VRML Pre-Season 2 Briefing
Hello everyone! Welcome to the inaugural debut of the Breachers VRML weekly briefing! It’s hard to believe it, but season 2 is already starting up this Monday, and stakes have never been higher! With the announcement of VRML Con 2024, and the highly coveted reward of the top two teams having their accommodations paid for, the race is on for our players and their teams to reach the top. Who will win the grand prize and walk away with an amazing opportunity to play live in Denver this July? We here at the VRML staff are excited to find out alongside you. From the VRML team to all participating players and teams: we wish you all good luck!
- Where we Left Off:
In case you’re joining us for the first time this season, or if you need a refresher, season 1 ended with an incredible conclusion delivered by our teams in the postseason. It wasn’t easy for anyone, but here are the three champions (and their runner’s up) for each respective region:
- North America (NA):
Champion: AESIR
Second Place: Formula 3
Third Place: Eternity
- Europe (EU):
Champions: .COM
Second Place: Cheeki Breachi
Third Place: Blaze EU
- Asia/Oceania (APAC):
Champions: 7DS
Second Place: Hybrid
Third Place: IMOOGI
Now that the stakes are higher than ever before, it looks like our champs have quite the target painted on their backs. All of our new teams should keep something in mind though: these teams are the champions because they are the best, and they won’t go down easy! Both AESIR and 7DS are two-time champions with no plans of stopping anytime soon. Be prepared to bring 110% of your abilities to battle if you want to take their throne away!
- Roster Report:
The conclusion of season 1 brings many changes to the Breacher VRML community, and we have seen quite a few MASSIVE roster changes that you can be sure will make the season 2 grind very fun to watch! Let’s take a look at some of the biggest roster changes that have taken place during the offseason, starting with individual player moves:
- Angel—> ASP3CT
- Old Gravy —> ASP3CT
- Berserk —> Ringer
- dest —> (Left AESIR)
- Beastark —> AESIR
- GOOBLIN —> Velocity EU
- Kai —> Wicked
There have been some big team changes as well. Here are four of the most important
- Rolex —> Disbands
- Formula 3 —> Disbands
- Olympus —> Forms
- Fusion —> Forms
There are countless changes that happen on a daily basis in #roster-updates, so keep an eye out for future changes that may be included in one of these articles!
- From the Teams:
For this next segment, we’ve gone ahead and asked some of the top teams in each region this question:
“How did you spend your time during the offseason? Have you been practicing for season 2 at all? If so, how?”
- NA:
- Indomitable-Crimson: “I restructured my team from the ground up. We are coming back better and stronger than ever. Season two will end with us at the top.”
- Wicked- Shleepy Penguin: “I've spent my offseason trying to work on myself to make myself the best example for my team to follow. I play bmm and aim train in control points daily. I have also been spending time coaching my teammates in scrims to try to get them to use their heads more. S2 is looking promising for Wicked.”
- ASP3CT- RipTheCord:”Our off-season has consisted of rebuilding, reimage and putting our best effort forward for the new season. We feel our failures were our greatest successes. We are ready for a great season. A3 on top.”
- EU:
- Velocity EU- vrfloopy: “During off season a lot of our players weren't available because they were either focusing on life or on holiday, so we've mostly been working on everybody's roles and looking at where we went wrong in season one, we've been practicing for season 2 by scrimming as much as we can and also trying out new players while also working on the reputation of players already on the team.”
- .COM- Lama DK: “I played as many scrims as possible to hope and improve, so we can hopefully win S2 as well. As well as going through the tryouts to get a full roster again.”
- Cheeki Breachi- Beemo: “So for our off season we've been trying to fill gaps in our team. We've had a few people leave for various reasons, so we've been scrimming a fair bit to try and get some applicants tested etc. So yeah, just [a] fair bit of scrimming.
Of course, as the mods are aware, I've personally also spent the off-season performing my duties of debating with as many people as I possibly can in the VRML discord. Blackcat wanted me to pass on what he's been doing in the off season: He has finished redecorating his bathroom.”
- APAC:
- 7DS- McMuffinator: “We've spent our off season not doing much, just scrimming occasionally. No trainings or anything like that.”
- Hybrid- EBOB: "We sorta just enjoying life at the moment and come back for VRML and will grind for competitive update. Most of my team is diamond or higher so they just don’t see a point in playing regularly anymore."
- On a More Serious Note:
With the start of season 2 upon us, the VRML has been taking steps to ensure a safe and secure environment for all of its participants. Following a recent spike in the number of users banned for cheating, a recording mandate has been put in place by the VRML league moderators. Here is a comment directly from that announcement by league manager Frosty:
“To facilitate this new requirement, we will be providing detailed specifications tailored for each platform - PCVR, PSVR2, Oculus, and Quest Native. Additionally, comprehensive tutorials will be made available to guide you through the processes of recording or streaming your gameplay, as well as instructions for uploading your files appropriately. We understand that this may represent a change in how many of you are accustomed to participating in our league. However, we believe this step is crucial for maintaining the integrity of our competitions and providing a level playing field for all competitors.”
This new mandate follows two other rule related announcements made during the week, with the first being about changes to the calendar:
- Challenges will now be disabled during the last two weeks of the season.
- Roster lock will be enforced during the final two weeks of the season as well.
The second announcement is in relation to ‘playspacing’, and how the VRML will no longer make rulings concerning it. League moderator Freqk goes into more detail in his announcement:
“For Season 2 of Breachers x VRML, it has been decided by the moderation team that we will no longer be making rulings and enforcements regarding play-spacing. For those who don't know what this is, it is the combined movement between physical, real life movements, and in-game, digital movements, such as physically stepping to the right while simultaneously holding your movement stick to the right, resulting in a movement speed above the natural limit of the game. This decision has been reached after careful deliberation with team captains. Along with our discourse with Captains, Triangle Factory has been making improvements to their game to make the effects of play-spacing dramatically less than it was when we launched Breachers x VRML, and additionally, due to the extremely difficult nature to provide a solid line on what is and isn't play-spacing, and where it has and hasn't happened, we are removing the rulings in order to also remove the mass confusion around our play-spacing rules, as they very rarely have been reported/escalated. This will also help us to remove a rule that would result in highly subjective enforcements.”
(Reminder that the rules for competitive play in Breachers VRML may be accessed at any time by heading to https://vrmasterleague.com/Breachers/Rules)
- Wrapping Up:
Well, it looks like our time is just about up! On behalf of everyone at the VRML, we once again wish all of our teams and players good luck on their season 2 journey! Remember that anything can happen in Breachers, and teams that stick together and work together will have a very good chance at winning and moving on to the finals! Most importantly though, remember to have fun, and don’t forget to buy breaching foam!
- Before you go, check out these other cool events:
- NightFiree on the Between Realities podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdT7TXiWUhI
- VRML Con 2024 Official Website:
https://vrmasterleague.com/VRMLCon
- Breacher Charity Clash Discord Server: