Since when was it in vogue…

… to make aspects of your game totally totally and utterly unbalanced when new players are in the mix? I realise that people are OCD and like collecting shit, but has it really come to this?

I say this because I’ve finally had the time / hardware upgrade to allow me to play BF3, and what do I find? Every bugger has guns and vehicle perks except me. In some cases this is not so bad (e.g. I can do just fine without heavy barrel and minor options like that) but in other cases it renders the game unplayable for the noobs. E.g. I get in a chopper and get shot down instantly, as I don’t have any countermeasures. The best I can do is wait for a friend to come online who already has chopper perks so I can piggy back off them.

Similarly, folk in jets have perks like air radar so they can find me easily. Tankers get various perks like coax machine gun & smoke.

In my opinion, everyone should start with the key class/vehicle items (defibs, flares etc.) and anything beyond that should be a sideways option. By sideways, I mean that you already have a default set of perks/tech (such as smoke in the tank), and additional perks give you options for certain situations, not concrete advantages. As far as I’m aware, there’s no disadvantage to having flares (as opposed to nothing).

I don’t get it. It’s just as … weird as starting with no defibs in BC2 – you couldn’t actually be a medic until you’d played for a while. Games are naturally weighted in favour of experienced players, as they have map / weapon / game knowledge that new players lack. By design, this compounds matters.