Why Battlefield 3: Endgame DLC will protect DICE’s legacy
Well folks, this is it: Battlefield 3’s next and final DLC, Endgame, is just around the corner.
While certainly not everything has been revealed, three major things can be determined from glimpses in the official trailer:
- The introduction of Capture the Flag and Air Superiority
- New vehicles (most notably, the two-man dirt bikes)
- New maps
Right off the bat, that’s a lot of potential for new Battlefield 3 combat experiences.
Of course they’ll still be adding smaller things such as new dog tags and assignments – but new maps, vehicles and game modes are what I actually care about. If DICE is consistent, they will be pushing out a major patch with various balances and bug fixes to the game somewhere near the release of the new DLC. Hopefully they take a serious approach to playtesting the newest patch so we don’t end up with even more bugs as we have seen with previous updates.
What am I looking forward to the most? Probably Capture the Flag. The sad reality is that the only game mode that seems to have any replayability at the moment is Conquest. Populated servers for other gametypes like Gun Master and Tank Superiority are already rare, which doesn’t really surprise me. Scavenger and Conquest Domination play like slightly modified deathmatches and lose their fun value after the first few rounds. Rush is a great game mode, but is plagued by terrible map layouts.
For CTF, it pretty much boils down to how DICE decides to design the maps. From the trailer, it is safe to assume it will be two-flag style with one in each team’s “base,” as opposed to one flag somewhere in the middle of the map. With diversity of vehicles on the map (the new Humvee, scout helicopters, dirt bikes, and possibly a tank), we can expect plenty of ways to traverse the map quickly. Overall, I predict a healthy mix of vehicle and infantry mayhem in this DLC, much like in Aftermath.
It looks like the modified Humvee in the trailer is equipped with an ASRAD (Advanced Short Range Air Defense) system. Hopefully the range is long enough, because a nasty scout helicopter pilot can take down targets from quite far. The dirt bikes seem cool, but mechanically the only difference they seem to have from Armored Kill’s ATV’s is the ability to look forwards while riding in the passenger seat.
If I were a half decent pilot, I imagine I would be quite excited for Air Superiority. If it is anything like Battlefield 1943’s Air Superiority, jet junkies have a lot to look forward to. From what I’ve seen, your team attempts to control a blimp (or more specifically, JLENS) while gunning down enemy aircraft. If you take a close look at the bottom left of the trailer (embedded below) there are 3 of these capture points available. Basically, whoever can keep the skies clear around their dirigible the longest will be taking home the match.
As BF3’s final DLC, Endgame carries a lot of weight for the series. But with Battlefield 4 being a confirmed 2013 release, I am confident that DICE won’t want to leave players with a bitter taste in their mouth.
Air superiority was one of the best ideas ever for Battlefield 1943 for a few reasons, but the biggest one was that it allowed people to LEARN HOW TO FLY.
Every BF player knows there is nothing more annoying than having a plane wasted by someone who can’t even take off, and likewise new players have the problem of never getting practice flying since nobody will let a newb in the cockpit.
In just a few hours playing AS in 1943 I learned 800X more than what I ever picked up from my 30-second flying lifespans before. Plus, Air Superiority is just fun as hell and it feels great being a part of an epic dogfight… especially if you have your wingmen on voice comm.
Glad to find a BF3 article here.
Do you think it is too late for someone to get into BF3 now ?Or should i just wait for BF4 ?
Someone asked me this question recently, and I think it really just depends on your gaming “budget.” Due to the game having 5 DLC’s, the servers are very split up. For $60 you can buy Battlefield 3 Premium edition (Includes BF3, all DLC, and a ton of extras like early unlocks).
For $60 you get what I consider the most fun pub FPS game of all time. There is no other shooter where you can just hop in a random server, with or without friends, and have as much fun as you can in Battlefield. Plus, BF4 doesn’t release until next fall, so you have enough time to experience the game, and all the vehicle and weapon unlocks.
Knowing DICE, BF4 will be very similar to BF3 in most aspects. There is no doubt that playing BF3 now will make you better at BF4 once you get your hands on it.