Battlefield Play4Free Revealed

DICE just introduced Battlefield Play4Free, the next generation Free to Play game from the EASY team that brought you Battlefield Heroes. Battlefield Play4Free combines the best of the Battlefield series with the classic maps from Battlefield 2, the weapons and animations from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and the RPG elements (as in roleplaying, not rocket-propelled grenades!) from Battlefield Heroes. All in a Free to Play web environment. 

The game is currently in closed beta but you can register for a spot here. I was unable to do so at time of writing as it constantly told me:

In order to take part in the closed beta you have to agree to the terms. Also, if you’d like to receive our newsletters containing news and special offers you’ll need to opt-in.

I did so and it keeps going back to that message, so it seems there is a coding error in their online form or it’s not Firefox compatible.

They announced the game on their blog wITH Colin M. Clarke, Game Designer at the EASY studio walking everyone through the role-playing game elements.

Battlefield Play4Free is a fast, adrenaline pumping shooter that keeps players locked in, without losing the larger scale warfare that makes Battlefield so unique and, well, cool!

Battlefield the Play for Free way!

Though we have tried to stay true to some of the ‘rules’ found in core-shooters, we have also changed up some big things. One of them being allowing players to control the way their character grows.  Rather than a linear progress where you unlock gun 1, item 1, gun 2 in a pre-determined marching order, we have constructed a system that allows players to earn Training Points that can be used to take their brand-new soldier and turn him into their own customized combat veteran.  Our goal is to get away from "earning the next thing" and move towards "earning the thing you want". 

Why character focused vs player focused?
One of the regular Battlefield experiences was that you became fond of a certain kit, possibly even spent a majority of your time playing just one kit; but you never really became that kit. You were a soldier with many hats rather than a character with a niche combat role. For Battlefield P4F we wanted players to become directly invested in a character and be able to craft that class experience into their own niche style.  In our beta there is currently a re-occurring discussion on “What is a recon player supposed to do?” which, to me, shows that we we’re onto something.

Kit niche shifting
The two sides to the recon debate are "Recons should find and eliminate targets from long range" and "Recon should be moving all the time, scouting enemy locations for their team mates and disrupting enemy movement with flanking attacks".  This is a bit of a generalization of the ongoing debates, so I hope the forum regulars can forgive me. What I like about this discussion, though, is that both sides are completely correct.

The point of customizing your character
With the recon class a player can find two very different niches in the battle where they can excel. The recon that takes the point, scouts with his Motion Sensor and uses his Combat Training to find, outflank and eliminate enemies only has some similarities to the recon who unfolds his lawn chair and takes shots at enemies from 80+ meters away. They are the same kit, but each player has his own personalized combat experience within that kit. One thing I like is the amount of STUFF that I can choose from when spending Training Points. Sometimes I find I get a little bored of being a sniper and I want to get into the mix and see how well I do on the front line. Just by changing up my skills I can take my super sniper and turn him into a tactical infiltration recon that keeps my team constantly posted on enemy positions.

Can’t get enough of Karkand!

So what is a kit’s purpose?
Now the big question of: "Well okay, so the kit can be played multiple ways, but which is the right way?" Well, there really is no right way of playing any of the kits. My hope, and goal, with the skill trees that I have designed is that each player can find the setup that fits them best. Granted, it would be it a little odd to see an engineer leading a rush with a shotgun and ignoring vehicles entirely; but if that is the player’s thing then awesome!  So, now that I have touched briefly on why we decided to have a more character focused approach I will try to quickly outline how we got to the skill trees you see in game today.

How do you break down a battlefield experience?
At first glance we thought cutting up and categorizing the minute-to-minute battlefield experience would be simple; we have nearly 20 years combined experience working on Battlefield and set down to hit a quick-n-dirty outline. As things progressed we found that we had created a fairly bloated list selection of categories:

• Equipment Expertise – Make me better with my toys
• Physical Training – Make me better at running, jumping, climbing trees, etc
• Combat Expertise – Make me a more informed soldier
• Vehicle Training – Let me be a better driver, pilot, taxi-chopper guy

Sadly this breakdown was a bit bulky and not really what we wanted. So after a helpful nudge from our production team I set to refine the skill trees into something a little more compact and sleek.

Two differently specialized recon kits. The first focusing on getting lots of toys. The second focusing on having much more utility within infantry combat and scouting.

Moving from rough to refined
After some brain storming sessions and design review we managed to get each class chopped town to fit two overall categories:

Equipment Expertise: Make me better with my existing combat equipment and allow me to unlock new equipment as I progress
Combat Expertise: Make me more informed and more versatile regardless of the equipment I carry

A nice thing with these categories is they fit the ideas of "Stuff I use" and "Stuff I see".  So a player who was confident of his skill with the weapons he has, and who wanted to see more and have a greater understanding of the surrounding chaos, can train deeply into Combat Training. While the player who is all about using his weapons and equipment to impact the combat can spend deeply into Equipment Training.

With the trees refined, implemented, and functioning in our beta it is now a matter of adjusting each kit option to enable players to find their own niche within every class. As our beta progresses and feedback comes in through the forums and through playing with our beta testers we have found that each person is becoming more attached to their kit; and with each moment where a player talks about having to make a hard choice between one skill or another I can see the goals we set out to achieve a little closer to reality.

I hope that this summary (okay, I guess 9 paragraphs is not quite a summary) has helped answer some questions about what sets Battlefield: Play4Free apart from other shooters. It’s about the choices you get to make for your character. You can be the assault, recon, medic, or engineer that you think is best. That’s why one player’s skill choices are just as awesome as another’s. Unless it’s the choice to get into a full heli and pilot it straight into the water… HATE it when that happens.