Bohemia on the right way with Arma 3?

[IndeedPete 1038]

Or to steal a quote from the DCS forums, "Do you think getting nine women pregnant will get you a baby in one month".

That's a damn good quote, I need to remember this.^^

[sancron 32]

Ok at this Point stop and back to Topic please.

To say something to the Development Costs. Bohemia Produce and Publish his own Titles. Battlefield is produced by DICE and published by EA. That's a little bit differnt. As i write a few times ago. Bohemia makes a good work, they want to made a good Game for all. But at some Point in my Opinion, they take wrong direction. For me the light Futuristic settings, isn't my choice. I want to have Weapons and Vehicles i know and maybe i was use, when i was in the Army.

To the DLCs, Karts was in front a April fool. And later it was added to the Game, since a few people was asking about. You was pay 1.49EUR in Europe for a little bit fun, out of MilSim. And when i am right, the whole earnings from this DLC, was spent to the Red Cross. And what was added? Not much as you expect. You got repaints of an Uniform already exist ingame. And some singns are very Simple and fast done. And the Kart, i was active in rFactor (Sim Racing with Mod Support). And a talented Modder or Developer would build a Kart very fast, since it have no Gauges and only need simple animations. And the Devs are familiar with the Engine, so they are maybe faster then some other Modders. Also BI was also Test his new DLC Feature for Steam.

Zeus was annoucend as free DLC, Bootcamp is annouced as free Update to say one word to this Topic. But for me, i play since OFP. And i was like to Play US, USMC, UK and German Soldiers with their old or today equipment. But what we got on Arma 3? The futuristic Setting was choosen by BI, to gave the Developer some freedom for her creativity. But this freedom results in some Copy paste for some Models or Parts. So it feels at some point, that there was no love during development.

And that's the Point, where i say. That BI going the wrong way. In front the futuristic setting for my personal Opinion. Than the feeling in the game, that some Parts in the Game, where done with no Love. And some features added to the game, was need more balance (Like the Weapon sway), since there is no option to work against the sway.

[soulis6 24]

I'm not really sure what it is you're trying to say, just that really don't like the 'futuristic' setting? While I don't understand this complaint at all (is it just the fantasy of playing real life scenarios or something?), you realize that the game is done, and they can't exactly change the entire setting at this point right? I'm not sure what it has to do with the direction of the game or BIS.

Saying there's "no love' in the development is simple nonsense. A game like this would not get made at all if there wasn't love and energy and creative people working on it. It just wouldn't happen, they'd be working on something much less original or interesting if they were solely businesses motivated.

As far as the balance changes go, like weapon sway, i think you should give them a bit of time, sounds like they're already making adjustments to it in the dev branch, and i'm sure there will be weapon resting at some point (most likely with the marksman DLC).

[dontknowhow 33]

That's a damn good quote, I need to remember this.^^

Yes, awesome quote. The mythical man month in a sentence

[sancron 32]

@Soulis6

I try to explain what i dislike. The futuristic setting was chosen by Bohemia, to give the Developer some freedome in creativity. But what gave us this creativity? We got many Copy Paste things, like the Drones. Every faction has the same Drones. Only the Texture was changed. We got some parts already known from Arma 2 (Mohawk aka Merlin as example). And as i wrote before, personally i think the futuristic setting at all was the wrong way (my Opinion). But the way, that the Game actaully goes, isn't perfect.

But back on the freedom and Copy Past thing. The M5 Sandstorm, they only Put the Merkava IV body, and screw a MLRS System on Top. BTR-K Kamysh and the AFV-4 Gorgon share the Same main Gun, which was already used in Arma 2 on the Pandur. Lets talk about the Arty, correct me if i am totaly wrong, but they also share the same Gun Turret Model (Opfor / Blufor). Where i could find the love from the Developer on such things? A 143 Buzzard looks also like a Model, i already know from Arma 2. That's the Point where i say, there is no love at all.

Next point is, they bring a Update, that massivly change the behavior of Weapons and Soldiers. But there is no way to counter these. Ok they work on the Dev Branch, but we need to wait for a Release of this Patch. And what we can do, as i am not the only one, dislike the Weapon Sway feature, during the wait? We can't Downpatch back to 1.22 and we can't disable it. And that's also a thing where i say, that's the wrong way. ACE was have a nice fatigue System, why they not adept the work, that was already down? It would not be the first time, BI takes stuff from the Community and use it as fixed Part in the Game.

Did you now understand my Point of View?

[soulis6 24]

Not really if i'm being honest. I just don't understand why some vehicles sharing guns or body models is important at all, that seems like the lowest of the low priority. Having different drones (functionally) for different factions would be nice, but that's not a trivial amount of work, and there would have to be a good reason to do it.

The weapon sway is created by what you call 'love' for the game, it's something their gameplay designers thought would improve the core design, not from a place of marketing or trying to appease people, but because they thought it would make the game better. If that's not done out of love, what is? Also i'm not convinced it hasn't, haven't played with it enough or given it enough time to say if it's an improvement, but regardless they'll be making more updates and changes in the meantime.

If them making changes to the game and updates upset you, you can always opt-out of the auto-updating in steam, it's very easy.

Edited July 17, 2014 by Soulis6

[mamasan8 11]

The futuristic setting isn't even futuristic. All those things exist today. Vehicles, weapons etc.

Fighting a robot army with antimatter guns or some such, that would be futuristic.

I don't understand the 'quality over quantity' thing. Where is this quality? I see copy paste everywhere. Guns behave the same way as in Arma 2. AI are even more stupid. Vehicle physics are worse. Physics overall seem so so. Was all the "quality"-time spent on the box they put on shelves in the store?

I've seen tons more quality in MMOs and you know that is 10 times more work than Arma. Can't just copy-paste classes and races, dungeons (ESO the exception here), quests etc.

[soulis6 24]

The futuristic setting isn't even futuristic. All those things exist today. Vehicles, weapons etc.

Fighting a robot army with antimatter guns or some such, that would be futuristic.

I don't understand the 'quality over quantity' thing. Where is this quality? I see copy paste everywhere. Guns behave the same way as in Arma 2. AI are even more stupid. Vehicle physics are worse. Physics overall seem so so. Was all the "quality"-time spent on the box they put on shelves in the store?

I've seen tons more quality in MMOs and you know that is 10 times more work than Arma. Can't just copy-paste classes and races, dungeons (ESO the exception here), quests etc.

That's just silly. The difference between Arma 2 and 3 is pretty huge, what do you see copy pasted? Guns and movement and shooting are radically different than Arma 2, so much better. AI still has problems, but it's an improvement over Arma 2 (they flank, use buildings, don't' magically know your location, etc), and obviously the visuals are a vast improvement.

An MMO is not even remotely comparable, what are you even trying to say? You realize the insane budget and teams that MMOs have right, and the insane sales and subscription numbers that much be reached or they are shut down for good. There's a reason the large majority of MMOs go under and the studios developing them go out of business.

[sancron 32]

I wasn't say, that there is no love at all. But some parts missing love. So i feel like in the state, that i need to wait for the Community, to get Equipment i want to use, to made some MilSim Stuff. And also enhance the Game, where the Developers only do Copy Paste Stuff. I also don't say, that they wasn't upgrade the features. BI can made a good quality.

I like some of the new Feautes and Animations, but there is one Animation i personally dislike. It's the Walk Animation with a Maingun. It looks like a wannebe Rambo, with one Hand hanging down and one Hand on the Trigger. For me there are to many situations in the Virtual World, that take me out of my MilSim expierence. Ok i was play a lot Arma 2 in the last and today (Vanilla and ACE). And i got a bunch of different Vehicles and Weapons where i can choose from. On Arma 3 i miss the range of Weapons and Vehicles. And when i go in the Editor and have several Models, that looks same in most ways for me.

And what's with the Campaign. Personally i don't like the Campaign in cause of the Story. The Story confuses me at some Point, and some times it feels inconsequent for me. I was like the OFP, A1 and A2 Campaigns but i can't get in touch with the A3 Campaign. BTW thats also a personal Opinion. Also i miss a Coop Campaign at all.

[froggyluv 2130]

You left out the other 10+ complaints.

Whats the point with enterable buildings if AI don't use them (much). Taking over a town should be about building-clearing to a certain degree.

But I guess buildings are too buggy. AI could get stuck, walk through walls, probably die from going up/down stairs etc.

Ive been bitching about AI and buildings since OFP and I agree that they should one day create a dedicated behaviour as so much of urban warfare revolves around it. That said,. Im not sure what Vanilla AI does but the last time I played with Bcombat mod the AI literally tracked me down to the room everytime -and I mean everytime! A little too accurate to be honest but still fricken fun as compared to OFP in which you could sit in an upstairs window picking them off all day. The AI also don't glitch walls and stairs anywhere near as much as previous titles but yes theres still plenty of room for improvement.

[zukov 483]

i reinstalled Arma 2 OA few weeks ago........

and i had forgotten how much the characters, animations and sounds was ugly

[nikiforos 450]

i reinstalled Arma 2 OA few weeks ago........

and i had forgotten how much the characters, animations and sounds was ugly

Lol it's hard to go back to an ex girlfriend that u left by your own choice :)

[Gutsnav 13]

If they replaced the Hunter, Strider, Panther, Bobcat, and Scorcher RCWS turrets with the one currently on the Slammer UP the game would look so much less copy- paste. Made a ticket on it but yeah.

[Bee8190 10]

I haven't got a clue whether BI is on the right track or not. One one side I'm happy to see them working on better material & introduction for newcomers but at the same time I feel that doesn't really affect me as BI is doing it for themselves and their business to attract more new people and not enhancing my own play. Then again its good to see them thinking slightly outside of the box and the VR thing seems to be a great addition.

The planned Marksmen and Helicopter DLC look very promising but seeing as the progress in some other areas is either stagnating or seemingly nonexistent I'm unsure whether those DLC's are something to get excited about and not just hyped up. The amount of work still needing to be done on the base game ( according to players from my observations ) can be accounted in years rather than months I think so to me its still quite unclear where the improvement will follow and where they're done with it so its

unsure in my case

---------- Post added at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

83 votes unsure of what is to come vs 113 votes confident in BI's direction? hmm

[thesneak 0]

"Is Bohemia going the right way with Arma 3?"

"we took everything we could from ‘Game 2’ in terms of content, and adopted a more conservative approach to the technical side of things. The library of content present in Arma 2 is simply overwhelming, and in hindsight might not be commercially justifiable for a single game. " - Merek

"No sir. I don't like it" - Mr. Horse

[chortles 263]

"we took everything we could from ‘Game 2’ in terms of content, and adopted a more conservative approach to the technical side of things. The library of content present in Arma 2 is simply overwhelming, and in hindsight might not be commercially justifiable for a single game. " - Merek

What a quote like that tells me is that Arma 2 was an anomaly and not what to actually expect...

[r71 0]

I can't get people to buy the game if I cant even host any more. Don't want to pull my hair out at this time to figure out about the ports. Arma 3 is the first version that I did not buy more then one copy for friends. Oh, and the $60.00 cost did not help also.

Edited July 29, 2014 by R71

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

I can't get people to buy the game if I cant even host any more. Don't want to pull my hair out at this time to figure out about the ports. Arma 3 is the first version that I did not buy more then one copy for friends. Oh, and the $60.00 cost did not help also.

Step 1: Host game

Step 2: Google "what is my IP?"

Step 3: Give IP to friends

Step 4: Remote join using IP

Not that difficult.

[spanishsurfer 58]

BIS works harder at squashing bugs and implementing new content then any other game company I've ever seen, and yes I believe they're moving in the right direction.

Some of you question why a launcher is needed, are you serious? If you cannot see the benefits of a company made launcher that eventually will allow players to connect to any server and auto download all the content that server is using will be tremendous. Yes there are 3rd party launchers that do this well but most players do not know they exist, a company created launcher will ensure everyone has access to addons.

I think we can all agree that the most powerful aspect of Arma is it's user made content. With a company launcher many common complaints of the game can be squashed with user created content. Weapon resting, new tanks, rifles, launchers, aircraft, new maps, and tons of other features can be implemented into any server and have all the players on that server with the same content. Personally I know I will be injecting tons of new stuff into the OFPS.net BECTI Warfare Server so that we can have dozens of choices on modern/future gear/vehicles/static weapons.

[Mattaustt 10]

They're heading in the wrong direction with the modding community.

1/ Buggy Object Builder for Animations Windows not re-appearing [They wont fix this and refuse to confirm it in bug tracker]

2/ The Shi**iest Addon builder, I still use the BIN PBO (for ArmA 3) style instead of that new GUI one which is terrible.

3/ The sample 3d models config.cpp's are incorrect and invalid especially for boats [some things don't work and our outdated or simply missing].

4/ Am required to rip open their PBO's to have a look at the config for the proper way of doing a working model, e.g. Ship, Car, Plane, House.

5/ Absolutely no support beyond basics when it comes to more complex tasks in oxygen, no help given on the forum, just silence.

6/ TO reiterate 2 above points, it's either you rip everything of theirs apart and unbinarize to properly understand the concept or don't bother working on the models, samples are shonky as hell.

-----

New Feature for Addon Builder?

How about once the addon is packed, have an option to launch the game straight away ready in edit mode for tests [skipping main menu], this will save countless hours of entering the game, clicking edit, choosing map etc etc. Trust me, with atleast 2000 hours of 3D Modelling for ARMA and testing, it takes up a chunk of time!

Edited July 30, 2014 by Mattaustt

[major_shepard 82]

Weapon resting, new tanks, rifles, launchers, aircraft, new maps, and tons of other features can be implemented into any server and have all the players on that server with the same content. Personally I know I will be injecting tons of new stuff into the OFPS.net BECTI Warfare Server so that we can have dozens of choices on modern/future gear/vehicles/static weapons.

Maybe you think that players will spent hours downloading daily/weekly update for the ton of addon out there to be able to join a public server? For sure they won't ^^

Edited July 29, 2014 by Major_Shepard

[spanishsurfer 58]

Maybe you think that players will spent hours downloading daily/weekly update for the ton of addon out there to be able to join a public server? For sure they won't ^^

Time will tell, but I know the users who log into my server will. You only have to download Addons once.

[BL1P 35]

Step 1: Host game

Step 2: Google "what is my IP?"

Step 3: Give IP to friends

Step 4: Remote join using IP

Not that difficult.

That does not work.

I haven't been able to host a mission since the swap from Gamespy to Steam.

But I do use remote to play on our community server as its quicker than waiting 20mins for the Steam browser.

[Opticalsnare 12]

To me its the units, they are all so unrealistic and completly uninteresting from day 1 of release i have looked upon the units in A3 like they were utterly in the wrong place and wrong time and seemed to be designed by a 10 year old kid whos happy to cop and paste, "The year is 2035 and the forces of world are using next-gen battlefield vehicles, which are less technological advanced than units currently deployed in current conflicts alround the wooooorld." Err yea gg BIS Should just stuck with Shilkas and T90s they were much more fun than a fantasy made up herp-a-derp arab tanks.

[EricJ 724]

Well the T-100 is basically the T-99 Black Eagle which was obviously never accepted by the Russian Army. So I'm actually fine with some of the equipment, just that the M4 and Sochor is basically the same vehicle, just reskinned and named as well as the Cheetah/Tigris. It's how I felt about LOMAC and the MIG-29. Sure you had the German and Russian one, but essentially it's a reskin so no "new" thing there. So other than that I enjoyed it, up until 1.24, where I've concentrated on real life more than the game.

So my main complaint is just that, lack of imagination for the OPFOR/BLUFOR units in those cases as really... there's still some things lying around today which can be "futurized" for the A3 universe (like say a better attack helicopter rather than the Blackfoot). And besides it's just natural evolution anyway, can't always stay in the past or present forever.