Did Euro Forces fail?

[triumph]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

Bit, you have just flamed the guy. You didn't need to sink to his level. You can follow forum rules and still tell a person to ..........

Anyway I think that the booster add ons aren't so hot because they started knocking players off severs which could start screwing the population of a non euro dedicated server. I think a full blown X-pack would've been more helpfull since more content means more reason to stick to that pack for as long as one can if they enjoy the content and server rotation.

If i understand correctly the boosters don't add enough map content to allow for clan or leauge or tourney play to be heavily based upon these boosters. If a game doesn't submit to the hardcore/prof. players than that is pure failure in my eyes.

I've played the mods that give some the euro content and well i'd give 10-20 USD for three boosters in one. But not one booster after i got my copy of bf2 and SF for ultra cheap.

[bitvomit]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

I think it's important to realise who is playing which role in this debacle.

DICE Sweden formed the game concept and Codename Eagle through to BF2142.

DICE Canada made BFV and handle the patches and expansions.

EA were only the marketer and after sales support, until they bought DICE before BF2's release.

It's DICE Canada whose arse will be in a sling, they're the ones who in combination with Gamespy are responsible for all the 1.3 server crashes. It's DICE Canada who nerfed the BH, gave us Cartillery, claymore spammers and crippled the squad changes. IMHO DICE Canada have failed time and time again.

And now that we mention Gamespy I wonder how much a role they played in server instability before the 1.3 patch? The crash process is remarkably similar, only now it's more frequent it's been narrowed down to the Gamespy protocol changes.

I've been playing EA games since the mid 80's, there is no way that a failure of the Battlefield franchise could take them down. The worst that could happen is that they bin and flame DICE Canada, and possibly dissolve DICE Sweden. But then those developers would continue their ideas under some new company anyway.

I guarantee that 2142 will follow this course. Heavy online gameplay will reveal necessary tweaks and the first patch will be released. Then BF 2142 will also slide into a buggy pile of crap at the hands of DICE Canada. I have not, and will not be buying any addons for BF2 or BF2142 until BF2 is bug free.

I agree that DICE canada has released a consistent stream of failures. Thanks for bringing that up, I forgot all about DICE canada. Anything I said about lackluster products and patches should be concerning DICE canada then. Only question is why they have been alowed to bungle up so many things so consistently? Mind boggling really...

[firezip]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

I actually think AF looks pretty cool

[bitvomit]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

Bit, you have just flamed the guy. You didn't need to sink to his level. You can follow forum rules and still tell a person to ..........

Anyway I think that the booster add ons aren't so hot because they started knocking players off severs which could start screwing the population of a non euro dedicated server. I think a full blown X-pack would've been more helpfull since more content means more reason to stick to that pack for as long as one can if they enjoy the content and server rotation.

If i understand correctly the boosters don't add enough map content to allow for clan or leauge or tourney play to be heavily based upon these boosters. If a game doesn't submit to the hardcore/prof. players than that is pure failure in my eyes.

I've played the mods that give some the euro content and well i'd give 10-20 USD for three boosters in one. But not one booster after i got my copy of bf2 and SF for ultra cheap.

Yeah I returned the favor and left it there but I'm not gonna further the flamewar. That's what trolls want and that's what they won't get from me.

Anyway, I agree that a full blown expansion pack would have been a better option. I hope that the idea of "booster packs" becomes extinct when BF2142 hits. It was a good idea but it's obvious that DICE Canada cannot deliver the goods at $10 a pop. What they really should do is just get BF2 or BF2142 on Steam so we can get individual updates like Valve does; they raised the bar on this sorta thing ffs. DICE and Valve together, gamers all over the world will rejoice! Maybe...

I really don't care for clan or league play but I agree that a few maps isn't enough to pique the interest of the hardcore players. I don't know what the number of these players are but if CAL had ladders for any of the boosters then sales would definitly increase for DICE. DICE should consider going the Steam route or making alot more content available at once to attract the hardcore and casual gamers alike.

[triumph]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

I disagree with the CAL idea because the boosters don't have enough content. Three maps i think per booster? Maybe if three boosters were sold as a pack than the content would be there for something to happen so players could have a chance at a full season of cool stuff with no doubles or something.

[bitvomit]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

I disagree with the CAL idea because the boosters don't have enough content. Three maps i think per booster? Maybe if three boosters were sold as a pack than the content would be there for something to happen so players could have a chance at a full season of cool stuff with no doubles or something.

I was just speaking hypothetically. If there was a chance for teams to win prizes and whatnot then yeah, booster packs would be making more profits. But as it stands, no, booster packs will never earn profits from the hardcore players.

[John Edmo]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

I was fortunate enough to be shown BF2 behind locked doors with no photos alowed6 weeks prior to release and was astounded to be told that they had spent over 14million US dollars so far on developing the game. I didn't think I would like it and said so at the time. I was sent a free copy in Febuary and have not played anything since. I have since purchased SF and EF. Only problems have been since the new patch arrived and they seem to be few and far between. The blue red bug is a prick sometimes and chidish behavior by other players is the only complaint. Even though some people take things way too serious, it is only a game after all. I'm still hooked and still enjoing the gameplay.

[Ctay]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

From a strictly financial point of view, the BF franchise is the cash cow for DICE. Here is a little clip from their 2005 Financials:

"The strong revenues in 2005 are attributable to Digital Illusions' bestselling Battlefield 2 and its Special Forces expansion pack."

"Battlefield 2 for PCs was released at the end of June 2005. An amazing ,130,000
units were initially sold to retailers, thus making the release the most successful ever for Digital Illusions. The game has been extremely well-received by both consumers and games journalists. The product has obtained an average grade of 91 of 100 possible in the critics-site www.metacritic.com."

Bottom line is that DICE is doing fine. That is why EA wants to merge with them. Now the question of how the expansion packs fit into the profit margin isn't clear in the financials because the offical audited version is as of 12/31/2005 and Euro Forces had not been released at that time. However there is a little blurb in the financials stating that the company had seen great success in distributing titles via download only which tells me that Euro Forces must have done fine.

Just my two cents. Although I am a CPA by trade so all I do all day is look at financial data...

CTay

[Gav]

Re: Did Euro Forces fail?

If we are to try to decide whether EF failed or not, we need to decide what criteria it's being marked against. What was the point of EF? Was it to make money? Was it simply to extend the life of BF2 as a game? Was it a form of test-bed, to see if they could implement certain things (like the "cartillery" is sometimes thought of being a test-bed for BF2142)...?

To say that there are very few servers playing EF maps.... well, do EA really care about that? If it's a money-making exercise, they just want the sale - whether we play the game or not after we've bought it is pretty much irrelevant.

Personally, I don't think EA released it to get us all playing EF. I don't think they released it to be a massive dollar-earner either. I think they wanted something to keep BF2 kicking along until BF2142 was ready for release, and a couple of quick booster packs for a cheap download was their solution. They wanted to stop people getting bored. SF gave us infantry combat, EF and AF are more geared towards vehicle-whoring. The point is to be a change of pace from the same old BF2 maps all the time. They wanted to keep BF2 very much a "live" game rather than one dying out. Since BF2 is still here and still a hugely popular online game, I'd say they've succeeded.

Although I personally didn't get EF, and won't get AF either (but I do have SF and love it, because I like infantry-fighting).