APB: Finally, I Can Be A PUNK!

[Mrbloodworth]

Upgrades in APB are a really contentious issue. We see plenty of criticism from you guys in the community that they really unbalance the game. Some people think they should be removed entirely and others think the system is okay as it is and players should “just out-skill them”. We think we can come up with a few critical additions that change the nature of upgrades in the game so they are less overpowered and at the same time more useful.

The Problem

Upgrades and in particular combinations of Upgrades significantly alter weapon balance. The key culprits seem to be:

    * ‘Savage’ and ‘Spray and Pray’ on the weapons.
    * ‘Monolith’ and ‘Survivor’ on the characters.

Almost all characters that can, run with these Upgrades equipped. Not only does it create balance issues it also means some of the other Upgrades tend not to get a look in.

The Beta players will also remember the old values for Upgrades. They were much more powerful! We made them considerably weaker for launch and this has had a positive effect in retaining more game balance. It’s not solved the problem though as the feedback has shown. We need to do more. So what will we do about it?

The Proposed Solution

We are currently discussing grouping Upgrades together into several categories as well as adding in a more Upgrades to increase player choice.

Upgrade categories will prevent less desirable choices being made. You will have to choose between ‘Savage’ or ‘Spray and Pray’ but cannot equip both. This effectively lowers the advantage that can be gained through statistical increases. It also means players will get to choose Upgrades from the other categories which should promote a more nuanced, less power-hungry approach to Upgrade selection. The exact design of this system is still being decided upon although it’s likely we’ll include a couple of specialist categories and allow you to equip a number of generic Upgrades.

We are also coming up with a range of new Upgrades to add into the game. Our primary focus is to give our community new tactical tools rather than straight statistical benefits. These will fit into the group categories so that player choice will be more interesting still. Will you take the added power of ‘Savage’ or an Upgrade that enables you and your team to get the drop on your opponent? On top of this we’re looking at new Upgrades to deal with some common complaints around LTL weapons and new Upgrades for our jazzed up Combat experience.

We’ll continue to expand the range of available Upgrades in the future to allow players to further refine their tactical toolbox.

Other Concerns

What do we do with old weapons? At the moment we are considering a few options. Preset weapons will be automatically adjusted but the community have a large number of custom weapons already. Our current thoughts are along the lines of:

    * Grandfather them in so there will always be a pool of increasingly rare ‘uber’-guns available. This is obviously unfair to players without these guns but is the smallest change we could possibly make.
    * Pop out the upgrades back into the players’ inventory and let them rebuild those weapons. There are a number of technical issues with the Locker size that make this a tricky proposition and it might be a headache for you to do.
    * Remove all Upgrades from your customised weapons and give you the cash equivalent. This lets you re-buy the Upgrades that you actually need as well as purchase a few new ones. It also stops you being left out of pocket or forced into lots of fiddling about selling old Upgrades and buying new ones.

I’ll be answering questions so don’t be shy.

Linky.

[UnSub]

The problem was (at least back in beta) is that upgrades are all upsides. Upgrades needed to have a balance of positive and negative factors that made them tactical choices rather than obvious selections, otherwise you end up with those with upgrades pretty much always winning over those who don't have them.

[Mrbloodworth]

Yep, I would also prefer the pro/con system. However I can see where they are going with this, and it is a better idea than the current by a long shot. Many players are suggesting the upside/downside system to go with it.

[Threash]

It would make perfect sense, faster firing rate should come with lowered accuracy for example, higher damage with lowered range, bigger clips with smaller clip size, etc.

[Mrbloodworth]

Greetings residents of San Paro!

In the continuing spirit of open communication, we wanted to let you all know about our imminent plans for a Buddy Key program.


THE BASICS

Participation allows you to invite a friend to temporarily join you on the streets of San Paro, for free. If they end up buying APB: All Points Bulletin we will give you 400 Realtime Worlds Points – equivalent to 30 days unlimited Gametime! The Points will get credited directly to the referrer’s account, with a minimum turnaround of 48 hours.

We will shortly be launching the first phase, which is open to anyone who has purchased additional Gametime. If you have paid for any amount of unlimited access (30/60/120 days) or 20 extra hours, expect an e-mail to arrive shortly (and don’t forget to check your Spam folder just in case).

And yes, this does mean that anyone buying Gametime DURING the first phase, right up until it ends, will also get a mail including a Buddy Key. But make sure your friend redeems it before the deadline of midnight GMT / 7pm EST on Sunday 8th August, or they’ll miss their chance!

In your e-mail will be a special key with instructions for redemption. Forward this e-mail to a friend, and he or she will be able to register for a free account, linked to yours, which gets 7 hours of Action District Gametime that can be used over a 5 day period. This is counted from the moment they redeem their Buddy Key. It’s a great chance for them to get a taste of San Paro’s fast-paced action!


THE NITTY GRITTY

During or after the trial period, your buddy can choose to purchase a retail copy of APB from the Store or other available channels, apply that retail key, and upgrade their account - meaning he or she gets to keep their character’s customization, progression, and all associated information, including remaining Gametime. As a bonus, if they convert to a retail account we will give you 400 RTW Points!

However, please note that a Buddy Key can only be used to create a new account, and cannot be applied to an existing account (including Closed Beta and Key to the City). A Buddy account cannot redeem any other type of product key (such as Points or Rewards) until they have upgraded to a full retail account. This offer is currently only open in North America and Europe.

Also note that participation in this initial phase will be tracked so that as we expand the Buddy program with additional benefits, those already participating will also reap the rewards.

Please look for more news about later phases of this program in the coming weeks.

See you on the streets of San Paro!

The APB Team

Linky.

[WayAbvPar]

So- do you actually draw a salary from RTW?

[Mrbloodworth]

Yes, and Turbine, and SOE, and any other development house that makes a game I am currently playing and posting development items about.

Oh, and Highrez studios too.

Jealous?

[LK]

I think the difference between this and other games where he would continually update people is that this game isn't particularly good for most people.

[Azazel]

So- do you actually draw a salary from RTW?

Leave him alone. He just appreciates all the hard work that goes into games more than you do.

[WayAbvPar]

That must be what it is. I am such a hard hearted bastard to even think that every single feature of every single game that comes out is perfectly designed and balanced. Thanks for setting me straight.

[Mrbloodworth]

Wow, I'm falling for the trolling, but the last two posts are a huge misrepresentation of anything I have ever said on thees forums. 

Oh well I guess. Do we need to hug this out or something?

[LK]

Games take a lot of work, but expecting to get praised for subpar work tarnishes the efforts of people who actually do pull off great things with the time, talent, and money they invested into the product.

[Azazel]

That's a bit retarded guys. Not sure how you could even come to such a conclusion if you bothered to read my postings. Its true, I am perhaps more optimistic than most about any game, I just happen to appreciate things differently, and perhaps simply appreciate the work that goes into titles more than you.

Wow, I'm falling for the trolling, but the last two posts are a huge misrepresentation of anything I have ever said on thees forums.  

You're right. it's all my fault. I apologise for completely misrepresenting you so badly. You've never posted anything even vaguely like what I insinuated.
 

[Trippy]

Cut it out you two.

[Azazel]

You three?

[Margalis]

It's my experience that most developers are only able to see things from the perspective of developers and not from that of consumers.

[TripleDES]

So I hear, player population dropped due to the lag fuck-ups caused by enabling Punkbuster. RTW now fixed this by disabling PB again and inviting the cheaters back in.

Hilarious as shit.

[Threash]

Each district can only hold 80 players so as long as the population doesn't fall below that it doesn't affect the players, the lag was making the game a lot worse than the hackers (i still think thats more of a handy "i lost" excuse than a real problem, i've put in hundreds of hours into this and there has only been one instance were i thought someone was hacking rather than being better or having better weapons).

[Kageru]

The highly instanced model might protect the immediate gaming experience from population collapse but that's little comfort when the company folds or downgrades support for the game. This lunacy (they didn't even test PB during beta?) is costing them population they desperately need to expand the game. And now they have two options of allowing cheating or lag the servers out both of which are no-win situations.

[Furiously]

I'm curious why companies don't just do a statistical analysis on the accuracy of each player. If it turns out someone never misses, maybe they need a little vacation. Seems like it would be easier to find cheating through numbers than trying to stay one step ahead of the cheater programs.

[UnSub]

They did test PB during beta - it kept kicking people incorrectly (and possibly causing lag) so they turned it off.

Monitoring accuracy could work, but what should the warning accuracy level be? What's the chance of a false positive that ends up kicking off a good player? Plus how long before a cheater gets caught versus how many people does he piss off in the meantime?

There needs to be a mix of systems, together with human oversight, but it just gets too expensive. Which is why APB ended up with PB.

[Der Helm]

So I finally managed to get the "Undertaker" SMG.... now I have to grind to get to  ranking 100 to use it ? What a retarded system. 

So. How do I get from rank 50 to rank 100 ?

[Mrbloodworth]

Advancing Contacts.

[Threash]

And roles and achievements i believe.  I never had that problem, i was damn near 200 rank before i got the undertaker, seems like it would be pretty hard to get it at 50.  Edit: i did get tuner and fashionista to 15 the first two nights though, i believe that would be 30 ranks.

[SnakeCharmer]

Have you already gotten tuner 15 and fashionista 15?  If not, just go to one of the kiosks before you go to bed and afk it.  That's 30 levels worth of renown right there.  That will take about 16 hrs of being afk.  Just open a window then go to bed or work or whatever, and it will take care of itself.  

The other 20 levels will be a piece of cake if you have a group.

[Der Helm]

Which reminds me ... when is everyone playing ? Time zone included please. 

[Threash]

EST, i usually log in for 30 min stretches when i feel the urge.

[Furiously]

I'm mostly playing from 9 pst until we don't have enough for a full group.

Also I advise everyone to sell any apb $ for rtw points right now. You can get like three months play for 100k. Which takes like two days to earn if you are not selling anything on the market. I don't see this exchange rate staying.

When it crashes you should be able to turn around and sell the rtw points for like 300k.

[Chinchilla]

I'm mostly playing from 9 pst until we don't have enough for a full group.

Also I advise everyone to sell any apb $ for rtw points right now. You can get like three months play for 100k. Which takes like two days to earn if you are not selling anything on the market. I don't see this exchange rate staying.

When it crashes you should be able to turn around and sell the rtw points for like 300k.

I wish I could make that much $$ :(.  Hell... I have a hard enough time playing w/ no lag (damn laptop).  I'm on the hunt for a new PC right now.

[Furiously]

Make a crim turn in cars. It does pay bad once you figure out a route.

If you want to be more evil accept missions and don't do them while you turn in cars. I really hope they fix that mechanic. Had one mission on my enforcer last night where the crims didn't show uo as trackable, with no time limit. We had to hunt them down ten times turning in cars while two people protected the objective.

[Threash]

Make a crim turn in cars. It does pay bad once you figure out a route.

If you want to be more evil accept missions and don't do them while you turn in cars. I really hope they fix that mechanic. Had one mission on my enforcer last night where the crims didn't show uo as trackable, with no time limit. We had to hunt them down ten times turning in cars while two people protected the objective.

When i get people who do this i stop trying to win the mission and go blow up their fucking cars.  I even get out the rocket launcher for it.

[Furiously]

I got accused of being an aimbotter today. It might be that I was on a rank 5 crim with no upgrades and grouped with a friend who was giving supporting fire. They had level 2 upgrades and kept dying.

The low threat game is definately where the fun is.

[fuser]

BC2 had punkbuster on, then off because of end client disconnects, then on, then off again because it kept crashing servers.

I hope APB fairs a bit better.

So I hear, player population dropped due to the lag fuck-ups caused by enabling Punkbuster. RTW now fixed this by disabling PB again and inviting the cheaters back in.

Seems like APB didn't fair any better. Looking back the first MMO that used punkbuster was WAR. Did they even enable it during launch/post (because I never remember it running)?

[Furiously]

I'm wondering why one of the anti-virus companies don't get into the anticheat market seems like a market you could take from punkbuster pretty easily.

[Ard]

Because the anti-cheat is an even faster losing game than the anti-virus one.  At least they can convince large corporations that anti-virus software is necessary, even if they can't actually keep up.  Anti-cheat software is a shell game where you never know where the ball is until it's already heavily in use for the most part, and the market for it is really small by comparison.   By the time the cheats are exposed and blocked, the game in question is already ruined for a largish chunk of people.