How to be the Best Battlefield Player

I just finished up a good commentary by MattTheMusketeer. He was asking, “what makes a great battlefield player?” And he talked a little bit about stats, and whether they were important – and if they were, which ones signified that a player was a great Battlefield player? The 2 biggest indicators of skill that many people focus on is K/D (Kill vs Death Ratio), or SPM (Score per Minute). I thought it was a good question and subject, and I thought K/D and SPM were valid points to bring up in a discussion about the topic.

But when I think about the question, I have to say that I don’t put all of my faith in leaderboards or points. And I feel that, at least in most Battlefield modes – K/D is irrelevant. K/D is really only important in TDM, and in extreme cases where you are dying repeatedly and draining tickets. But sometimes, the leaderboards don’t tell the full story.

Take a game of Capture the flag for example. I can recall numerous times where I would play the role of spawn beacon. Different people play it different ways. The way I play it, is probably the most boring to most people. But I work my way to the enemy base and try to place a spawn beacon for my fellow squad mates to spawn in on. I then usually hide somewhere just to stay alive, to make sure my teammates can keep pressure on the enemy team. I may not fire my weapon at all to keep from alerting my position. I’ll do my best to spot enemies – but my primary goal is to stay alive and stay hidden at the enemy base. At the end of the game, my squadmates usually comment on how awesome it was to constantly have a spawn at the enemy location. But if anyone on the other team looked at my score on the leaderboard. They may see someone with a negative K/D – barely any points and at the bottom. Yet, I played a crucial role in the victory often times.

I don’t take credit for the wins, but I was part of the team. I helped the team. Other people helped the team by being the meatshields, the flag runners, the gunners, the drivers and so on.

I can think of several times on Operation Metro where i will be a meatshield and just try to use the smoke to run through the enemy to get behind them if our team is pushed in. That usually isn’t good for my K/D, or my SPM, but when I do break through – it can turn a game around.

I think the sign of a great Battlefield player is someone who can be adaptive. You can have great Snipers – Great Pilots – Great Tank Drivers. But the best players are the ones who switch to a medic when the team needs revives. The player who plays an Engineer when its time to play with the armor. The ones who PTFO. If you can say at the end of the game, that you helped in some way to contribute to the win – I say your a good Battlefield player.

The great thing about Battlefield is that it is so unique – there are so many different elements, variables – ways to play. There is no right answer, and everyone has their own interpretation. It is fun to talk about however, and I’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on the subject. What Makes a Great Battlefield Player? Points, Playstyle, Attitude?

The Red Dragon