News: Jimmy Whisenhunt Joins PlanetSide 2 Team

[Sledgecrushr]

Originally Posted by Higby

Good question Miir. We have pretty solid feeling base mechanics right now, and all the tools necessary to create great feeling gunplay. We also have several of types of weapons with dozens of variants each to differentiate, tune and balance, throw on top of that the customizations that affect weapon feeling and you're talking about a tremendous amount of work, so 1) we needed the additional manpower, and 2) we wanted to have someone with a lot of experience with gunplay in a variety of games to help us get them feeling better faster.

Adding Whisenhunt to the team could only be described by me as visionary. The fact that he doesnt have any PS1 experience means he will have a clean perspective. Whisenhunts is an absolute expert in the fps genre and as a fan I couldnt be happier with this addition to the team. Give us great guns and precise movement Whisenhunt. You now have the opportunity to help steer a game that could bring in billions of dollars a year for the next decade. Good luck brother.

[Miir]

Originally Posted by Higby

Good question Miir. We have pretty solid feeling base mechanics right now, and all the tools necessary to create great feeling gunplay. We also have several of types of weapons with dozens of variants each to differentiate, tune and balance, throw on top of that the customizations that affect weapon feeling and you're talking about a tremendous amount of work, so 1) we needed the additional manpower, and 2) we wanted to have someone with a lot of experience with gunplay in a variety of games to help us get them feeling better faster.

Thanks for clarifying. Will this affect the start of beta? or will anything he finds just be tweaks and balances that will be tested during beta?

Originally Posted by Notser

Why are you up at 6 in the morning on a saturday!?

I was wondering that too... I think he sleeps with his phone or something. :P

[mbarrett]

Originally Posted by Miir

Thanks for clarifying. Will this affect the start of beta? or will anything he finds just be tweaks and balances that will be tested during beta?



I was wondering that too... I think he sleeps with his phone or something. :P

of course it will effect the beta , to be honest none of the developers should have said the beta was going to be in a few weeks when it is clearly not ready for beta yet

[ZeroOneZero]

Congrats SOE! And welcome aboard Whisenhunt, it's good to know that we'll have an expert that will be dealing with PS2 weapon mechanics. I prefer CS weapons recoil,sounds, and feel than any other fps game out there. Once again, congrats and welcome to the loving PS2 community :P.

[IMMentat]

never heard of him, watched a copuple of his vlogs, live to tape but keeps to the point and stays focussed, i like.

[Higby]

Originally Posted by Miir

Thanks for clarifying. Will this affect the start of beta? or will anything he finds just be tweaks and balances that will be tested during beta?

It won't delay the start of beta. He's still got to move out here and get settled in, so he's not even full time on the team for a couple weeks at least. You'll see him (along with the rest of our weapons team) tuning and refining the gunplay throughout beta and beyond.

[demonicale]

Originally Posted by Higby

It won't delay the start of beta. He's still got to move out here and get settled in, so he's not even full time on the team for a couple weeks at least. You'll see him (along with the rest of our weapons team) tuning and refining the gunplay throughout beta and beyond.

And we all can't wait to help too

[Miir]

Originally Posted by Higby

It won't delay the start of beta. He's still got to move out here and get settled in, so he's not even full time on the team for a couple weeks at least. You'll see him (along with the rest of our weapons team) tuning and refining the gunplay throughout beta and beyond.

Concerns dispelled. I'll go back to starring at my inbox waiting for that email.

[RedKnights]

Originally Posted by whisenhunt

Thanks! Excited to see passion in the community, I hope in the next weeks to get more out concerning what I do and my feelings on game mechanics =)

We have a lot in common (myself and this community) it seems when it comes down to game play decisions and passion.

PS: The reason I started my podcasts and shows is to promote change against the watered down systems we have in most modern day FPS.

Hmmmm...

I like him, I'll take two.

But seriously it's someone like this that need to be on the team, there need to be a lot of elements to the game to make it more interesting, the EXACT thing he said about SC2.

Weren't we all whining that PS2 was being dumbed down? This guy knows what is up.

[Tatwi]

Who? Sorry, I've always thought "professional gaming" was ridiculous so I don't know who Jimmy (or anyone else into those things for that matter) is. But it's always nice to have new, dedicated people around, so congratulations Jimmy.

Have fun storming the castle!

[JHendy]

Originally Posted by whisenhunt

The reason I started my podcasts and shows is to promote change against the watered down systems we have in most modern day FPS.

I have a good feeling about Jimmy being on-board, having just watched a few of his videos.

Games designed entirely around the premise of maximising accessibility-by lowering entry thresholds and even in some cases imposing artificial limiters on players to stop those dedicated from significantly outplaying the majority- have been the bane of my life for the past five-odd years now.

Just make sure you keep your ethos strong and at heart as you move forward professionally, Jimmy.

I'd be yelling "SOE, hire this man!!!!" If they hadn't already done so. Good stuff.

[BillyBob]

Originally Posted by zomg

If you are concerned about this guy, just go watch the vids about the recoil stuff, particularily the response vid.

I mean he knows what he's talking about.

It's not about making the game feel like CS. It's about making the game reward skillful play.

Oh, really? After watching that video here's basically the impression I got from it:

1. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to CS.

2. He knows about rewarding skillful play in CS.

3. He's extremely CS-biased.

4. He's under the impression that CS skill is the very definition of FPS skill.

Ironically, to some of us CS is considered to be one of the most dumbed-down FPS games out there.

Ergo, skill is relative.

In other words: Just because you can't handle not being able to move with surgical precision (as you obviously can't IRL, let alone with equipment and weapon) or not be able to cope with some random elements (which also occur IRL), does not mean there aren't people who have the proper SKILLS required to do so.

See what I did there?

Skill. Is. Relative.

On a serious and CS-related note however; firing from the hip as in CS should NOT under ANY circumstances be as viable as ADS (Aiming Down Sights) on anything but the very closest ranges (5-10 meters tops)...or PS2 would as far as I'm concerned effectively have become CS in space.

I don't know about you, but that's definitely NOT of any interest to me.

That said, welcome to Jimmy and good luck on your new job!

/BB

[Captain1nsaneo]

This will be interesting to see how it pans out. The sheer scale of PS makes turning it for fun and competitive play difficult (as in its never been done before and there is nothing to compare to or take lessons from). Looking forward to seeing what solutions you help bring about.

[Karma]

Welcome to the community dude.

I’ve just spent the past couple hours checking out your videos on YouTube and am really impressed. You give nice & simple examples to backup your opinions for game improvements which all seem to just make sense.

Hope to see more of the same for PS2.

[Vancha]

Originally Posted by BillyBob

Skill. Is. Relative.

I really hope you aren't a medical/architectural/culinary professional.