Really DICE?

[SeeIn2D]

Okay I know I am not the only one who has noticed this in Battlefield 3. In fact I'm pretty sure everyone who has played an hour or more of the multiplayer has noticed it, but the mortars are a little bit ridiculous and could use a nice patch. The reason I'm bringing this up in a thread is not just to complain about this feature of the game, but to draw the obvious comparison between the BF3 mortars and the ever famous MW2 One Man Army, Danger Close, grenade launcher. In all honesty though, the mortars are worse. The reason being is because the guys using them are always in a part of the map I can't actually get to or the game kills me. So basically what are people's opinions on this? Am I an idiot for drawing the comparison to the grenade launchers of MW2 or is it just a blatantly inept bit of thought on the part of DICE?

 

[Greatjusticeman]

Well, I encounter them every now and then. But they aren't in positions where they are impossible to get.

I wonder if people in real life wartime think that's bullshit as well.

 

[SeeIn2D]

Well, I encounter them every now and then. But they aren't in positions where they are impossible to get.

I wonder if people in real life wartime think that's bullshit as well.

Whenever I see them they are always in the spawn where I can't go. And if the second part of that comment was supposed to be a snarky comment about how its realistic and I should just deal with it, then I will just say its a game, I'm not looking for realism, I'm looking for fun. And the main comparison I didn't mention is the fact that they are given infinite mortars. Really? That didn't sound like a bad choice on paper?

 

[gabe12301]

I kill them quite easily. They are displayed on your map so they can't really hide and they can't find you unless you're being spotted.

It's never really the mortars that kill me though: it's the smoke from them that blinds me and gets me shot.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

I think I've been killed by a mortar...once? I hardly ever see them and usually they're in terrible positions. You can usually just avoid them altogether and if they do happen to kill you just pay attention to the killcam then find a location and shoot them from afar.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Infinate ammo on something like that does sound like shit. If their completely inexcessible then that needs to be fixed but whenever I run into that problem somebody can take care of it.

 

[SeeIn2D]

I kill them quite easily. They are displayed on your map so they can't really hide and they can't find you unless you're being spotted.

It's never really the mortars that kill me though: it's the smoke from them that blinds me and gets me shot.

Well I know they're displayed on the map but literally every time I've seen them they are always just out of reach in a place I can't get to. And yeah the combination between the smoke blinding me and the actual shaking they create also throws me off.

 

[teqrevisited]

I don't see too many mortars, even then they never hit anything. I'd tell the choppers to hunt them. I don't necessarily agree with infinite ammo on them though, or the jets & choppers. A big part of BF2 was that you had to return to the airfields to reload, so those missiles were highly valuable.

 

[Skops]

Ive played 3hrs of BF3, I've never have been killed by mortars. I don't even remember a mortar strike at any point. I think you just got some bad luck. You could always look at it like Srtillery strikes in BF2; If you, personally, are being targeted for artillery strikes, you're doing something right, so right, that the commander isn't relying on his troops to take you out.

 

[Rol3x]

If a mortar position is causing me issues I request a friendly mortar to eliminate it, not a guarenteed solution but level support up a bit and you can take care of it yourself

 

[chadachada123]

If I am killed twice by a person that is in the same spot both times, I switch to murder-death-kill mode and, barring necessity, change classes and weapons to focus on taking that asshole out. In these cases (though I've yet to be killed by a mortar so far), I'd switch to having my mortar out and take him out, or I'd snipe the bastard.

Or I'd go inside where mortars don't reach.

Whichever floats your boat.

 

[thelonewolf266]

I agree mortars are overpowered but the best way to counter them is to use mortars yourself.I do find it a bit odd that it is impossible to knife someone using a mortar and its impossible to road kill them as well I literally parked an AMTRAC on one of them and he didn't die.

 

[TheTim]

I've never been killed by one and i'm lvl 30 right now, i don't see them a problem at all

 

[Vrach]

Well, I encounter them every now and then. But they aren't in positions where they are impossible to get.

I wonder if people in real life wartime think that's bullshit as well.

Whenever I see them they are always in the spawn where I can't go. And if the second part of that comment was supposed to be a snarky comment about how its realistic and I should just deal with it, then I will just say its a game, I'm not looking for realism, I'm looking for fun. And the main comparison I didn't mention is the fact that they are given infinite mortars. Really? That didn't sound like a bad choice on paper?

You're looking in the wrong game then, Battlefield prides its combat on realism. That's why it doesn't give a shit when people whine about getting shot in the face by a tank while running around as a soldier.

Anyway, as Greatjusticeman said, they're not impossible to get. They're also remarkably slow. They reload for a long time, the projectile itself is slow and easily avoided unless you're sitting in one place (and for that, you deserve a mortar dropping onto your face) and the person themselves is quite vulnerable. If I'm not wrong, they also need another person designating targets for them, so it's a 2 man job working one of those.

What's more, unless they have upgrades that people using them I've encountered don't have, they aren't too strong either. I've had a mortar fall right on top of me and it only took out 50% of my health. It took several seconds until the next one fell and I had plenty of chance to get the hell out of there in that time.

So yeah, it's just another thing on the battlefield that you've gotta watch for. And like everything else on that battlefield, it has its counter and you have ways of avoiding it altogether.

 

[Vrach]

I'm pretty sure he is talking about Rush mode where these are being problematic, in any other mode it is easy to get rid of.

With attacking bases being inaccessible completely, it makes it VERY easy for some bloke to set up shop and sell explosions wholesale. Making the ONLY way to counter it is sometimes you can arch a mortar over there. And one mortarer can do PLENTY of damage, trust me.

The thing is, it's not like complaining that a tank drove in and killed him and he couldn't kill the tank because he doesn't wanna switch from assault, it's that there is something going on that he is COMPLETELY helpless to fight back against.

Hope that makes sense.

Fair enough, but you'll forgive me that I'm absolutely not seeing it. I've played maps on Conquest, I've played them on Rush, I've only been killed by a mortar once and it's because it was the first time it hit me and I continued to sit in the same place for another 5+ seconds.

And a single Engineer is not all powerful against a tank either. It (usually) takes teamwork to take it down. So I fail to see anything different here. A mortar comes with it's own limitations, so it's not like the guy manning it is all powerful.

Really though, I just haven't seen it utilized in a way where it was invulnerable or unfair. If there is such a way, I'd say it's more of a case of one map being designed badly than the weapon not belonging in the game. Or even more likely, it's just a douchebag use of the item by the user and mortar would not be alone in that - guys running around using RPGs as the main weapon all the time, the so called "noob tubers" etc. I don't see how this would be any different (other than the fact that I really haven't seen it even once used to great effect)

 

[Vrach]

Clegane]

You're looking in the wrong game then, Battlefield prides its combat on realism. That's why it doesn't give a shit when people whine about getting shot in the face by a tank while running around as a soldier.

My God, that was the biggest load of bullshit I ever ever read. A game with regenerating health, "press X to not die" QTEs and a rat that can insta-kill you. Anyone can jump into any vehicle and fly/drive there way to victory and if you die you just respawn.... And you're telling me this is realistic? Have you actually even played the game?

Battlefield and Call of Duty are two sides of the same coin, dressed up arcade shooters. Fun? Maybe, Realistic? Definitely not.

If you want realism play Arma2 or the original Op Flash.

God, I hate stupid replies like this every time I say the word realism, it's like the "BUT THAT'S JUST YOUR OPINION AND YOU DIDN'T PUT 'imo' AT THE END OF EVERY SENTENCE" whiners. Do I really have to put a "strives for, to a point" qualifier every fucking time I write it? Of course it's not fully realistic, it's a game, not a simulator. And your arguments are idiotic, health and respawn are gameplay elements and a QTE rat (it instakills you? I thought it just got the guards attention? Haven't failed at that part, only played it once) is a singleplayer element we're not discussing here.

That said (and for a bit of lolz), what's unrealistic about regenerating health? Every soldier in Battlefield is fully clad in body armor. So "health" can represent how badly they've been hit. If you get shot through a body armor, you can live through it, but you might need a moment to recover and be at your full strength again, bullets still have impact. If we say death/0% health is the point where a bullet actually pierces your armor (or the force of the bullet impacts damages your internal organs significantly enough), what exactly is the problem?

Oh and Battlefield doesn't exactly let you "get shot up and regenerate your legs back". You take some 3-4 hits from a medium distance and you're fucking dead. The chances of you walking away from any encounter are quite low in Battlefield, which leads me to ask your own question, have YOU played this game?

Anyway, back on topic - what I meant is, that Battlefield takes realistic environments over balancing everything by making sure every player on the battlefield is using the exact same thing. It takes a rock-paper-scissors approach rather than two rocks measuring which is stronger. It's fine with a sniper taking you out from across the map, it's fine with a tank shooting you in the face and it's fine with a mortar hitting you from the sky, because there are counters and weaknesses to all these things.

 

[xPixelatedx]

I kill them quite easily. They are displayed on your map so they can't really hide and they can't find you unless you're being spotted.

It's never really the mortars that kill me though: it's the smoke from them that blinds me and gets me shot.

sssh... let him fume

Clearly both of you have never played this game, otherwise you would know everyone mortars from the opposing team's kill zone: hence him not being able to reach the mortar people.

I don't mind it, I am one of those people abusing this obvious flaw. I agree it's cheap and uncalled for, but I am just having fun until it's patched. Also, it's not just people being spotted, it's anyone who's firing their gun without a suppressor... which is most everyone. XD Also, smart teams who are working together REALLY abuse this by having a sniper put up one of those UAV things. It's amazing how broken this combo is.

 

[Rednog]

Meh to be honest mortars are fairly useless on most maps/modes. They require a heavy amount of teamwork to be the least bit effective. If you don't have people spotting then you're just firing mortars on various locations blindly. Sure in rush you just keep hitting a bomb site over and over, but outside of that, they're crap.

 

[TheLoneBeet]

They're a ***** I'll admit. I don't really care though. If you die, what difference does it make?

I only see a problem with it when they repeatedly shell the spawn locations, but that's present in pretty much any game where there's mortar and spawn locations. I've rage-quit RO2 more than a few times because somebody was using artillery on the spawn. It's a *****. Deal with it.

As far as having infinite rounds, that's sort of realistic if you consider the time-limit on a game and the fact that they're at their base most of the time. I'm sure there'd be ample supplies of mortar rounds at a military outpost.