Yup, no HUD on the hacked servers, and you might get banned of the BETA if you join them.
So if I play on a 33-128 player server, EA might not like it and won't give me shiny medals to make my e-penis grow?
What a threat...
So once it's actually released, I can either a) play on official EA servers using the devil-spawn that is Origin, get shiny medals and unlocks after playing for tens if not hundreds of hours, on 32-64 player servers, using the stuff where Dice has decided what is best.
OR, I can b) play the cracked version, not require Origin, play on 64-128 player servers with all unlocks and perks unlocked from the get go, with changed load-outs and weapon stats.
I wonder which one I'd choose.
Yes, this won't happen immediately after the release. But I'll give you a few examples: Il-2 Sturmovik, Mafia, GTA SA, Mafia II, GTA IV, and pretty much any game ever released.
None had _any_ mod tools. The files were all packed in strange formats, but people always find out how to unpack them, and how to edit them. It WILL happen. Not as total conversion mods like FH2, but as sillyness mods, texture packs, realism mods, etc. A mod doesn't need to be 10 new maps and 50 new vehicles. Just good old texture & setting tweaks are enough to start with.
As for the probable "That's not how they've made the game, the devs have tested and tested and tested and tested, they know best." No. If I buy a game, I own it, and can do whatever the hell I please with it. Unfortunately I live in Europe where I still have that right as a consumer. No matter what a EULA says (which are void anyway, as the only contract that binds a customer is one he signs
before buying the product). If you buy a designer lamp, and change the shade, the designer can't start suing you because you changed something you own.
As a final note, I'm not saying BF3 sucks. After watching TotalBiscuit play it, it actually looks very good. Especially the infantry weapons seem to actually do damage unlike vanilla BF2. Grenades are ridiculous though, almost no damage even from up close, and tanks never seemed to be much of a threat to anyone.