So, where are we at with this new game then?

Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the latest in a long lineage of Battlefield games dating back to 2002 on PC. So far we’ve brought you an Introduction to Competitive BFBC2 , covering our first-look at the competitive aspects of the game and our first impressions of its long-term longevity and feature requirements for a successful transition to competitive gaming. We also saw initial impressions from our very own Durus in his ‘To Infinity’ series of articles. We saw a sponsored EA Masters Beta cup and covered it in the Early Battlefield Bad Company 2 Scene which detailed the layout of the first competitive tournament, which was soon followed by the announcement of a £2500 cash Prize tournament at Multiplay i39. 

We also saw more exploratory coverage of the Competitive Game Modes in BFBC2 which was designed to clue-in the as yet uninitiated when it comes to how the game plays and how they could be developed competitively. We know that larger organisations are keeping a keen eye on the development of the title, what with Team Dignitas announcing a BFBC2 line-up and rumours abound of many more organisations looking to follow their lead and put some faith in the community.

ESL, Clanbase and ESports Heaven also announced their intention of supporting the game in one way or another, putting on Opening Cups and opening leagues and ladders for teams to join. With hundreds of teams signing up, things are looking rather positive indeed at least as activity is concerned. So, you may wonder, why am I writing an article concerning modding a game that on the face of it, is gaining popularity in its vanilla format?

Without wanting to be exhaustive (as it would be impossibly time-consuming to detail every flaw with a Battlefield game), the aim of this article is to bring to the foreground what the buzz is regarding competitive BFBC2 at the moment in time, and also try to look at it from the other side of the fence. Most people playing BFBC2 competitively would like it to be improved upon on its current state – but why should the modders care? What is it that could drive them towards Bad Company 2, and how could the community help itself when it comes to attracting the kind of attention that has seen other games such as Counter Strike and Call Of Duty 4 hit the mainstream when it comes to competitive gaming?

Vehicles are a core feature in BC2 - the Conquest game mode relies on teams who use thier resources intelligently

I had originally planned in this article to talk to some experienced modders from the likes of www.bfeditor.org and ask them what it is that keeps them in the modding scene in Battlefield, but I quickly realised that I was barking up the wrong tree. Would I have learned anything by asking these questions? Battlefield 2 has been around for 5 years, and as covered previously, Bad Company 2 is a completely new step. A new engine, new dynamics, new problems – there is nobody qualified to comment on Frostbite 2.0 except the developers themselves and without manoeuvring myself into a position to where I could accidently bump into a DICE dev whilst he eats his morning roll somewhere in Stockholm, I’m afraid I can’t bring you that either. However, there have been many indications that DICE, EA and modders themselves are indeed interested in persevering with Bad Company 2 and continuing to support the game for a good while yet. For example, we saw DICE dev Johan Andersson answering questions in IRC during my recent webcast on www.bashandslash.com, where we went into detail about the kinds of fundamental requirements we need to ensure a competitive future. We’ve seen a lot of Twitter feedback hinting that competition play is something the developers are considering: recently departed Executive Producer Gordon Van Dyke mentioned this in an interview, as well as Community Manager ‘Bazajaytee’ declaring on a recent EA forum thread that this was a focus for the development team.

“BS: Gordon, I've noticed that you have left Sweden. Have you also left DICE? Can you tell us (officially) about what you will be doing in the immediate future? 

GvD: I move back (to the U.S.) the 4th, this Sunday and start at EA in Redwood City for Visceral Studio's on Monday the 5th.  As for the project I'll be working on, that is top secret for now.

BS: Good stuff. Welcome back to North America. By the way, the FPS community loves BFBC2, congrats to you and the DICE team.

GvD: I'm glad they enjoy it and the PC team is doing their best to add more functions and better support the competitive market. And I won't ease off them even though I'm on another project as I'll be playing more BFBC2 PC after I move back and get a new rig setup.”

DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke, discussing his future endeavours with BashandSlash.com

“We aren't adding any mods into BFBC2. We are looking at adding competitive play features into the game itself though if that’s what you are after.”

Bazajaytee, DICE Community Manager on EA Forums as reported by Team Dignitas

So now that it’s clear that through communication we have managed to convince DICE to consider the competitive needs we have, wouldn’t it be conceivable to discuss, in this article, some of the much needed functionality that Bad Company 2 needs as well as laying down our cards to the modding scene? If we can make it clear exactly what Bad Company 2 is missing competitively, then surely there would be avenues to open up discussions and debate with the modders which would allow them to declare what they would need to make it happen. Could that approach get results for everyone?

Competitive BC2 is suffering through lack of functionality - but there is lots to be hopeful about for the future

I do realise that I am being very conscientious and overtly positive around this subject, when possibly I shouldn’t be. Other than a cloudy reference to mod tools eventually arriving as DLC at some point in the future, there has not been too much to get excited about in that respect for BC2. DICE have repeatedly stated that it’s not a primary concern for them and that the engine is too complex; it’s too heavily reliant on external hardware and resources for it to be simply packaged up and sold as is. But I do strongly believe that the community in Battlefield is as near-fanatical and resilient as any other when it comes to their buggy and misfiring baby, and this includes the modding scene. Whether it’s Desert Combat, or AIX, or even Project Reality; Battlefield community members are simply amazing when it comes to supporting and developing their game, no matter how obtuse or difficult a potential improvement may seem. It’s been oft quoted that DICE were amazed with what the modding scene were able to produce with previous Battlefield games, and that some of the things they have managed went beyond even their expectations. So who is to say that these same characters can’t elicit the same again?

Bad Company 2 on Frostbite 2.0 presents a next-generation challenge for those inclined to explore it. Destructible environments, new modelling, new game modes and a variety of new vehicles and weapons are just the beginning. Nothing has been ported in from older games or engines; this is brand spanking new. We know, from lurking around on modding forums, that a lot of work was put into decoding the beta and figuring out how it was packaged. Thus, I don’t think it would be out of turn to infer that if they spent a considerable amount of time trying to see what possibilities BC2 presented, even in its beta format, then there must be a significant number of people out there who would happily get their teeth into modding Bad Company 2 if it was possible. A quick scan at the Bad Company 2 forums at BFEditor.org shows that users there are still running into brick walls when it comes to extracting the appropriate files to allow for modifications, but the overall consensus I got there was that slowly but surely there’s some progress going on and that is certainly better than nothing, and certainly more positive than some of our friends in the MW2 camp have experienced.

Whether the community over at the likes of BFEditor or indeed the developers themselves eventually make modding BC2 a reality via a self-built mod tool or a developer sanctioned one, the needs of the community at this point in time are pretty stagnant. Functionality is absolutely necessary to keep players playing BC2 and as someone who plays competitively, the least I can try to do is outline what it is we’re missing as competitive players. Do I hope that BC2 has some messiah waiting in the wings possessing the expertise to make our feature requests a reality? Hell yeah I do! Do I think we have one? Err… no. But I do think that rather than making small and easily missed points on EA forums (where you can expect you thread to disappear off the front page in a matter of minutes, such is the activity there) it would be appropriate to encapsulate exactly what it is we need, and also why we need it in a fairly readable format on our favourite eSports coverage site.

So here goes, eh?

1st and 3rd Person Spectator Mode – Huge communities have been forged and substantiated by having the ability to shoutcast live competitions. ESports is forever becoming a more prominent industry and every year we see great improvements towards bringing eSports into the mainstream focus. There are many dedicated teams of volunteers paid and unpaid such as QuadV and rushTV who spend their free time casting live competitive games. Thousands of games have been streamed live and every event that can be covered in Europe has been covered with the help of this functionality. The biggest titles, such as CounterStrike Source and Call of Duty 4, now have built-in facilities from streaming and casting games and this has become a huge focal point for the community. For Battlefield, it is a much-needed tool to bring BC2 competitions the foreground and to help anti-cheat companies like PBBans keep the cheaters out of our servers. A quick glance at PBBans’ Master Ban List confirms that DICEs reluctance to make server files available to stop cheaters has not made a difference. We need 1st Person Spectator mode to help weed out the brainless minority – if admins could flick onto first person view like COD4 promodlive, the chances of us catching cheaters is greatly increased. 3rd Person spectator, or freecam, is needed from a purely shoutcasting point of view. Bad Company 2 offers spectacular environments and plenty of eye candy to keep your average viewer watching. Couple a freecam view looking over a helicopter battle or a cross-map tank war whilst infantry engage each other nearby is practically the essence of what Battlefield has always had over COD and CS – hugely engaging battles involving vehicles and infantry in on a large scale. The jaw-dropping nature of some of the things you see whilst playing BC2 is unmissable and it would be a huge bonus for casters and viewers alike to be able to survey wars between competitive teams online and offline via this hugely important feature.

BC2 is currently missing out on a great opportunity to bring the gameplay to the masses via Demo Recording and Spectator Mode

Demo Recording – For as long as it’s been possible, demo recording has been a basic tool for gamers. Whether it’s for creating movies (something else that keeps people playing, might I add) or using it as a tool to help discern between great players and cheating fakers, demo recording is a fantastic opportunity for BC2. Battlefield 2 had Battle Recorder; a 3rd person recording of a entire match via the game server, which could then be used to confirm what happened in a match to resolve any disputes and also by budding moviemakers to make some of the awesome movies that exist for Battlefield games. My understanding, from speaking to my sneaky sources, is that Bad Company 2 has far too much going on for the servers to cope with recording all that game data, so I would presume therefore that a client side tool for recording matches would be required. It would have to be possible to switch between 1st person mode and 3rd person mode ideally, such as what is possible in CS and COD, but if it could be implemented, the sky is endless when it comes to thinking about how this game would be perceived by those who do not yet own it, as well as ensuring that the likes of ESL and Multiplay can host online and offline tournaments safe in the knowledge that people are playing fair and there are verifiable demos available to confirm this. Demo recording is taken for granted elsewhere, but in Battlefield it is unfortunately forgotten but absolutely necessary.

Server Functionality – It is plainly obvious to me that one of the major issues with BC2 at this stage is that there are so many missing features which we’re used to for fleshing out rulesets for competition play. There no way to ‘ready up’ in BC2, you can’t restart the round without reloading the map, you can’t switch teams in 4v4 until someone leaves the server, you can’t see your round score at the end, you can’t limit kits or classes for teams… the list is really quite long and is too much for this article. Servers are still in their infantile stage for BC2 but from a competitive viewpoint the servers must allow admins to control them properly and use them as they wish. Having the ability to limit certain weapons or vehicles in unranked mode would give the community the chance to work out the best way to move forward and play the game on a larger scale. Basically the current access we have needs to be improved upon at almost every level. Even the basic ability to restart a round or get a countdown to round start has been overlooked and the community has resorted to writing scripts which involve going through a convoluted process of restarting and typing various commands just to start a game. Whilst I applaud the adaptability of the early BC2 scene, I am frankly embarrassed that we cannot stand toe to toe with COD4 or Counter Strike, not because we don’t want to or that the game doesn’t cut it, but simply because the important functionality that others take for granted has been simply overlooked. A rework is badly needed.

Animations – There is definitely an issue which competitive players are noticing regarding the animations. Let me explain; when you knife a fence and it breaks... there’s a little delay. It’s not much, but it’s noticeable. The same happens with reload, with headshots, with planting the bomb, with fast-switching between weapons, with picking up kits. It affects the fluency of the game and in a fire fight, where your ability to pick up a discarded kit to finish off a 1v1, it is really frustrating that the pick-up kit option doesn’t appear immediately as you run over it as it does on CSS, COD4 and BF2. It’s just a minor fix which probably has a home in an eSports mod, but I know for certain that if it could be implemented, it would be much appreciated and allow for better fluency.

Spawn/Revive Protection – There’s not too much I need to say about this. Seriously, turn it off. It has no place in competitive games, and is currently facilitating so called ‘revive-trains’, where a group of medics can rush a flag and simply quickly revive any downed player. The player that has been revived is invulnerable for 1-2 seconds no matter what weapons you use against them. We’ve tested this and competitively we’ve seen it abused. With this removed, the dynamic of the game reverts to what you would expect; fast and fluid game play where individual skill and teamwork win rather than chance that comes down to poor game mechanics.

Kit Loadout/Perks – It’s no secret that the game is let down a little by the kits that DICE decided to include in Bad Company 2. Medics are given an LMG with 100 bullets per clip in the beginning, and are soon walking spraydown-machines when you combine them with perks such as increased accuracy and magnum ammunition. Throw five of these guys into a fire fight and add spawn protection and you have a protracted and laughable scenario where fire fights that are over in seconds in any other game can literally go on for 2 minutes or more as new players spawn in or are revived to continue the spray. I make no apologies for stating that there is absolutely no skill in this and I strongly believe that the community should have had an input into this before it was included in the game – it would have been spectacularly rejected. Give the medics the engineers SMGs instead and a couple of assaults with a long reload time on the under attachment and you have a far more skilful game on your hands where the kinds of ridiculous fire fights I’ve witnessed in clan wars recently would never happen. If server admins could lock down their server as unranked and configure kit or class limits, competitively we could discuss and eventually agree on a rule set which removes this facet of game play and replaces it with something where a bit more thought is required. Gamers love to be challenged and I can see people quickly getting frustrated – if that functionality could be implemented I reckon we would see a big surge in activity.

Competitive players hope that one day Bad Company 2 will play as well as it looks

Promod? – The gun sway and ‘random’ factor that BC2 players have at this stage is actually not too bad, and most guns perform fairly consistently. However, it’s been proven time and again that if the community can agree on it, you can improve on any game and make it a really exciting competitive challenge. Headshots should be headshots, players should be rewarded for accuracy and teams should have to consider the map and the available classes when creating their tactics for each match they play. A lot of feedback I’ve had from well-known competitive teams are denouncing the ‘public’ element of the gameplay as it is just now, and consultation with the community would surely elicit a more viable, LANable game for us all to play.

I’m getting conscious that this article is turning into an essay. Whilst I’ve tried to encapsulate the fundamental needs of the competitive community for BC2, there is always more, and what is really needed is a platform for discussion. We need to be frank and honest with DICE and DICE have to be willing to engage with us on a consultative and mutually beneficial level. Whilst there’s been encouraging commentary on possible improvements for competitive gamers wanting to spend their free time playing Bad Company 2, there has yet to be any real communication in either direction.

Modders too, will probably look over this article rather bemused that I wrote about modding but never asked them what they thought? That’s true. But look at it from the average gamers’ point of view, and take into account that most gamers would rather grumble and give up on a game rather than engage with other communities or companies who could help flesh it out and make it something amazing. Battlefield possesses arguably some of the most talented guys around to make competitive BC2 happen, but as I said, there has to be communication before there can be progress.

I for one have made myself eminently contactable when it comes to Bad Company 2 and would do whatever I could to make things happen for all of us who play the game. I believe Bad Company 2 has real quality and I would be surprised and disappointed if it doesn’t reach its full potential.

So the question remains – who’s going to take that first step?