I'm just over 27 hours into Battlefield 4 but I'm not sure if that includes the Singleplayer Campaign which is about 4 or 5 hours depending on whether or not you try to find the hidden unlocks?
I know I'll be playing for hundreds if not thousands of hours to come because the game is simply amazing. Yes it has issues but it is easily the best looking (and sounding) Multiplayer FPS of all time. Most of the maps included are a lot of fun and exceptionally well designed.
I've even sniped a few times and actually enjoyed it which is something that never happened in Battlefield 3.
Battlefield 4 Singleplayer:
First off, I think the
Battlefield 4 Singleplayer is sh1t and I only played it for the unlocks. It's a horrible story with uninteresting characters, wooden dialogue and completely unrealistic combat situations. Sure it looks great overall but there are some good videos on YouTube that demonstrate just how poor the experience can be such as this one by Nerdᶟ:
[video=youtube;VXUERB2fxN4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXUERB2fxN4[/video]
If you get it for Singleplayer then it's a complete waste of both time and money but since you're in it for Multiplayer then I'll just move on.
Battlefield 4 Pros:
Gunplay in
Battlefield 4 is simply awesome and far better than in
Battlefield 3, hands down. Weapons feel a bit more weighty and the sound design just makes the shooting of each weapon type feel more authentic than in
Battlefield 3.
Vehicles are also well done and tanks actually feel a bit better balanced this time around. Gunboats are also incredibly awesome and I love driving them although there quite a handful when the ocean kicks up like in Paracel Storm.
The weapon/vehicle unlock system in
Battlefield 3 has been completely redone so now you start off with capable weaponry in the beginning and need far fewer kills to upgrade them. You can also get unlocks through Battlepacks but there random so you can't count on them to help you upgrade your favorite weapon type.
Overall the game is vastly superior to
Battlefield 3 in virtually every category if you compare launched states. Most people seem to forget that
Battlefield 3 was sh1t at launch too and are primarily comparing
Battlefield 4's launch state to
Battlefield 3's final state.
Battlefield 4 Cons:
Are there issues, oh ya, and lots of them!!!
Large maps seem to have horrid sound issues where you can go for large periods of time with no sound or only a few of your own soldiers sounds. Apparently there is a fix being worked on but this should never have been an issue upon release.
There's also a bug where apparently attaching a silencer to one particular weapon can mute sound for everyone on the Server:
[video=youtube;OZ7ZXe6nOsE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ7ZXe6nOsE#t=142[/video]
...ridiculous.
The spawn system is still utter sh1t as you can easily spawn in front of enemies only to get immediately mowed down. Why they can't fix this is beyond me because there are numerous spawn locations for each flag but it's still just as poor as it was in
Battlefield 3.
Although Server crashing seems to have been addressed, all of us have been hit with crashes at some stage which you get no stats from at all. Client crashes mean you lose nothing however Server crashes mean all the stats gained during that round are gone.
I had one particular game where I was lighting it up with a 10-0 KDR only to have the Server crash and lose those stats forever as well as upgrades, unlocks, etc.
The other thing that is still an issue is the Playerbase who just have no clue about what a Team Game really is.
To support the Team you
MUST be proficient at more than one role and not be afraid to switch it up if the situation calls for it.
I've teased Smack about this endlessly (sorry Smack) but the fact is, you are useless as an Engineer on a map with no vehicles. You need to be packing either motion sensors, defibs/med packs and/or ammo bags to help your Team.
Battlefield is a Team Game and if you can't PTFO (which means much more than just shooting in the right direction) then you're not playing for the Team. If you have med kits, drop them everywhere; likewise for ammo bags.
People can't shoot if their out of ammo or dead, seriously, it's common sense which is sadly uncommon in this game.
Squad Leaders still have no idea how to call objectives much of the time either. What they don't realize is they miss out on so many points by not calling objectives and it breaks the Squad up.
These remain the most irritating aspect of the Battlefield Series.
Battlefield 4 Netcode and other issues:
On to Netcode and this is a tough one because some people are bitching about it just because they can but not all claims are valid (such as in the link you provided). It's very hard to determine what is a Netcode issue, what is a bug and what is caused by client, all of which are present and probably always will be to some extent.
I've emptied a clip into a guy only to have him turn and kill me because none of my hits registered and I'm sure we all have. However frustrating it is (and it is frustrating), it happens very rarely and if it's enough to make you rage then you're already having a bad day and should prolly Alt + F4.
I've also been shot around corners because I clearly got into cover later on the other guys monitor than on my own and these are both likely Netcode situations.
That being said, I saw a guy last night score 40-8 on a ping of 267ms, wtf? The best Netcode in the world isn't going to help this situation because this guy just isn't sending packets in a timely enough manner to the Server. The only thing that helps this is a ping limit at the Server end of 150ms or lower.
In fact I was on a European Server with Johnny and D.O.A. and scored a KDR of 2 or 3 to 1; I can't remember precisely. I had a good round and got the jump on many of my enemies but I'm sure my 180ms+ ping saved my ass a few times as well; it had to have. I was turning and burning on guys that should have taken me out without issue and I don't think that should have happened.
The beta seemed better in this regard but I don't remember seeing high pings either. Of course I saw plenty of 100ms+ but nothing over 200ms, not even close. I honestly believe this is one of the biggest issues especially when there are a few higher ping players on the Server which is common.
Now, I've encountered times where I'm emptying a clip into someone but nothing is registering and that's because there's a bloody invisible barrier between my enemy and me. With all the "Levolution" bs in this game, this is something that happens from time to time as well.
Battlefield 4 "Levolution":
As for Levolution, it's the most irritating gimmick I've ever experienced. Yes it's cool to have the map change but it's a controlled change and it happens under the same variables every single time. Anyone who thinks it's dynamic is a fool, it's only marginally more variable than the smoke stack on Caspian Border in
Battlefield 3; only because it's usually Player controlled.
I love Paracel Storm, in fact it's my favorite map to date however the storm blows in way too quickly. There's little to no transition in the weather, it goes from mostly flat calm to typhoon in under 30 seconds which is just stupid.
Battlefield 4 Community:
Then there's the "hacking" because apparently everyone who is better than you is a hacker. Smack and I know a guy who always complains about hacking. It got so bad recently that I challenged him on it as he was complaining about being sniped by a Rex Handgun.
When questioned we learned the guy that killed him had a score of 8-5; hardly a hacker I'd wager. If so, he needs to learn how to use the hack or just purchase a better one because his BF4 hack sucks.
I find it amazing how fickle the Battlefield Community is in general because many are just whiny pussies. They say "go back to COD" yet turn on each other when their outgunned.
It's pathetic.
40-1 as Infantry (hacker), 40-1 as a Chopper Gunner or Jet Pilot (legitimate).
Battlefield 3 vs Battlefield 4:
Battlefield 4 is just more difficult than
Battlefield 3, period. I think whats made it tougher is the sheer amount of choices you have in customizing your loadouts. Every attachment makes a difference so it's imperative you customize your loadout to match your play style and not because some YouTuber told you it's the best like LevelCap ALWAYS does.
Even Symthic won't help you if you're using a beast loadout on a kit you can't control. You need to play the role that works best for you and it takes a long time to find what that loadout is; perhaps months so patience is required which most gamers don't seem to have.
Map design is also playing a large role in why we die so much because we can be shot from anywhere at anytime. It's sometimes impossible to determine where you're being shot from and quite often it's from numerous angles of exposure.
In Conclusion:
Now why I think this game is more challenging is simple, I'm having a hard time with it and I know my friends are as well. I believe I'm a slightly above average player and I have a KDR of 2.13 meaning for every 2.13 kills I die once.
I ended off
Battlefield 3 at an average of 3 or perhaps 4 to 1 much of the time so I know I'm struggling a bit; so are ALL my friends.
I have 99 friends currently, many of which are Competition Level players from prominent teams such as Shot Docs, Velocity Raptors, V2, Nexus, LOVE, AXIOM, and of course the now defunct TeamReddit.
Of all my friends, I'm in 9th place with a KDR of 2.13. I shouldn't even be in the Top 10 because of the level of play that many of my friends have which means their struggling too.
ShotDoc_Darius is a 2.79 and he's in a Tank all the time, wtf? I'm only second to him in Tank stats but I play far more Infantry than he does so I can see he's struggling a bit. VR-BIGMAC is actually 1337-BigMac and he's easily one of the best players I've ever seen and he's only a 2.47 currently.
...
Is Battlefield4 for you, maybe?
You have to be honest with yourself and that's not easy for everyone to do.
You're going to die more than you did in
Battlefield 3 so get used to it. Yes you will improve over time but you're going to have to work at it.
You're also going to need a deep well of patience as it goes through the bug fixing process which we all know from
Battlefield 3 takes forever. If this is enough for you to not load the game during this time then I would suggest not getting the game at all as with Premium it will cost you over $100 total.
I'd go as far to say that if you didn't get over 100 hours out of
Battlefield 3 then you shouldn't even bother with
Battlefield 4 because you'll regret the decision IMHO. Yes there have been upgrades but it's pretty much the same engine under the hood.
If you loved
Battlefield 3 and want to experience it again however much more flushed out then you need to purchase
Battlefield 4. If you spent more time irritated than enjoying
Battlefield 3 then I'd pass personally.
