While I've had some differences of opinion in Planetside's execution and its cheat moderation among other things, I wanted to post my gratitude to you and wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Simply put... Planetside 2 would not exist today if not for your passion and leadership. TY TY TY PS2 is in my opinion, the best product in the entire Daybreak portfolio... and I've played almost all of them. Again, I wish you all the best in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the trenches with us grunts again. Thanks for all your hard work these last seven years. - Ping PS. What's the name of your replacement so I can curse their name every time I get mad at PS2? PPS. ... I'm going to get you back... believe me... I will get you back!
Can't say I'm happy to hear that. As whoever replaces him I fear will be more focus on "monetization" than anything else. My biggest criticism of him is how much he over emphasized headshots. Which in turned attracted aimbots like crazy.
The best thing for me was The Shattered Warpgate event on Esamir, cool! And I also like the result, this wasteland in the northern region, where you at least have to bring a sundy or better build a base right away to be successful. The worst mistake was Oshur in my opinion, it has too many flaws. And it's a real shame, because they obviously tried to create something unique and memorable. All the energy simply could have been invested in a rework of Hossin with a similar event like Shattered Warpgate. But let's not forget, PlanetSide2 is very ambitious and the chance of failing always imminent. It still is and will be the fascinating game, I have played the most in my life!
I guess he finally realised most of us are still here in spite of the the changes, not because of them....
Developing a project like PS2 is hard work. I believe he did it with total dedication and a lot of energy. Although I don't like some of the changes, I want to thank him for his efforts. I respect his work and wish him good luck and success in his future activities.
I very much appreciated Wrel's videos in the early years of PS2 (pre 'employed by SOE/DBG/RPG' days) - totally obvious he loved the game. He always had a very balanced view on things - acknowledging the OPness of certain weapons or certain situations, surely a good egg to have on the team (which I presume is why he was employed - a smart move). I paid my membership diligently for years. More recently i've been wondering how much he is actually playing the game now - and even more interested in how much he is enjoying the game now. It can still be truly great - but so often utterly frustrating for a myriad of reasons. BUT all said and done, the man himself appears to be a very likeable and well meaning person - I personally have no antagonism for the guy... (Just thought I would re-post this from a few years ago - no idea what flipped him but haters gotta hate I guess) https://forums.daybreakgames.com/ps...-to-know-this-about-wrel.256101/#post-3563173
Well I see Mithril deleted my post. I assume the scolding is aimed at me. I am not sure why as I was not at all trying to be spicey, disagreeable, insulting or do anything but give my opinion based on my experience with the game itself. In fact I pride myself on being even keel and as logical as possible. But ok, I will take a mulligan on that one and assume it read differently than I meant it to sound but again I had no ill intent. I have played PlanetSide since PS1. I love the game and I support it with my hard earned money to this day. Clearly the game is in a different phase of it's life than it was 5+ years ago. This is not surprising nor unexpected. I have never kept up the the politics of the game because I just do not care about that. So I have no loyalty nor hate for anyone or anything to do with it and while it's not updated as quickly as we would like obviously there are reasons for that and that is fine with me and I understand. All I know of Wrel is that he is/was the lead designer of the game for a time. During that time the vast majority of changes I disagreed with and some I found confusing or misguided. But the overall effect in spite of that is the game continues to hold firm and keeps moving forward. Yes I see all the /yell whining about this or that and blaming it on Wrel. I never cared about that because I just like to log in and play and that's it. I don't care about the shenanigans. My point here is I appreciate PS2 very much. I disagree personally with many of the "Wrel changes" but during his time as lead the game held together well and for that I am grateful. I am not happy nor upset about his departure. My only wish is that the game continues forward in a positive direction so we can continue to have fun within it's confines.
I hope the game isn't going to be canceled or something. I just bought the special bundle for the anniversary. I never spent that much before and now it feels like I cursed the game.
We smolder on the stuff he got wrong. We take for granted the stuff he got right. Rarely do we recognize the impossibility of the task he faced.
Full disclosure, I am biased against Wrel. By all means, fact-check and push back on me: Things that went right under him: - The overhaul of the explosion effects. - The introduction of Advanced Specialization Program (ASP). - The introduction of the community thingy whereby players design cosmetics for in-game purchasing. - The introduction of VR Training. - The introduction of Implants. - The introduction of Directives. - The introduction of Nanite Systems Operatives (NSO). - The introduction of Voice Packs and Gender Swap Token. Things that went wrong under him: - The removal of debris instead of solving the collision problems. - The removal of the arch between TI Alloys and Crown on Indar: Enough said. - The introduction of invisible ANTs, granted, they were removed (increased toxicity of the game). - The introduction of Containment Sites on Esamir (people still don't know how to exit them). - The failure to address Orbital Strike spam? - The introduction of Cloaked Flashes (increased toxicity of the game). - The introduction of Ambusher/Icarus jumpjets + impulse grenades (increased toxicity of the game). - The introduction of Stalker Cloaking led to terminal campers and Flail/Glaive/OS spammers (increased toxicity of the game). - The introduction of Explosive Crossbow + AMR (increased toxicity of the game). - The introduction of Oshur: People log off when this continent unlocks, enough said. - The handling of refunds for the recent construction update. - The implementation of the quick pull feature. It works like 30% of the time. - The management of Koltyr. - Rewarding XP for damaging vehicles: Lock-On/AMR spam ensued (increased toxicity of the game). - MBT guns: On NC and VS at least, most people still use AP instead of JGX or Perihelion respectively (more so with the latter after the nerf). TR does kind of use the kingsnake, but P120-AP prevails. - Construction: People just abuse it to make chokepoints hell (increased toxicity of the game). - The "Wrel Storm" from the Shattered Warpgate: Why ruin the fun? - The hardpoint system for Bastions: Why exacerbate the A2G unfairness? - The entire NSX weapon line: Most of those guns are annoying, subpar. - Power knives are subpar to stock knives now. Things that could have been addressed under him that weren't: - Vehicle traction over slopes. (All hills are still coated with soap) - Vehicles ejecting players underground on rough-enough terrain. - Fixing the vehicle physics. (Vehicles engage upwards thrusters on steep enough slopes). - Map revamps (All maps are custom built for A2G and Magriders, they all are chokepoints galore). - The removal of the lattice system. - Enable MBT pulling from all bases across all continents (you know..., like Indar?) - A2G balance, particularly Banshee/Airhammer/Light-PPA. - E540 Halberd being able to 1-shot Flak armor wearers. - How to prevent guys like me from putting tank mines down vehicle ramps. The stuff he got wrong far outweighs the stuff he got right, we call that a net negative. And that is irrespective of his efforts or intentions. Amen
With those facts which marked as "increased toxicity of the game" i do not agree. This brought diversity into the game. Also i would argue that using the word "toxic" in such context is a toxic idea. In the rest there are some facts with which I agree.
I personally think the Asp and Implant system turned the game upside down and ruined the class and spawn systems. I'd be happy to see the end of those and for some of the best impants (not op ones) to be worked into utility slots and such.
Could we have a Wrel Banner, pls? Nobody who hasn't worked as a professional game dev themselves could even fathom the amout of passion, dedication and energy Wrel must have put into this game. Agree or do not agree with his decisions - but this amout of work has to be respected by everyone. It has kept the game alive. (Not that I do not wholeheartedly despise a cloaked flash - but it constantly reminds my lazy, laid back engineer that there are snakes in the bushes). @Wrel: Farewell and Thank You!
There is a chance I labelled "toxic" that which bothers me (as being biased is part of being human), but make no mistake, things have synonyms. Diversity, ahem..., toxicity for its own sake is not a good idea. Consider Stalker Cloak and its most effective use cases: Terminal camping, bailing from aircraft to call Flail/Glaive/OS with zero risk, and otherwise inflating a factions' population metric by incentivizing hyper-passive gameplay. Do these "diverse" additions to PS2 make it more fun? My label of "toxic" was intended to highlight noticeable imbalances introduced to the game that steered the game away from a state of being fun. From one engineer to another: We're not in the business of simping, rather, that of problem solving (or in-game ammo giving).
Can’t say I’m sad. Yes he got too much blame for stuff. Even when he was just added to the team and couldn’t have done anything yet, he got blamed for everything bad with the next update. But he was in the lead while a lot of stuff happened. For example I proposed class-specific underbarrel grenade launchers for more than two years with the purpose of adding them to weapons that underperform to make them a better choice. then its added to a single SMG to sell it as a shiny. Or ANVIL’s which I proposed for three or four years as a method to give players in disadvantaged positions (say outnumbered) safer access to vehicles as they don’t have to use the ultra-exposed and campable vehicle terminals&vehicle pads. So its added as a shiny toy for outfits instead. Or I suggest a nanite costing tool for the Medic utility slot to provide more dynamic spawn options inside a base for both attack and defense rather than just from Sunderers and spawnbunkers, using this to simultaneously create player-made objectives to place, defend and destroy. So instead its turned into the Router as a shiny to keep selling construction when they remove HIVE’s. And that pretty much is a summary of Wrel’s time developing. Selling one-off shiny’s that draw people for a short time. Too little time spend on just design improvement, the idea’s that were added were completely stripped of the entire purpose of their design. Too much time spend on selling shiny’s. Too much focus on specific player subcategories like the ones who prefer “tactical” gameplay expressed in “region turns color”. Which they achieved by degrading defender capabilities to defend and actively destroying long high population fights like the Crown because people having fun there means the tacticool zerglings have less people to send into fights. There’s also designs that are so mind-bogglingly bad you wonder what they were doing. Like the Outfit updated that promised more teamwork than ever, but turned out to be doubling down on rewarding players for avoiding fights that can’t be steamrolled in minutes, zerging and griefing opposing players until they leave so you can turn a region your color. Its an FPS, even the original devs knew that they should create bases and designs that make sure players get into contact and have something to fight over instead of discouraging them to engage unless they are guaranteed to win. Or how about nerfing the Gauss SAW because a small amount of players in a non-live section of the game pick that particular faction, while leaving the Betelgeuse which has been overperforming in the actual real game by a mile for its entire existence. What I want his replacement to do is look at the game from a simple design perspective first. What causes problems, why is it a problem, how do I solve that, Spawncamping? Ok solve the way spawnbunkers are build. Aircraft controls? Makes no sense to keep this warped controlscheme, add options to pick controlschemes players are used too. Bases becoming a bit stale with always the same capture methods there? Add different capture modes that are randomly selected for each individual base upon the continent unlocking (you know, like was supposed to happen with CTF as I proposed it, but it was just added as a shiny). Infantry being the butt end of Aircraft and Vehicles? Introduce a nanites destroys nanites concept and give infantry more utilities that can protect against or engage them. Etc etc.
You labeled "toxic" (OP) those things about which you know almost nothing from the opposite side, having only your biased illusions with total delusion. Someone on youtube well said about "over power" in PS2: "If you think that something is OP, then just go try to play that "OP". And you will realize, that it's not OP at all." Those, who cries about "free kills" with AI turret - go and try to build good base with AI turret and get those "free kills". And I'll see how you succeed and how much times you will die on your dumb ANT trying to build that good base which will be able to withstand serious attacks and give you some "free kills". Also you must know, that only a very few of your good bases will get a real decent fights, so the rest of your bases will be just a waste of time. That's the reality but not somebody's baseless fantasy on PTS. For example i am the one, who constantly plays those things which you marked as "toxic". I am an avid builder. I'm one of the best top base builders in PS2. I have built hundreds of bases with AI turrets, one-way shields, invulnerable walls and buildings, Orbital Strikes etc. Also most of the time i play stalker cloaker (and capture point camping too ofcourse). Also i used cloaked ANTs and flashes when i need it. I have BR 120 (i stopped play in 2018 when they started nerf constructions and reinstalled the game just month ago to see how it's going now.) And guess what K/D ratio i have with those super-duper-mega-extra-OP for all the time in PS2? I have K/D ratio 0.78 (zero point seventy eight). That's the real OP for sure.
I agree 100% with this. I should have added just about all your critiques under my earlier list of "Things that went wrong under him"
In the order of your paragraphs: There is an obvious counter-example: A2G. The two-sidedness of "OP" does not apply to it. Anyhow, I don't want to play construction. That's what Minecraft proper is for. I get my free..., ahem,... "free" kills by placing 100-150 nanites worth of tank mines down vehicle ramps. Before I get called "toxic", know that this has a counter: Look at the *bleep* ramp before pulling vehicles. That is because of the lattice system. The game by design doesn't let the faction Zergs at the middle flank each other in the immediate vicinity. At best, you get 4 streams of opposing faction Zergs: VS vs.NC over their border, VS vs TR over their border, NC vs. TR over their border, and VS vs. NC vs.TR at the middle. Think of a toroidal pipe with a trifurcation at the center (i.e., a car's steering wheel), except that the game allows players to build bases in the voids of the steering wheel. Those bases don't get to see much action (no Zerg lurk there often). Bases built in the streams, well..., get Zerged to death. If these main streams were to be stratified (i.e., by eliminating this cursed lattice system) the 4 main Zergs get split into smaller squads that would fill the voids of this steering wheel. These smaller squads would be manageable by your bases and suddenly, minecraft becomes a viable option for the casual player, no more incessant (rather casual) traffic jams by the lego players who build at chokepoints. Pride. Skill issue? No offense. I've duked it out with players of all playstyles and I certainly have to adjust my gameplay in response to the presence of the good ones irrespective of their playstyle. Attaining BR 120 is a matter of time, not skill.
