Longer unlock tree for Battlefield 3

By Fred Dutton Published 1 September, 2011

DICE "miscalculated" with Bad Company 2.

Battlefield 3 boasts a longer unlock tree than Battlefield: Bad Company 2, developer DICE has revealed.

Executive producer Patrick Bach told Rock Paper Shotgun that the studio had underestimated how many unlocks to provide in BC2 and is keen to make amends with this year's release.

"I think the learning we've done is that if you make a good game, people spend a lot of time with it. If you make a great game, they will never leave," he explained.

"I think we maybe miscalculated with, for instance, Battlefield: Bad Company, with a year. It's been out for a year and a half, and we thought people would spend probably half a year playing it and then it would start to trend down. We're actually at the same number of people playing today as we had three months after shipping.

"So of course we miscalculated that, because we thought people would stop playing. And then people rank out and they unlock everything, and they start to feel fatigue for not getting more stuff."

Bach added that it's a difficult balancing act - make the unlock tree too short and players will feel short-changed, but make it too long and they'll lose interest.

"I think the challenge is to figure out how long people will play this game for, and then make sure you have enough stuff to unlock. It's not fun to have to play for ten years to unlock the last thing - that doesn't make the game better, it makes it seem that there's no point to continue. But then again, you still want that carrot dangling in front of you.

"For Battlefield 3, we known that people play even more than Battlefield Bad Company 2, so we're planning for even longer unlocks, a bigger unlock tree."

He went on to offer a little detail on how Battlefield 3's refined unlock system will work.

"So what we're doing, for instance, is deepening the game, but also broadening the game. Depending on your play style, you can actually unlock stuff based on a specific weapon or a specific class, rather than have everyone unlock everything."

Elsewhere in the interview, Bach also spoke up for planning long-term support and regular updates for a game, rather than churning out annual sequels. A thinly-veiled dig at Call of Duty perhaps?

"Maybe you don't have to build the new game, do you? If people like the old one, then keep fixing that one, update it and make it even better," he argued.

"I think sometimes it turns too mechanical when people release new games every year, and just focus on 'how can I sell another copy, another copy, another copy?'

"Of course companies need to make money to survive, but you can actually provide for the title you already have out on the market. You don't have to leave it, just because you've shipped it. You can go back to it and think 'can we add something to this, can we change something, what do people want'

"And then if you keep doing for a longer period of time, why start building something new? Of course you can always plan for the big next step, but if that's in two years, or three years, five years…"

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 8 months ago

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  • el_pollo_diablo #1 9 months ago

    This is good news, simple as that.

  • adofessex #2 9 months ago

    I kept playing well after unlocking everything because the gameplay was solid. That said, the more to unlock the more options for experimenting with kit setup so all good in my book.

  • C3LT #3 9 months ago

    If they would just release one new map every two months I'd be hooked forever. It's map fatigue for me, not unlock fatigue!

  • aidan1994 #4 9 months ago

    amazing news still play bad company 2 and ive unlocked everything since a month after launch

  • arcam #5 9 months ago

    He's got a point, but I see a problem - I suspect PC players are going to be playing this long after most of the console audience has waned - so which audience does he tailor his unlocks towards?

  • mattk84 #6 9 months ago

    Im currently rank 46 on BFBC2 and play nightly in an attempt to max out before BF3. More unlocks would be welcome for me also.

  • fletch7100 #7 9 months ago

    well they have got plenty of DLC planned so free map packs plus couple of expanison style packs(back to karkland) to keep the lifespan going

    Each main weapon has it own unlock system, so you have to unlock everything for each weapon individually.
    Edited by fletch7100 at 01/09/11 @ 17:22

  • Bravestinsane #8 9 months ago

    As long as the really late unlocks don't give those players a massive advantage over newer players its fine with me.

    I look forward to keep unlocking things always gives something different to try out rather than using the same gun all the time.

    21/60

  • bratmandu #9 9 months ago

    Maps maps maps maps maps, co-op maps, conquest maps, rush maps. Maps. MAAAAAAAAAAAPS!

  • Ducklord #10 9 months ago

    Can't decide on this one- yes, longer unlock tree means the sense of 'ooh new things' carries on, but on the other hand in BC2 it was quite frustrating when new players don't have the basic medic/ammo kits or engineer's drill.

  • nimzy #11 9 months ago

    Might be interesting to note the question that revealed this little detail was submitted by Notch of Minecraft fame. He wanted to know what they thought about long-term unlocks and rewards in their games.

  • Death-Jester #12 9 months ago

    "A thinly-veiled dig at Call of Duty perhaps?"

    And the award for shit-stirring goes to...

  • Golgo #13 9 months ago

    Good news. Hope the stats/unlock tracking is better than BFBC2 as well.

  • hiddenranbir #14 9 months ago

    They would think they'd get player drop off?

    Is this based on player drop off on earlier BF games?

  • kinky_mong #15 9 months ago

    As long as the most necessary equipment for each class is unlocked really quickly then it's fine. It's annoying in BC2 when brand new players don't have essentials like the motion mine or defibrillator.

  • metalangel #16 9 months ago

    If they hate CoD so much, why are they copying its custom loadout/unlocks system again?

  • CaptainQuint #17 9 months ago

    Honestly, as supporter of the pure multiplayer experience I find "unlock trees" a complete turn off; tinsel for the masses and wholly representative of everything that is wrong with gamers today.

    I miss the days when people played each other just for the camaraderie and laughs.

  • daninthemix2 #18 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 11:46:59 28-04-2012

  • Bibbo #19 9 months ago

    Most people blitzed the unlocks (myself included) very very fast after launch. Just sitting at 1115 hours now, and I'm still going strong, enjoying it every time. Just make sure for the players that can't be arsed to unlock in BF3, DO NOT put in "X class weapon unlocks" for £4.99 / MSP etc.

  • DwarfyP #20 9 months ago

    So everything will unlock by level 26 instead of level 25 like BFBC2 had?
    BFBC2 isn't a good game to measure an unlock tree against. BF2 had a longer unlock progression in place than BFBC2.

  • cheeky_BILLY #21 9 months ago

    @metalangel

    at least do your homework before saying random shit.

    also,I'd rather pay £10-£15 once a year for a BF3 map pack/expansion than £40 every year for COD, which lets be honest is nothing more than an expansion of the year before game.

  • Errol #22 9 months ago

    Unlocks are irrelevant. In BF2 I always used the stock weapons anyway. It's the gameplay that keeps people coming back. Sod the unlocks.

  • dagas #23 9 months ago

    BC2 already has a lot of unlocks. Going from BC1 to BC2 I was amazed at how big the increase was. It almost seemed like too many, I mean having to unlock med pack as a medic. So in BF3 you have to uinlock a weapon as you start out with your fists or what?

  • Ace-Reject #24 9 months ago

    I really enjoyed online i just wish i never traded the game in

  • ubergine #25 9 months ago

    I've got to admit, I love leveling and unlocking stuff, which is why the level cap in Fallout 3 was so sore. I was late to the party with BBC2 and haven't finished it yet, but I think a good approach for DICE could be (based on their "can't be too short, but can't be too long either";) to plan a quarterly update which will raise caps, add more unlocks and do any required or recommendable re-balancing. This could be independent of new paid content or actually factored into it like the updates for Burnout Paradise. For people unfamiliar with BP, Criterion/EA released 9 patches which altered and added to the game and gameworld as well as containing the DLC, which you could then pay to unlock. It was a smart approach because then, when online, you could see someone with say a new car you didn't have but the car is visible to you because it's in the free updates.
    I guess a similar thing with BBC2 was the "VIP" patch which contained the Vietnam content but you then had to pay to unlock that. Their approach with that was confusing however, when you first enter the "VIP" code it asked "Do you want to download Vietnam?" which makes you think you now have that content. I had to explain to my friends "No sorry, you have to pay more money now. Yes I was confused too..."

  • carlitoswagon #26 9 months ago

    Unlocks are nice and give you something to work at but BF is all about gameplay & winning, so most folks would probably keep playing it regardless.

  • danidrums #27 9 months ago

    @bratmandu: Cookie monster? lol

  • jayham82 #28 8 months ago

    I just love these fps period. My favorite part is the guns. I actually bought a M4 from here http://www.airsplat.com/airsoft-video-ga... its so cool and they have a bunch of different guns from the game.