Hello,
i´m new to this game and new to the multiplayer part of it. I played around with it for a few days now - and i asked myself some questions. Can´t answer them for myself - so i signed up here, because - why not?
1.:
Most of the official servers are either recruit or regular. I mean recruit kills my "immersion" immediately by those green and red dots. Regular - ok perhaps - but if the multiplayer part is played somehow competitive, and i always prefer first person for the same immersion reasons - anyone who plays in third person has some advantages because one could look around corners, over walls, etc. Many servers are "custom" difficulty - but what does it mean? The filter isn´t that helpful. One should be able to pick something like forced 1st person view. Also perhaps it´s ok to have at least one official veteran server instead of multiple recruit servers. I mean in my opinion perhaps You aren´t ready for the game if You have to play recruit anyway - regular isn´t that much harder - the difference is more about that You have to use Your eyes a bit more and this fat, bold message "Look! Here´s the enemy. Those are friends. I´ll mark it on Your map and on Your screen." is missing. "Thank You Preston - but it´s too late. He shot me before the red dot appeared." My singleplayer games are also custom - but in the end it´s just veteran with unlimited saves, but custom could be everything. No one wants to play in veteran difficulty, because it´s easier to spot those red dots instead of some uniform/gear which is either yours or the "other"? Because of the third person view which lets You see around corners or walls - so You don´t get any surprises? Is it because of that additional crosshair, so You don´t need to aim? I mean the difficulty of this game is not to place some shot - it´s the spotting ability in the first place. No? But the last point leads to the next question.
2.:
Yesterday i played with some guys who always got the outfits and weapons of CSAT (that viper gear) - as NATO. For me it´s hard to spot. (It´s so easy without - the others: that colour and black weapons, we: those colours and bright weapons. It´s easy to beat the game with 5.56mm and no armor. No - not easy, but it´s possible. But for some it has to be the biggest helmet and armor one could find, the biggest backpack for more gear and of course the weapon with the biggest punch - but up to around 100m everyone is dead with a headshot even with 9mm. It´s just a lack of skill if one needs the best gear - and on top it´s more confusing for everyone else if that gear is the enemies gear.) Nonetheless i was the one who was killed through friendly fire the most. What´s going on on the servers? Everyone´s shooting in the air, throwing some grenades of all kind just for fun. I mean if i like to pull the trigger in this game - or throw grenades for no reason - there´s always that virtual arsenal. And i guess the only point of that arsenal is exactly that - using the stuff in game for no reason. In the end perhaps do this on those recruit servers and if there´s no green or red dot around - You simply throw a smoke grenade of that colour. Just for the more colourful screen. No idea - but there are so few veteran servers - and even there people don´t behave like "veterans". And i´m not against any fun or for taking everything serious. In the end nothing is worth to be taken very serious - it´s just: why? Ok - perhaps You are 11 and a half years old - got this "new" game - can´t concentrate on one thing longer than 7,5 seconds and Your english is as bad as mine. Ok - perhaps then - but You don´t have to show it all the time - to everyone - always. Just try to play the grown up guy - sometimes. Yes - there are those nicknames and it´s hard to know who everyone is in real life - but just think about that case for one second: "what if everyone would be in the same room in real life? Would You behave the same?" I mean it´s not really a thrill to shoot some virtual bullets through the virtual air - or to - again virtual - comrades. But perhaps it´s really about the age, because when i was young people used to make some real damage, sometimes to real people till they realize that this isn´t really "fun", with real police involved - and then it´s some kind of thrill - because it´s about Your real life - and real consequences. And now the fun is to shot some digital gun for no reason on some server, because - that´s my question. You´re bored or just some looser in real life - at least that´s my answer. Perhaps i´m wrong. Could someone please enlighten me? These times? People have to give away their brains after birth because if not the politics won´t work the way they work? But ok - no - can´t really be the age. A few days ago someone asked me to ask someone else a question - if he could pick him up. I don´t know all of them and was logged in for a few minutes - i don´t know where he is. "Could You pick up some guy - no idea where he is?" But that was definitely a mature voice and he told me where the other guy is - "He is next to You. Use that local chat." In that time he asked me - and that time i needed to think about what happens - what i would have to do (probably open and close the map, switching to that other channel, switching back, translate everything in my head, try to get an answer to my new own questions: "What? Why?") just to ask some question he wants an answer for - he could have asked for himself at least seven times. Where´s the problem? 1 minute later he logged out. Ok. So i guess he wanted to be picked up to log out at another position which is perhaps nearer to the water - or he just ragequit because people won´t simply do whatever senseless things he is thinking of.
3.:
There are open servers. Official ones. Ok. Why the heck am i kicked off this server 10 seconds after i joined? I just could see that all those guys there are from the same nation - ok - why not. Perhaps they speak in their language. Ok - why not. Perhaps they want to play together with no one else around who can´t understand the language. Why not open up an own server? Private? Password protected? Why use the official ones for things like that? Not that i would like to play a nice game with a bunch of antisocial assholes - but i think You get it.
4.:
Most people seem to use teamspeak, discord or other third party tools for communication. Ok. Again. Why not. But there´s also an ingame tool. Seems to work very good - spoken or written. And if the game could be played as a team - why not involve those people without teamspeak? So instead of using the multiplayer part as experience in which You will meet random people and play together with them it seems that there are many lone rangers which say nothing - write nothing - just do their own thing - or those groups which are connected via 3rd party tools. I don´t need to talk much - and my spoken english is a mess - but it´s relatively easy - or should be - to team up and forge some kind of small plan. If everyone is just doing something - a large part of this game - in my opinion - is missing. Usually - the planning part is much longer than the execution part of any military operation. I can understand that it isn´t the best gameplay feature if people would scout and plan for one or more hours just for this thing to be executed in 3 minutes and 36 seconds, because the gameplay is about the execution, but one or two sentences about the how and when can´t hurt that much. The rest of the time could be spent on using other tools - or no communication at all. Something like waiting for everyone to be in position would be ok too. Even better: talk about what everyone spots before engaging or opening fire.
4a.:
But if i look at the people it seems that most like to carry some MG and some AT weapon - and then they complain about the weapon sway or the stamina system. In fact i like both - and everyone who ever carried a MG (7,62mm) in real life knows that this can´t be fired while standing - at least not with any aim - but most people can´t fire such a thing while standing even without aim because the recoil would lay You down - You need to be some heavy guy Yourself to do so. In game it´s possible - firing that while standing and aiming. In fact i don´t know anyone who has even tried it in real life. We´re talking about lifting some 11-12 kg weapon - usually with a very high rate of fire. And i don´t know anyone who carries a MG and would like to carry some AT weapon on top (so two support weapons on one man - which doesn´t make much sense also) - or the additional ammunition for that MG (one 7,62mm is about 24g - so 200 in one belt = 4,8kg without belt, without case). You´re easily carrying 60kg with all that equipment - probably much more in game - it´s ok to not be able to sprint with it - or to have some weapon sway, because You have that other thing over Your shoulder and Your backpack. Hmm - could have made an extra point about that - because if i join a server there are really few slots for simple riflemen. That´s what i like to use. Just some rifle. Caliber doesn´t matter. I don´t see any weapon "tiers" either - every weapon in game has pros and cons. There´s not really a bad weapon - just the wrong weapon for the action. I don´t need a grenade launcher or AT gun. Don´t want to be the marksman or the machinegunner - the tech expert or the explosives guy - or the medic. Just a rifleman - usually the most common kind of soldier. Small loadout, mobile, CQC or ranges to 200m, sometimes up to 400m. Your frontline footsoldier who dies a lot in game or needs the medic, because everyone else is in some support role like machine gunner or marksman/sniper - complaining that it is a jogging simulator and that infantry has to go by foot. So they get a plane, helicopter - or tank. I´d like some combined arms. I like mechanized/motorized Infantry gameplay - but this seem to be hard to find. There are some really good pilots out there and it´s fun to play together that way, but i haven´t found some good mechanized infantry gameplay so far. With defined support/do the dirty job roles. I even tried to be in the squad leader role, because i thought this is probably the only "rifleman" slot - but no, he´s got a grenade launcher too. A grenade launcher is sometimes handy - but it´s heavier and i simply rarely use it. In real life - out of all support guns the grenade launcher would be the last i would take with me. Perhaps for those smoke grenades to mark something. It´s in the way if i want to switch between single fire and automatic - and have to click one more time to get back to single fire. I´m lazy. I don´t know - is it usual anywhere to have a grenade launcher as squad or team leader? Usually Your extra weight is about some other equipment and probably You have some other things to do as a squad leader - instead of firing some support gun - perhaps instead of firing a weapon at all, because it´s about to react to some situations, because the superubermasterplan You´ve made don´t work out the way as expected - and You need to lead Your squad through this new situation. Probably not by playing Rambo and shooting everything in sight on Your own - with Your grenade launcher. Perhaps with the right haircut a grenade launcher could.. no - i won´t write it.
5.:
Won´t write much about this point, but it seems that most servers are about some survival experience or RPG features, because i´m unhappy with my life and need some life simulator to make it somehow bearable. My advice: Smoke some weed and listen to music. It´s ok. No - in fact do whatever You think You have to do - but my question is really: it seems that the "military" aspect in this milsim game is not very present on the servers. And if - recruit difficulty, because the only aimbots have to be the players - to feel good and strong.
6.:
So now - the most important one - and reason for this Post: What to do in my situation? Joining some milsim Clan/group with some ranking system, all those trainings and taking things overly serious. And if You miss one of those trainings You will get some lifetime ban after You heard some guy shouting at You for one and a half hour? An english one to learn this language properly? A german one to get it working faster - but probably i don´t want to end up in some Bundeswehr-Arma-Clan. Perhaps some international thing would be nice - i don´t care where anyone is from - same humor is more important that the language - for me. Somehow organized, but not too serious. Just try further with the open servers - and hope for the best? I mean sometimes it´s fun. Most of the time i play on my own though - so far - because i don´t see much teamplay anyway. Something in between would be nice. I´d like some competitive game vs other players - in 1st person view - without any AI. And i also like playing vs the AI as a team - i mean i can play vs the AI alone (or with a half braindead AI team - which at least kills me less often by friendly fire than some real people) anytime in singleplayer. Sometimes (but rarely) i kill other players too by mistake. Probably wouldn´t happen if there would be any kind of plan / idea where everyone is. My skills: Could improve. Usually i have a very short reaction time, still have, but my precision could be better. I like the realism part of the game - but i know it´s still a game. Wouldn´t like to add many mods - imho the game feels ok the way it is - and at least for me it rarely crashes. I guess two times in about 200h - both while flying - but that´s something i dislike anyway. It´s ok for transport - but in general i don´t have much luck with vehicles of any kind.
7.:
Just the seventh sin here and because it got longer anyway: What about the lag? I mean if there are more than - let´s say 40 - 50 players it´s unplayable in cities. I spot someone - but can´t turn around that fast because of that lag - and the other player who was facing in the right direction by luck kills me before my weapon is facing him. I mean it´s not about skill - it´s about luck and lag. I´m not that skillful anyway - but it´s not a real competition. It´s ok on those servers with less people or on servers in which they are more split up.
So - my first impressions of some days of using the multiplayer mode in Arma 3. Short - isn´t it? I´ll try to write a bit more next time. And perhaps someone could give me some answers. Would be nice of You. And don´t get me wrong. I really like this game and think it was a good purchase. Good step forward compared to Arma 2. All in all. There are still things which could be improved - but if everything would be perfect perhaps the devs would be as lazy as i am. Also - it´s ok that everyone plays the game the way she or he wants - i just can´t understand some ways if other players (people) are involved. Let´s say new players - or simply other people You don´t know so far. For me i live my life that way that i think about how i would like to be treated and try to treat other people the same. And usually - i don´t like to get some greeting which is about shooting in my face - a simple "Hello" is always a bit more in my favor. But some people think - if they think at all - another way? I mean in real life - it´s not just about this. You probably wouldn´t just empty all Your magazines in the air, because it costs some money. Money You have to work for - or money everyone has to work for to pay the taxes. Instead of just throwing away Your money that way - give it to me. It´s ok. No Problem. Everyone´s happy. I promise. Trust me. It´s more fun too - at least for me - to make things even...
Have a nice day...
