Stalkermaster2015

Yeah, while the official content ie Campaigns, showcases, editor etc can all be played for a few hundred hours. Your doing a disservice not playing some of the community content. BI actually did a workshop contest 2 years ago and if you look at some of those results you can play some nice sp campaigns and such, some might be buggy and short as is the nature but it's always worth a try. Back to topic, apex campaign is not how to do a campaign and BI should know this. Also the excuse of trying to cater to casuals is nonsense as they would have to buy two products to get to the campaign to play it, rather then just playing the hundreds of co op missions created.

It's a maybe for me. I'm not happy with how they handled the Apex release ie no info untill the last 2 or so weeks. Some people might not believe it but I like the official content BI does in terms of missions and campaigns (except for apex Protocal). It gives me stuff that could take loads of hours to do by myself and they give voices, mo cap and other things you can't do. So if they want me to preorder their next game then there must be some clear business decisions that ain't hidden till when the thing comes out.

As a solo campaign it's around a 3/10 for me while in co op bumping to a 5. The reason for such low scores is for the following. 1. Too short, im fine with 7 missions but only taking me 4 hours on solo to beat them all at least once? Way too short 2. Basic mission structure ie "go here and clear this area", "blow this up" "defend here" was basically all the missions. There were no choices, not many optional stuff to do and lacked real creativity. 3. The solo experience. Who thought it was a good idea to have to wait 30 seconds to keep playing by yourself? You can't pause or save only respawn and with no allies to command your stuck being Rambo with no other way. 4. The lack of showcasing the new assests, sure The East Wind didn't do this as well but it didn't need to because it had the showcases which had all the gear to learn and test. Mission six would of been a good mission to test the new nato drone for instance. I will say the voice work, mission briefings and such are really well done but that can't stop the other bad things.

I feel like it's a bug as the showcase was apart of the platform update for the marksmen dlc. But now since the latest update for apex it is requiring me to purchase Marksmen to play this showcase that everyone got for free. Is this a bug or is this meant to be?

Any news ineptaphid?

If you don't believe me, check out the co op campaign discussion and read the developer responses. All the truth comes out

Bomethia did. Because apparently solo players don't really count anymore.

I think this is one of BI's worst efforts yet. Here they had the chance to make a co op campaign that borrowed the improvements made from the east wind campaign. Instead we just got a nicely voice, presented campaign that lacked a real soul to it. For starters the mission design was basic and bland and certainly not replayable like it was hinted at. They missed several opportunitys to showcase the new content and tell a short but alright story to tie things up. I didn't have high expectations going in at all, but a nice follow up to the east wind would of been nice. A hub that you could scout with friends or Ai, picking your gear rather then just respawning with the same load out as well as presenting multiple choices that could of lead to an extra mission or change objectives within a mission to add replayability. Not to mention the poor sp support that's mentioned here, on the steam reviews and on the steam forums that has forced two developers to have to explain their reasoning. I hope they step it up for the next expansion or whole game otherwise they might not see a purchase from me as having to "do it myself" is a lazy way of wanting to get some satisfaction im paying BI for. On a side note it baffles me all genuine criticism this co op campaign gets is redirected to. " you shouldn't buy Arma for sp" or "do it yourself" or other weak excuses.

Because we paid money and you being ignorant hurts my brain. "Do it yourself" you say. You know it's not like this is their first ever attempt at a Co Op Campaign. Their previous Co Op campaigns were way better as they supported fully Co Op and Singleplayer. Had this been their first ever attempt I would be more sympathetic as this would be mere feedback on what to do next time. But they have been doing this for a long time so they should know what people want and expect instead of dropping the ball. Check the steam reviews, almost all the negative ones are about the disappointing campaign with even the positive ones mentioning it in the "cons" section of it. Sure a few people say they enjoy it but so far the negatives outweigh the positives. It's clear you havnt been reading this discussion as two developers which one of them is a LEAD developer has specifically stated they out of the blue are taking a completely different approach which has sparked criticism but don't worry you enjoy it so any other criticsm is invalid if it involves casual or solo in the title. Are you gonna ignore that they themselves admit it?

Cheers!

That's what I feel as well. I'm hoping its a bug and not a business decision which would be disappointing.

Yep, won't accept other opinions that ain't his own. Remember options are bad and evil! Hide them from your children!

Maybe to you, others feel like the campaign is too short, with a basic mission structure (go here and clear this, blow this up, defend this. Is the crux of all the missions). As well as lacking the one thing they advertised as - replayability

Best thing I did here was just rush through to the objective cause one of the respawn points was the Ai so as long as I rushed they came up, unkillable and created a nice respawn point I exploited, first run of the mission i did it in 15 minutes.

Firstly, why do you think there is 20+ pages of people arguing over the solo side of the campaign and how it feels like they are shifting towards a different crowd with each thing they do. Why do you think Two different developers have had to come here and defend what they have said? Please stop being ignorant. For years BI have done Co-Op campaigns in both main games and dlc and their previous work Arma 2 showed that they got it right. Red Harvest was a Co-Op campaign that was for those people, however if one played the Co-Op campaign in singleplayer they had access to saving as well as Ai replacing real players. It was fantastic and while the East Wind didn't do this and only focus on Sp it felt balanced for for many reasons that don't need to be stated. So here comes another BI Co-Op campaign and for months with little to no info on this campaign it is not unusual to see people thinking of it as being the same untill the devs said otherwise which they didnt. Have you actually played Apex protocol solo? It isn't balanced for it. Try missions 3 and 7 and maybe 6, in these you can rack up 20-40+ kills by yourself like Rambo, in between that you are constantly dieing and then having to wait 30 seconds before respawning and then running back to pick them off. There is no fun dieing and then having to wait 30 seconds and then go back to the place you died to kill those 5-10 guys the game asks you to take on by your-self and if you die rince and repeat. If I had known the sp experince was gonna be like this then I wouldn't of bothered as this is one of the first times im disapointed with one of their official content considering how great it has always been.

How is it nonsense? They said they were doing a co op campaign that can be played 1-4 players. What they have done in the past is exactly what is needed to remedy this situation. Their whole last whole game Arma 2 had everything almost perfect in how it was handled for its CO OP campaigns, color me an idiot for thinking they would do this for this campaign because that's what they have done. What people are arguing is why is this exact campaign completely different to everything they have done in the past and just thrown in the bin for the sake of appealing to the casual audience! I've played the whole campaign solo, all it needs when played in 1 player (as there is an option on the menu for it!) is to allow for saving instead of respawn and 1-3 Ai buddies to commander to not feel lonely. This way it will re-enact the Co Op scenarios for which the missions were created. Heck the 2nd mission ambush was basically the 3rd mission in the second episode of the East wind campaign!

Alrighty you caught me red handed. Give me over to CSAT now!

Normally I would agree, but this has been avaliable for well over a year.Not to mention on the store page for Marksmen it says the Firing from vehicles showcase is apart of the platform update that everyone gets access to not under the dlc part Taken from the store page under Platform Update "Supporting Content End Game Multiplayer Mode - A team-based multiplayer mode, containing experimental gameplay features such as Dynamic Groups, Shared Objectives, and Revive. Showcase Firing From Vehicles - Experience the Firing From Vehicles feature in an actual combat scenario for both singleplayer and co-operative multiplayer. VR Training - Three new courses to train up your weapon handling skill-set. Virtual Garage - Examine and customize the extensive collection of vehicles in Arma 3. Vests & Face Paints - Three new heavy and grenadier vests designed specifically for improved explosive shielding and ballistic protection. Nine new types of face paint are added to provide maximum concealment. " Won't really talk too much more about this, but I believe it's a bug in how it's now behind a paywall not being free to everyone before.

Unfortunately your wrong. Firing from vehicles was a free mechanic added in the marksmen DLC. Alongside that dlc was a free showcase that demonstrates this feature. Up untill 2 days ago it could be played by everyone but now out of the blue its behind the marksmen dlc as either a bug or something else. Yes I know it's off topic but it added salt to the womb with the apex campaign

Also speaking of disapointments. I find it odd how the Showcase "Firing from vehicles" is now locked behind a paywall. Could be a bug or it could be a sign of them changing which isn't too pleasing if true

The store page and media state 1-4 players. So like it been mentioned here a gazillion times, it's not wrong to think of them doing a red harvest esc campaign like they did for Arma 2 which was also a CO-OP campaign that fully allowed Sp which is what is being debated here and over there

Hey guys, so basically what I would say is but echoing what other people have said. So Ill try to add my own stuff to contribute to the discussion. Firstly im always a SP guy, the campaign is usually the first thing I complete on a game that has it unless it's not built for Sp. Arma is no different, I have downloaded loads and loads of community made missions and campaigns for Arma 2 and Arma 3. All which involve some sort of core Arma mechanics like squad commanding etc. So to see it here chucked out of the window is disapointing. I made a thread on steam around the same time this thread popped up last week here http://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/365172408528515109/ Here is one post I made which sums up how I feel " The claims BI have made to justify this terrible campaign for a Sp player prove they are out of touch with their fan base. A quick look at some of the most downloaded stuff on the workshop show a lot of Sp scenarios mixed in with the usual Mp modes and maps. Not to mention looking at how many have downloaded said maps here is a 3 i quickly grabbed Resist: 10000+ downloads Mercs: 8000+ downloads Deliverence: 9000+ downloads These are 3 campaigns. I could get more which I might do later but the fact is a lot of people enjoy the sp content. BI say that they did the campaign the way that they did was because many people didn't know there was official content for the game which isn't BI's fault cause it's all presented there if people actually click on and read it. They then claim it's also for those who are new to Arma and want to learn the game with a friend, but to do this they have to both buy the main game and the expansion which doesn't make a lick of sense considering they could teach them everything through just playing the campaign or joining Mp servers like invade and Annex to learn plus the scenarios and the boot camp update which was specifically designed to teach new players. Instead they are moving away from what made them successful to go after the casual crowd to make more money and leave people in the mud. There was no reason Apex Protocal should not of launched with some sort of playability for a solo player that didn't include having to become Rambo to acomplish it's goals. What made it worse was their silence on the subject untill 3 weeks ago when lots of the info dropped but much was still now known untill 6 days ago where they basically showed their new direction with the campaign which included leaving people who play their content solo in the wind. They claim they will be going back to their roots with the next release or Dlc or something along those lines so it will be seen but the fact that two developers, one who is now the lead developer only shows that they know people are disapointed " I don't understand why they are now deciding to move away from everything they have done in the past. Not to mention the campaign itself outside the Sp abandon ware is disapointing. 1. The campaign was way too short with one mission taking like 20 minutes (mission 3) and it was over before much really happened and was padded out in sections. Only took me just over 4 hours to finish compared to the 12 or so the east wind took on a first try. 2. The objectives were bland and basic (ie clear this area, blow this up, defend) was the crux of the missions, you said it was made to encourage replayability so where was a mission or two that offered choices on what to do? Or even an alternative ending like East Wind to encourage people to try new options. 3. The stuff added was not really explored. Like why add the local police force if they don't really have a roll outside the first mission and cutscenes which must be said were well done. 4. The story as already mentioned on other pages was very bland and non-exisent on the missions and only really filled out before mission and after missions. Also Im sure there were some continuity errors as well which didn't make sense like Miller and the stuff surrounding him. Of course all of this is my own opinion but I can see its echoed here.