Battlefield 3 Wish List

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was the high water mark for the DICE's long-running franchise on consoles, winning praise from fans and critics alike. The squad-based shooter carved a definitive niche into the multiplayer landscape with its excellent Rush mode, vehicular combat, and ranking system. Though many of us spent hours or even days at battle in impressive maps like Arica Harbor and Laguna Presa, there is always room for improvement. Here's what we'd like to see from the long-awaited Battlefield 3.

Give Us More Map Variety
DICE found success streamlining the maps in the two Bad Company games, but many veterans still long for the wide-open, 64-player firefights introduced in Battlefield 2. This isn't an either/or proposition – why not include both? That way you preserve the urban gauntlets from Bad Company 2 and also cater to the players pining for larger-scale vehicle skirmishes and battles featuring more than 24 players. Both MAG and Frontlines: Fuel of War proved big battles are possible on consoles if you scale back the visuals. We'd love to see DICE give its talented engineers a shot to up the ante with high fidelity graphics and destructible environments. Throw in a few jets for good measure and we'll be good to go.

Capitalize On Classic Maps
Battlefield 1943 came out of nowhere to win over gamers with a low-cost shooter that captured the glory of the series' past. Capitalizing on the nostalgia of jumping back into the World War II jeep and cruising through Wake Island proved to be a smart move, as the game became the fastest selling XBLA arcade game in history. As I played the game longer, more fond Battlefield memories rushed back to me. The epic sieges at the television tower in Sharqi Peninsula, sneaking into the backdoor entrance of the base atop Monte Cassino, breaking a stalemate on the streets in Strike at Karkand – I would love to play all of these again with an HD makeover. Rainbow Six does it, Call of Duty does it, and hell, Counter-Strike still uses many of the same maps from 1999. What are you waiting for, DICE?

Keep The Maps Coming
Upon its release in March, Bad Company 2 shot up the Xbox Live charts and remained a destination game for months, but as time passed all EA did to support the game was release old maps repurposed for new modes and trot out the fun but ultimately forgettable Onslaught mode. The fan base balked at the lack of new content, and the game fell precipitously from its lofty perch amongst the Call of Duty and Halo titles. If DICE wants to keep players around this time, we need more frequent map packs and new weapons.

Curb The Squad Spawning
We've all been there: You hear the distress signal and blow through a closed door to the crate you're defending. The assaulting soldier is predictably crouched in the corner of the room waiting for your arrival, and you quickly lob a few volleys his direction and return to cover to reload. The next time you peer around the corner, you're greeted with four enemies, not the one that was there earlier. Squad spawning is incredibly useful when advancing to the frontlines on large maps, but there are areas in the map where it should be blocked to preserve the integrity of the match. DICE should make the hotzones off limits and instead spawn the reinforcements just outside the area of contention.

Alter The Unlockable Progression Curve
DICE wrote the book on rank progression and weapon unlocks in Battlefield 2, but in Bad Company 2 players could unlock everything before they got halfway through all the rankings. This made the slog to level 50 boring and tedious. Next go around, DICE needs to keep the carrot in front of the gamer with even more weapons, scopes, specializations, and apparel choices. The more toys we have to unlock, the more likely we are to stick around.

Offer Customizable Characters
We're sick of every assault soldier, medic, engineer, or recon sniper looking the exact same. Why not let people customize the look of their avatar to reflect their personalities? We can already choose our guns, scopes, and specializations. Now it's time to let players stand out from the crowd with different camouflage, faces, tattoos, helmets, and uniforms.

Create Better Matchmaking
It's nice being able to squad up with three other people before you search for a match, but many hardcore Battlefield players form groups much larger than four people. I can't tell you how many hours my Xbox Live party wasted during the trial and error process of getting our entire team on the same side of the battle. The hassle is enough to make large groups return to the comfort of Modern Warfare 2 or Halo: Reach. Allowing players to team up with more than one squad before jumping into combat would curb the annoyances and cut down amount of times squads groups enter a hotly contested match only to exit after a few minutes to find a server that can accommodate its other party members.

Improve Stat Tracking
The official Battlefield website tracks all your stats, but doesn't present them in an effective way. Given the slow performance and unintuitive interface, many of us forgo it in favor of second-party stat-trackers like Battlefield Stats. The official revamp should include the ability to compare stats with other players, heatmaps that indicate where most of your kills and deaths happen in each map, squad stats, clan stats, and accurate information on how much progress you've made toward receiving each insignia, pin, and weapons medal.

Provide Clan Support
The best way to foster a dedicated following is to give them the tools to create a structured community. Battlefield is ripe for extensive clan support, and we're talking going beyond letting people add a clan tag and set up private matches. DICE should take some cues from NHL 11's robust EASHL and feature monthly tournaments, clan achievements, practice arenas, leaderboards, and a separate leadership tree progression system that allows you to level up within a clan.

Include A Battlefield Theater Mode
Both Halo and Call of Duty: Black Ops give players the ability to record their combat exploits and share them with the world, but neither game has as many water cooler moments as Battlefield. Whether it's dodging a missile with a helicopter by turing so the warhead flies through the cabin doors, sniping a chopper pilot out of the air from a mile away, or driving a C4 charged ATV into a base, jumping off, and detonating it to take out a mass of defenders, the game is filled with amazing happenings. It's time for DICE to let us capture all those Holy Crap! moments and share them with the world.

Give Players Control Of The Endgame
It's great to experience the thrill of victory when you repel an attack or successfully breach the enemy defense. Bad Company 2 celebrated your triumph with a cutscene showing tanks rolling in or jets carpet bombing the area. Why not give the highest scoring defender or attacker the opportunity to call in the final strike him or herself? It's a suitable reward for a job well done.

Those are our most requested features. What are yours?