Battlefield Hardline: Community's Most Wanted List - Weapons Data

The third edition of the Community's Most Wanted List is here!  Time to hand over to Thad Sasser, Lead Multiplayer Designer on Battlefield Hardline.

I've discussed topics for the blog with a few Battlefield players, and one of the great suggestions I got was to talk about some of the data we've collected from the Battlefield Hardline Beta and how it's influencing the game balance.  Please continue to suggest topics in the comments below or on Twitter.

Let's take a look at some of the data we've collected on weapons!

We'll start with the most lethal weapons, which is nice because it lines up nicely with what I think might be an obvious point of comparison:  the AKM versus the M16A3.  No contest, you think, right?  The AKM wins, hands down.  Actually, the data says otherwise:

More kills with the M16.  M16 looks like it has higher accuracy by a little.  AKM clearly doing more damage, with almost double the hit-to-kill ratio, but lower overall accuracy.

These seem more balanced than we'd expected - we kind of figured the AKM would beat the M16A3.  The M16 has some things in its favor for the beta - it was the default gun on the default class, for starters, which tends to push its use up for sure, and it's easy to learn.  We'll keep our eye on these two. The AKM might still be a little OP, but it's in the right ballpark for sure - it doesn't feel like we need to take any action at the moment.More kills with the M16.  M16 looks like it has higher accuracy by a little.  AKM clearly doing more damage, with almost double the hit-to-kill ratio, but lower overall accuracy.

Let's look at the next two highest kill weapons, the MG36 and the G36C.

Clearly, the MG is spitting out more bullets.  It's got a decent rate of hits, but lower percentage of kills and headshots.  The G36C feels a little anemic next to the M16 and AK, with a worse kill % and an MG-like percentage of hits-to-kill - it kind of feels like the worst mix of the AKM and the M16 in terms of stats.  We'd identified this weapon as needing a buff, and the stats support that.

I was going to write some more on character progression and look at some more of the weapon stats, but we'll save that for next time!  Hopefully you found this interesting and informative. Clearly, the MG is spitting out more bullets.  It's got a decent rate of hits, but lower percentage of kills and headshots.  The G36C feels a little anemic next to the M16 and AK, with a worse kill % and an MG-like percentage of hits-to-kill - it kind of feels like the worst mix of the AKM and the M16 in terms of stats.  We'd identified this weapon as needing a buff, and the stats support that.

Thanks,

Thad Sasser
Lead Multiplayer Designer, Battlefield Hardline
Twitter: @dirtydeathdog