Reasons Why You Should Be Playing BF3 in Hardcore Mode

Image by Imrishale via FlickrWhy should you be playing Battlefield 3 in hardcore mode? Because it makes the game feel more like a Battlefield game and less like Bad Company 3, or some some bastardized version of Modern Warfare. I was skeptical trying a BF3 HC server at first because hardcore mode in BC2 just turned the game into a sniping fest . I believe that hardcore mode is the way that BF3 was intended to played, but DICE / EA defaulted to more friendly settings to make the game more enjoyable to the masses, thus increasing sales.

I'm going to take a few moments to detail the settings that make a server HC and why they are important to make gameplay more enjoyable.

• SHOW HUD = OFF
  This removes the HUD at the lower right that displays your health and ammo.
  
  This forces the player to rely on visual clues to asses the damage they have taken. It also increases tension because you never really know exactly how close you are to dying or running that clip out of ammo, though you do have a general idea.
• FRIENDLY FIRE = ON
  This means that you can wound and/or kill teammates.
  
  This does many things. It forces the player to pay closer to attention to who and where they are firing. It also prevents mindless spamming of vehicle munitions or mortars into a general area.
• 3P VEHICLE CAM = OFF
  This disables the ability to view the vehicles from a 3rd person perspective.
  
  You're playing a First Person Shooter so why should you be able to view vehicles from the 3rd person? Using a 3rd person vehicle cam is almost like cheating because it allows you to see enemies approaching from behind or to the side in an attempt to C4 your vehicle. It also affords advantages when flying jets.
• SHOW ENEMY NAME TAGS = OFF
  This disables the big neon sign over you head that says, "come kill me, I'm hiding behind this rock"
  
  This is important because it allows you to actually hide from the enemy and use cover as it was intended.  Note that friendlies will still have a blue or green tag over their heads so as to not create a friendly fire nightmare.
•  REGENERATIVE HEALTH = OFF
  Stops players health from regenerating.
  
  This is a big one as well because it makes medics actually useful. It also tends to make a player more careful about how they approach an enemy and less likely to emulate Rambo. This also prevents players from escaping your snipe attempts by ducking under cover until their health automagically regenerates.
• PLAYER HEALTH IN % = 60
  Reduces total player health to 60% of normal.
  
  This means it takes slightly less bullets to take down a target.
• USE 3D SPOTTING = OFF
  Prevents "tag" from being displayed on screen when a target is spotted using Q.
  
  Targets will still be highlighted on the minimap, however, neither vehicles nor persons will have a "come kill tag" hovering over their heads on screen.
• KILL CAM = OFF
  Turns off the kill cam.
  
  This one is pretty sefl explanatory. Snipers and campers rejoice!
• ONLY SQUAD LEADER SPAWN = ON
  Players can only spawn on the squad leader as opposed to all squadmates.
  
  This one is important also as it gives more of a purpose to the squad leader. The squad also tends to stick closer together when people are unable to spawn on random teammates.