With over seven million copies sold in just three days, Battlefield 6 is officially a success and a strong comeback for the franchise. However, as popular as the game is, itâs not perfect, especially in multiplayer, where the community spends most of their time. Letâs delve into ten things that hardcore players dislike the most, and whatâs being done to address them.
Map Size
During the beta, the message from the community was loud and clear â larger maps. The current map selection feels too small, even in Conquest, which accommodates 64 players. While the development team claimed that it purposefully included smaller maps in the beta for players to test, the full release doesnât inspire much confidence in that regard. They are smaller, lessening one of their main appeals â vehicular combat. DICE revamped maps during the days of Battlefield 2042, so itâs possible that it could alter the current selection. Otherwise, all thatâs left to do is wait for Season 1âs first map and hope it mixes things up.
Conquest Ticket Changes
Whatâs worse than Conquest maps, which donât feel like they capture the modeâs scale and appeal? The recent changes to starting tickets. DICE explained that this was to ensure matches would âfinish at a more natural paceâ since they would often reach the time limit beforehand. And while this encourages a faster playstyle, it feels counterintuitive to the modeâs tenets, like vehicular play, proper strategy, thinking before leaping into the next fray, etc. DICE said it will âkeep monitoring feedback and data to make sure the flow of each match feels right,â so this likely isnât a permanent change, but itâs definitely one of the more bizarre.
Medic Woes
One of the most controversial classes in the game, the Medic has received its fair share of complaints due to players not reviving their teammates (or even rezzing them and simply leaving rather than offering proper assistance). You also have players who donât use Medic to support their team, but because itâs the only class with a gadget that can heal and resupply at a momentâs notice. Call it a selfish way to play, but it gets results. How DICE will address this â and incentivise Medics to tend to their teammates â remains to be seen.
UI Issues
Another core feature that received extensive feedback and yet still feels as awful as ever to use is the user interface. From the very start of the experience, when choosing the campaign, multiplayer and Portal to selecting different playlists, the current UI feels clunky and unappealing. Locating new unlocks feels extremely cumbersome. Even the process of equipping new skins is downright baffling, requiring you to choose a class, then its character, before allocating a skin (and if that doesnât work, good luck figuring it out through anything but trial and error). This isnât to say that the HUD is any better while playing, but the UI as a whole simply takes the cake as one of the worst in a triple-A title.
Optics
One of the more underrated elements of a first-person shooter is the optics, because if the sights donât feel great to use, then the very act of aiming becomes an exercise in frustration. As youâve no doubt gathered, many of the optics in Battlefield 6 arenât good. The red dot sights on some of them look so dark that itâs difficult to actually track where your shots are going (which isnât helped by bloom and hit registration, but more on that later). Their size also doesnât help in this regard. Whatever happened to letting players customize their reticle? If Overwatch could implement something like this years ago, thereâs no excuse why Battlefield canât, especially when Battlefield 4 had similar functions.
Challenge Requirements
Challenges are always tough to implement because you want something that isnât too difficult to complete, but also something that could, well, challenge the player, perhaps push them out of their comfort zone. However, the challenges require some hefty reworks, especially when theyâre required to unlock gadgets. These include intercepting projectiles with the Grenade Intercept System, which is fairly niche in its own regard but becomes downright annoying when you need to do it 100 times and have a score of 40,000. Then thereâs the challenge, which requires getting 300 kills with sniper rifles â pretty easy to accomplish â but you also need to obtain headshot kills with the same at over 200 meters. Forget the skill required â there arenât even enough maps with such long sightlines.
Rush
Itâs been mentioned before, but bears repeating â Rush just doesnât offer the same experience as previous titles. While its layouts have been ârevisedâ to ensure âbetter balance between attackers and defendersâ in the day one patch, the 24-player limit and overall flow lack the hectic, fast-paced action that the mode is known for. With how often it comes and goes, it wouldnât be surprising to see a 32-player variant introduced on a new map in the future, but for now, it feels like a shell of its former self.
The Progression Grind
XP farming custom games would always be a concern with Portal simply because many players want a leg up over the competition (or, at the very least, to trivialize different challenges or unlock cosmetics). But in Battlefield 6, seeing DICE crack down on players who abuse the same feels like a punishment, given how horrendously slow leveling can be. Whether youâre working to unlock new weapon skins or receive new gear, it ends up feeling more like a chore than a reward for time invested. And if you didnât happen to abuse Portal farming like other players, then youâll have to deal with not having a level playing field.
Bloom and Hit Registration Issues
Regardless of what you think of everything else, however, at least the actual gameplay is fun, right? The weapons feel amazing to fire, and the movement is pretty solid, despite the ongoing back-and-forth between the community and the developers on how it should feel. Unfortunately, some issues persist, which can make even the most satisfying gameplay feel terrible. Weâre talking about bloom and hit registration issues, where, despite clearly aiming at your target and firing several rounds, many donât hit (which isnât the case when they fire back, instantly deleting you). As much as it may seem like an excuse for missing shots, itâs become enough of an issue that the development team investigated and confirmed itâs the result of two issues that âimpact dispersion/bloom in an unintended way and will cause you to have more dispersion at times,â as described by principal game designer Florian Le Bihan. A hotfix is on the way to fix this at least.
No Naval Warfare
For everything that Battlefield 6 includes, thereâs a fair amount of content from previous titles thatâs outright missing. Perhaps none are as conspicuous as the lack of naval warfare, and given the gameâs premise of all-out war, not to mention the inclusion of planes and tanks, it feels weird not to take the fight to the seas. The development team said that requests for implementing the same âhave not gone unnoticed,â and while nothing has been officially announced, datamining by Insider Gaming reveals code strings alluding to two new vehicles â Jet Skis and Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats. When theyâll be added is anyoneâs guess, so it may take longer than youâd think, but at least thereâs a chance.
