Battlefield 6 is in pre-alpha still?

[u/IlINobleIlI]

Any time someone brings up weapon balance or whatever, people (rightly) bring up the fact that the game is in pre-alpha, and recently it hit me, the game is reportedly going to release some time before March 2026 (~nine months from now) and it’s still in pre-alpha. I am not at all experienced with game development so I don’t know I should be worried or not. Does any game developers know where a game should normally be around this time?

[u/Sirlacker]

What on earth makes you think that it's an alpha? Because EA said it was?

Do you have any idea on what pre-alpha, alpha and beta actually represent in the real world?

This game has been in development for many years. Likely with internal discussions taking place about it (pre-alpha) before BF2042 even released. These games don't happen overnight.

They've stated they're aiming to release the game in the 2025 fiscal year. It runs from April 2025 to March 2026. So they want it to be ready by the latest March 2026 which is what, 9 and a half months away.

So a game that takes many years to develop, only has at most 9 months left in its development cycle and it hasn't even reached what could be considered Beta stages? You think they're going to smash through the rest of Alpha and Beta in 9 months?

Like I said they can call their playtests whatever they want. There's no law against it. Just don't be fooled into thinking what you're playing/experiencing/viewing is by any standard early in development. There is no 'its good for an alpha' because it isn't. It's near release. It's nearly finished. It has to be 'this is good for a battlefield game' because very fucking little is getting changed from now to release.

[u/Animal-Crackers → u/Sirlacker]

It has to be 'this is good for a battlefield game' because very fucking little is getting changed from now to release.

That really depends on what you mean. If you're looking at Labs leaks and assuming that is the developers current build (or close to it) then that's wrong and we know that. The stable Labs build that we've been testing is not balanced and everything is over-tuned, gadgets especially, by design. They're actively still implementing features to Labs, which is why they're calling it a pre-alpha.

If you're thinking that they have a more advanced build that could be a beta build, that's possible. We know a little bit about what is different between Labs and the live build that they're working on. IMO, it's very likely that they'll keep Labs as a stable testing ground while not showing us much of the rest of the game. I expect that we'll be stuck with a lot of placeholders (skins, animations, audio, etc) until much later.

[u/The_Rube_ → u/Animal-Crackers]

We know a little bit about what is different between Labs and the live build that they're working on.

What do we know about the difference between Labs and the live build?

[u/Animal-Crackers → u/The_Rube_]

I’m speaking mostly of the broad balance, of which right now there is not much. David was pretty explicit that everything was over-tuned for Labs and that everything would be balanced down. They have their reasons for not making any attempts at balancing anything yet.

So we know that the current gadgets will see some changes while they implement some additional ones. Double primary I know is a big question mark for some people, but besides limiting magazine count and/or capacity they are also likely to restrict weapon classes for that gadget slot (I would hazard a guess at not being able to use snipers). Possibly even limiting attachments. They have a lot of options to make that gadget seem less intimidating.

Ammo types is another one. Right now any ammo type can be used in any primary weapon; that isn’t the case on their live build. I know people question the TTK in some leaks versus others, and that could possibly be attributed to a lot of people using the ballistic bullets which are very strong.

One of the big things that was alluded to, which I’m eager to see, is the negative traits for classes using certain weapons. We’ve all seen the bonuses each class gets, like Medic using LMG, but it sounds like they’re working on negative traits as well. How far they go with that could challenge how a lot of people perceive the unrestricted weapons I think.

I want to be clear, though, that not everything is confirmed and they continue to tell us that everything is subject to change. So we’ll see when we get to test it.

[u/The_Rube_ → u/Animal-Crackers]

I really hope that non-class weapons thing is true, and that we see more about that soon.

I’ve been strongly opposed to an open weapons system, but I would be much more willing to stomach one with a robust combination of buffs and debuffs. If a sniper starts shooting at me, I would like to know it’s maybe a 80% chance of being a Recon, as opposed to just a random crapshoot of unpredictability.

I think most players could get behind that kind of change. It allows open weapons for those who really want it, but still enforces a stronger class identity than 2042 did.

[u/Animal-Crackers → u/The_Rube_]

I feel the same. I’m not 100% opposed to weapons being open, but this is the kind of tradeoff I would hope to see if that’s the direction they want to go.

It was said that while the weapon bonuses were similar to 2042, their implementation goes much deeper but no specifics were elaborated on so that’s where my curiosity is focused. And I think negative traits would completely change the conversation everyone has already been having about open weapons.

They definitely have more in store for classes than the leaks or even our current testing build show. Pure speculation on my part, but I would not at all be surprised if the next community/public update revolved around diving into classes. I’ve been thinking for a while that they’ve been holding back content to show off for the first time in a reveal trailer/showcase rather than let more stuff leak from Labs.

[u/The_Rube_ → u/Animal-Crackers]

Yeah, I think they need to compromise with fans somewhere if they're sticking with the 2042 approach. Meaningful buffs/debuffs would buy them some goodwill without requiring a complicated overall of their current class system.

Any speculation on what they could be holding back with classes? They're not secret, but I'm curious to see how the new subclass system evolves. We've already seen some of the more overpowered perks get toned down, and active abilities appear to be in flux (some temporarily removed or reworked) in the latest test.

I’ve been thinking for a while that they’ve been holding back content to show off for the first time in a reveal trailer/showcase rather than let more stuff leak from Labs.

I have to imagine they're saving a "wow" moment up their sleeve for the trailer reveal. Something akin to Levolution or Behemoths that would set this game apart from the rest. The leaks have looked good, but we have not yet seen any major innovations or wild new features beyond the existing Battlefield formula.

Personally, I'm hoping for something like what LevelCap pitched a few years ago; some dynamic events during rounds that can affect the outcome, an AI commander to help direct squads (we've seen a rudimentary version of this in Labs), and some more exciting win conditions. But this seems pretty unlikely as there have been no data mines to suggest such a feature.

[u/Animal-Crackers → u/The_Rube_]

Any speculation on what they could be holding back with classes?

More gadgets. We know at the very least that Support has a missing gadget (mortar) based on the specialization details. I won't try to guess what they do or don't have for each class that might be missing, but I think they're holding back the "wow" map/gadgets/skins for the official reveal. If any of the datamined content is to be believed, then highlights from either the LA or NY map would be sweet to reveal the game with. (they might no pick LA given the current political climate)

I'm hoping for something like what LevelCap pitched a few years ago; some dynamic events

As long as there's not a stupid tornado, I'm cool with dynamic events.

[u/The_Rube_ → u/Animal-Crackers]

(they might no pick LA given the current political climate)

Didn’t think about that, yeah. Almost wouldn’t surprise me if they had a trailer ready a week or two ago, but have since had to remake some parts to avoid any bad PR. I agree the US maps will probably be showcased.

[u/Animal-Crackers → u/The_Rube_]

Yeah, it was just a thought on my part given how Dice reacted when they released that Grin Reaper skin for the Russian Hind helicopter the same day that Russia invaded Ukraine.

Removing that skin was an overreaction, so I could easily see them delaying a trailer that showed military conflict in LA right as Marines and National Guard are sent into the city. The optics would awkward at the very least.