That's probably because you blow at those games. Clans are the reason MP FPS are good. Sure it's fun going pubbing and owning stupid nubs once in a while, but the best way is to have an organized clan and play in matches (and if you have enough time in your life, maybe even in leagues).

I heard the system requirements are insane.

minimum NVidia card i would play with is 6600 series.

ROFL Pretty steep for a casual gamer.

BF2 runs great on my XP 2200 and Radeon 9600 Pro.

what are your settings?

1024x768, medium detail

It's not very fun though, too many reeruns.

Pubbing usually isn't.

There in lies the problem. Clans make you devote too much time to the game.

Yes, they can. Just like any other hobby.

I loved playing the first BF1942 online. The Vietnam one wasn't as good.. the weapons were too deadly and the vehicles weren't as cool or useful. Frequently I would just sight someone up and all of the sudden you're dead.

The clans are alright, at least they operate servers where they kick TKers or grenade spammers, spawn cheesers, etc.

Plus, playing in matches means that there is team work and strategy involved, which instantly makes the game 17x better.

A lot of them were dicks but they'd be nice to you if you were helping out instead of flying planes around in circles or blowing up stuff just for fun.

I liked picking the engineer and just following their armor around giving repairs. You'd be amazed how many noobs they could blow through with a wrench following them.

maybe for two years ago.. you can buy a athlon 64 computer with 512ddr2 and a pcie vid card for 650 not counting rebates... Upgrade the memory and get a new vid cardfor 250-300 dollars... IF you have not gotten a new computer within the last 4-5 years you are due for a new one to be a casual gamer...

My System
 

FYI I'm playing BF2 @ 1280x960, all graphics on High, 2x anti-aliasing. Runs smooth... I'd estimate 50+ fps

AMD XP 3200+
1 GB 3200 DDR RAM
Asus mobo w/ integrated nVidia audio
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB) - THIS is the important piece in gaming. Note that video RAM can be misleading - a smaller amount of faster RAM will perform better than a card with a ton of slower RAM. In other words, check the video RAM speed before grabbing a 9600 w/ 256MB RAM over a 9800 w/ half that amount. The 9800 RAM is way faster - as is the GPU; making it twice the card for a little more $.