AndrewHk2 explores the early BC2 competitive scene, talking to new and returning players

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 has finally reached store shelves around the globe - to the delight of many impatient Beta testers who couldn't bear the sight of another sniper on Port Valdez.

I wanted to use this article to talk about the competitive scene for Bad Company 2 in its most early stages - the Beta release, now and in the near future.

The release of any new Battlefield game is bound to get some attention in competition, and this one has got just that. While the game might not be everyone's cup of tea, it already has the excitement and atmosphere about the scene that has people playing constantly. Where there are this many players in such a team based game, there is fierce competition.

I suppose the question is: for how long? Battlefield 2 had a fairly long heyday, cut short in some opinions by the lack of support from EA at LAN. In essence, the competitive scene of any game is determined by the support it has at LAN, and whether or not it will feature at all. Most BF2 players @ i37 realised that was probably their last BF2 LAN, and accepted it as the end of an era.

People playing the game publicly, people with a general interest in esports across a wide variety of games, look up the the competitive players of today as being the best of the best, and dreaming of a shot of success like theirs. In such anticipation as there was before the release of the game, with Battlefield 2 on its last legs, people across the esports scene have been hoping for the chance to start out in a new game and make it to the top. I think it's certainly capable and, while BC2 differs vastly to COD4 and CS:S, it's still going to have its PhPs and D1ablos. I.e. the opportunity to go big, aim high and smash it up is certainly there with this game.

Let's turn our attention for a moment to the EA Masters BETA tournament:

64 team tournament
90+ applications
464 matches played
650+ players involved

Admittedly, EA were walking a slippery slope introducing a tournament with the game in a beta stage, especially with so many performance errors to clear up. Well, it seems they were confident in the game's ability to impress and the tournament came off a relative success with the former Dignitas German side, named, "Still Alive" coming off in the top spot without dropping a single game. I took some time to catch up with their captain, Raeken, about the tournament, the competitive game in its early stages and their recent move to Speedlink.

How did you all originally meet, what have you played together, and what made you want to get into BC2 as a team?

It all started years ago with the release of battlefield 1942. Gunnar and Rap2s liked and played the game a lot and met each other on public. So they decided to form a team and began to recruit players. First they were relatively unknown but rapidly began to improve their skills and tactics and after they had beaten heir first "pro" team named DKH with 500:0 they started to make a name for themselves. Show, Monstar, Kamikaze and Jarome joined. They continued heir winning streak and brought it to perfection with the release of Battlefield 2, where they were unbeaten until the finals of the second German esl pro series under the name of Dignitas. They lost against the team of Raeken and Grumbly called pod virtual gaming but after that could again win the third esl eps.

They also won a lot of national and international tournaments like the Clanbase Eurocup, the Dignitas corsair infantry cup or the wwcl finals in Battlefield 2. Raeken and Grumbly, which were mentioned before, joined them after the third EPS to support em for the upcoming Battlefield 2142 ESL amateur series and the following ESL pro series. They won both.

After a break of 2 years without Battlefield, Gunnar and Raeken now started to gather their old team-mates for the new title Bad Company 2. They enforced their new team still alive with some new players. Cly was joining upon the advice of jarome and shad and matt cause of their good performance at EA's Bad Company 2 beta cup. Now our team is ready and we hope that we can continue our good work in the forthcoming events for BC2.

What did you make of the EA Masters tournament? Which teams were your toughest opponents?

As I said we had a break of 2 years between the Battlefield 2142 pro series and the Bad Company 2 beta cup and there were a lot of very good teams formed out of old veterans from Battlefield 2. Especially the trains against team Solstice were very hard but as the tournament went forth we could strengthen our skills and team-play. At the end we won the tournament against Solstice and after that recruited two of their players (shad and matt).

What kind of potential do you see in the scene at this stage for high end competition? Does the game have what it takes to be successful competitively?

Well Bad Company 2 is a very great game with a much better movement and netcode than all Battlefield games before and everyone in our team is very optimistic and hoping that it will get very big and successful. But there are still a few things which are not ideal for competitive gameplay. We are missing an end-roundscore, were you can clearly see who has won the game. Another point is a fast-restart.

At the moment there's just a map reload and not everyone is loading the map in the same time. So some players are already able to spawn while others still loading the map. Another thing on the wishlist would be a match-recorder and at least a spectator mode or something like that, so that people can join and cast the match. Oh and pls add some switch to enable all the weapons for clan matches. There are many tactical options when you have all the weapons in a clan match. It would be very sad, when you have to play the matches with just the level 1 standard kit. Finally I think the game has a big potential but still needs some small additional features.

What made Speedlink an appealing organisation for you to join? Were you approached by other organisations to join as their team?

We were approached by a few teams but in fact we are very lan-active and were searching for a team with a good lan-support and team speedlink is willing to give it to us. The team is also very experienced and we had a good feeling when we talked with them about our plans and how they are willing to support us. Also choosing a team which stays behind such a well known and established company like Speedlink is always a good move.

How much practice have you had with the team at this stage?

First of all. We are always taking it very serious and doing our best to get stronger every week and do a lot of train to achieve this. Until now we had just a lot of training on Port Valdez in the rush mode for the EA beta cup and at the moment our players are geeking on public and trying stuff or enhancing their aim/skills. But we will start training for the ESL conquest cup in a few days and then doing a lot of tactical stuff and trying to find things to surprise our enemy. We surely hope that the conquest mode will be the choice for the competitive future of Bad Company 2. Rush is a nice thing for public but conquest should still be THE mode for the leagues.

AndrewHk2 explores the early BC2 competitive scene, talking to new and returning players

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

What struck me most in the build up to the full release and throughout the EA masters tournament, was the sheer diversity of players that came together. EA were, frankly, gifted by the failure of Modern Warfare 2 to produce the goods on PC and their developers immediately seized the opportunity to win over the hearts and minds of PC gamers.

I don't think the 1.6, CSS or COD4 scenes are so old that thousands are just dropping their main games for a shot at success in Bad Company 2, but most people sensed the need for a fresh game in the competitive scene to mix things up, and this is evident in the teams emerging at the moment.

Throughout beta rumours were springing up about various organisations picking up new and old teams alike - the release of a new Battlefield game has left people in some excitement as to whether it can return to its former glory days in competition. Dignitas, Reason, Fnatic, Epsilon, Imperial and H2k are a few names that have already sprung up.

I took some time to catch up with some of the captains of the aforementioned teams to get their thoughts and opinions on the retail game and the early stages of competition:

Bentzon (Sondac), Pillownation:

First of all, can you give us a quick background of your team, and how you met?

Senji, huggo, utr, anderson, and me played etqw together at some point in Dignitas and Mamut.si. Drago comes from E and recently played for the Dignitas ET team. Woomzy used to play cod4 for Ravens and is a friend of huggo and utr. Iskold is also a friend of huggo and utr.

What are your expectations of the game competitively? How has your experience been so far?

The overall conquest game play seems very good and the vehicle balance is quite good. So far we are pretty pleased with the core of game. But the game need rules on unlocks or server settings for it not to mention all the basic settings missing in the game. We really hope EA/Dice will listen to the competitive communities and release a patch with the basic server settings and commands needed.

What do you hope to achieve, and have you put much practice into the game already?

We hope to become one of the top teams of this game. We have been playing matches everyday since release but we still got 3 players just picking up the game a few days ago.

There have already been rumours you guys will be the newest BC2 Dignitas team - is there any truth to it?

As most of us played for Dignitas at some point and the most recent Dignitas BF team joining Speedlink we might end up in Dignitas once again :)

Campez, H2k-Gaming:

You guys have been together for some time now, right? What's the story of your get-together?

This is going to be a long trip down memory lane. It all started in the team Loosers.inC, or well the first time I met Chokie I was drunk and spilled a whole glass of beer out on him and his keyboard at a LAN event, but that is a different story. Later on Mysse joined our team as well and a week later we changed to the organization Copenhagen eSport. As time passed by, our lineup decreased and we were only 5-6 guys left, which still enjoyed playing the game.
After having been in a number of organizations, we got a deal with a Danish company called Boomtown and had our home there for quite some time until we decided to leave it due to bad communication etc. After a few weeks we were contacted by a guy from H2k-Gaming who told us they might be interested in getting a Battlefield team and it did not take us long to decide what to do. Even though a lot of details are missing that is more or less how it went, and with time we got to know each other really well.

Have you guys had much of an opportunity to practice together yet?

We have played the BETA quite a lot, however, we have had a lot of PC problems as it seems we are not quite up to date with what BC2 demands of our computers, so most of us had to do a some upgrades. So no, we have not really got around to play with the entire team together in a match yet, so far we have only played a few 4on4's and 5on5's infantry for the fun of it. From playing the maps it seems like it will be possible to do hundreds of different tactics and the destruction possibilities only help increase the number of possible strategies, a thing which I think is really nice. But I am sure that as soon as we are all ready to go we will get to play a lot together.

In these early stages, have their been any teams that have caught your eye?

I cannot really answer this question as we have only played against one team most of the time, but looking at the EA Masters cup it seems like the old Team Dignitas guys are doing well in this game, but there are also a few new comers who surprised me. I guess the experienced some of the old guys from the battlefield franchise have, will benefit from it the first couple of months, however skilled people with quick learning abilities should be able to cause some havoc later on.

You have 3 new additions to your lineup - tell us a little about them.

We have all known sdN for a very long time and have played with him countless times and we know that he is a very aggressive players who is sometimes capable of doing stuff which can turn a situation around. Toppi is more or less the same as sdN, I guess you can say they are both the mad fragging types. Fluvis is a very experienced player from the battlefield community, together with his aim I believe he will benefit our team in many ways.

AndrewHk2 explores the early BC2 competitive scene, talking to new and returning players

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

NeMs, Imperial Esports:

Can you give us a background of Imperial Esports team, and how you guys met?

Well the actual team is composed of Cobra, LeBreizh, EkP, DrDjo, Unre, LaTiNo, LeF, NeMs, Cypher, we are all french except Unre who is from Belgium. We have already played together on Battlefield 2 during some nation cups (4 for my part), except EkP who comes from Crysis. Some of us played for some good teams like Yoyotech, TCM, Epsilon, Next Century, and Imperial :D

What are your experiences from the competitive scene so far?

We have played some decent teams like VGA, Epsilon, BFzone... but just with only few pcw it looks like the teamplay will be more important than skill (in 8on8 conquest at least) like on all Battlefield. Concerning the EA Masters cup, we didn't have time to play the matches (we are off the week ends :D)

Do you think the competitive scene will be a success?

I can't really say since there is no rules at the moment, the community need to work together to create and adapt the rules.The number of teams who played the EA Masters beta cup was a good start I think, I heard there was a LAN in Russia this week end and there will be one in France as well in 4 weeks, well let's see how the ESL opening cup will look like.

How much work have you guys put into strat and practice already?

We have played some pcws on the beta and it's bad in my opinion, we will start practising soon on the final version.

So, some influential names and organisations seem to be cropping up in the early stages - but will it last?

I don't think we should expect anything too drastic in terms of competitive popularity, at least not in these early stages when the game still has some things that need ironing out. The lack of spectator/shoutcaster mode, and the announcement that there would be no specific LAN support options in the game, might hinder its success on the big stage at first, but I don't think it'll last. Dice have a reputation for slow updates post-release, but they will eventually come. There's already been some speculation that they'll release these features in a later patch.

These things said, we are faced with a new title which manages to encompass some of the unique aspects of other Battlefield games - accessories to teamwork (revives, ammo, squad spawning), conquest mode with ticket drain and open flag capture for plenty of tactical potential. For these reasons, I think it will have a solid platform on which to build a dedicated competitive community.

For many interested in the competitive side of the game, the prospect of mods is possibly the most exciting thing on the horizon. While no specific mod support has been promised by DICE, players have already begun to reverse code the game into the possibility of something close to a mod. Talk of the "Frosbite Editor", a tool used by DICE in creating the game, is probably one of the biggest talking points - it has everything necessary for the modders out there, the nly question is whether DICE will release the tool for users. So far, the only feedback we've had from them is that the tool is too difficult for users to use.

1.6, CS:S, COD4 and BF2 have some form of spectator mode, as well as the ability to record demos. While they are reasonably old games, and have been refined over time with multiple patches, they have a streamlined feel to them that we can sometimes take for granted: limited weapons and "perks"; a fully functional scoreboard; a clear round-by-round score; the possibility for big games to be streamed live by shoutcasters.

Take COD4, for example. Originally, you may have started with a great game in essence - great hit reg, S&D is a good tactical game mode and it's a fantastic team game. However, I don't think anyone can argue it would've taken off in the same way it did if you weren't limited in competition by mods like ProModLive, giving you a selection of the most favourable weapons for competition and removing all of the unnecessary perks.

Having said these things, it's apparent after playing Bad Company 2 for some hours that body shots are a fairly laboured way of downing someone. It only follows that the player needs to focus more on the headshot for the quick kills, injecting a higher sense of skill to this brand new game. Whether this was intended by DICE, one can only guess.

Shoutcasting is probably one of the most important aspects of esports, allowing fans and peers of the game to watch high profile matches as the game grows or shrinks in popularity. When shoutcasting for a particular game begins to tail off, you know that the general interest in the game is falling and the end of its healthy competitive days are on the way out. Shoutcasters lend the competitive scene something special - an excited passion for the games and players which helps to spur on the players themselves as well as aspiring teams.

I managed to get a word with Start "TosspoT" Saw (QuadV shoutcaster) on the release of the game who also gave me some juicy info on an upcoming tournament:

Have you been able to play the game yet or followed it much recently?

No, but I am about to run a tournament for it in April. It'll be an online tournament, 4vs4 rush, with a £400 prize purse.

Having seen the coming and going of many competitive games as a shoutcaster, how do you think this one will fare?

My thoughts in general (having not played the game) is that for success and for ease of LAN, it should not be larger than 5vs5. Having had ET moved from 6vs6 to 5on5 just for LANs, it's 1000x easier. Traditional BF 8vs8 is a pain in the ass as you need twice as many computer.

Having shoutcasted for other Battlefield titles, do you think you'll be doing the same for this game at some point?

QuadV will certainly be interested in it, though I've done it a handful of times we have Deman in our ranks who is Mr. Battlefield when it comes to casting.

Does it surprise you to see a real mixture of names implicated in new teams in the scene from COD4 and Enemy Territory?

No this normally happens when a new good game comes out, look at CoD4 - at one point there were BF & ET players playing that too.
It will be more interesting if they stick around for more than 6 months though.

Finally, looking to the future, it's worth mentioning the Electronic Sports League opening cups for the game, in both a 4on4 squad rush and 8on8 conquest mode (more information can be found here: http://www.esl.eu/eu/bfbc2/news/117202/). ESL have been instrumental in the success and progression of competitive gaming for some years now, and it's great to see them setting the bar for BC2 already. While I personally don't feel, as many others don't, that the game is ready for this kind of competition yet, the positive side is that we can use these tournaments to pinpoint what needs to be adjusted.

Dennis "Sumera" Winkel, ESL Master League Admin for Europe had this to say concerning the tournaments:

With these opening cups we want to explore the possibilities this amazing game has to offer to the competitive scene, as well as to get feedback from the community during the opening cup, with which we can establish a good ruleset for the future leagues and competitions held by our motivated admin team. We are excited to see the large amount of signups so far and we can guarantee that every team that signs up can participate in the cup. We are especially looking forward to a great cup, with lots of feedback from the participants to make sure this is a good start of a great platform for competitive BFBC2 gaming in the future. We're also exciting to see that the DICE team of employees who worked on the game have signed up to both cups, which will hopefully give them some great exposure to the competitive side of the game in regards to what needs fixing.

In summary, BC2 still needs to nail some things we need and expect from a successful competitive game, otherwise it just isn't going to feel right. Things like an operational scoreboard in the post-round stats, a demo recording function and shoutcasting mode. Without these things, a game with great flair and competitive potential, big enough to rival any of the previous Battlefield games, will be thrown to the gutter.