BF Alpha Notes

These are notes based on what I've seen from BF3 alpha testing. FYI alpha is the "break the game" testing time. This is where they want to see you find the major things that crash the game or make it unplayable. Beta is the "we're almost done" just help us tweak it. What this means is that nothing is close to 100% playable form yet.

*denotes corrections

If you don't know the medic and assault has been combined. Instead of the medic it is now the support class. Support carries the LMG's now and they drop ammo. Everyone else is basically the same.

Jets are for conquest only.

PC gets 64 players consoles get 24 (same as bfbc2)

You now can customize your gun AND you. Your gun comes with 3 slots to adjust to your liking.
1) Optics: Iron sights, Red Dot, Acog, 6x, Holographic, and one hybrid optic. Haven't seen a sniper in testing yet but you got to assume a long range scope also.
2) Grip & Bipod: It looks like the guns really spray alot without them. Bipods only work if you are lying prone (on your stomach). Essentially it turns you into a mounted gun. No recoil at all. Good for camping. Foregrips are for running and gunning. They are not as steady lying prone as Bipods but you can still use it standing up.
3) Barrel: The choices I've seen are Heavy Barrel which I think replaces Magnum Ammo but I think the drawback is more recoil. Muzzle Suppressor. It doesn't say it's for reducing sound but rather to make it harder for ppl to see you firing. Finally they have Laser Designator. This can blind the opponent if it's pointed at them, otherwise it seems to make it easier for pinpointing what your gun is aiming at.

Only 2 things you can customize yourself with as of now. Sprint (Lightweight) or Ammo upgrade. Guessing more explosives is also there. Missing so far are Body armor, Magnum, Bigger explosives, etc...

Not 100% sure but I think you can customize your kit. Say instead of carrying a med pack you can carry a submachine gun.

You no longer jump over obstacles ala BFBC2 but rather leap or slide across. Think Dukes of Hazzard as they slide across the hood of the car.

*It appears that you can also customize your pistols as well not 100% sure. (Correction NO you can't customize them)

All kits so far I can see are shotguns and submachine guns. It seems like engineers now use carbines (shorter version and less powerful then assault rifles) instead.

If a sniper is aiming at you (hardscoping) his scope will now flash to show you his location. It's really obvious now. Anyone using a 4X or higher scope will now do the same thing.

C4 can be disabled. Repair tool can kill but much slower. Defibs cannot kill but do stun.

Knife has changed dramatically. You can't one swipe anyone from the front, it takes 2 shots. Stabbing from the back is still 1 however, to get someone's tag you need to equip the knife much like the repair tool or defib. Your tag can be customized, they said it will contain all your info. Haven't seen it yet.

*No killcam in regular or core mode. Maps can be zoomed in but it now overlays your screen instead of a separate screen. (Correction: Killcam has been added back.)

*Players can only spawn on the squad leader. One of the commentators think the guy with the most points is the squad leader. Which means it can change as you play. The squad leader however can spawn on anyone. When spotting it will point out a squad leader making him a more important target. (Correction: For beta they're going to change it back to the way you spawn in BFBC2. The attackers were getting their asses kicked. This however is temporary they want to see what works better. It could switch back)

The new frostbite engine to what I've heard means that instead having to drop an entire building on someone you can blow out a wall thus dropping a piece of the building on someone. Have not seen it yet so not sure.

I will add more as I find out.

Ser9ph

1 more note. Private beta is only 2 days before full open beta. So if you didn't apply or buy MoH you still get in. That means all of us. They said however it will not be Paris metro which is the current alpha. Guessing they are gonna pick a vehicle map one to suck in the MW fanboys.

You now no longer automatically get revived. You have a choice on whether or not you want to accept it. You can crawl and fight with pistols for a short while, while considering whether to be revived or not.

There are flashbangs now.

You cannot spawn on anyone that is currently being fired at. No more *bleep* I just spawned on you now I'm dead.

You can only regenerate health IF you are no longer being hit. It won't start until a few seconds AFTER you've gotten away.

Heavy Barrel attachment is for better accuracy but less mobility. http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_Barrel

I guess now each weapon will have a mobility rating. Much like how now running with pistols makes you run faster.

Each faction has it’s own weapons and unlocks. For instance US forces use the M4 while Russians use AK47.

The also each have their own optics. Guessing a Red Dot, 4X (Acog), 6X (The scope the VSS, T88 Sniper, SVU uses when not selecting a specific optic.) and 12X (Sniper)

It was stated though that you can eventually unlock the opposite factions weapons. My guess if it’s 50 lvls again 25 to get all your faction’s weapons and the last 25 for the others.

They heard we hated that everything was unlock so early so this is their cheap attempt to extend the unlocks.

AE pointed out that UAV is now an engineer tool. That has been confirmed but it’s used for spotting only. EOD Bot shown in the Caspian Border trailer is now the new UAV. Can arm/disarm MCom's, repair vehicles, disable explosives.

Explosives such as mines can no longer just be shot. They have to be blown up.

thanks for all this Ser9ph! can't wait...

I saw an update for BF3 on youtube from 'TheBattlefieldo' and saids there would be no more Heavy MGs around key areas in the map, like those in BC2. Since you can mount your weapons in almost any place in the map, this defeats the need for a Heavy MG. Something I will probably miss

It also saids that you can talk to the entire team by using channels. My guess is that you can tune a certain channel and talk to whoever is in there.

It also saids the beta is in the 15th

link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NfimDTE26w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

To drag on the unlocking artificially you have to unlock scopes, grips etc for each weapon. That means even if you have a red dot on the scar you have to unlock it again on the ump. Kind of lame.

Suppression points = If you fire near an enemy their screen will shake and get blurry thus suppressing them. Best done with support and their lmgs.