'Brutal' Expectations and Removal of Rush - Battlefield 2042 Fans Complain

After Battlefield 2042's not-quite-successful debut, studio DICE has taken to tweaking the game, and the major updates released so far have been fairly well received by the players. Granted, they didn't fix all the problems, but they did help calm the moods a bit. Or rather, they would have, had it not been for other actions by the developers, including DICE's communications director talking about 'brutal' player expectations.

The man in question, Andy McNamara, recently posted a Tweet, in which he responded to internet users who criticized the lack of updates and communication from DICE during Christmas. He stressed that the developers also need to have time to rest, and that things that the fans expect 'take time.'

Source: Reddit.

Later on, the developer clarified that he apparently wasn't 'clear enough' in previous, now-deleted posts. Thety were remove after the gamers reacted quite violently (vide Reddit), taking McNamara's statement as a slap to the face. Fans were infuriated by McNamara's comment about the supposedly brutal expectations for Battlefield 2042, such as leaderboards, classes and voice communication. In other words, elements many of which were present in previous installments, as listed in one of the many threads posted on Reddit in response to McNamara's tweet.

Some players draw attention to the game's general lack of refinement, which even now is sometimes - rightly or wrongly - compared to early access games. And this despite, we quote after Reddit, 'constructive criticism' being available after the technical alpha tests in August, and later after the open beta tests. In this situation, players were hoping for at least a simple announcement in which DICE would acknowledge these issues.

Battlefield 2042 - No Rush

Unfortunately, the players have more than just a problem with vague messages from the devs. DICE has removed the popular Rush mode from official playlists of Battlefield Portal, despite the insistence of players not to do so. In theory, this comes as no surprise, as the developers had already announced a rotation of 'experiences' available in this Battlefield sandbox. The point is that the Rush has been an integral part of the series since the days of the first Bad Company and players have been demanding it remains permanently.

Of course, the Rush is still available on player servers. Only that DICE has blocked the accumulation of experience on them due to the practice of using them to farm.

For many internet users, this decision is further proof of how much DICE listens to fans (read: not at all, vide this Reddit thread). Some have stated with sarcasm that the request to leave Ruch in Battlefield Portal is an example of the 'brutal expectations' of players, mentioned by McNamara in the deleted tweets.

That being said, even the massive and much-fixing updates don't make the fans optimistic. Neither do rumors that Season 1 won't be released until March and the number of active players on Steam (and other platforms), as the PC edition of BF2042 often played by fewer people at the same time than BFV. If one wanted to describe such a sharp drop in popularity for a new installment of a bestselling series, released less than three months ago, the word 'catastrophe' stubbornly comes to mind. Especially since DICE tried to encourage players to check out the game as part of a free weekend.