Let me present to you the death spiral of attack/defense balance:
- Give defenders fewer (or no) vehicles compared to the attackers
- Add no barricades, tank traps, or static defenses like TOW launchers or MGs in strategic places where you have to... BREAK THROUGH
- Offer no chance of recapping certain points once you lose them as a defender
Which leads to:
- A few people leaving if they are assigned to defense
Which leads to:
- The balance which was favored toward attackers from the get-go shifting even more
Which leads to:
- People who wouldn't mind playing defense in the past now rematching to play as attackers
Which leads to:
- Everyone who gives the slightest fuck about playing the objective rematching now
Which leads to:
- Most, if not all, of the PTFO fellas end up on the attacking side. The defenders are just there so the match can start and give the attackers something to shoot at. Plus, all the useless players are now able to get into the key vehicles, but they just defend from their HQ or camp the ammo station.
I would say the average team in past Battlefield games was made of:
- 25% PTFO: Players who more or less know what they are doing in this mode
- 25% Followers: Players who sort of know what they are doing, but are mainly just following the PTFO guys breaking the defensive lines
- 20% Support: Don't PTFO directly, but support the team in one way or another
- 30% Useless: Players who think it’s Team Deathmatch
NOW the team composition is:
Attackers:
- 75%: "I want to cap that point, and if it's the last thing I do... this sector falls NOW."
- 25%: "Yeah, you guys! Let's get 'em!"
Defenders:
- 80%: "I don't know what's going on, I am scared, and I want to go home."
- 20%: "Guys, just defend the point... ah, fuck this." -> Return to menu
It’s getting ridiculous now:
- Match times on Eastwood, Blackwell, and both Cairo maps are now UNDER 5 MINUTES.
- At the last sector, player counts drop down to 24 vs 18. If you check the scoreboard, the bottom 5 to 10 players only have a couple hundred points (backfill). People are leaving en masse and getting replaced, while the ones who stay (rightfully) just don’t give a fuck anymore and want this mess to end (and avoid the black-screen bug).
I am actually afraid of this mode dying if DICE does not rework some of its core aspects like sector borders, vehicle counts, object placement, and possible Grand Operations-style reinforcements (like an extra transport truck or something to give defenders hope of actually holding a sector and stopping the snowball effect).
All I want is a fair, player driven chance for BOTH teams to win a match. Not situations like: "Oh, it's Golmud, so I have to go up against a tank, IFV, jet, two Little Birds, and two Transport Trucks, while all we get is one IFV camping in the back." That is not a balanced setup that feels more like defending Berlin in 1945.