Abridged Arena Array: CQC maps are almost always picked over "regular" maps due to the general fast paced gameplay dominating the meta for years. Notable examples include Bazaar, Containers O' Funnote Shipment, Penthousenote Ziba Towers, Warehouse, etc.
As for the regular maps, Desert Storm is surprisingly popular, with a sizable portion of the playerbase lauding it as the best map in the game. It's common to see the server browser filled with pages upon pages of Desert Storm (and its remake, Second Storm) servers, with player counts always being just 1 or 2 shy away from being full.
Ever since its addition in 2015, you'd be hard pressed to find any Rank 30 to Rank 80 player using a sniper rifle other than the BFG-50, due to its extremely beginner-friendly attributes right out the box (guaranteed one shot torso at ranges when most snipers require a headshot, high velocity negating compensation at range, high penetration, ultra fast handling unmodified, an auto-reload after every shot, among others).
The Tanzanite weapons, as Minecraft knockoffs, actually make even more sense for them to be more lethal than diamond or netherite tools once placed in the context of Minecraft's fandom. One of the first custom ores to be implemented in the community was Zanite from The Aether, a fantasy version of - you guessed it - tanzanite that sharpens with repeated use. A hardened military fighter like the Player Character almost certainly would have used the Tanzanite weapons enough to whittle their edges down into Absurdly Sharp Blades.
The Crane on Crane Site. note The Crane is unsurprisingly the most iconic structure in Phantom Forces, and early on in the game’s lifespan, it was a very frequent camping spot for snipers due to its cover and height, to the point where veteran players would often “farm” kills off of snipers on the crane due to the bullet penetration and squad spawning mechanic (just one player on the crane would allow the entire team to spawn there). Amped up in Crane Site Revamped until it was removed, where there were 2 cranes, one for each team, meaning that entire teams could have a massive sniper battle across the cranes. It’s popularity soon became a meme as the developers added a melee weapon composed of a miniature crane (the actual crane, not the bird) as a reward for an elaborate Easter Egg involving the crane rotating itself quicker and quicker until it flies into the air like a helicopter and explodes while Ride of the Valkyries plays.
The BFG-50 and the Ballistics Tracker. note The BFG-50 is a breach action Sniper Rifle, which sounds weak at first until you realise it’s the first .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle in the game: it is a one shot kill from the waist up at all ranges unless it hits the limbs. Naturally, the existence of it was very debated in the early stages of the game (before other .50 Caliber Snipers were added), with many calling it overpowered and a “weapon for noobs” as no none .50 Caliber snipers in the game can one hit kill at all ranges without aiming for the head. Meanwhile, the Ballistics Tracker is an Other attachment that tracks the distance of all targets on screen and displays the point you would need to shoot for a headshot, which for every sniper, is an instakill at all ranges. Like the BFG, it was very quickly labelled as a no skill attachment, and it didn’t help that while more people used it as an auto spotter than its intended purpose (since at the time it highlighted EVERY enemy in the FOV even when just tapping the aim button), new players would also commonly purchase the BFG-50 and the Ballistics Tracker, sometimes putting both together, instead of unlocking it via ranks and kills respectively like it was intended. Eventually, after a series of nerfs, both items are considered reasonably balanced now (though only because there are more overpowered items), and the BFG-50 and Ballistics Tracker are now commonly associated with noobs as a joke.
Remove Metro. note Metro was commonly noted as a bland map early on, and especially since the entire map is underground, it frequently lagged low end computers. It was frequently described as a “clusterfuck” by most players, owing to its extremely tight flanks around the map. Ironically, the map is almost perfectly symmetrical in contrast to Operation Metro from Battlefield 3 (which many players have accustomed PF Metro to being inspired by, as with Ravod 911 and Zavod 311), which by virtue of its layout and placement of spawns/objectives, is a very one sided map from the very beginning. Fans of both maps have regardless requested the removal of both. It didn’t help that for some players, the map showed up as very dark at times, and was only amplified by players shooting the lights on the map, plunging it into darkness more. Due to the very frequent requests to remove Metro, it became one of the game’s earliest memes, as well as the shortest: As the game’s lifespan went on though, players began to accept Metro as a relatively balanced map due to its almost perfect symmetry on both sides, and the fact that while it was a clusterfuck, it was generally agreed to be a balanced clusterfuck at least.
Remove Warehouse/Suburbia. note When Warehouse was introduced, many players noted similarities to the old Metro: blind corner gameplay, frequent lags, the entire map being indoors etc. Naturally it was, along with Suburbia, instantly labelled as another grindfest.
Cursed weapons. note Due to the game’s extremely diverse customisation for its weapons, many players have created very, very weird combinations of attachments, ranging from a Hecate II with its stock removed and barrel sawed off to its magazine, an AUG A1 with its stock scope attached on top of its stock scope, an AK with an AR-15 style carry handle as iron sights, a Mosin Nagant with an iPhone attached to the side, a Chainsaw’s grip under the barrel, a Halbek Device on the muzzle, and a cardboard cutout of an anime girl attached to a BUIS as an optic. Some have even photoshopped attachments together to add to the ridiculousness, such as a Desert Eagle but with its grip extended to accommodate an M107 magazine inserted into the grip, with a sniper scope on the top and the M107’s Muzzle Brake. Sound confusing? That’s because it is.
Scrappy Mechanic: The votekick system. While it does function like any other votekick system in Roblox, there's a catch: After the user successfully executes the votekick command, they're not allowed to initiate another votekick unless someone else does it, under the pretense that it prevents votekick abuse. What really makes it irritating is that the game rarely tells players how to use it, meaning that in practice, the votekicked user can simply use an alt to get straight back in, while the players are irritated by not knowing how to votekick and believe that there is no way to votekick them, while the one who knows how to votekick cannot votekick them again because of the restriction. Not being helped is that you need Rank 25 to get access to votekick privileges, meaning that if the majority of the server is underranked, you're screwed.
