Farewell & Hello - Breaking Brad

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 11:08 AMBreaking Brad

Hello COH2.org I had to make a new account because my existing one got canned for some reason....

This also might be a little late I guess I forgot to announce that I was going to announce something..

If you don't know who I am the former Balance Designer at Relic. As I will not go into the details about my departure know that I still hold tremendous respect for my former colleagues that still work there.

For those who don't know, I've worked at Relic for the last 7 years of my life starting when I was 19 and fresh out of Secondary education. Previously recruited at the WCG qualifiers for WC3 back in the day by a former Balance Manager I worked my through the design discipline throughout the years. I've learned a lot through my years workings on vCOH, DOW2, COH2 and (actually) i'm quite happy to have met many great people in the community throughout that. I will always remember playing many games under different ID's against the likes of Sepha, IplayForKeeps, Raz0r, and other STGfanboys in vCOH, Playing on the mainstage of WCG China for COHO, Many casts with Harlquine and Shalasay as well as DOW2 games with Caeltos and last but not least el rekt training with Dusty, Luvnest and Lemon. Also if you didnt know I was iNNovation, IIIIIIIII, FeelsBadMan, and Brian on COH2. (Honorable mentions to RTN fanboys as well) As much as I was a dev I was a gamer at heart who loved playing all the games that I worked on and I will continue to play them.

Those asking what am I doing now? Well I finally have a break for the first time in 7 years as I never really took an extended vacation during my time at Relic. I'm gonna just chill play some games travel etc.

Now that that's off my chest the main reason why I wanted to make this post is that if there are going to be any future balance patches here is my wishlist that's been on my mind especially since the last patch hit.

MY LAST PATCH WHISHLIST.

LMG/Bars
To reduce lmg blobing and to make these weapons have some trade off as you will now be locked into only this one weapon and cannot pick up any more.

• slot size increased to 2

OKW Panzershreck

This will allow vehicles to kite the pansershrecks which will effectively kill any panzershreck blob because 1 vehicle kitting back will be able to counter this now. You may not agree but I believe that having shrecks on volks give the race flavor and allows OKW to be aggressive

• Reduce Panzershreck range by 5

OKW Trucks

Adding side upgrades to help balance out economy spending for OKW

• Medics gated behind forward reinforce upgrade (same cost)
  
• Engineers gated behind an upgrade (50 munitions)

OKW Flak Emplacement
I know this is pretty low priority but if you ever get a chance to put this in please do

• Compare the stats with the bofors and meet halfway
  
• make non snipeable

OKW Flak halftrack
Add AOE suppression so the flak halftrack can actually handle infantry swarming

• Add AOE suppression

T34
Increase penetration so it can actually kill tanks when it swarms in and buff its coxial so it can threaten infantry.

• Increase close range penetration
  
• Buff Coaxial gun

Maxim

I think the maxim was overnerfed to neveruse again town where some of the biggest issues where even if you flanked it would be able to readjust way too quickly and also once it was put in a building it lost its previous weakness of having a limited firing arc and since buildings are so key in this game it just adds insult to injury.

• Increase setup time by 1 second (ONLY this one nerf)
  
• Retain reduce ARC inside buildings

Partisan
Adding a cooldown on start prevents instant vehicle death cheese.

• AT Nade starts on a cooldown

Counter Battery
This now will add most decision making to having the ability on instead of fire and forget. This will now stack as well so if you have both 25lb active you will now not only have production disable but you can have up to 30% reduce munition income which will hinder a lot of ability usage.

• Now reduces total munition income 15% and will stack.

Bofors
Biggest problem with the bofors is that this ability counters mortars and AT guns things that are suppose to counter it.

• Suppression barrage removed, and replaced with passive suppression on the gun.

Tommy Building
Think the biggest issue was that you could use 3 tommies to instant build a bofors and then the opponent would literally have no way to stop you cause you would instant build it. Regular build time though is pretty reasonable. I think the 30 seconds was an overnerf.

• Can only construct one structure at a time (power building removed) (live nerf reverted)

Improved Fortification:
Revert the change as i don't think there was an issue with that specific upgrade. Counter Barrage is really the main issue + the bofors counter ability

Howitzer
This is something I've wanted to at least try out to reduce the investment but promote more forward placing and could produce some interesting gameplay.

• Range reduced by 40%
  
• Cost reduced by 40%

Penals:
I honestly think they just need a slight damage increase to make them viable combat units

• Increase damage of rifles by 2

Ostruppen
The instant reinforce is literally so stupid

• Increase reinforce time by like 20%

Rapid Conscription and Relief Infantry
Low Key OP ability thing literally last forever

• Reduce duration of this ability to like 45 seconds

Anyways now that I am just a community keyboard warrior I hope Relic will take a look at this and consider some of these changes for the future.

I'll occasional pop in threads and try to help out with modder questions.

I know not everybody may have agree with some of my balance choices but know that I actually really cared a lot about this game and still do or I wouldn't be posting this.

My time as a developer has ended but I will continue as a member of this community. Find me on Lemon stream late at night when we play 2v2s.

Again I wish all the best to the rest of guys as well rest of the people at relic.

EDIT: if someone wants to fix my formatting for me thanks lol I have no idea why its all shifted.

Goodbye to Dev Brad Hello To Community Brad.
Braden Chan // Breaking Brad

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 15:44 PMAerohank

I don't see why my post had to be invised. When some rank 5000 player makes balance suggestions, no moderator is going to invis a post calling him out on his low rank and that he should not be making suggestions. With Brads track record of horrible, horrible balancing skills, I don't see why he should receive any kind of special protection over other people.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 15:51 PMHelpingHans

Hey Brad welcome back to the community. I can see your heart is in the right place but please could you honestly answer this: why after time and time again were new commanders released in a broken state? Such units like ass grens, ass engs and the tiger ace etc were practically broken upon release. Why was this? Surely it must have been to make people buy them? It appeared as though they had not been tested at all.

I know you have said I have had opportunities to help with the balancing in the past but for some reason these balance changes were locked behind NDA and therefore I couldn't stream it. This still seems incredibly bizarre and if Relic ever did remove this NDA I would happily help out with future patches. I think it would encourage more people to stay with the game if people could really see what balance changes were being made live. Just my two cents.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:09 PMBreaking Brad

your still hold a salty about that time i literally stomped you with 4 kubels right? Sorry brah

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:09 PMBreaking Brad

your still hold a salty about that time i literally stomped you with 4 kubels right? Sorry brah

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:20 PMAerohank

Nah fam. I don't hold any grudges against you. But I am not going to ignore how bad at your job you were. Things like the broken tiger ace and the OKW shwerer crush truck were all released under your watch. I am honestly surprised they did not kick you to the curb long before with your poor job performance. Some community members made a lot better balance mods than you ever did, and they even did it for free and within short time spans.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:25 PMNapalm

Brad and Aero should 1v1 for honor. This could be like a big title fight. Anybody want to put some money on the line?

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:20 PMAerohank

Nah fam. I don't hold any grudges against you. But I am not going to ignore how bad at your job you were. Things like the broken tiger ace and the OKW shwerer crush truck were all released under your watch. I am honestly surprised they did not kick you to the curb long before with your poor job performance. Some community members made a lot better balance mods than you ever did, and they even did it for free and within short time spans.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:27 PMBreaking Brad

You literally flip flop more than Hilary Clinton.

Your just a bad player who is salty that a former dev smashed you. I say that objectively

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:27 PMBreaking Brad

You literally flip flop more than Hilary Clinton.

Your just a bad player who is salty that a former dev smashed you. I say that objectively

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:30 PMAerohank

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. This includes you. Even you managed to fix the broken call-in meta after... how long? A year? Good job mate. Be proud.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:35 PMBreaking Brad

Didnt do that bad of a job since your still playing the game right? But hey its your opinion i guess and you can live in a world of arrogance telling yourself that.


You can try to justify and hide your bias against me personally but its pretty clear where this is all coming from fam.

But its really ok for every loss in this game you can always look to a picture of me and say that it the only reason you lost was because of me.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:35 PMBreaking Brad

Didnt do that bad of a job since your still playing the game right? But hey its your opinion i guess and you can live in a world of arrogance telling yourself that.


You can try to justify and hide your bias against me personally but its pretty clear where this is all coming from fam.

But its really ok for every loss in this game you can always look to a picture of me and say that it the only reason you lost was because of me.

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 11:08 AMBreaking Brad

LMG/Bars
To reduce lmg blobing and to make these weapons have some trade off as you will now be locked into only this one weapon and cannot pick up any more.

• slot size increased to 2

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 11:08 AMBreaking Brad

OKW Trucks
Adding side upgrades to help balance out economy spending for OKW

• Medics gated behind forward reinforce upgrade (same cost)
  
• Engineers gated behind an upgrade (50 munitions)

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 11:08 AMBreaking Brad

OKW Flak Emplacement
I know this is pretty low priority but if you ever get a chance to put this in please do[/i

• Compare the stats with the bofors and meet halfway
  
• make non snipeable

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:27 PMBreaking Brad

Your just a bad player who is salty that a former dev smashed you. I say that objectively

Jump back to quoted post21 Apr 2016, 22:43 PMnee

As for modder quetsions here's one: can or why cannot we use WFA soundtrack in mod maps? Love the music but hate how you can only get them when playing the WFA maps. Even some Ardennes Assault maps don't have the WFA soundtrack.