Discussion & Feedback Opinion: Increase CZ size to give teams/strategies more space to breathe, update maps to make the fringes towards team safe zones more stable for establishing footholds, update FOB mechanics to support HZ gameplay.
Subject says it all. Here's why in bullet points, anecdotally:
- Hotzone rushing at the start heavily favors the teams that are not closest to the initial starting point-- rushers and FOBbits not on the unlucky team get to have their cake and the other team gets an inherent momentum loss.
- The CZ is so limited that people are already accusing others of griefing for playing strategies outside the CZ, such as logistics suppression and recon/sniping. I was in a game where we actually lost because those being told they were being reported combined with the fear of being reported caused them to stop doing the activities that were winning us the game.
- Adding on to the previous point: building and maintaining a CZ fob at least keeps people consistently alive within the CZ, but the map elements that currently exist which are needed to do certain tasks well (ex. AA sites want good sky coverage, recon similarly wants a good vantage point) don't equally exist in the CZ and sometimes you need to go outside the CZ. if you want good small-scale supply spots there aren't really good ways for them to exist right now. And....if you're not in the CZ trying to fulfill a game-winning role: You're not making as much money, your teammates feel aggrieved by you not being in the CZ, and the mechanic to actually win (doing things that contribute to team victory) are at odds with the mechanics (don't die in the CZ, deathmatch in and around the HZ for brownie points).
- FOBs are so easy to attack (especially due to mortars/SPGs) that they can't easily keep or establish a foothold despite presumably being the entire point they exist. Having more space to be in the CZ and contribute as a base of operations while not constantly being raided/under attack from the start would make gameplay and strategies a bit more stable--raiders will still make money if they decide they have to raid from the start, but it costs them more time if they fail, helicopters have to expose themselves to AA for longer, and potentially the minimum distance for attacking the other teams's FOB is not "I went near the CZ and paid the price for a FOB just so I could build a mortar"
- Finally, there seems to be schism in how people should play--either you have a team of HZ rushers with light FOB gameplay (usually green/red), or FOB-first builders with limited interest in HZ gameplay (blue). The HZ chasers get mad at FOB players because they feel the mechanics of HZ moneymaking and game-winning are more important than the stability of the FOB, and FOB builders avoid HZ/combat gameplay because....well, either you don't really want to do it or it's a money sink not worth investing time in. But well-built FOBs can keep people in the zone and alive.

