Battlefield 3 Playlists? ~ Critical Mindset

Hopefully this gets out before the big patch for Battlefield 3 comes out. If you're a little out of the loop, DICE just released an announcement that they are gonna deploy a really big patch for Battlefield 3 in PS3 this coming March 27, with release date for PC and Xbox360 stated as "soon". There would be a lot of changes here especially in weapons balance, vehicle and infantry balance that I didn't bother to read everything in the patch notes. I feel that DICE is changing a lot of things all at once but one thing is for sure - this patch will definitely change everything.

Now in preparation for this upcoming patch, DICE and EA servers went through maintenance last week. And guess what happened afterwards - "playlists" was implemented in the server browser. For a detailed explanation of the server browser playlists, watch the video below from dontrevivemebro:

TL;DR? When you look at the map rotation of servers, some of them feature only large maps like Wake Island, Caspian Border, and Operation Firestorm while some of them let you play only on close quarter maps like Seine Crossing and Operation Metro. The most notable change in the server browser is the alternating game modes. Some servers switch between Rush and Conquest modes every round, some switch between TDM and SQDM, while others rotate all these 4 modes. The only mode that's left out on its own is Squad Rush.

Some people liked this idea for variety. While I have no problem with this setup, apparently some people didn't like this as not everyone is accustomed to all game modes that Battlefield 3 has to offer. And while official EA servers still have those normal Conquest Mode only servers, I failed to find any Rush Mode only server. All servers that have Rush Mode also have Conquest Mode in rotation. I can't find Hardcore servers that are Conquest Mode only as well.

A lot of my comrades only like playing Rush Mode on Hardcore servers so they don't favor this change at all. I do agree with them that the map rotation kind of kills momentum because you have to change your play style every match. I'm not sure if this change is initiated due to popular demand, but I'm pretty sure that a large portion of the Battlefield community still favors Rush Mode over Conquest.

Honestly, I welcome this idea of letting you play on just selected maps depending on your choice of play style, whether you want close quarters type of combat to get more personal, or large maps with all vehicles. Rotating maps is a good addition for people who like variety but I hope DICE will include servers that are Rush mode only for people that don't like to play Conquest. I don't want this to be a reason for people to opt paying to rent a server so they can customize their own matches.

In my next article, I'll try to get into the differences between Normal and Hardcore modes. There are obvious differences of course, but I will get into more detail as to why people favor one over the other.

If you like this post, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feed.