yourrandomnobody74

I wanna make my characters dress modest. This would actually make me install this dice simulator.

Almost as if mods which adjust range and accuracy in marksmanship shouldn't exist? All of this is band-aiding the root issue this game has with balancing.

You mean the numerious attempts at Qwentle misinterpreting (be it on purpose or not) the community's plea's, knowing what the fundamental issue with this game is? Like the high TTK district which they've butchered on purpose? Or the RTW TTK district which was also butchered on purpose to "prove a point"? Or the huge suggestion forums which spans over a decade of suggestions (rip old forums) by the community with amazing QoL changes? (dopefish's list comes to mind) yet rarely any feature from there was considered to be implemented (even though at least 50% of them were feasible for implementation during the whole decade this game has been out for) The devs have rarely listened to people who know what long-term mechanics prevail. Look at CS, the game hasn't changed in over 3 decades yet there are over a milion people playing it. Why? Because the fundamental gameplay is easy to get into, hard to master. Relying on customization as your main attraction in a game is not gonna last long, especially with how many issues it has compared to modern counterparts. The game should be a shooter at first, barbie simulator at second. The opposite is, unfortunately, true. APB doesn't know what it wants to be, and with the 'recent-ish' changes suggested by SPCT testers (NTEC ones specifically), they don't seem to know how to balance guns either. Increasing the TTK by adding bloom does not result in a consistent and robust experience for newcomers and veterans alike. Have you ever talked to a newcomer? "OmG WhY DoEsNt MY gUn KILl HiM AfTeR 50 ShOtS oN HiM, BAD GAME!!!! BAD SERVERS!!!" Even though they've just been out RNG'd by the game. No, telling him to "control" the gun does not result in a better experience either. Ever since APB:R got released, the game had no clue how guns should be done. The addition of reskins doesn't do any favour to the act of weapon balancing either. Proper balancing would be making the game skill-based, rewarding grinders and not be at the mercy of RNG to decide whether you win a fight or not.

No, you didn't write anything boring. You wrote things which have would have a questionable outcome at best. >"...and although it sounds nice when you willingly ignore the gargantuan amount of work this would represent (and the fact that this would cause a general increase in accuracy and a TTK decrease across the board)..." No, it's not a big task at all when you have a proper vision on how a shooter is supposed to work. The game does not need a TTK decrease. However, it does need a accuracy (which your changes do not propose???) increase paired with multiple other changes. >"...it also signals cognitive dissonance: the gun is “so balanced” that the rest of the weapon roster just needs to be as good as the NTEC." There is not a single weapon in the game which can be used as a model to balance the rest of the guns around, as all guns are inherently flawed ever since APB:R released. Balancing around a single balanced gun, when the game has at least 1 proper gun, is good step in the right direction though. This particular part stung me. >What LO doesn’t understand however, is that no games, casual or otherwise (and especially games like APB) thrive by directly pandering to meta-whores and “muh e-sports” types. Absolutely false to the ground. People at the highest level have the most knowledge on how a game plays out and how it works, they're the BEST candidates to dictate how to properly balance the game. But, the most important aspect to have when it comes to suggesting balancing changes is to have experience in other shooter games outside of APB and see what makes them good. Your particular change would result in a overall bloom increase, thus increasing the margin of miss by a lot, making the game cattered towards the worse players. You don't balance a game by introducing bloom (as the usual trend of balancing is steered towards), you balance it by adjusting recoil/damage/stk/range/ttk (most of which are extremely connected) I'm not going to bother with the rest of the changes as I'm not interested in making a "bash OP" type of topic. I'm just going to say that I heavily disagree with these thoughts (which many other veterans will agree with I'm sure)

This is probably the most important bit in the blog to me (along with anti-griefing measures, district phasing and DX12 even though it's very far down the list), cars needed a major overhaul ages ago and I'm glad at least this is getting tackled. I don't see anything on the roadmap in regards to weapon/mod balancing though, which is VERY concerning... Also, nothing mentioned about the UI mismatch we have in right now in form of a conjuction between Kismet and Scaleform. Is this planned to be streamlined into a unified UI? I haven't tried out the recent supposed performance changes to the UI, so I can't verify if there has been any difference. Nothing in regards to balancing out missions either. Seems like gameplay related features (most important aspect) are getting ignored.

Ok, that I can agree with. Misinterpreted the original quote, if this is what you've meant. However, to implement headshots doing more damage over body shots, one would still have to increase/lengthen TTK and have less bloom. It would definitely be a good upgrade, requires a ton of reworking though. How can a random number made up by the computer be a something which is "more realistic and raises the skill ceiling"? What skill ceiling? You cannot alter that output with your input in any way, shape or form. The bloom APB has shouldn't be a thing in any game that tries to be a shooter game. APB is an arcade shooter, even if it was "realistic", it shouldn't be a thing. "me klik b4 u, me kil u" => the only scenario where TTK alternating mods would prove useful. It makes balancing harder and adds unnecessary mechanics (bloom) to APB's already large weapon pool. Tracking should win duels.

I'll elaborate all of your questions here. What I'd change on each gun (stats taken from APBDB, left representing live, while right side representing my proposals) NTEC • Acc @ 10m = 24cm <=> change this to 20cm • Fire interval = 0.14s (I'm not sure how accurate this is) • STK = 6 <=> 8STK (health damage from 185 to 145) • TTK = 0.7s <=> 1.12s (if 0.14s fire interval is used) if TTK = STK * Fire Interval, then: 6 * 0.117s () = ~0.7s [discrepancy between apbdb stats?] 6 * 0.14s = 0.84s [?] But, the biggest one: • MM Modifier = 0.35 <=> Change it to 0 • Shot Modifier Cap = 2.4 <=> Change it to 1.2 [unsure on what EXACT value should feel best, I just halved it from how I understood the stat works] • Run Modifier = 6 <=> Change it to <=1.5 [hipfire won't be affected when run&gunning] P.S: this one might be a bit too farfetched and test play would be necessary to see the implications of this specific change, pretend as this one doesn't exist, main one is ADS to me And the most important one: make NTEC bloom SLIGHTLY after 6th shot (I'm assuming this requires adjusting per shot modifier and recovery per second accordingly) Description: What will these changes bring? 100% accuracy in ADS for the first 6 shots, (more accurate cqc accuracy) with a TTK that allow for the user to react, track targets without feeling like RNG outplayed him and allowing for a stock gun to be as viable as the modded counterpart. I'm a big proponent of unifying mods, especially removing reduntant effects of mods or entire mods (imo) such as: Hunting Sight - should only allow for FoV changes, perhaps even scope changes only Cooling Jacket - a mod SHOULDN'T lower TTK with a "downside" of more bloom. Improved Rifling - a mod SHOULDN'T increase range of weapon with a "downside" of more bloom. Heavy Barrel - removal of DMG change, making it a recoil-dampening mod (ofc this comes with making recoil patterns for guns) Reflex Sight - make it adjust hipfire accuracy, making it tighter. Scout • Acc @ 10m = 54cm • Shot mod cap = 4 • Health damage = 575 <=> Change to <=500 • Fire Interval = 1.75s <=> Change to <=1.63s • Crouch mod = 0.4 • MM Mod = 0.03 ("0" with Hunting Sight, supposedly, more on that down below) So, the math is: MM Mode — Standing still: 54cm * 0.03 = 1.62cm [@10m] Extrapolating that to 100m: 1.62cm * 10 = 16.2 [@ 100m] That is a very big and likely factor why non-HS scouts feel inaccurate on longer ranges MM Mode — Crouched: 1.62 * 0.4 = 0.648cm [@10m] Extrapolation: 6.48cm [@100m] Still, even when crouched, the scout is not 100% accurate when shooting at targets. Now, old players will remember when G1/RP decided to nerf jumpscout. They changed the jump modifier. However, after that at some point (I cannot find the exact post on old.apbdb) they've changed the way Hunting Sight works SPECIFICALLY on the Scout. I don't think APBDB has recorded this change. My theory is that they've negated the 0.03 => 0 change from Hunting Sight for the Scout specifically, resulting in the in-game mess we have. If APBDB stats are correct, then: MM Mode - Standing still: 54cm * 0 = 0cm [@10m, @100m] MM Mode - Crouched: 0 * 0.4 = 0cm [@10m, @100m] This would be amazing, but, why does the crosshair visually look different when crouched vs standing still? This is how the Scout was (MM Modifier = 0) before the mess we have in-game right now, and how ALL guns' 1st shot accuracy shot be (a minimum if TTK is heightened to the theoretical 1.1-1.2s standard) There's no way the stats from APBDB for the Scout are correct. Unless the crosshair is not a visual proof of anything at all. Description: The proposed changes would make the scout 3STK, give it 100% ADS accuracy regardless of modifier and gun modification (thus eliminating the "oMg SeRvErS bAd" people, because they're unable to realise that their gun just missed due to bloom) JG • TTK = 0.65s [Tied to fire interval] <=> Change to 1.2s • STK = 2 <=> 3 [Tied to above] • Fire Interval = 0.65s <=> Change to 0.6 • Max Health Damage = 786 <=> Change to 385 (1000hp - 61.5% was the math I used) • MM Modifier change to 0 [tighter spread too] Description: You might ask, why change shotguns to 3STK? Because of cornerpopping, the most broken mechanic in a 3rd person shooter. Allowing for 1 more shot to survive when pushing someone holding you might buy you enough time to push him, perhaps outaim him and win the duel, which is impossible right now. Now, how all of these would play out with different clotting agent mods, I am unsure. But, playtests would reveal the bigger picture. tl;dr: - guns are rng dice, make their ads consistent - mods that change ttk and bloom are a no-go, no dmg penalty heavy barrel ftw - high ttk w/ decent consistent recoil patterns is life and bloom is bad - 2stk has no place in any game, especially tps - playtest, playtest, playtest - also, increase overall crouch speed by ~2x (dopefish recommendation which id love to see ingame, he didnt specify it to be 2x but an exact number which i cannot find anymore, but id love to see it lol) About the mod & roles part, I think you're on right track when it comes to unifying mods in normal enf vs crim APB. If APB ever plans to make a RIOT/BR version, I do hope they make weapon mods with levels. Balancing would be much easier across the board when character and weapon mods are streamlined.

Wouldn't be an issue if the game had longer TTK, 100% ADS accuracy with minimum-no bloom, unnecessary movement penalties removed, curve mechanics adjusted, removed mods that adjust TTK and range but hey... that's too "drastic" :^) Excuse me? What do you consider aim then? Your whole arguement doesn't make any sense whatsover. Holding angles for days and headshotting a guy like in CS is not aiming. APB right now barely requires any tracking, as you have to 'fight' bloom mechanics to actually be able to track properly, making fights a game of who wins the dice roll.

When is this getting fixed? Any ETA? The game has way too many inconsistencies related to crosshair precision already.

Let's see how long it'll take to fix the UI (to allow for all 3 FC maps to work, along with a queue system and other QoL UI tweaks), sliding characters on higher fps (also visual bug(s) with crosshair), as nothing is out of the realm of possibilities with 64bit now Oh, and perhaps a multi-threaded mouse input to counteract the forced fullscreen windowed mode input lag. Waiting patiently for the roadmap. EDIT: No mention of 50vs50 district change. What I also find funny is that the game's UI was made with 1024x768 in mind (fullscreen), forcing fullscreen windowed (most people are running 1080p) is just gonna lead to so many inconsistencies when it comes to crosshair and hitmarks. Fun times.

This has plagued the game ever since they've partially updated the UI, changing the /fps counter and partially changing some in-game menus. Most of the game runs on Kismet, while the added parts run on Scaleform, which we were supposed to move to completely with the UE3.5 upgrade thus unifying all UI elements. For now, it does seem like it isn't happening and they've been quiet on this topic for a while now. Let's hope Matt addresses this after the 64-bit release and other gamebreaking road-blockers, since as per his post, nothing is unfixable now.

engine limitation, can't be fixed ;D

It's still the same game, with the same fundamental flaws and with the same horrendous upgrade path (inability to ship updates and new content faster) until said otherwise. It's still stuck on a Kismet + Scaleform UI mix, which is a major FPS hog. (also disallows including all 3 fight club maps in rotation, as stated by Revoemag ages ago) It's still stuck on horrendous weapon balancing based upon RNG mechanics. It's still stuck on a morphed/stitched-together UE version, which doesn't allow for implementations of modern technologies such as Reflex, FSR etc. It's still using horrendous mouse input, with the 'inability' to implement multi-threaded mouse input. It's still stuck with the high FPS issues due to earlier UE versions having these limitations, so good luck running 240fps/360fps None of which can or will be addressed as they haven't upgraded to a newer UE version.

CS:GO is not a long TTK game. APB in RTW was long-ish TTK game, so was Dirty Bomb. Apex Legends is a prime example how gunplay should handle if you wanna reward the player. Something APB can definitely try and apply to itself. I will make a big spreadsheet detailing each gun individually how I think balancing guns and mods should be handled (and hopefully understand each stat APB:DB lists, adjusting it accordingly) soon, as you and a few others seem to be big adversaries every time I mention making TTK higher, claiming it'll be the "the doom of APB", when in fact this game has a similar TTK already just fully bloomed into oblivion, making fights inconsistent and feel like water guns in comparison to other shooter games. Basically the same it did in RTW, but handling it much better, how it should've been in the first place. You tackle it by either adjusting RoF or more STK (less damage). Of course, you'd adjust mag sizes accordingly But, most importantly, no bloom (or adjusting bloom recovery / blooming after X amount of shots). As a previous user mentioned, Anubis and OSCP Kommandant are decent examples of good TTK. For example, guns like the RSA and ACT have good STK, but need a slightly faster RoF (get them to 1.3-1.4s) and (i'll repeat myself) NO BLOOM in ADS.

Because they've gimped the districts on purposely to fit Qwentle's agenda of lowering TTK since G1 took over RTW (he was a big proponent of shortening STK, you can check up web archive and check old forums for this, Dopefish mentioned this numerious times back in the days) The game right now feels clunky, unintuitive, doesn't regard mechanical skill whatsoever and rewards luck in a fight over aiming. They think lengthening TTK by adding a ton of bloom (as seen by the recent NTEC changes, complete lack of awareness by the testers what makes a good shooter game good.) is how we should approach "high TTK", but that's far from it. I've mentioned this topic numerious times in my posts, will reiterate again. Obnoxiously high bloom, low TTK, unnecessary movement penalties, damage curve mechanics have no place in a game that claims to be a proper competitive shooter, unless (as Matt seems to mention that a ton in his latest AMA), the devs see APB as a RPG then it does not matter Lengthening TTK ( in the range of 1.1s to 1.5s) should be done by adjusting STK, lowering bloom (bloom recovery adjustments, blooming after X amount of shots etc.) substantially across the board, heck I'd even say make 1-shot accuracy on all guns in ADS 100% accurate (while also removing unnecessary movement penalties, curve mechanics and adjusting hipfire stock bloom), akin to the Dev Star. This will not only make stock weapons as strong as their modded counterpart (very good for newer players to get into the game without feeling behind, even though I find the idea of slotted weapons flawed to begin with), it will also make for more consistent fights and it'll make balancing MUCH easier with the huge weapon pool we have in APB. Also, no 2STK weapons. Ever. Neither 1STK. Snipers and shotguns should be 3STK minimum. The biggest issue with this idea are mods such as Hunting Sight, Cooling Jacket and Improved Rifling. All of them have no place in a game that claims to be a shooter. Why would a mod adjust your accuracy to begin with? Why would a mod adjust range, why not just make your life easier by adjusting range per gun, not counting for a mod possibly make the gun game-breaking (as seen numerious times during the course of weapon balancing). Reflex Sight should buff hipfire bloom, the above mentioned mods should all be removed. ^ basically this