News: Jimmy Whisenhunt AMA

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by whisenhunt

I HATE being patted on the back for doing next to nothing in games.

If I choose to run around holding 'w' and 'mouse1' I am rewarded by mowing down an entire army and some ludicrous XP bonus in my face with crazy sounds and praises... Sure you can play that way if you want, and you should be able to kill a few people. HOWEVER, I believe playing a more intelligent way should be more beneficial as an individual player, this includes better bursting, recoil control and movement and rewards situational awareness.

Name one multiplayer FPS where someone holding W + M1 would reliably do better than an intelligently played vet utilizing the same equipment.

The problem with calling types of play 'intelligent' is that what is a sound tactic and what is not differs greatly from game to game. Smart tactics in ArmaII would be completely worthless tactics in Tribes 2, and vice versa.

Bursting and recoil control, as such, are intelligent moves only if the game penalizes them. Not all games do so, including games that are considered highly skill based.

Oh, and regarding your remark on 'Watered down' fps mechanics of modern shooters.. Have you considered the idea that they're not, in fact, watered down, and instead just not what you prefer? Have you considered as well the idea that some may consider mechanics you prefer 'needlessly obtuse'?

[FlaxxBread]

can you share your feelings on the Infantry Movement speed in PS2?

I feel that in addition to spread and recoil increase, increased movement speed can significantly increase an FPS games skill cap by giving stronger players a greater ability to seek cover when under fire from a player with poor aim.
(and consequently a higher time to kill. where as a skilled player will be able to kill fast enough that this is not an issue.)

and will there be a difference in movment speed between classes (eg. light & heavy assult)

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Bursting and recoil control, as such, are intelligent moves only if the game penalizes them. Not all games do so, including games that are considered highly skill based.

Oh, and regarding your remark on 'Watered down' fps mechanics of modern shooters.. Have you considered the idea that they're not, in fact, watered down, and instead just not what you prefer? Have you considered as well the idea that some may consider mechanics you prefer 'needlessly obtuse'?

Tribes penalises automatic weapons with high TTK and very high movement speed, for a modern military shooter style of FPS he is ABSOLUTELY correct.

(PS1 also had relitivly high TTK compared to this game)

[SniperSteve]

What is your opinion of PS1 as a tactical shooter? Sure the netcode is bad, but how do you think the gameplay was?

[Otleaz]

What do you think about friendly collision?

With friendly collision on, hallways can actually "choke" you, forcing you to approach with a bit more tact than, "Throw everyone down the hallway and kill them". There is also a difficult to describe feeling you get with collision that maybe you can relate to. Your allies feel like they are actually there with you, whereas in a no collision game they feel like they feel like they are on a different plane of existence.

There are downsides too, such as those annoying situations where you get a face full of chest hair when you try to run away from a grenade, but who cares about that?

[Synnoc]

First, did you misspell "waver" and "principles" in your sig on purpose?

Second, how do you feel about using cone of fire to model bullet path uncertainty (the virtual impossibility in real-world conditions to put a bullet in the exact 1cm by 1cm box you're aiming at)? How about gun sway? Do you think uncertainty should be modelled at all?

[TAA]

I would just love to hear your comment on my views regarding TTK in FPS games.

My views are these:

• I believe that games with longer TTK favor different sets of skills to games with shorter TTK.
  
• Games with longer TTK are more rewarding to the individual skill of players.* It rewards players who are able to make headshots quickly and accurately. It makes it safer for players to cross open ground that is being covered by snipers, and safer for players to charge around a corner that is being guarded by the enemy. It is safer to do these things because less players are able to make the accurate headshots required to quickly put another player down. This promotes more aggressive play, where aggressiveness is defined as players being more willing to cross open ground or charge into guarded areas.
  
• Games with shorter TTK are more rewarding to teamwork.* If an entire squad can be gunned down by one person with a single assault rifle clip, then it is imperative that players move together in a more coordinated fashion. Infantry formations that minimize friendly fire and maximize arcs of fire on the enemy become more important. Crossing open ground that is covered by snipers requires assistance of cover (eg. smoke or friendly armor), or flanking maneuvers to take out entrenched enemy. Entering a room that is guarded by enemy requires techniques such as coordinated entry by a squad via multiple access points, or the use of grenades prior to entry.
  
• Games that have a TTK that is too low or too high are both frustrating to beginning players. If the TTK is too low the beginning player will get more kills, but they will be too hesitant to move into more dangerous areas lest they immediately die. If the TTK is too high then the beginning player will hardly ever win any close encounters, and will get frustrated when they empty half a clip or more into an enemy only to have them turn around and kill them.

* Note that high TTK also rewards smart play and team work, and low TTK also rewards individual skill - its just that in my view the sets of skills that are favored the most are different in both types of games.



From your experience, is this an accurate view of TTK in games? If not then why not?

[SurgeonX]

Hey Jimmy, cheers for doing this AMA.
Really glad SOE are paying this much attention to gun mechanics by appointing you.

More than any other weapon types, I love using anti-vehicular weaponry, and in particular those that require skill to use effectively.
Over the years I've noticed a trend in gaming towards implementing lock-on mechanics for these kinds of weapons, which I feel make it too easy to get kills as well as ultimately make them less fun.

The Lancer from PlanetSide and the SRAW from BF2 and BC2 (wire guided) are two of my favourite ever weapons because they are difficult to use, but very satisfying to get kills with.
You have to lead the target effectively with the Lancer.
And the wire guided mechanic from earlier BF games makes getting a kill from the top of a hill on a fast moving target the most amazing feeling.

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this, and what you feel you could help with on PS2 to realise weapons that require these levels of skill?

Cheers.

[VaderShake]

Jimmy,

For FPS gamers coming into PS2 that are used to "rounds ending" and seeing where they washed out or getting the emotional expiriencing of "winning/losing" every 10-40 minutes what do you think PS2 will offer them satisfaction wise to keep them coming back? What sort of emotional expiriences will PS2 offer to fill the "winning/losing" void?(for the love of all that is holy "unlocks" is not an acceptable answer)

Also...

Can you give me a sense of the effective distance for assault rifles in game and what range infantry combat will take place. For example in BF3 most gun fights happen inside 100 meters in COD....well very close, with the scale of PS2 what is the effective engagement range?

[Hamma]

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions from the community Jimmy! Going to have allot of reading to do when you wake up this morning

[Top Sgt]

J,

Thanks for doing this AMA and also big thanks for coming to out TRG stream last night and showing US TR some Dev love.

We got your back.. and the beta key's given out was a nice touch.

I am glad SOE hired you and if you ever need anything just holla at us over at TRG we got you!.

[Flanlord]

How closely are the damage numbers being balanced? ...Which... I should probably expand on.

I've been assuming that overall weapon DPS should be basically the same for every faction. We saw the chart a while back with the rate of fire, accuracy, damage etc. ( http://i.imgur.com/VUXMg.jpg ) Looking at this chart, I have to wonder about the exact damage balance numbers in terms of hits per kill for both NC and VS, as this suggests to me that TR will have the lowest effective TTK as a result of lowest overkill per target (assuming all the same accuracy %s on players.)

So, I guess my series of questions (which, you don't have to answer, obviously) becomes the following.

From a design/theory standpoint, how much does a TTK equation mean to you as part of balance considerations when the factions have different weapons? TTK = DxRoFxT/HP? I'm super embarrassed that I don't have this memorized, and not awake enough to piece it together. (Here's a guy who didn't realize he was trying to have a variable on both sides of the same equation.) DxRoF = DPS x T = Total Damage "Time to kill is how long it takes to kill a person with a weapon." (TTK = H-DPS/T)?

How do you, as someone who is very familiar with competitive FPS gaming consider things like pillar humping (ducking out of LoS while reloading or waiting for the next shot on slow firing weapons, unsure of the terminology) with set weapon variations like we see in the chart above? Particularly given the structures we saw in PS1, it seems like VS and NC can put those skills to great use, while TR will suffer for having an inconsistent target.

I just read the above and felt somewhere between a nerd and an @#&!@#&, so I'll include other questions!

Do you have a specific outfit you're planning on rolling with when PS2 goes live? (As well as beta I suppose.)

Because I'm sure this will all be PS2 or your eSports career related... I will ask the 4 questions that will tell you everything you need to know about a person.

Boxers, briefs, thongs, commando, if you had to describe the cloth covering your junk with one word, what would it be?

You can drink 2 liquids for the rest of your life, what are they?

Favorite movie/television/video game villain? (+Why?)

Fictional character you've felt most attached to emotionally? (+Why?)

Because it is way too early, and I'm already certain you and anybody else reading this post will hate me already a brain teaser! - Can you describe (objectively) the rate at which you perceive time with the assumption that it is not the same as the person you are describing it to? (Note that this makes a lot of things subjective, in case that wasn't obvious.)


Thanks for doing an AMA - feel free to answer all, any, or none of these questions. I've watched a lot of your videos and casting, and am super excited to see you become part of the PS2 team!

As a reward for reading this far - #musictoblowthingsupto
As a reward for everyone else who isn't Jimmy - 2AMN-AR9G-73H2-3JAD-APDD (Please PM Me when you use it.)

[berzerkerking]

What faction are you playing?(I'm assuming you have)

[KaB]

Originally Posted by Kujo

What do you think of the lack of animations for getting in or out of vehicles/aircraft. Also, can people switch positions in their vehicles without getting out at all? If so, how do you feel about that?

Id like this question to be answered.

What about vehicles' ammo ? Will they be limited like in PS1 ?

We used to see one seat tanks in the videos, allowing the players to drive and to shoot at the same time. Wont it hurt the teamplay and the game's experience ? Planetside without teamplay is probably nothing good.

[CrystalViolet]

Planetside 2's weapons are ballistic based and have a longer TTK than CS. How does this effect the goal for the feel of each gun compared to the precision hitscan weapons of other more familiar games.

[Geist]

In your opinion, do the Empire's specialties of Armor/Alpha(NC), Speed/RoF(TR), and Accuracy/Maneuverability(VS), lend themselves well to balance?

You've made the TR proud, Loyalty until Death!!!