After the reveal of the 5 additional specialists available at the release of Battlefield 2042, fans are now concerned about the balance. Especially the specialist Ji-Soo Park is troubling them due to her ability to see enemies through walls.
What are specialists? They are basically the new classes in Battlefield 2042. Unlike previous titles, they give you significantly more freedom in your choice of gadgets and weapons are no longer class-restricted.
In total, there are 10 specialists that you can check out in our overview at launch.
A new trailer for the specialists now showed further abilities and gadgets. Here you can watch the trailer:
What exactly is the problem? Ji-Soo Park has a unique ability, the EMPG-X scanner. When you use her ability, you can see enemies through walls as well. However, the glasses have a battery that doesn’t last long.
Thanks to her passive ability “Threat Detection”, you can also see enemies through walls that are shooting at you. Gameplay video (via ea.com)
Her scanner works like a kind of temporary wallhack. This is not sitting well with fans and is causing discussions.
“Wallhacks have no place in shooters”
This is what players are saying about the specialist’s scanner ability: In the Battlefield 2042 subreddit, Ji-Soo Park’s ability is not well received. Players are very concerned that this ability could be too powerful.
They are also wondering how developer DICE even thought of putting something like this in a Battlefield 2042. According to numerous fans, it is nothing more than a wallhack, and such things generally have no place in shooters.
For example, user BearWrap writes: “A literal wallhack in Battlefield, my God. I remember them doing exactly the same thing in Halo 4 with the Prometheus Vision, it’s absolutely stupid and has no place in an FPS. Seriously, what is the thinking behind this nonsense?” (via reddit.com)
The answer lies for some fans in the specialists themselves and the design of modern shooters. CakeSocialist says, “In modern FPS games, mechanisms are usually built in so that at least everyone can get some kills/killstreaks sometimes.” (via reddit.com)
However, in many other shooters like CoD, that’s not such a big problem, as such scanners usually have a short duration. PilifXD believes that information about enemy positions in Battlefield is much more valuable, “because it takes much longer to return to the same place after death; therefore I can imagine that this poses a problem in more competitive modes.” (via reddit.com)
Others suspect that the developers want to make the specialists extra strong to sell more skins of them.
What does the developer say about it? In response to the criticism, developer DICE has even reacted on Twitter. They only said in response to a fan that they often receive this feedback and that they are on it: “Our people are already up to date.” (via reddit.com)
So it remains to be seen whether anything will be adjusted regarding the balance of the specialists before the release.
Specialists are a hot topic in Battlefield 2042
This is why specialists are so heavily discussed: Since the announcement, many Battlefield veterans have viewed the specialists critically. With the open beta, the criticism has risen significantly.
Specialists replace the previously fixed classes of Battlefield. There was always a fixed role distribution that also determined weapons and gadgets. With the specialists, this distribution is mostly abolished.
Players can choose from the specialists, but also freely choose their equipment. Therefore, it no longer depends on which specialist you actually play regarding your role. Only Hazard Zone restricts you in your choice of gadgets.
This was not well received by fans of the series, and they wish the old class system back.
What do you think of the discussion? Do you see the specialists as critically as others? Or do you prefer the free system?
