Battlefield Developer Goes to Reddit for Weapon Tweak input

 After finally nerfing the tactical light down from death-ray beam and back to being a regular flashlight, DICE is entertaining the possibility of making some more weapon attachment changes. The Core Gameplay Designer for Battlefield 3 has politely asked the Internet to provide feedback on gun accessories. The DICE employee – going by Reddit username Demize99 – has made clear that there is no promise of an update regarding these alterations and is contacting the community merely on a fact-finding mission.

The tweaks Demize proposed in the Reddit thread focus completely on weapon attachments rather than the statistics of the guns themselves. In terms of usage of these current unlocks, the developer states that “the player is limited in choice due to a few accessories being the clear winners in almost all categories.” The DICE employee suggests that those extremely popular items require a reduction in power, while the under-utilized items need more incentive to be used.

The foregrip, for instance, tends to be a default choice for players as it generally reduces recoil, making it a “pure bonus upgrade and is a no brainer.” Demize instead suggests the attachment should be used for reducing horizontal recoil in close range, while making it difficult to make longer, aimed shots. Also, the bonus each gun should be granted from the foregrip should be on an individual basis, as opposed to a blanket adjustment.

I can definitely agree that the bipod is not a popular option for Assault Rifles, as Demize suggests. To bolster its popularity, a general effectiveness of recoil reduction is suggested, which would even the gun out for making really effective long-distance shots. Though a nice thought, the comments section shake their head at this idea right away. The problem with the bipod isn’t in the statistics, but rather that it’s context-sensitive deploying feature tends to occur at the least opportune times. As user HuevoSplash states, “The bipod doesn’t need a buff, it needs to be fixed.”

The suppressor is another commonly used bonus, for a myriad of reasons. It marginally reduces recoil, like the foregrip, and provides a huge bonus to aimed accuracy. All the while, it keeps you off the minimap when firing. As another go-to accessory, Demize hopes to pull the range down when using a suppressor and reduce the gun’s effectiveness in close-range combat. His hope is to not make the suppressor a useless accessory, but take away it’s position as the default choice.

For the Heavy Barrel, Demize wants to completely remove the recoil penalty entirely, which tends to make the aimed accuracy bonus a useless perk. To compensate, he suggests increasing the ultimate range given by the accessory, making it better for firing bullets at a longer range. The changes here would result in re-focusing the weapon on medium and longer range, essentially making it both a nerf and a buff at the same time.

Finally, the flash suppressor (which just about nobody uses) is supposed to reduce the visual of your muzzle flare, but tends to weaken too many other stats in the process. Demize proposes limiting these negatives with only a reduction to hip-fire accuracy, while actually boosting horizontal recoil at the same time.With this change, “the [flash suppressor] becomes a middle ground between the Suppressor and Heavy Barrel.”

I’m no expert, ultra-pro-player when it comes to Battlefield 3, but these changes sound pretty damn good. I do tend to sway towards the popular choices mentioned, like the foregrip and suppressor. Experiments in the less-used attachments have led to disappointment. Inspecting the equipment of those that kill me shows a similar pattern. It would be nice to really upgrade the variety of weapon choices with a more useful array of modifications. Let’s hope the information gained from this community discussion leads to some great updates in the future