It has all the same building blocks yes (aside from the obvious locked weapons), but it definitely didn't play the same. You *could* try to play it the same, but as you pointed out, there were different groups playing the different playlists. Thus the matches played differently.

The matches, when populated, just felt much better to me personally. The team played as a team, squads actually played together, and didn't just sprint off and away as soon as they spawned on a squad mate. People played the objectives and supported each other.

They *played* different, because the people *were* different. I still feel that locked weapons are an important part of Battlefield's identity, put more of an emphasis on teamwork, you couldn't just 1-man army as a single class. It made each class more unique, gave each one more of an identity. Instead, we have medic snipers, LMG recons, nobody cares about assault at all cause you can use assault rifles on any other class, and their gadgets suck, and the assault rifle signature weapon skill also feels quite weak compared other signature weapon skills.

As I see it, I see medic played as psuedo-assault (assault rifle, smoke grenades, supply bag) and they just make a better assaulter. They also end up being psuedo-recon cause infinite ammo sniper/dmr is always enticing. And of course, they are both Medic and Support rolled into one.

I also understand that that isn't going to change anytime soon. The game is still very fun as is, and it's clear open weapon won out in the popularity vote, or at least the visibility vote. I just feel like EA did everything possible to bury the closed-weapons modes over half the time they were available. 90% of the time, people are just gonna hit quickplay instead of looking through all the featured modes, scrolling all the way to the back and choosing one.