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Higby: I've read a lot of these threads and seen a lot of people who say these guys are trying to make a game for the millions of FPS players out there and that's true. I mean we don't want to make a 2003 FPS experience because that's too hardcore and the reason the FPS genre was small back then was because it was too hardcore. Making it a little more mainstream with features like spotting is just a way to help new players with the game that’s already so crazy in terms of the amount of stuff going on. It’s gonna be hard for somebody new to be able to adopt and have fun with. I don't consider that stuff to be dumbing down really either it’s just a different tool; another tool you have access to use. So in a way it’s making it more complicated because now I have another tool I'm aware of and as a player running around I have to be aware that I can be getting spotted right now. And if I am getting spotted other players can shoot at me and I might not necessarily see them... there's a lot of strategy to that. And I've talked a lot about the kill cam too, I mean the kill cam we had a GDC isn't what our killcam is gonna look like - it won't reveal positions in the final version.
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1. Helping new players is admirable and all, Higby, but new players stop being new after a while, yet the casualized features remain even when everyone is vets. If this is truly your reason, then these features should cease to be available to a player who has 50+ hours. Catering to new players isn't mainstream, it's casualized, it's an extreme. Whereas a realism sim with no spotting would be the opposite extreme. Mainstream would be middle ground, something between.
Or even better, how about when servers reach a certain maturity level, the crutches are turned off, and special Newbie servers are created where people that need the crutches have them? Or simply have server options to begin with? It looks like casual players aren't going to give up the fight for friendly fire off, so you might as well cater to the ENTIRE community by having some servers with FF off, 3D spot on, etc, and other servers with FF on, 3D spot off, etc.
Let me assure you that there is a large section of the Battlefield community that doesn't want this, either. There IS DEFINITELY enough demand to justify making special servers with FF on and 3D spot off. And SOE has a precedent for this as well. Everquest has PvP servers, a server where all loot is tradeable, progression servers, LOTS of specialty servers. I call upon SOE to serve their community in the same way with respect to these things.
2. Calling it strategy is a smokescreen, 3D spotting is stealth-ruining. As a result, it takes away as many strategies as it offers. If one guys sees you and is able to broadcast your exact location in 3D to 200 other guys nearby, that's stealth ruining and defeats the purpose of even attempting to flank or do anything but charge straight ahead. In open areas, 3D spotting also increases the game's killing pace and causes people to run 500 yards out of their way to get kills instead of proceeding to the objective.
There's also the idea of making 3D spotting Squad Only(NOT empire-wide). That would be helpful as well and encourage squadding up.