Strider Hiryu

I'm getting sick of the constant email spam every fucking time a game on my wish list goes on sale I'll say that much. Honestly I have even really looked at Steam all that much over the last 6 months (I was playing STO again for the Christmas event so that's the only reason I was on Steam), I've got to many other games on PC to play through before I consider buying any new ones (though I was tempted to pick up Civ 6 but the sale on it was mediocre at best). Honestly it's been one sale after the next for the past 6 months that if it wasn't for the requirement of having Steam on you PC to play the games bought through it I wouldn't have a problem uninstalling it.

Meh, I've been putting more time into this over the last few days then I thought I would (yeah I know I said I wouldn't touch it until DLC time but I get distracted easily). After finally giving the patch enough time I have to say while I don't agree with every change I will say Domination is finally becoming fun again and you're seeing more variation in weapons with the Model 10 nerf (it might not be that significant but I've seen a massive decrease in its use over the last 3 days of playing) and the LMG buff (I'm seeing a lot more 1909 and MG15's in Domination now, it's kind of nice to see Support getting used). I pulled out the 12g tonight while I was playing because I watched Matimi0 go on a rampage with it in one of his recent videos and I have to say the gun is amazing and I think I finally found my go to Assault weapons. It's got shit range and while it can kill someone at ranges the Model 10 could hit it's very rare. It makes up for this with the ability to fire as fast as you pull the trigger and amazing power at close range (I was actually pulling off headshots left and right with it, kinda wish I would of gotten the shotgun medal this week, this of course is the Backbored version as I don't have access to the other two yet). The only other real downside with it is the need to reload constantly (5 rounds isn't exactly desirable but I've started treating it like I treated the M1014 in CoD4 and I'm getting back into my shotgun groove again). Kinda happy it's actually good as I can put that amazing Legendary skin to use. The LMG buff made the 1909 even better than it already was (the range on it is amazing now with the accuracy changes, I actually prefer running it over the BAR now) that's for sure.
I'm thinking they upped the drop rates of the more rare skins now. Since yesterday (when I got the 2 free Superior crates for being premium and 1 free normal one) I've pulled 3 Legendaries (the 1903, the Gasser, and the C96 skins (the 1903 was from a normal pack)), three puzzle pieces (two clubs (one more and I finally get the club) and a sawtooth), 4 squad xp boosts (which led to some enhanced crates), and 3 blue skins (I got the blue LT skins, the blue 1909 skin, and one other that I don't remember currently). There were numerous whites as well but that's to be expected. Either this is for the holidays or they finally heard our cries for drop rate changes. Whatever it is it's been nice getting battlepacks for once (which I've been pulling in left and right, I've had maybe 4 out of 20 matches where I didn't get a battlepack).

You need to play Domination with Sledge and I (when you can actually talk to us unlike last time), it's always a blast (quite literally sometimes and I promise you won't suffer).
I get the feeling we're only getting one Operation if even that with the French DLC. What little has been talked about only points at 2 maps (one at Verdun and another in some bunker complex (I forget the name, I caught the article on VG while I was on break today)) and of course weapons (how many who knows). I get the feeling this will be what we get to look forward to in each DLC (hopefully there's at least two more maps but I'm not holding my breath with how shit has been going with BF1. I hope we get a surprise and get 5 maps like in the BF4 DLC's but again I won't hold my breath).

If there isn't 2 new operations pre DLC at least, I'll feel cheated. There is no reason not to have Operations on a rotation at this point. Solo Q just puts you on a almost done match becasue the other team had rage quitters. The whole "no chance at a loot box" thing isn't incentive enough becasue of how low of a chance people feel there is of getting one. They really need to change it to per rank up, and make a weekly list. I'd suffer through a round of domination and conquest if it got me a loot box for the week.

Amen to the RNG system shenanigans. The RNG is worse then Destiny's was in vanilla and that's sad. Out of all the battlepacks I've gotten since I started playing (this counts the 5 for the deluxe edition) I've gotten 4 Legendaries for guns I don't use (or which 1 was a duplicate I scrapped), 7 Distinguished skins of which I use maybe 3 of them, and a whole shit ton of crap whites that I don't use period as they're either worse than the base skin or just don't look any better than the base skin. DICE lowered to probability of getting blue and orange skins so they could push people to buy battlepacks for real money. It's freaking sad (especially when you consider how much it costs to buy 1 battlepack compared to what it costs to buy a loot box in Overwatch or what it costs me to buy dyes in FFXIV (which is roughly a $1 for one dye pot) and really makes me think DICE just checked out for this game (that or EA pressured them into doing this, who knows).
I get the feeling based on how polished the game was at release that this game was in development for more then 2 years, I'm going with more around 3 (we know it was in some for of development when Hardline was first announced).
 
I'd be for a return to the cap speed. The tickets really aren't the problem here as is apparent in those matches where you can't get past the first sector with 250 tickets and a Behemoth. As it is the capping speed is to quick especially when you get a hold of certain points on certain maps (we all know which ones). Oil of Empires would be the only map that the new cap speed should stay on since it has always heavily favored Defense (especially Fao Fortress and Suez). I'm getting the feeling DICE forgot what it means to balance a game and is taking notes from companies like Blizzard (I'm talking WoW here not Overwatch) who over fix something while over nerfing other things. Honestly I didn't know how bad the Martini nerf was until I watched Westie's video (and honestly the nerf isn't really bad, if they raised arm damage a little more (not to where it was) I think the Martini would still be a very viable gun for people who run it. However this is only based on what little I know about the gun as, I have repeatedly said, I've never used the gun) and it's these kind of nerfs that need to stop. I'm pretty sure they're rebuff the gun in an upcoming patch like they did with mortars but you know it'll never be as good as it was before.
I think DICE's biggest problem is the period this game takes place in. They're used to modern shooters now (it's been how long since the first Battlefield released), they forgot what it meant to make a game in a time period where guns weren't as powerful as they are now. They're either underpowering guns that were actually pretty beastly (the Martini) and overpowering guns that probably weren't even that powerful to begin with (I use the Hellreigel here, there is no documentation on how powerful this gun actually was as it never saw use in the War and I believe only three were made (I don't remember, been awhile since I watched Westie's video on it) for testing with none surviving). It's a shit show and I hope by the time the first DLC rolls around they figure out what they're doing to balance this game properly because I'm really starting to regret buying Premium now.

Amen to the RNG system shenanigans. The RNG is worse then Destiny's was in vanilla and that's sad. Out of all the battlepacks I've gotten since I started playing (this counts the 5 for the deluxe edition) I've gotten 4 Legendaries for guns I don't use (or which 1 was a duplicate I scrapped), 7 Distinguished skins of which I use maybe 3 of them, and a whole shit ton of crap whites that I don't use period as they're either worse than the base skin or just don't look any better than the base skin. DICE lowered to probability of getting blue and orange skins so they could push people to buy battlepacks for real money. It's freaking sad (especially when you consider how much it costs to buy 1 battlepack compared to what it costs to buy a loot box in Overwatch or what it costs me to buy dyes in FFXIV (which is roughly a $1 for one dye pot) and really makes me think DICE just checked out for this game (that or EA pressured them into doing this, who knows).
I get the feeling based on how polished the game was at release that this game was in development for more then 2 years, I'm going with more around 3 (we know it was in some for of development when Hardline was first announced).
 
I'd be for a return to the cap speed. The tickets really aren't the problem here as is apparent in those matches where you can't get past the first sector with 250 tickets and a Behemoth. As it is the capping speed is to quick especially when you get a hold of certain points on certain maps (we all know which ones). Oil of Empires would be the only map that the new cap speed should stay on since it has always heavily favored Defense (especially Fao Fortress and Suez). I'm getting the feeling DICE forgot what it means to balance a game and is taking notes from companies like Blizzard (I'm talking WoW here not Overwatch) who over fix something while over nerfing other things. Honestly I didn't know how bad the Martini nerf was until I watched Westie's video (and honestly the nerf isn't really bad, if they raised arm damage a little more (not to where it was) I think the Martini would still be a very viable gun for people who run it. However this is only based on what little I know about the gun as, I have repeatedly said, I've never used the gun) and it's these kind of nerfs that need to stop. I'm pretty sure they're rebuff the gun in an upcoming patch like they did with mortars but you know it'll never be as good as it was before.
I think DICE's biggest problem is the period this game takes place in. They're used to modern shooters now (it's been how long since the first Battlefield released), they forgot what it meant to make a game in a time period where guns weren't as powerful as they are now. They're either underpowering guns that were actually pretty beastly (the Martini) and overpowering guns that probably weren't even that powerful to begin with (I use the Hellreigel here, there is no documentation on how powerful this gun actually was as it never saw use in the War and I believe only three were made (I don't remember, been awhile since I watched Westie's video on it) for testing with none surviving). It's a shit show and I hope by the time the first DLC rolls around they figure out what they're doing to balance this game properly because I'm really starting to regret buying Premium now.

That's why DICE needs to look at their progression system and change it. This is exactly why I wish they would of left the attachment system in game and unlocked the guns through progressive use of others like in BF4. Sadly they decided on this monstrosity of a system that only favors people who have no lives and can spend 6-8 hours playing this game (which isn't really a benefit more or less it just helps them unlock the rank 10 weapons faster). Honestly I was never really all that interested in the rank 10 weapons because we already have all of the best weapons for each class unlocked by rank 3. The Mon and Cei are by far the best Medic weapons (the Seb is amazing if you can get over the recoil while using it's Marksmen variant) for medium range encounters, the Autoloader is amazing but it's damage leaves a little to be desired (I mean the gun fires as fast as you can pull the trigger which for me is pretty damn fast. It's recoil is very manageable and if you get the extended mag version you're sitting with probably one of the best weapons the class has if you're going for an aggressive playstyle (it would definitely fit in with you Rifle Grenade/Medic Crate combo)), and the Sweeper is one of the best close range weapons in the game (outside of the Assaults SMG's). The BAR is by far the best weapon Support has with the 1909 coming in at a very close second (for me anyways). It's extremely stable, is capable of long range kills with precision accuracy, and its the only LMG that can hold it's own in close range fights (the 1909 is good if you use the Trench variant but nothing beats the BAR). The MG 15 is great for laying down suppressing fire from long ranges due to clip size and it's actually a pretty accurate gun if you use a version with the bipod. I can't comment on the Madsen as I've never used it outside of the campaign but considering how many people do use it I'd say it's a pretty good gun as well. Scout has by far the best weapons in the game if you understand how they work and they have everything you need for any range. Personally out of the rifles I've used I like the Russian 1895 and the 1903 isn't bad (I need to get used to the bullet velocity on it) for long range encounters. As I don't use the Scout for aggressive play I have no real opinion on the other rifles and their usefullness.
I've had no trouble beating out a full auto Cie with the MP18. The Cie starts to get pretty inaccurate after the second shot and even the Trench version has atrocious hip fire. An MP18 shouldn't lose out to it in any situation besides being ambushed. That's the real reason why I hate Assault, it's useless outside of taking out armor. Honestly they should of just left Medic as Assault and gave us an actual Engineer class again or at least have given the Assault class an actual medium range weapons (they honestly deserve a DMR or, as much as I hate to say it, give them the BAR. Honestly the BAR isn't much of an LMG in my opinion and I think it'd fit in the Assault class better. Then again the Hellreigel would have to go then (honestly it should be a Support weapon based on its mag size)).
Sadly though DICE won't learn from these mistakes until player counts start to drop and lets face it that won't happen for awhile. BF1 is pretty much the only viable FPS atm considering how much IW sucks. TF2 is another viable option but it seems BF1 is pretty much dominating the FPS market at the moment. Plus DICE will learn quite quickly what will happen if you nerf the BAR as Support will probably see massive drops in how much it's actually played (lets face it you're other options aren't that great weapon wise, I rarely see Lewis Guns and Madsens anymore. All I ever see is the BAR, 1909, and MG 15 with the BAR being the most used LMG). Plus most of what DICE does is based on what Youtubers (you can pretty much guarantee that the Martini nerf is the result of to many videos being put up about how godly the weapon was) say and we all know it's true. They have more say on what happens in games these days then your rank and file player so unless we get them on our side we'll probably not see any real good change in this game until the end of year 1 or around the time we get the Russian DLC.

Again it all boils down to gun use and play style. You play as a more aggressive Scout then I do. Whereas you like to be in the action I prefer being at ranges of 75+ meters which is why I favor the Sniper variant of both the Russian and 1903 because snipers aren't meant to be in the fray. I don't think the Martini was put in the game to be an overly effective sniper rifle because lets face it it's not. A one shot rifle that requires a reload after each shot just isn't effective which makes me thing the rank 10 guns were put in more for fun than they were for effectiveness. The Huot is trash unless you actually go up against someone who knows how to use it, the 1906 is a rather effective gun in the right hands but has a shit reload time and only 5 rounds making it completely useless when compared to guns that have 10 round strips or 21 round mags, and the Hellreigel is a completely experimental weapons that actually did not see any combat in the war and DICE had to play the guessing game of how to make it work right (and it just so happens to be the best weapon in the Assault arsenal now). Quite honestly I'm happy the Martini saw this nerf, the gun was over powered for what it was and yes I'm salty about it's power because I've been on the receiving end of it more than I'd like making it extremely frustrating when playing against it (I've been killed at ranges outside the sweet spot for the gun more than I care to count and yes they were one shot kills from full health). Honestly the Martini should never be picked over guns like the Russian Trench, 95, or LoA SMLE if you're going for effectiveness while being agressive. Much like why you should never use to Kolibri unless you're just fucking around having fun. That's just my opinion though so take it as you will from a guy who still thinks the Scout class needs major tweaks/nerfs. I won't comment on the Martini vs. Medic gun range/moving target comment because lets face it, it takes no skill to use a Medic weapon effectively (I should know, I use the class more than anyone else and the Sweeper is a good example of this. It's point and hold trigger. The Martini is a weapon to be used by skilled users which is why it's harder to hit moving targets with).
Sledge the BAR is an anti-infantry weapon, not an AA weapon. You should never use to to attack planes, that's just a waste of ammo and until they decide to put the AA version of the BAR in a fruitless venture. You're always going to be better off using the MG15 or the Madsen if you're going to attack planes. I still don't like the crossbow so I'm happy someone finds a use for it. I'd rather use old Lumpy or the Mortar then use it.

You know whats sad is the Legendary skin for the Martini is up in this revision as well (just thought I'd let you know if you didn't know already). Honestly there were plenty of people running it yesterday when I was playing so I'm honestly not seeing why you're calling it useless. I still get killed in one shot by it (and if not a good Martini player will still be able to kill you with a sidearm, had that happen a lot yesterday as well) at close ranges and the thing still hits like a fucking truck. If the nerf was supposed to be significant I can't tell.
Their is a definite improvement in the BAR's accuracy at longer ranges as long as, like I said, you can get used to the new recoil parameters. It's harder to tell unless you actually use it (and honestly PC accuracy is so much different when you compare it to console accuracy that I honestly didn't notice a difference in it until I was watching one of Matt's videos). The Storm version is built for longer ranges so it's even harder to notice when you run it (which is what Jack was running in his video), I haven't tried the Trench and Telescopic versions yet so I don't really know if it was a major change or a minor change across the board for the BAR (plus I haven't used the other LMG's yet as well, I did notice though when playing as the Sentry that the spread does tighten up a lot faster now with the MG 15 making it even more deadly in the right hands. I went on a 15 kill streak with it on Argonne last night in a Domination match). I didn't notice any difference in the reload time, it still feels the same to me so it must of been been a slight change in time.

Meh, I'm not a fan of the crossbow as it's honestly not all that good. HE grenades suck against any type of armor (doing a max of 7-8 damage on a Landship/Heavy Tank) and will rarely kill an enemy in one hit. I didn't try the frag version as I hate how frag grenades work in BF1. Honestly this thing would be better if it had a gas grenade option as the range it has is one of its best features and being able to accurately lob a gas grenade a fair distance away would be amazing (especially for putting gas into a building). It doesn't need a smoke option as we already have that with Mortar's (and it's two free ones every time you deploy a mortar (and it doesn't take away from your current mortar count)). I might be more willing to use the crossbow if it had a gas grenade option and I'm totally down with limiting it to one gas grenade or giving us weaker gas grenades (either damage or spread wise, doesn't matter) so they can give us two. Honestly I'll be sticking with the Limpet Charge or Mortar as my secondary gadget on Support and relying heavily on my Impact Grenade (now if the crossbow had Impact Grenades I might be more partial to it).
The LMG buff is amazing. The BAR is even better then before (go watch Jack's video called "New God Gun"), the thing is freaking more accurate then ever at longer ranges (if you can get past the new recoil parameters, I'm still getting used to them but I did fairly well today for the one match I played). I didn't try out the shotguns but if the video's I've been seeing on youtube are correct the Model 10 is pretty much useless now unless you actually know how to fight with a shotgun (hell I didn't run into one Assault today using it, they all went back to MP18's, Automatico's, and the Hellreigel).
I can take or leave the new map. Considering it's not in Operations (which does suck, this map would be amazing for Operation gameplay if they added it to one of the current modes) and only in the other game modes I really didn't have much fun on it in Conquest (I just can't stomach Conquest in BF1). I do like that it's dynamic weather is fog though, makes the map so much more fun to play in as you can't see shit (and I mean you can't see, it's worse than the fog on other maps). I had fun trolling the enemy in the rail yard by killing one of them, running into a building, hiding in a corner, and watching them look for me (or popping grenades from the crossbow at tanks and watching them flip out trying to find me). All in all it's pretty meh. Those who enjoy Conquest and Rush will probably really enjoy this map (shit gets real by the downed Airship, the two most contested points on the whole map in Conquest) but it's honestly just an okay map. No where near as good as Monte Grappa or Argonne, but better then Fao Fortress, Sinai Desert, and Suez.

I could live with a front flame thrower variant though.

Oh hell no. Ace Combat controls are so much different and laid out so much better on the controller it's not even funny. Battlefield really needs to look at Ace controls and, honestly, just outright copy them. Everything is so perfectly laid out it's like a dream. All the weapons are on easily accessed buttons, throttle and brake are triggers (R2 and L2), Yaw is L1 and R1, joysticks are mapped perfectly for flight, and oh so much more.
Assault Horizon's dogfight mode was annoying as hell and it was the only way to actually take out most fighters with one hit. Honestly the game wasn't all that bad it just had a shitty plot with a very shitty setting (never, ever place an Ace Combat game in the real world again Bandai Namco. It just doesn't work). I finished it and outside of the final duel with the "Shark" it was all pretty lackluster.
Considering how well co-op did for 6 and for Assault Horizon I'm pretty sure we'll see it included in 7. All I know is I seriously can't wait, I just re-watched the trailer and I'm shaking with withdrawal. I might have to dig out the PS2 and play me some Ace Combat 4, 5 and Zero this weekend (yes they are all easily beatable in a weekend and I have beaten every single one on Ace of Aces/Hard mode (that's how much I love these games)).

Oh hell no. Ace Combat controls are so much different and laid out so much better on the controller it's not even funny. Battlefield really needs to look at Ace controls and, honestly, just outright copy them. Everything is so perfectly laid out it's like a dream. All the weapons are on easily accessed buttons, throttle and brake are triggers (R2 and L2), Yaw is L1 and R1, joysticks are mapped perfectly for flight, and oh so much more.
Assault Horizon's dogfight mode was annoying as hell and it was the only way to actually take out most fighters with one hit. Honestly the game wasn't all that bad it just had a shitty plot with a very shitty setting (never, ever place an Ace Combat game in the real world again Bandai Namco. It just doesn't work). I finished it and outside of the final duel with the "Shark" it was all pretty lackluster.
Considering how well co-op did for 6 and for Assault Horizon I'm pretty sure we'll see it included in 7. All I know is I seriously can't wait, I just re-watched the trailer and I'm shaking with withdrawal. I might have to dig out the PS2 and play me some Ace Combat 4, 5 and Zero this weekend (yes they are all easily beatable in a weekend and I have beaten every single one on Ace of Aces/Hard mode (that's how much I love these games)).

So I officially need a change of pants after this. My major draw back to this is it goes back to original Ace Combat storyline taking place 10 years after Ace Combat 5 (unlike the shitty Assault Horizon title). God 2017 can't get hear soon enough because I've been having AC withdrawals lately (I almost booted up my 360 the other night just to play 6 again).

So I officially need a change of pants after this. My major draw back to this is it goes back to original Ace Combat storyline taking place 10 years after Ace Combat 5 (unlike the shitty Assault Horizon title). God 2017 can't get hear soon enough because I've been having AC withdrawals lately (I almost booted up my 360 the other night just to play 6 again).

ZoE kills me, its by far one of my favorite games but sadly Kojima can't do another one because Konami has the rights to it and it didn't sell well to begin with. It's one of the few mech games out there that actually played well (extremely well considering some of the other mech titles out at the time) and had a great story (well the first one was ok but it really pulled at your emotions, the second one had the better story but sadly not the emotional impact of the first). I really wish he could create another one but Konami won't give the rights up and he already said if the HD collection didn't sell well he wouldn't put the time into another one. Sigh, I'll just have to play the HD remake when I get nostalgic (at least there are rumors of a new Armored Core game coming out and I hope they're true, From Software owes me a great AC title after the disappointment of 5).
Sadly I wouldn't have this backlog of games if I could step away from FFXIV long enough to play one (once my Ninja is in full i270 gear and I've completed my Anima weapon I'll have roughly 4-5 months before Stormblood releases to get caught up on games (then again I am a master procrastinator and I'll probably not touch them)). I miss the days before I got a computer and got into MMO's, when all my free time could be thrown into playing a game and completely beating it. Sadly I haven't been able to do that since ME3 and Assassin's Creed 3 (the last time I spent any real time in a game because FFXIV: ARR wasn't out yet and I couldn't play SWTOR due to internet problems). Then again back in those days I had a normal job where I worked 8 hours a day instead of 10 and I was only working 40 hours a week and not 40+ hours a week (plus I was working nights which meant I had no social life what so ever and could spend my days off mindlessly grinding in games). Sigh, this adulting shit sucks. I would say you'd be smart to wait on getting WD2, I hear nothing but bad things about the game and while they fixed a lot of what made the first one boring they introduced more stuff that made the game worse off.
I'm quite sure a lot of MGS fans will be disappointed in this game but that's to be expected. It's something different from what Kojima is known for and that will probably haunt him more than help him years from now. He'll always be the father of MGS, the man who brought us an extremely expansive story that has entertained and frustrated gamers for almost 20 years (Metal Gear was released in 1987). Anything he does from now on will always be compared to the MGS series. Then again this game might just be his next MGS and launch him even further into industry fame. Only time will tell.

So I got on tonight just planning on seeing if the Premium Battlepack had dropped (it has, got the Legendary Bodeo skin out of it) and ended up playing a round of Operations on Kaiser (I'm not going to attempt to spell the whole thing) which had us getting pushed back to Amiens (was defending). We won but while doing so I got the most awesome Pentakill ever on a Heavy Tank with old Lumpy himself and I have a clip of it to show as well (finally figured out how to use ShareFactory to edit videos and upload, yea I'm slow but I honestly had no interest in posting vids till now. When I do get around to it I'll post that kill I got on an airplane using the landships side cannon).
 

And every flat surface was an obvious threasher maw attack.

There is a multiplayer component as well just to let you know Sledge but it's completely optional (just like ME3's was (well was supposed to be but I won't get into that)).
It looks amazing and the gun play looks a lot better then it ever has been but they just couldn't let go of the fucking ammo component could they. Sigh, it'd be nice to have ME1's infinite ammo/cooling system back. Sadly I don't know how hyped I'll really be until I see powers. I know they've done away with classes for the Pathfinder (which blows, I loved the one class aspect of ME) but I really want to know what powers are going to be in this one. Can I make my Pathfinder exactly like my Sentinel (by far the best class imo from ME2 and ME3 (best of both Tech and Biotic powers)? Can I shift more toward an Infiltrator build? I know I'm asking a lot here but a lot is riding on what is available to my character (I really want to play a Sentinel, that Tech Armor plus Biotic Powers was amazing).

Historically speaking there's plenty of reasons for not having that many vehicles and that's one thing I give DICE, they're going for historical accuracy here (which is why a lot of the battles we're doing take place in 1917-1918, tanks weren't around for the first half of the war). Due to the scarcity of tanks on the battlefield it makes sense we only see 2-4 at a time. Planes on the other hand should be extremely abundant as should armored cars. I constantly use self-heal when I'm in a tank as I understand the need to keep the tank in combat for as long as possible (which is why you'll constantly see me attacking objectives and backing off so I can repair) and since very few Supports actually carry the mechanic tool it's almost a necessary to use it. They should leave it in but give people more incentive to use it instead of driving into a point and letting it get destroyed like so many other people do. Honestly I think Support is fine where it's at, it doesn't need the Anti-Tank grenade. A proper Support player should be making sure their Assault teammates are constantly supplied so the need shouldn't even be there (plus Limpet Charges are extremely effective, people just need to quit using the mortar so god damn much (yes I know I love the mortar but I think I'm going to start carrying the limpet charge from now on)). I do agree though that Light Tanks/Artillery Trucks need to spawn on specific flags and not be able to even be chosen from spawn (in certain game modes). Landships and Heavy Tanks are always needed and should always be a priority when choosing a tank.
If they can rework the progression system into something that actually rewards players for what they do I would be more gung-ho about playing this game. I miss the old ribbon/medal system and the old way we unlocked guns. This war bond shit needs to go and an attachment system needs to be implemented as I'm not a fan of this 3 different loadouts for guns thing we got going on. Let us decide how we set our guns up not do it for us. I feel DICE is just getting lazy and is afraid of being ridiculed for recycling tried and true systems (though I will admit the attachment system in BF4 was extremely flawed and needed some serious work to rebalance it properly).
Honestly I'm surprised you're not burned out yet DX. With as much as you play I'd of thought you'd be sick of it by now, especially considering you have every class at 10 now. The only joy I get out of playing now is with you guys or if I'm playing Domination (and the Domination thing is quickly becoming a less fun thing every second because of that damn Model 10). As I said Operations are getting boring because it's the same 4 sets of maps all the time (and at least for me it always ends on the first map, I haven't seen Argonne is so long I'm beginning to think it doesn't even exist (and it's my favorite map besides Monte Grappa)) and everything always plays out the same way (either attack steamrolls defense or defense steamrolls attack, there really is no middle ground).

I forgot to post this the other day when I watched it. Ricky got to go down and interview some of the cast and the director. Pretty much this confirmed that they're using multiple sources for this movie, taking bits and pieces of what they liked from the original movie and the tv series and adding their own original flair. Just thought I'd post it for a little more background on the movie. I'd post the newest Spacebar ep from Primr but half the episode talks about the new mini-NES console and Black Friday but the last half goes over GitS as well (just their thoughts and ideas) but it's almost 30 minutes long and you guys can look for it of you're interested (plus like I said the first half is just random crap).

I forgot to post this the other day when I watched it. Ricky got to go down and interview some of the cast and the director. Pretty much this confirmed that they're using multiple sources for this movie, taking bits and pieces of what they liked from the original movie and the tv series and adding their own original flair. Just thought I'd post it for a little more background on the movie. I'd post the newest Spacebar ep from Primr but half the episode talks about the new mini-NES console and Black Friday but the last half goes over GitS as well (just their thoughts and ideas) but it's almost 30 minutes long and you guys can look for it of you're interested (plus like I said the first half is just random crap).

Heres my rant on BF1. The progression in BF1 is terrible because the only progression is tied directly to the amount of time you play the game as opposed to what you actually accomplish in the game. All BF1 has for progression is class unlocks and level unlocks aka warbonds. Battlefield 4 was the superior game. I'm still enjoying BF1 but I'm on the fence about buying premium for the DLCs unless a new progression system is implemented. BF4 triggered my OCD in a fun and enjoyable way. I put 144 hours in that game because there was always something to do. I could pick a random assignment I'd like to accomplish and go for that, meanwhile if it impeded me from playing the objective, I'd still play the objective because everything I did progressed my account in some way. I could unlock some new shotguns by using shotguns more, if I liked a specific weapon I could keep using that weapon and unlock new addons for it. I could capture a flag and get bonus XP by getting ribbons and medals. I know its been a long time since me and DX played BF4 and probably a year+ for others out there, but heres a reminder of what BF4 had for progression:
1) Use a specific weapon type to unlock more weapons of that type:

2) The more you used vehicles the more stuff you unlocked for them. This really encouraged players to get in every vehicle in the game, even as a passenger because you could unlock great upgrades. In BF1 there is no incentive to ride passenger in a vehicle.

3) The more you use a kit the more you unlock for it. We have this in BF1, but its locked behind class levels as opposed to a long progressing XP bar for each class like in BF4.

4) Assignments. These were my bread and butter of the game. Whenever I felt bored with any aspect of the game I'd focus on specific assignments. And these assignments encouraged everyone to play as a team.

5) Look how many battlepacks I have to open for not even playing the damn game.

6) Bonus XP for playing the objectives and working as a team.

7) Weapon camos aka skins. BF4 did this right. You could unlock skins via gameplay aka leveling up, assignments and battlepacks. Once a camo was unlocked you had it for all guns. This was enjoyable. I also did not get a screenshot of the soldier camos. I was one of those people that liked to change my camo based on what map I was on to try to blend into the environment more. In BF1 the end game is gun skins locked to specific guns and are only awarded through RNG.

With all these different styles of progression I was on an OCD trip of fun with BF4.
In BF1 we have only 2 forms of progression. Leveling up a class and buying the weapons with warbonds that we get from leveling up. And these crappy medals we can only track one of at a time and only within a certain time period:

I miss BF4. DICE dropped the ball in longevity with BF1 in my opinion.
The thing I loved most about BF3 and BF4 was vehicle combat and unlocking the upgrades. With none of that in BF1 and the lack of vehicles I'm disappointed overall. I say lack of vehicles because in BF4 at any point in time there would be 4 helicopters in the air, 2-4 jets, 2-4 tanks a mobile AA, rocket truck, regular trucks, motorcycles, etc. People say that vehicles could be destroyed way too easily in BF4, but with that many vehicles it was balanced and enjoyable. In BF1 I can almost never spawn into a tank in conquest and if I do I last about 30 seconds once I get anywhere close to an objective. If I was working for DICE I'd make huge changes to vehicles in the game. I'd make the artillery trucks and light tanks spawn at specific flags only so land ships and heavy tanks will always spawn from the bases. I'd put anti tank grenades on support and reduce their throwing range. Remove self heal from all vehicles (has anyone used the repair tool outside of the campaign? I know I've never seen it used once in MP.) and make every flag in conquest spawn one specific vehicle in the open instead of from the spawn screen only. Theres no reason why there shouldn't be more vehicles in this game.

I fully agree with everything Level said. This game, while amazing, is sadly taking more steps backwards then it is forwards and DICE just fails to see it (and when they finally do it'll probably be to late as everyone will go back to the games that actually are making strides forward (R6S and Overwatch to name a few). Medals don't feel like accomplishments anymore (ask Sledge, the poor guy isn't going to get his Rush medal because of how frustrating it is to get), just long grinds that don't even give you a good looking dog tag (and honestly who can brag about getting the Class medals, if you play a class long enough it only a given you should be able to get said medal when it comes up). There are only two guns worth anything once you hit rank 10 on your classes and we all know which ones (though I still say Medics is a good weapon, you just need to know how to use it). Hell I honestly don't care if I get battlepacks anymore because the skins just aren't worth the unnecessary amount of time you have to grind to get them (or the amount of money you're going to need to spend to get them all).
I chock my distaste up to getting burned out already on the game. It's fun but I'm already sick of the maps (especially in Operations, while I love the game mode I'm sick of playing on the same four sets of maps and never actually getting to see the second map in most of them anymore. At least in Domination I get to see all the maps but sadly even they are getting bland), I'm sick of one gun ruining all my fun (that Model 10 needs a nerf or needs to be taken out of the game, it's seriously getting to the point where you can't even do anything anymore due to the amount of people using it and there's really no counter to it unless you're sniping (sadly the 1907 Sweeper can't out damage it nor can the BAR)), and I'm getting sick of people not actually PTFOing anymore (Sledge and I ran into quite a few people today in Rush who were just farming kills and not actually playing the mode like you're supposed to). Honestly I'm no where near burned out on BF4 and this is troubling if, with all the hours I have logged into BF4, I'm already getting sick of BF1 (and all I play is Metro in BF4 and I never get sick of that map and I've logged at least 20+ hours into it out of my entire BF4 career).
Sadly I've really been considering buying Titanfall 2 just to get a taste of something different (or going back to BF4 but I'm pretty sure the community is dead for it now with BF1 out) or going back to playing R6S again (which I need to do with the new patch being out now). DICE needs to figure out how to reinvigorate this game quickly before more people start to feel the same way because I know I'm not the only one in this boat atm and it's only going to get worse if they continue to do things this way.