoring premium members by reducing the number of servers available to non-premium members.  There was a recent flare up over the issue when the new Armored Kill DLC came out.  You see, most of the servers supporting the DLC were "Premium only" leaving out those who just wanted the DLC and paid $15 for the privilege.  

They've even promoted their upcoming FPS, Medal of Honor "Warfighter" by offering BF4 beta access to pre-order customers.

By the way, Kotaku thought the game sucked and from what I saw I have to agree.  See the Midagedgamer Report from 10-26-2012 for more information.

All this just suggests that BF3 is on its last legs and EA doesn't care...

I guess there's always Modern Warfare 3 co-op....