Didn't get Beta but playing on a friends account.
There is good and bad with this release. I for one feel very let down by EA as this is what BF4 should have been released as(engine wise.) Hardline has received all the CTE developments that tried to fix the netcode issue with BF4. Part of this issue was increasing the tick rate from 10 to 30(CS:GO has a tick rate of around 66 to put it into perspective.) They both run off EA's frostbite 2 engine hence the shared updates etc.
One advantage to Hardline over BF4 is that the "world" doesn't have as much processing which means hit detection movements etc are registered more on the BF hybrid system making it smoother and more accurate.
Pros : Really fun as a pub game, objective based, hit detection is MUCH better than BF4.
Cons : R600 for basically an add onto BF4? There is no chance of this game being taken in by the ''competitive'' community. I'm quite close with a few guys at "Level Battlefield" who were invited to play the game before release, give notes to the developers etc. They are also home to the best BF team. Why aren't they in the nations cup for BF4? Well they don't see it as a playable game. Can't really disagree with them either.
Overall I feel this is too little too late by EA. It's a damn fun game but that's where it stops. BF4 and Hardline will be receiving many updates and might be taken as a proper FPS game again.
The main thing is that I do not see this as a Battlefield genre. They are trying to penetrate a market where there are superior games that cover it already.
This is all based on my limited knowledge of the game. Please excuse incorrect wording etc.