Originally Posted by Ghost Dog

I was hoping for more than 5 new maps, but I have to admit each one of them looks amazing. Any word on Basrah and the other insurgency map (can't remember name right now)? Have they been fixed and will they be included in 0.8?

Can't believe I 'm spending the weekend in the Ardennes... I had a feeling they would do this.

Gameplay changes in 0.8 (from the manual):

• 3 new game modes: Command & Control, Skirmish and Training
• Critically wounded soldiers can be revived for up to two minutes. They can use the “Give up” button on the Caps-Lock map to opt out of waiting for a medic
• Medics can now resuscitate downed soldiers which untangles them from the
  ground. This is useful to make sure the epipen will do it's job
• Insurgents can build hideouts to spawn at
• Regular armies and the militia can deploy a heavy machine gun emplacement
• The spotting system has been overhauled. Automatic spotting is practically gone. Squad leaders can send a contact report to the commander. The commander can confirm those reports and place markers on the map to warn the rest of the team
• Artillery and mortars have been added to the list of possible area attacks
• Pistols & SMGs do not suppress other players. Shots also need to travel some distance before they have a suppression effect
• Weapons need to be reloaded manually
• Bunkers & Fire bases do not resupply soldiers and vehicles anymore
• Deployable assets can be placed without permission if no commander is on the team
• Rally points can be placed anywhere. They are overrun and destroyed if 3 enemies get close to them or if 6 squad members die in their vincinity
• Grenade launchers need to be fired at targets at least 30-40m from the shooter or the grenade will not detonate
• All factions have a command post which is enterable by the commander. The commander can only use his map while inside the post.
• The enemy tickets are not displayed
• The main gun in any armored vehicle has a 30s usage delay
• Soldiers start to bleed out when their health drops below 75%
• Civilian collaborators will always respawn after 2 minutes regardless of how they died
• Insurgents can be arrested using the restrainer or the shotgun
• Insurgents need to defend at least 3 out of 12 weapons caches
• Capturing a control point takes at least 3 men
• Limited kits have been reduced in number and are only reallocated every 10 minutes
• Light machine guns can be used in deployed and undeployed modes. When deployed they can only be fired while prone but are very accurate
• Deploying bunkers & fire bases does require 2 supply crates. A supply truck is not needed. Other assets just need to be build close enough to a forward
  outpost and do not require any supplies

WOW

• No more ammo from bunkers and firebases? Makes no sense to me... tanks on Kashan will have to go ALL the way back to main for ammo, don't really like this change.
• I have a feeling that we won't see many commanders, how many people like sitting back at main for 2 hours? I only do this when I have a very good team to work with and this rarely happens.
• Get those field dressings ready... bleed starts below 75%.
• What 's that restrainer to arrest insurgents? any info on this?
• Enemy tickets not displayed... no more stalemates??

I 'm sure it 'll all work out fine just like the previous versions, but some of the changes sound really harsh.

Edit:

If you don't feel like reading the entire manual to look for all the changes, I made a list of all changes that aren't mentioned above (note the bold parts):

• While holding a mine the primary commo rose can be used to place a red warning marker on the team's map. Placing a new Marker will delete the old one. The commander also can place and delete this marker
• A temporary spawn time penalty which only affects the next time you die (stacking up to 5 minutes) is added by these actions:
  ○ Teamkill: 15 seconds per TK
  ○ Suicide: 30 seconds (90s for civilians)
  ○ Civilian killed: 120 seconds per civilian (max. 5 minutes)
  ○ Own weapons cache destroyed: 300 seconds (also -100 score)
• Anti-tank mines and trip flares will arm themselves 15 seconds after placement - think this was 5 seconds before
• The Combat Engineer carries an assault rifle with iron sights, a shotgun loaded with slugs, a tripflare, an anti-tank mine, a wrench and a shovel. On some maps the mine is replaced by a grappling hook
• The Militia Medic comes equipped with the PPSh-41 submachine gun, and some smoke grenades. Healing and reviving works as with the regular medic - Militia gets to revive
• The Insurgent carries the AK-47 rifle, one RKG-3 anti-tank grenade, a shovel, a pair of binoculars and some extra ammunition in a bag, which he can drop
• The civilian Collaborator is unarmed. His only way to attack others is by throwing rocks at them. He can drop a few field dressings for his friends and repair vehicles with his wrench. He can also help others access high places with his grappling hook. He can use his cellphone to call in mortar strikes. Coalition players must not shoot civilians or face punishment
• As more intelligence is gathered red diamond markers appear on the map showing the rough area of the weapons caches (they may be up to 140m from the marker)
• Insurgents start with 100 tickets and lose 10 for each destroyed weapons cache. This is the only way for the insurgents to lose tickets.
• On sniper rifles, the "switch fire mode" key (Default 3) can be used to activate a breathing sound. This simulates breath control and gives you an audio cue for when your accuracy will be at its maximum. Holding down the fire button after shooting will allow you to track your shot before rebolting the rifle
• If you use an officer kit containing a signal grenade, you can access it with the 9 key
• If 3 enemies are very close to the rally point (about 50m) or if 6 squad members die in this radius, then the rally has been overrun and will also be destroyed. Once destroyed, the squad can't place a new rally point for 2 minutes
• Deployable MG 's, AA, razorwire and sandbags must be constructed within 200m of a forward outpost
• Deployable assets can be wrecked (rendering them useless) and destroyed by further damaging the wreck. Knifing the radio twice will damage forward outposts enough to make them collapse within a short time.
• Supply trucks can unload two supply crates which can be dropped by the driver by using the alternate fire key.

call the whambulance......jesus its not even out yet and people are complaing.....get over yourselves, the dev's spend their personal time, so do the testers........anyone who is "upset" and crying, just don't DL it, it would make the rest of us who are anticipating it, and who are interested in seeing the changes that much more happy.........

Its this type of whining that leads to people doing their own thing, not following the rules and thinking they are a one man army/crying/whining all the time no matter how well they or their team are doing.

Hats off to all the testers, and to all the dev's who have spent the time to put this together for us, i am so excited that muttrah city is back and I hope my sarcasm in regards to the release didn't piss anyone off.......Hats off to you guys for making PR possible with the BF2 Engine!!!