New to Arma, should I get this or the Arma 2 bundle?

[aiBreeze 1]

I've been off FPS games for a long while and think it's time I play one which will redeem the genre in my eyes. I was a huge fan of the original Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games and it seems that this is probably the place I want to be for a more realistic approach as opposed to rushing in with a sniper rifle and bunny hopping quick scoping people at point blank range. I missed the Arma series when they were released because my PC was really old and have only just upgraded it in the last twelve months or so. Seeing as I'm new to the series, would people recommend I go and purchase the alpha and start with Arma 3? Or should I make use of the great deal on steam and buy the Arma 2 bundle? I'm mainly going to be looking for adversarial/pvp multiplayer btw if that makes much of a difference in which to get.

[chortles 263]

If you insist on getting Arma 2, then Combined Operations may well be a better deal than Complete Collection... see, in effect you'd be buying Operation Arrowhead and everything else (Arma 2, BAF, PMC and ACR) are just "content packs" for OA, but out of those four only Arma 2 is required for gameplay compatibility, while "Lite" versions (for compatibility purposes) of all three of the rest are included in OA itself. This means that the $7.50 price difference on Steam between the two bundles is for the OA DLC -- BAF, PMC and ACR -- which are essentially just higher-res texture/sound packs plus a BI-produced campaign each and otherwise they add nothing to adversarial (in the community known as "TvT") gameplay.

As for Arma 2 vs. Arma 3 though... I'd go with Arma 3, since you get both beta access and full game access in the future at no additional cost and I prefer its game mechanics thusfar.

[Beagle 684]

ArmA III is a uncomplete Alpha with limitd content while ArmA II:OA is s fully developed game (that still gets patch treatment)

BAF & PMC DLCs see regular use now in MP and are worth it. I could not stand to play with low res, low sound lite versions.

So it's on you, full game or pay to test a alpha version that wont get the same amount of content in the next months.

If you're like me fond of combat in real world forrest rich european environtments with contemporary military units do not miss ArmA II(OA)

Chernarus has shown to work as the best map so far in TvT simply because the terrain allows to hide from pocket ATGM spammers and the notorious snipers that camp the montains of Takistan.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Beagle

[chortles 263]

I would however critique Beagle's answer by pointing out that people have already been porting Arma 2 content into Arma 3 -- for example, said "real world forrest rich european environtments". ;) Also, buying the Arma 3 alpha also gives you the full game... in the autumn. :p In an odd way, that might make Arma 2 and OA now "content packs" for Arma 3... how quaint. :p

[Beagle 684]

The units and maps may get imported but fact is that for example harvest red campaign already fails to work in all deatil in OA. same happened with ArmA1 content in A2. This stuf often does not work well in a environment is was ot made for...A2 units are still not up to OA level, just for example and are currently made OA compatible by Community Config Project. Im personaöy going so far to say I won't touch A3 before a late beta...I've gone through that with OFP, ArmA and A2 and im now tired of half baked games and acting as tester. I will play A3 when its done, not any sooner and I dotn mind to pay 30€ more for a final version..until that im still busy with A2.

albait...a strange thing ocured this week...currently A2 servers are more populated than OA servers...seems like a great number went straight to A3 while A2(free) has a stable player pool. Now its only OA, the last title, suffering from player loss and that has never happened before.

[spamurai 3]

My 2 cents would say to invest into ArmA 3 now. Sure, it's "alpha"... but its not going to stay "alpha".

Buying ArmA 2 at this point is essentially like buying a well maintained used car... except that the same price as a new car. It's road driven, most of the kinks are worked out of it, currently it has all of it's features and accessories available.... but it's still last years model and is being retired. The community will be gradually moving on too play Arma 3 eventually... meaning you'll end up buying ArmA 3 one way or another if you want to stay with the community.

I think it might be important to consider that while ArmA 3 "alpha" is only $32.99USD right now, it probably won't stay that way and I would guess that if you wait until it's officially released, it'll be more like $49.99.

My personal opinion is that ArmA 3 is so far, better then ArmA 2 in most regards.... short of lacking content, having only been available for less then a week. For someone who wants to focus on adversarial PVP in multiplayer, the improvements to the basic mechanics of gameplay are without question. Not to mention the visuals. Sure, there isn't much content here, 6 days after the alpha went live... but it's fully moddable and thus, knowing the ArmA community... won't stay that way for long. It'll simply be a matter of how quickly Bohemia marches forward with developing the core game through patches and upgrades as it rolls on towards beta and then release.

It's up to you. ArmA 3 will be the better game going forward. It just may not be right now compared to the refined state of ArmA 2.

It's like buying a well maintained used car, based on a proven, but older design with less advanced features.... or buying a brand new, first model edition, prototype car with all the newest advancements in features and technology... but will likely have some kinks to work out of it still.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Spamurai

[chortles 263]

It should be added that Arma 3 development is partially built on a foundation of over three years of combined Arma 2/OA post-release development, including the spin-off Take On Helicopters, and of course on DayZ (both mod and standalone).

[Fuse 1]

I own Arma 2 but could never get in to it. The game's issues kept me from ever getting over the initial hurdle, but I love the concept and watching other people play. I've been waiting for Arma 3 to fix these issues and it has. I'm enjoying the alpha a lot and am glad I purchased it, but frankly this is one of the few games I would have pre-ordered anyways (I'd never preorder from a big name publisher, no matter how OPed the bonuses are, but I'll take the discount and gladly support good indie devs both monetarily and by testing the game).

The caveat is that the alpha is hard to get in to in its own way. The alpha is far from feature complete; you'll occasionally run in to an issue that you're not sure if it's a bug or your ignorance; there's no training; multiplayer is a bit like the Wild West right now; content in single-player is very limited (SP isn't where Arma shines, but it's obviously where a new player should learn the ropes).

I guess TL,DR is that if you're the kind of person who can sit down and spend an hour just looking at the controls for a new game then alpha will be a blast for you. If you need your hand held then there is none of that yet. Alpha has everything you need to have fun in Arma, but you're going to have to teach your self most of it.

There are lots of great videos and guides that can help you out, especially when it comes to helping you get some more logical key binds, but that's no substitute for training.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Fuse

[Munka 1]

Hi...hope this is appropriate for this thread...I am a complete newbi ..66 year old (ex forces years ago) and this game looks amazing...my question is..."As there is so much to take in ...does a server for training newbies exist...I have tried jumping into wasteland but die very quickly before I can test much....have tried the editor which is better but I need to train with real people...my PC is a fair spec and I have trackIR and Rudder pedals plus gaming keyboard and mouse?"...any suggestions from you clued up gods ...hopefully not..."Get off the forum you old fart :confused:"....regards Munka.

[iOGC_Aenigma 1]

You could always look for a group that wouldn't mind showing you the ropes. There are many friendly communities in arma that welcome new players. I think the only way to really learn the game is in organised multiplayer. You can find a list of squads, and make a post looking for a squad in the Squads and Fan Pages section of the forum.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[EDcase 87]

aiBreeze: I would suggest going straight to ARMA3. It will show you the core gameplay (with some improvements over ARMA2)

Yes, it is Alpha and not complete but it has enough to keep you busy and learn the controls etc.

ARMA2 is good but you would have to re-learn a few things when changing to ARMA3 and gameplay is a bit different due to new stances and especially weapon handling.

[deepfried 1]

I'd start with Arma 3 unless you have a burning desire to get into the meaty clan stuff right now. Arma 3 is still in alpha so it will take a couple of years to mature to near the level that Arma 2 is at at the moment (with mods etc), but that said I imagine most people will be shifting over to Arma 3 over the next several months.

[Fuse 1]

aiBreeze: I would suggest going straight to ARMA3. It will show you the core gameplay (with some improvements over ARMA2)

Yes, it is Alpha and not complete but it has enough to keep you busy and learn the controls etc.

ARMA2 is good but you would have to re-learn a few things when changing to ARMA3 and gameplay is a bit different due to new stances and especially weapon handling.

I've been enjoying A3 so much I decided to give A2 another shot. I spent over an hour with both games open trying to get the controls to be pretty much the same before I finally just gave up.

[simjedi 10]

Get both. That way in the future when A2 content is more compatible with A3 you can have the best of both worlds. In order to enjoy A2 content like the Chernarus and Takistan maps you need the A2 PBO's. Maybe sometime in the future they will have them as a DLC too.

[dmarkwick 261]

I guess the best times ArmA3 will have will be when the content for ArmA2 is ported over. Be it weapons, units, vehicles or maps. I would expect that you will need to own ArmA2 for this to happen, distributing ArmA2 content is likely to be forbidden.

So - get both :)

[Munka 1]

Thanks for your replies guys..an Arma vet is very kindly going to teach me the basics..so thanks again

[UterusMaximus 1]

Hi!

I just post this question here... i don´t think there is need of a new thread.

I am thinking about buying ArmA3 Supporter Edition.

But i am only interested in the "ALL FUTURE ARMA 3 DLCs" feature.

Would you recommend me the supporter edition only for this feature or is the standard then better for me? :confused:

[chortles 263]

Just get the standard alpha now (before the price goes up when the beta arrives) and then if any DLC comes out, just buy it whenever you like... they're probably going to be a lot cheaper than the price difference between the standard alpha and the Supporter Edition. ;)

[UterusMaximus 1]

Just get the standard alpha now (before the price goes up when the beta arrives) and then if any DLC comes out, just buy it whenever you like... they're probably going to be a lot cheaper than the price difference between the standard alpha and the Supporter Edition. ;)

Thank you, sir!

I´ve thought that myself, but wasn´t sure.

But now... i have to wish something for birthay hehe

[gpha5e 1]

yo guys i have three arma 3 lite invites on steam you want one? pm me, or find on steam "prisel_i_pizdec" is my nickname there