How Battlefield 6 Can Improve the Series’ Spotting Mechanic

There are few mechanics as useful as spotting, but also as controversial, prompting players to ask how it will be implemented in Battlefield 6. Spotting has existed in many iterations, from quickly marking enemies with a button press, to leaving pings on the ground where someone was last seen.

Recent playtesting has shown 3D spotting could be making a comeback, which has caused concern for some fans. Given the nature of the test environment, it isn’t confirmed what DICE intends to do with spotting, and the studio might just be testing the waters with the mechanic. What is clear, though, is that many players want spotting to walk a fine line in Battlefield 6, and there are a number of ways this could be achieved.

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What Spotting Looked Like Before Battlefield 6

3D spotting in Battlefield used to be ubiquitous, and there were many ways for players to quickly mark one another with little effort. It was so common that players joked they were “shooting at Doritos”, in reference to BF4’s orange, triangular spot indicator. BF1 similarly had some issues with spotting being made very easy, as maps were smaller and less vertical, allowing for fewer hiding places, and exacerbated by spotting flares.

BF5 pivoted the series’ relationship with spotting enormously, removing the spotting function from soldiers altogether and replacing it with a contextual ping. Spotting, and especially 3D spotting, became a rare commodity, as even gadgets such as spotting flares were heavily nerfed and easy to counter. Players were forced to specialize in certain roles that had access to spotting, such as the Assault Vehicle Buster that spotted vehicles they damaged.

Since then, 2042 has emulated some of BF5’s philosophy, but made spotting with gadgets considerably easier. If these last two entries are anything to go by, then spotting may remain attached to certain gadgets and roles. However, everything seen from Battlefield Labs indicates a concerted effort to make the game resemble BF4 and its predecessors more closely.

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How DICE Can Improve Spotting for Battlefield 6

This all begs the question of which direction DICE should go in; whether copying all aspects of Battlefield 4 is the right thing to do, including the spotting, or diverging from this aspect sharply is better. Seemingly, many players want to leave excessive spotting behind, not liking how much it simplifies the gameplay loop, and there are a number of ways spotting could change. Please note that not all of these ideas are compatible with one another, but a few could work together.

Keep the Contextual Ping

The ping system removes a lot of the easy spotting available to any player, and could in fact provide its own benefits, as it can be used to signal where squadmates should go, and if there is danger. It’s also only visible to members of the same squad, meaning there isn’t a sea of orange Doritos populating the map at all times. It can also be used when a player is downed, so incapacitated squad members can still provide intel to their friends.

Give Better Counterplay to Spotting

Several recent games have tried to reduce the impact of spotting, whether it’s through giving players jamming tools or enabling them to shoot down spotting flares. Even Battlefield 1 tried to reduce spotting by adding perks that made soldiers invisible to flares when crouching, although it never drastically moved the needle. Countering spotting methods should be more achievable too. Whether it’s through electronic warfare gadgets or smoke grenades, players need ways of breaking out of being spotted.

Minimap Spotting Could Work Like Radar

Spots on the minimaps have remained quite common in the series even after BF5, and players who do not use silenced weapons can be revealed for a second on the minimap when they shoot. This momentary reveal might be a good thing to apply to all minimap spotting, with the minimap acting more like radar, only picking up enemy positions every couple of seconds instead of giving a live feed of every spotted enemy’s movements. It might go some way to stop people just staring at their maps and focusing more on what is in front of them.

Make 3D Spotting More Rewarding

By restricting 3D spotting, it becomes more rewarding to pull off. Recons in BF5 are an invaluable class for how they can reveal distant enemies, so that even if they don’t kill them, another teammate has the opportunity. 3D spotting would feel special again, and no doubt be a death sentence to anyone unfortunate to get marked that way unless they can find cover.

Limit the Distance Players Can Be Spotted

Spotting is intended to show players in far-off or distant locations, but its proliferation means this functionality is lost slightly. Instead, spotting could be limited so that it only shows up at certain distances. Whether it’s only up close or just far away doesn’t matter too much, as either would incentivize players to use spotting more carefully. Arguably, spotting doesn’t need to be a thing up close, as player models and sound cues should do the job just fine, and it could remain as a tool for catching snipers who are beyond reach.

Reduce the Ease of Spotting With Gadgets

As fun as it is to fly around, Caspar’s drone from Battlefield 2042 could reveal entire teams in less than a minute, making certain regions of a map incredibly hostile in a way that never felt very fair. Spotting with gadgets is probably the safest way of keeping 3D spotting, but it should not be so easy to achieve; Caspar’s drone remains one of the most efficient ways to farm assists with very little effort. Gadgets need harder limitations on them when it comes to spotting, whether that’s by requiring more effort or acquiring targets harder.

Players Should Have to Follow a Target to 3D Spot

One simple way of reducing 3D spotting would be by linking it to a scope of some sort that has to be trained on a target at all times. This way, a target could be spotted from any angle, but would only remain spotted as long as someone kept them in their sights. A gadget like this might be similar to BF4’s SOFLAM for the Recon class, but doesn’t have to enable guided missile targeting. It could force players to play spotter, hunting out individual targets that they could coordinate with teammates to shoot.