[LtCarman]

Similar to Elvis in the mid-late 70s, the BF series is now just a shadow of its former self. The teamplay elements that made the BF series memorable are gone entirely.

First and foremost, there's no commander. The reason? Well, according to DICE, they had to "lower the complexity threshold."

Then we have the "squads." In BF2/2142, there were 6 person squads. The SL served as a mobile spawn point and could issue orders. Besides the obvious "attack" and "defend" commands, the SL could send out demolition commands (which would've worked great with the destruction) and way points. What do we get in BF3? A 4 person squad with the ability to spawn on ANY squad member. The SL has been reduced to a person with a star next to their name. No longer can the SL issue waypoints or demolition orders. Instead, he can only issue "attack" and "defend" orders. That's it. The SL does nothing more, nothing less in BF3.

Of course, we also have the lack of in-game VoIP. The above issues would be somewhat bearable if we had in-game VoIP. Instead, we have VoIP via Battlelog. Why is this a hassle? Well, if you're playing pubs, you have no way to communicate via VoIP. To do so, you'd have to alt+tab, send a friend request to the pubbies in your squad (and wait for the to accept), and make a party. Then finally, you would have to invite them to the party you just formed. Now you can use VoIP! When asked about this, DICE responded with, "Well, Battlelog VoIP works in-game. Therefore, there is in-game VoIP." Not an exact quote, but that was the general gist of the Tweet.

Conquest, which is arguably the "signature" Battlefield game mode, has devolved as well. Now, it's pretty much just a glorified TDM, except with flags that you can cap for fun. Coupled with the lack of most teamplay elements as mentioned above, just makes it all that much worse.

And again, I'm not saying that BF3 is a bad game in and of itself. It certainly isn't when compared to all the crap that is out there today. But when compared to past Battlefields, it is clear how it is disappointing. It's just sad to see the direction that this once great series is heading in.

And completely off-topic, but as I was lurking on PSU (finally decided to make an account), I couldn't think of why "Stardouser" looked so familiar and then I remembered...Mordor.