I bought 2042 for $5 and in/uninstalled it roughly 12 times over the last 2 months yet kept returning to it. It has the general fast-paced and low-investment gameplay of a shooter I want, but just so much bullshit that infinitely triggers me.
Vehicles used to be "spawn in the back, run up to a vehicle, take off, and 5 mins later you're in the fight". Strong, slow investments. Now, you instantly spawn into a bomber that auto-regenerates hp, simply just flying over the chokepoint and dropping bombs for 10 kills, rinse repeat. "Oh, I'll play Lis and go anti-vehicle to combat these mlg420 faggots". Nope, one rocket does 15-20% dmg to vehicles, which is either regenerated or repaired.
It's like jedis in SW BFII, rather than short stalemate breakers, they're just around all game and you'll never get to try one and without it, you'll just never become a top 2 scorer. I like playing support but there's no meaningful support in 2042. Even if you SHOT revives, people would tap out immediately instead or die just as quick. Ammo isn't an issue cause you die and respawn in 5 seconds flat every 2 minutes anyway.
I tried hardcore conquest and lo behold, suddenly, without a fuckton of UI elements, sprint-dashing and all that shit, it suddenly got good. I've lost count of times I died to people sliding towards me, I start shooting, they somehow notice me, turn around still dashing, and kill me. Remove the dash and oh shit, suddenly sprinting is a huge risk. You're rewarded for aiming around corners instead of dashing around. I play defensively by nature and it just doesn't work in 2042. There is no "front line". People spawn around and behind you, and sprinting around like a mad man is the only way to get anything going, if not these 50 tools call out your position and you get killed by some faggot with a 420 tier profile banner.
They'd lose the modern BF audience if they slowed down the game but without doing so, it ain't battlefield. I watched 5 mins of bad company 2 and I was surprised how fucking basic and slow it was.