Observations from a First-Timer and Recent Convert

[Robertqx 10]

Hi everyone,

I'm a first-time player to the Arma series, having initially bought the beta a few weeks ago (after having become fed up with the console and arcade direction of the Battlefield series).

I'd like to share my impressions of the game as a long-time PC gamer.

Positives

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1. Great engine with lots of potential. Excellent graphics, pretty good sound (most realistic battle sounds I've heard in a game), excellent sense of realism and variety of customization options (weapons, uniforms, ammo, stance adjustments, etc.)

2. Huge scale. This is really appreciated. I love the fact that a relatively small portion of Stratis is larger than entire maps in other games.

3. Community. The community here seems (from my POV) to be better in general than other gaming communities I've seen. A lot of active involvement by modders, and a greater focus on realism and tactics in-game than I've seen in other games.

Also, I noticed from the "your rig" thread that there are many other PC enthusiasts here like myself (running an i7 3770k at 4.6 ghz, 16gb ram, 840 Pro SSD, Qnix 27" monitor, MSI 7950 GPU etc.)

4. The dev commitment to the PC, and to pushing boundaries in terms of content, graphics, etc. I think some performance optimizations might be highly overdue, but overall I really like that the game pushes my hardware and doesn't compromise on content or quality to attract the broadest possible audience, therefore degrading itself into another CoD clone.

Negatives

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1. Where is the multiplayer base content??? Ok, I get that the single player missions will be released over the next few months because they want to improve the quality of what they have. This is ok with me as a consumer so long as it really does result in better content and isn't habitual.

However, I don't understand where the multiplayer content is? I really think Bohemia should have made several base game "missions" for multiplayer, rather than relying entirely on the modding community to create their content for them.

I would really, really like to play an Invade and Annex type of game but with PvP instead of PvAI ... it seems to me that this is the kind of thing BI could have developed so that we would have some coherent base gameplay to start off with. I'm really not big on the whole "wander around for hours trying to find money to buy better guns in Wasteland" gameplay, and while I do think more mod content will be developed, I don't see why we have to rely solely on the mod community to make multiplayer work. This to me isn't really an acceptable way to create a game. I mean at the moment we literally have no multiplayer gameplay, nor any single player gameplay from BI.

2. The above is my main complaint, but I also think the controls and the game itself are a bit buggy still. Overall though this is much more minor than the above. I mean as far as I can tell, if it weren't for the modding community, all this 50-60 dollar game would have right now is a series of "Showcases" that are just short training missions.

What can we expect in the near-term? Will the mod community create a large variety of gameplay options? I'd really like to play a coordinated teamplay Invade and Annex but with PvP instead of AI as mentioned, but right now it seems like the options are mostly limited to Wasteland gameplay where you kind of wander around this large space, or playing a fun P v AI co-op that isn't that satisfying because you're playing against bots.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Robertqx

[mistyronin 1181]

I think that there are sufficient threads in this forums that develope the topics you comment, so IMHO you shouldn't have started a new one.

On the other side, if you are new to the Arma series I suggest you to sit and wait. In a few months when all the modders work at full speed you'll have thousands of all kinds of contents from MP missions, to dozens of vehicles, and units.

Just take a look around the Arma 2 forums, and check mods like FFAA 5 ( spanish forces ), Operation Frenchpoint, Invasion 1944, Finnish Defence Force ( this first four I have been following them for ten years ), CSLA, DayZ, etc.

Hopefully in some months, you'll find them upgrading to A3.

[Robertqx 10]

Well I wanted to give my impression as someone new to the franchise and as someone who paid for the game. However, I'm wondering about the fact that BI did not release any base multiplayer game modes ... is this how it has always been done? I mean, as much as I like the engine and approach, what have they released but essentially a game engine without content (but for the modders)?

[mistyronin 1181]

Well I wanted to give my impression as someone new to the franchise and as someone who paid for the game. However, I'm wondering about the fact that BI did not release any base multiplayer game modes ... is this how it has always been done? I mean, as much as I like the engine and approach, what have they released but essentially a game engine without content (but for the modders)?

As far as I know all the people that are here, have paid for the game ( if there was any way to have it for free, they could have warned me! ). BTW if every new player to the franchise creates a new thread...

What do you mean for base multiplayer modes? BTW in Steam workshop you have right now 1500 missions, a lot of them MP.

[Robertqx 10]

I mean they should have given us some multiplayer content that didn't come from the modding community. Some basic mission sequences with structure for at least a few if not all of the gameplay modes, that gets people playing together in two teams and creates large scale, comprehensive battles across these islands. Capture bases, seize ports, destroy assets, until one side controls the island.

I mean, why am I paying BI all the money if the modding community is the one who makes all the content (on their engine)?

I'm not trying to only complain because I really like the engine itself, and BI's commitment to realism and to making uncompromising PC games that push hardware, but the game release itself is really is lacking in content ... there is basically nothing to play in terms of large-scale PvP strategic battles which is really what would seem to complement this engine and the island sizes the most ...

I did look at Steam Workshop and it is cool how much stuff there is, but it looks pretty much like P v AI co-op still.

I just think BI should have included at least 4-5 basic multiplayer mission sequences to create say:

1. Large scale Opfor vs. Blufor PvP battles across Altis and Stratis utilizing air, land, and sea assets to achieve control of the island. I think that would be really cool, and I don't think it would be that hard for BI to create.

That is the main thing I'd like to see, but there are plenty of other possibilities utilizing each of the game modes (Seize, Defend, Co-Op, Capture the Island, etc.)

Basically it is somewhat unfair to give us nothing but the hope that someone in the mod community will make the game good enough to play, when we are paying full price for a game. I can't imagine it would be that difficult to create a few mission sequences either.

I can think of several more just offhand:

2. Some PvP missions like Opfor Snipers vs. Blufor Snipers in a town

3. Jet dogfight gameplay

4. Clear a town held by the opposing team

This would really add to the game and I don't think it would have been that hard for them to create.

Right now I just am realizing that I have to hope the mod community creates content I want to play, which isn't really fair for the price of a full game.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Robertqx

[Tacti-Cool 10]

The arma series LIVES on its community, if BI made all of the missions for us, there'd be little left for mission makers to have fun doing. Have a little paitence, in time the community will make every mission you can desire, and if they don't then its an opportunity for you to learn to script/map make and make it yourself!

[KeyCat 131]

Fun to read first impressions from a "green horn". You have some valid points IMO and I think a few official PvP modes/examples would help new people, escpecially if they also was covered in the manual. That being said look for servers running a user made PvP mission called "Blitzkrieg".

Between, welcome to ArmA and the forums. This series are amazing games (with it's warths and all) and I'm pretty sure you never go back to the other "run and gun" games you mention. A3 will only get better and better over time but do require people to have some patience until the worst wrinkles are ironed out, especially the performance issue in MP lots of people (me included) experience.

/KC

Edited September 14, 2013 by KeyCat

[3instein 10]

Hi to the madhouse/forums Robertqx, I suggest you have a look at Armaholic: http://www.armaholic.com/index.php

They regularly update their missions daily and have a lot of pvp stuff, also the other day I noticed a jet v jet pvp mission, like you suggest, among a hellava lot more.

Mick. :)

[zukov 490]

Well I wanted to give my impression as someone new to the franchise and as someone who paid for the game. However, I'm wondering about the fact that BI did not release any base multiplayer game modes ... is this how it has always been done? I mean, as much as I like the engine and approach, what have they released but essentially a game engine without content (but for the modders)?

you describe in perfect manner Arma 3

[sorophx 25]

the guy asks why the devs leave content creation up to the players, and all the responses are "just leave it to the players". let me translate that for you, Robertqx.

"Bohemia can't into mission design, we're all aware of this and have become used to it over the years, so just wait a couple of months and hope some modder comes up with a game mode that you'll like."

but of course they are wrong. you can't expect the game be any good when the devs themselves have no interest in making it. relying on enthusiasts for content creation is a good way to save resources, but it also shows how bad things really are, and how it's become habitual, to the point of absurdity (like official statements from Bohemia claiming they never were going to provide any content, only the basic elements, relying on modders to the the rest for them).

[Westonsammy 1]

Oh FFS, Robertqx, don't let the butthurt members of the community (not going to name any names...) influence you, ArmA games don't release like many AAA titles with a bunch of game modes, because (in my interpretation of it) the mission editor is so easy to use, and the community is so willing to make content, that they see the creation of "official" missions as almost a waste of time, which I truly think it is.

Why would BI use its developers and many man-hours to work on a single mission (For comparison, ArmA 2 has thousands of missions, may possibly be in the tens of thousands) when they could instead use that time to fix a bug, optimize, or work on new content?

The ArmA 2/3 editor is also much easier to use then those in other games, for myself it only took (with no prior knowledge of the ArmA 2 editor) about 30 minutes of learning from youtube videos/practicing, and another 3 hours of work to make my first mission (although it was pretty basic and didn't run very well). On the other hand, i'm pretty sure only BI and a few talented modders can fix the current bugs/performance issues/content problems with the game, and I think its wonderful that they focus on that instead.

You will also find that sometimes the community makes missions even better than the ones that BI put out, because lets face it, even with all their talent, I don't think the BI dev team can be as creative or productive as the entire ArmA mission making community :D

If you want to find some good missions, you can always check the Steam workshop or armaholic, which you can also get tons of awesome mods from: http://www.armaholic.com/

[clydefrog 3]

Oh FFS, Robertqx, don't let the butthurt members of the community (not going to name any names...) influence you, ArmA games don't release like many AAA titles with a bunch of game modes, because (in my interpretation of it) the mission editor is so easy to use, and the community is so willing to make content, that they see the creation of "official" missions as almost a waste of time, which I truly think it is.

Why would BI use its developers and many man-hours to work on a single mission (For comparison, ArmA 2 has thousands of missions, may possibly be in the tens of thousands) when they could instead use that time to fix a bug, optimize, or work on new content?

...or make loads of showcases.

I completely disagree. Some well made "professionally" created PvP and/or Coop missions (which I'm sure some of the guys at BI would be capable of producing) would be one of the better uses of their time. I'm sure they have the knowledge and skill to put together some good quality replayable missions / game modes that run well and have aspects that a lot of people who make missions themselves aren't capable of. I'm sure a lot of people such as the OP would greatly appreciate something like this, I think even a lot of people who aren't new to Arma would as long as some effort had actually been put into them and they were of a good standard. Maybe then we'd also have a load of servers running some highly optimised official missions, that don't suffer from all of these multiplayer performance issues as much as most of the current popular missions do.

I'll tell you what I think is a waste of time, showcases and firing ranges.

Edited September 17, 2013 by clydefrog

[Zorg_DK 10]

I would have liked some more really good MP missions from BI, especially PVP. But the question is, would people be playing it? I don't think a lot would.

[Rigges 10]

It would have been nice to see some 'official' content released with the game, but I'm also all for having community work on content and new ideas, releasing the tools and seeing what happens. I am a believer that most major innovation comes from the PC market not through the AAA companies but through the little people, the community who do it 'free' out of passion but develop some amazing content. Of course they'll pull some business tricks to fund their projects but any company who promotes community development and releases their tools allowing for real innovation and doesn't lock down all their tools to ensure the life cycle of their game is about a year so they can make a killing on the next iteration, has my vote.

[St. Jimmy 272]

I really don't expect any good PvP missions from BIS. I'm relying on Tactical Battlefield and Blitzkrieg kind of mods/missions.