Playerunknown's Battlegrounds - Steam Store Link
I don't know the rules very well regarding screenshots and gameplay excerpts, so I'll stick to links and my own musings.
Anyone else going to pick this up on Thursday? I've been watching some streams; I wasn't quite sure I wanted to pay the $30 after seeing some of the Alpha/Beta stuff, but this last Closed Beta showed they're willing to listen to the players and make the necessary changes in a fairly timely manner. They still don't have optimization for mid- to high-end machines, they mostly focused on their low-end requirements, but I've seen interviews with PU and he assures everyone they're coming sooner rather than later. Everyone I've seen playing it has enjoyed it so far, and I've watched quite a few people. I know a couple of streamers that are playing to go hard at Duo rankings once the game is out on the 23rd.
PU's also been watching the streams and seeing what different streamers are liking/disliking, and since his games generally have more viewers than players, it's a good way to focus on his community. There have been a number of pros playing, such as shroud and Skadoodle from cloud9's CSGO team. I also saw Surefour's (Overwatch pro) name on the leaderboards, but I didn't actually check to see if he was streaming.
It's a good balance between his Arma 3 BR mod, which is super complicated because of the engine, and H1Z1's arcade-like shooter. It has the attachments for your weapons like scopes, extended mags, and foregrips while eliminating some of the clunkier aspects of Arma BR. Compared to H1, it's a bit more complicated and aiming/firing is better done through the sights unlike H1, but it eliminates crafting in favor of straight looting. Driving vehicles in circles at the end of the match is rare with most people sticking to running after the safe zone reaches a certain size. You still have bullet drop at a distance, crouching, proning, rolling, third person view, etc.
Rankings are/were up for Closed Beta with the three current modes, Solo, Duo, and Squad. Playerunknown said they have some more ideas in store too when he was on Dropped Frames last week. He also said there will be loot boxes for cosmetic items in the future and they will also release the game on consoles (PS4/XB1) after some more time doing bug fixes and balancing. They will also be adding a "Hardcore" mode, which is first person only, some time after release.
If anyone here has actually played, I'm sure they can weigh in. I'm going to try to get some time in on Friday and I can post again if anyone shows interest in the game.
This closed Beta was extended to 8pm PDT tonight so you can catch some streamers playing for the rest of the day before the beta servers close.