Opinion: You're playing Battlefield 4 wrong, and so is DICE

I historically spend about 90 percent of my time in Conquest mode when I play a Battlefield game, but Commander mode in Battlefield 4 has me approaching 100 percent. Nothing beats the satisfaction of jumping into a Conquest match as a Commander when the game is halfway over and my team is losing badly, and then watching my team pull out a decisive victory once I start feeding them intel and issuing attack and defend orders.

[LinkageAX]

Biggest pile of pretentious trash that I have ever read in my life. People actually read Polygon regularly?

[ArchangelMike]

lol as if anyone ever listens to the commander anyway.

[WolfLeBlack]

Shame, really, the Commander mode is a cool feature. And on the few times I played in that listened to their Commander it gave them a bit edge over the opposition :D

[mgeezy313]

Rarely, at best. This article and the writer make me absolutely sick. Stop bitching about the games unless you can do it better, jerk.

[DeadRabbits]

The Author seems to have a Napoleon complex

"Nothing beats the satisfaction of jumping into a Conquest match as a Commander when the game is halfway over and my team is losing badly, and then watching my team pull out a decisive victory once I start feeding them intel and issuing attack and defend orders"

[curtis92]

I thought Polygon got banned from N4G? Why aren't they?

[nades_all_night]

Pretentious?! Possibly. True?! ABSOLUTELY! Yeah, its Polygon, but this Opinion piece is one of the truest and non-console biased written articles i've ever read on Polygon. Some people like to play the game their way, even if its at the expense of other players, but that isn't necessarily what this entire article is about.

I'd hate for BF4 to get a pass, just because Polygon was involved.

[game_infected]

This Guy take it too seriously . Its just a game not real war . Every match has campers troller noobs and c4-bitches!

[SolidDuck]

Ya commander mode is kinda fun. Not the best way to play tho. And no, no one actually likes polygon. There articles are trash, there reviews are even worse. I didn't click, I refuse to give them hits, I can't wait till they go away perminatly.

[sprinterboy]

I hate it when a jeep drives past you and doesn't stop. 80% of bf4 gamers play it like cod imo, it's nice when you get a good selection of gamers who revive and give out ammo etc. Great game though especially when you have a good tank driver and go all map without dying

[venom06]

stupid title is stupid... and Polygon is OFFICIALLY the joke of the game review world.. please GTFO with you whiny a$% article about much of nothing...

[Guwapo77]

I can tell you Dice coded the game wrong. Last night I was using a sniper with 40x zoom about 50m away an couldn't hit the guy. Some how the guy was glitching... The split second I'd shoot he would take a knee and stand right back up like I never shot at him. I shot 5 times and missed all 5 and someone else came up and killed me. Talk about pissed off...man. I almost coasterized that got dayum disk.

[bligmerk]

Polygon sounds like crap all the way around. The author is making a big deal about a specific example but it does describe the way Battlefield is played generally, like a run-n-gun FPS, which is the only way to play Call of Duty. Battlefield works better by working in teams. Right now, there is a wave of new Battlefield players, so it will take awhile for team squad gameplay to firm up.

[pandehz]

Not to sound like a supporter of Polygon or that I have anything against them either but I think most of the people commenting HAVEN'T READ THE ARTICLE.

Anyways the Author is partly right in saying why ppl are playing it wrong and I do agree. I am a long time veteran of BF games and let me tell you commander is pretty much the only one who aids the entire team to turn the tide of battle.

Most ppl on ground have very little clue besides a few visual indicators as to whats going on in the battle. When two good teams with good commanders face off the match is pretty epic.

I don't think most ppl know that because most good Platoons wont advertise their servers to general public and I wont either. If you're lucky and actually get into a decent server and maybe help pay server subs like I always do(my slot is booked pre release lol) then you might get a glimpse of actual competitive team vs team with good commander oriented action.

Btw I dont think the author is saying literally everyone is playing it wrong but most dont realise there are so many aspects to the game that are untouched or dont have the insight into trying coz they think its too much of an effort. Once you have a decent friend list of like minded players, round em up and organise and believe me you will practically destroy the opposing team unless they are good too which then makes it a good match to play.

Most newbies are still getting a feel for the maps and when they die a lot they turn sniper and camp. Well luckily they never played on a good server, campers are not much of a problem. Not boasting but I kill snipers with my pistol from a long range lol. Just an example, good teams dotn even let campers exist.

[Darrius Cole]

I'm just picking the game up because my cousin swears by Battlefield since Bad Company 2. I'm one the newbies you are talking about that is still learning the maps and getting the hang of things.

How exactly do you "round 'em up and organize"? Do you literally draw up a plan and hand-out assignments? Do you create a party and talk for 30 minutes before you fight? Do you need a website? What exactly do you do?

It is hard to find a good team or even a good squad. Most people don't communicate enough to even try to perform an organized action. I wouldn't care if it didn't work; simply trying to execute a plan, even a bad, would be a step in the right direction. I suspect that even a bad team with bad players would kick the crap out of quick-match assembled individuals who no organization whatsoever.

[pandehz]

Make friends.

Create/join a platoon or play with common people/same servers

Voice chat is a MUST

Things will flow smoothly once you have the above 3.

Regarding plans and such there are no filmy/cinematic/out of this world plans to beat the enemy. I know the trailers make it look awe inspiring.

But in reality once you and your squad or even team know the map, can aim straight, have voice chat and listen and communicate right. Boom its a rape fest. There were so many times we took bases , sent in two from two different squads to wait at c while we played around with A and B and then eventually spawned on our mates waiting on C and then rode down the the other bases. There some simple ways really.

Squads should makes sure they are perked up correctly and try not to repeat perks.

Teams should be properply spread out and the right classes should be played for the right maps. Each class should know what it can do alone and what it can do for the team. For example many snipers forget to plant beacons. If you are facing a squad wipe, the last man standing should find cover. When your squadmates respawn depending on the position and situation always try and flank the enemy. Dont revive in direct fire only once you got support in.

So yea there is no hard and fast way, it just requires some observation. Just remember to strafe, get into grips with your controls. Try not to sprint all the time. try to walk back few steps(stay on the edge of you controls in a way that you can always quickly walk back to change the view or prone or strafe)

Few things from the top of my head

Very simply, just observe and be happy to die at first then slowly be happy you don't die as much and then eventually you wont die every 20 kills and then you'll know what to do. Observation and patience. But yea deifintely dont repeat the same misatakes twice. Many ppl I know die in the exact same spots every day and do that for a whole year in the same fricking way lol.

[pandehz]

I know the communication issue. Like I remember typing in chat in BF3. 'Get into the corridors' or 'Rush the room's' and ppl of course wont give a damn.

You need to slowly find a few ppl who you will squad with all the time and your squad along with a friendly squad can very much make a huge difference.

I remember the Metro map where another sqad would suppress fire while we would rush the rooms. One of us stayed back so others could respawn. Seeing us other squads also got in on the action and boom within a few minutes we had point B. So yea its mostly being patient at first unfortunately and then picking up the gameplay in depth as you go along.

In my case, I slowly shifted away from my old servers and stuck with two particular servers and thats where I spent a good 6 months. Basically once I knew I was sort of decent I was able to see which server players were decent, or which teams are doing quite ok and such. You'll know eventually.

One thing you'll notice quickly is when you try your best to stay with your squads you might end up with two distinct kinds. Pretty obvious tho

1. A bad squad: basically everyone will go their own way and at some point will realise ''oh wait we are a squad, now what do we do?'' isnt it just shoot shoot? Here you will have the worst time if you're not a damn fine shooter.

2.A good squad: right away they will switch classes to adapt to squads requirements. Sort out perks asap and will stick together, support, revive, etc etc in sync. You'll just know it when u are lucky enough to be in a decent squad. The last member will hide to make sure you can respawn. A good squad can literally hold a large part of a point if not the entire thing.

As soon as you find a decent squad or one or two players who play well with you add them on Origin or whatever it is on console (sorry I never played it on a console yet)

One last thing. In the end you will definitely notice a routine in every map. Figure out the routine and go with it and break it up from time to time.