Im disappointed with a number of aspects of BF3. I think the core game itself--the spectacular engine, the unmatched sound, the movement, the weapons/weapon handling/shooting, the kits (for the most part), the gadgets--is amazing. The shooting is the best in the BF series and some of the best in the FPS genre, IMO, and the animation is damned good as well.
My main beefs just come with some game and map design decisions, along with DICE just flat out not living up to promises or prior statements.
As others have said, it just seems unfocused, like they werent sure who the game was aimed at when they were making the maps. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Oddly enough, I really don't have any problem with the Rush maps that I've played so far (but I've played very little in comparison to Conquest). It's the return of the king, Conquest, that has disappointed me in a lot of aspects. Despite what Demize says about players preferring some maps with the chaos of Metro CQ 64, to me its just laziness at worst, or just good intentions gone horribly wrong at best.
There just doesn't seem to be much imagination or ambition with a lot of the maps, aside from a select few, with Damavand Peak Rush being the "high point". Why do we not have any sprawling, large urban maps? Why is half of Siene Crossing just a series of square city blocks? Why are the most interesting parts of Damavand Peak (the construction areas) relegated to cap point sabotage/trolling, instead of being the focus? Why the fuck is the flight ceiling on Canals so low? Why do so few maps have any element of verticality to their design?
Luckily, this is all map-based. The game just feels like it hasn't come near it's potential of what it could be. And then there are the stupid design decisions:
Squad Management should not be an issue at this level. DICE has had squads in their games for a decade now--why are things regressing? Why cant I assign/pick a squad leader?
Inability to chat in-game was a horrible decision for pub play. It hasn't affected me thanks to Mumble and it honestly seems like most PC communities use something other than in-game VOIP, but it's still a strange omission.
I think the infantry unlock system is well-balanced (most important unlocks come early), if not very tedious. However, the
aircraft unlock system is laughable. Flares should be a STANDARD--it increases survivability in jets, which give you more gameplay "moments" (to use DICE phrasing).
Unlock should give you CHOICE, not fundamental gameplay abilities (we STILL have to unlock the defibs? ugh)
And then the broken promises::
--Destruction being hyped and then given the caveat of, Well, we didnt want THAT much destruction. Its almost the exact same thing as BC2: all prefab destruction. Rubble does stay on the ground and for some buildings, its harder to discern the prefab, but its definitely not what I was expecting (Caspian tower, Im looking at you)
--Squad Leader abilities. So,
they had lots of cool things that a squad leader can do? Like what? So far, its the exact same as BC2: you can set attack/defend orders, and thats it. Squad leader spawning isnt even on by default, so thats not even a squad leader ability. What happened to being able to call in Artillery Strikes, which was mentioned as recently as a few weeks before release?
--Huge maps, the biggest ever in BF according to DICE. There are really only two "big" maps: Firestorm and Kharg, and these don't even take full advantage of their size.
What happened to the seven flag map we were told was in the game? Why make the "biggest maps ever" if you aren't going to utilize half of the space?
I still love the game and still have faith its going to have some great post-launch support. Like I said, I think at it's core, it's great, but it's not really being realized or taken advantage of. I just wish they had given the game more focus.
Stuff like this, however, is why I love this fucking game.