yourrandomnobody74

I'm genuinely against addition of these health bars to shooter games, as it dumbs the game down tremendously. However, in APB, which doesn't claim to be a competitive shooter (look at Apex, they're "competitive" yet they added HUDs to much of the communities despise) I'd definitely make it a top priority QoL change (especially after they iron out the Kismet / Scaleform dilemma they currently have)

The changes seem very mild, again. It seems the game designer is fearful of any meta-shaking changes, which is exactly what the game needs right now as it's plagued by being monotone. A few comments I can add to this week's patch: There seems to be a clear interest in making legendaries more desirable, which I'm all up for. - This will change Showstopper's total damage from 376 to 398, making it more consistent. I like the fact that 3 STK shotguns, like the Showstopper, exist and this should be the case with the JG and CSG as well. (which would lend well into increasing overall TTK of guns) Changing all 2-STK weapons (HVR's, JG, CSG) to 3-STK is how you balance them to be competitive and not game breaking in a third-person shooter, along with buffing accuracy (while in ADS, for example, by changing Marksman Modifier to 0 on all guns) of all guns so you have a way to counter / shoot at people with good corner-peeking mechanics much easier. Of course, this requires extending the TTK of the game slightly, but it would make a massive positive impact on the game mechanics. (Note: keep in mind, you can make them 3-STK by making 2 shots be heavy and 3rd one be the finishing blow, look below on how) When it comes to shotguns (total character health damage is 1000, for reference): JG (Live) is 756dmg to health per shot => lowering by 35% should make it 491dmg, making it much more playable. CSG (Live) is 651dmg to health per shot => lowering it by 35% should make it ~423dmg, perfect for 3-STK experience (note: changing fire interval will mess with muscle memory, refrain from touching) Scout should go back to 550 damage, or even 500 damage. (this in turn should make you nerf OBIR damage too, but there's a clear, adamant protector of the gun in the circles around the game designer so that proposition is in vain) For reference (drop-off ranges from the other secondary guns aka the range at which the curve of health damage reduction starts) : Showstopper 10m, FR0G - 12m, PDW - 25m, N-FA9, OCSP, SNR850 (Snub), OCA Nano, FBW - 30m, .45 AP - 35m, RFP, Mountie - 40m R-2 Harbringer - 50m, ACT44 - 60m, RSA - 70m I understand the thought pattern behind change, definitely welcoming addition. A few ideas I have in mind, perhaps you'll like them: - I think you should consider bumping the FBW to at least 37.5m and change up the FR0G's range to 30m. This will make them compete to the .45 AP even more. - Since you've changed the modifiers on the S-AS PDW, in particular: Run_Modifier=1.05 & Sprint_Modifier=1.1, I can't help but think that this change is exactly what more pistols (& CQC guns) need. You should consider the same for the FBW, SNR850 (Snub) and OCA NANO to make them more viable and less prone to bullet spread (and please start equaling RunMod and SprintMod on guns which rely on non-ADS combat altogether, it's annoying to have the 1st shot randomly spread out and make you miss) The Showstopper has all modifiers set to 1 (akin to all shotguns), why not follow this pattern somewhat (by using 1, 1.05, 1.1) across some pistols? All of the guns I've mentioned for the modifier changes, apart from the FR0G, have a ~1s TTK, which is fine for the situation in which you'd increase the overall accuracy on them (lowering bullet spread with a lower Run & Sprint Modifier value) - Since you're touching up secondaries, don't forget on LTL secondaries. In particular, the TG-8: The TG-8's recovery delay (at 0.4 in Live) should DEFINITELY be a consideration for change. The bullet spread is too heavy and reset is slow. Halving the value (0.2) or even quartering it (to 0.1, which would be ideal) would make it SUBSTANTIALLY better. - While on the subject of LTL guns, please take a look at the preset mod selection for the CCG (replace Extended Magazine for TPS3 or something similar which doesn't impact it as heavily) and NL9. These two changes should be a trivial, but solid "buff" to LTL. Eagerly waiting for the CSG MK-2 (1-slotted CSG or perhaps 2-slotted version) to the Joker Store, along with a ACES Rifle & SMG with 2 free slots instead of 1 (& numerious other guns which aren't there yet)

^ took the words out of my mouth

I'm sorry, but the person behind balancing decisions is a veteran who has had +10 years time to figure out what guns are problematic and what the fundamental issues of the game are during his playtime. If he hasn't figured out what the issues are, then he should consider reading the old forums in the wayback machine or search the suggestions forums (starting from the oldest topic) to refresh his thoughts and ideas. But hey, it's OK. We'll add LRR, blurring the range classification of guns even further & add unnecessary delay to mobile cover because someone in the arranged matches complained about them, that'll be better :^)

Frosi is the current game designer for APB, voice your opinion on discord. (don't get your hopes up, he's the one who pushed the mobile cover nerf and greenlit LRR to the game...) Ever since the arrival of discord, forums have gotten a hard pushback into irrelevancy... I believe they're using the OBIR as a baseline, as all the other baselines have been tampered with (NTEC, Carbine) Mini-rant: However, I don't think touching STABBA is the right choice right now, considering how bad the weapon balancing as a whole is (too much bullet spread, low TTK weapons which break the game. ~0.7s ttk weapons shouldn't exist, they should all be pushed in 0.85-0.9s range) It's kinda why STABBA is weak as well, because there are guns that simply outgun it based on TTK only. Take a look at the STABBA CCG, it's 1.05s TTS (time to stun) STABBA weapons (4 of them) are slower than 86% of the guns in the game, 0.3s (300ms) makes or breaks duels. STABBA doesn't need tweaking at all. Low TTK weapons (sub 0.8s ones) need a health damage nerf to slow them down into 0.9s-1.1s range (changing fire interval is just gonna change muscle memory, not a good approach) To put this into perspective, let's list out the most commonly used guns in the game: TTK STK Fire_Interval Health DMG SHAW 0.56s 8 0.08s 125 NFAS 0.58s 3 0.29s 33x12 AMG 0.585 10 0.065 100 NFA-9 0.63s 15 0.045s 70 ACES(S) 0.63s 15 0.045s 70 JG 0.65 2 0.65s 63x12 NTEC7 0.68s 5 0.17s 210 CAP40 0.696 7 0.116s 145 CSG 0.7 2 0.7 31x21 PMG 0.7 5 0.175s 200 NTEC 0.7 6 0.14s 185 OCA 0.7s 8 0.1s 125 FAR 0.7s 6 0.14s 175 SHOWST 0.7s 3 0.35s 42x9 ACES(R) 0.715s 14 0.055s 75 ALIG 0.72s 5 0.18s 225 SR15 0.75s 6 0.15s 180 STAR 0.75s 6 0.15s 175 NSSW 0.775s 6 0.115s 190 .45 AP 0.8s 5 0.2s 225 FR0G 0.8s 5 0.2s 210 SWARM 0.8s 6 0.16s 195 OSCAR 0.825s 7 0.05s(0.175s burst) 145x2 OBEYA 0.84 5 0.21s 245 ISSR-a 0.84s 4 0.28s 225 OBIR 1.2s 7 0.05 (0.45s burst) 165 x 3 In comparison, the STABBA guns: STABBA CCG 1.08s 8 0.15s 142 NL9 1.56s 3 0.78s 400 TG8 1s 6 0.2s 175 PIG 1s 2 1s 750 Another example for people to test out in live: try using guns with HB3 to get a feel for longer TTK (note: bullet spread might make it obnoxious on some guns) - N-TEC with HB3 (this is ~0.84s, which should be stock N-TEC TTK imo) - SR15 with HB3 (~0.9s, also stock TTK which it should adapt) etc. This would indirectly buff Fragile too, making it more viable (it's very underutilized in current Live), but changing the health nerf modifier from 0.86 to 0.9 would be helpful too. For anyone saying who wants to come in and say "...but long / higher TTK is bad, we've had test districts and nobody liked them..." Refer to this topic: https://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/5968-am-i-the-only-dude-that-dislikes-the-slow-ttk/?tab=comments#comment-71943 (dopefish's comment) tldr: OSCAR / Obeya should be used as a baseline for balancing the other guns (in terms of TTK) The game desperately needs a slowdown of the TTK (longer / higher values) preferably to 0.9s - 1.1s range, this in turn will indirectly make STABBA a viable choice 2 STK weapons should be nerfed to 3 STK (think of "2STK 85-ing you and 3rd finishing off" type of damage)

I think you should take a break from social media scrolling or treat whatever hyperactive disorder you have, if you believe APB is "slow" and needs a faster TTK. I'm glad someone remembers how (intentionally) botched the test districts were. They were desperately trying to prove the point that current the TTK of most guns is fine (hint: it is not and it's one of the major issue with the game's balancing) I hope LO takes another look at this and considers making RTW (and High-TTK maybe?) test districts on OTW or Live for people to try out. I don't have my hopes up though, as seen with the questionable choices in recent patches (Mobile Cover nerf, LRR addition, questionable COBR-A changes,...)

Why? It was the only mod which allows Waterfront to be playable by spawning cover at will. Which tester in SPCT thought it's useful to add unnecessary delays to a already fast TTK game? 500ms makes or breaks fights... It'll just make the game feel clunkier than it already is. This is great, very needed, change. It was about time that Hard Landing became a blue mod without any downsides. Both great changes. Happy Landings desperately needed some changes. This is a great buff, a major one even. You could receive 0 fall damage from any drop with HL3 and the flinching which happens won't happen at small distances (was really annoying with previous HL3) Interesting that you've opted to make Mobility Sling without a downside. Now all purple mods are without downsides. Could be really great for some preset weapons like the S-AS PDW with Mobility Sling on it, the Nano etc. or in general weapons which rely on MM mode and don't lose accuracy while walking (walk modifier at 1 when ADS) will greatly benefit from this. Welcoming changes. Not quite enough to shake up meta, but makes the mods more desirable. As for the rest (med spray & vehicles, especially the latter), we'll have to wait & see how it'll play out. It's great that vehicles are finally getting tackled. I'm really bummed out by the Mobile Cover change however, but decent changes otherwise Still not the shake-up needed to make the game feel robust & consistent, very mild changes which have been requested for years tho so it's OK. I have a suggestion, continuing the trend of buffing niche guns and a nice QoL change. 1.) Take a look at the VAS-C2, H9 Curse, CAP40, ACES SMG and COBR-A Change their Shot Modifier Cap to the following values: C2: 1.75 -> 1.5 H9: 1.5 -> 1 CAP40: 1.05 -> 0.9 ACES: 2.15 -> 1.8 COBR-A: 4 -> 2.25 2.) Buff the character crouched speed of the game: 90cm/s -> 110cm/s 3.) Revert the Mobile Cover change. 4.) Remove Long-Range Rifling 5.) Change Hunting Sight behavior on the Scout back to how it was (setting MM modifier to 0 instead of 0.03 across the board, regardless of HS level used) If the Oblivion and Dog Ear can have this behavior, why not bring it back to the Scout? Perhaps even make the N-HVR 762 and DMR have the same behavior, so it performs uniformally on snipers. Would be welcoming changes. I sincerely hope Little Orbit re-considers their adamant stance on the current TTK and RNG by: - Adapting TTK to ~1s (would require magazine size changes to most of the guns in the game) - Removing mods such as Cooling Jacket, Improved Rifling, Long-Range Rifling (should be deleted ASAP, breaks balance a lot) which impact range, TTK and RNG - Set (Assault/High-Velocity/Normal) Rifles, pistols and SMG's marksman modifier to 0 (or at least make this happen for all sniper rifles) - Let us test this in a district (perhaps even a RTW Test District too, but this time without the unnecessary RNG added) - Sprint modifier to 1 for all weapons (so no accuracy loss on 1st shot happens when going from sprint to run while shooting) - Plays around with Recovery Delay's (? not sure if this influences what I think it does, Shot Modifier Cap & Per Shot Modifier would need changes too, test district would reveal what works and what doesn't) of most guns (should be sub 0.05s on all or perhaps even to 0 imo, to make them consistent, akin to FBW changes) (NOTE: these changes have to occur all at once, implementing only 1 of them will not work out and won't have the same effect. It'll only exacerbate the problems) RIP Mobile Cover....

I'm afraid that they won't listen to either side, whatever our intent is... Even people with more influence have tried their efforts, but there was always someone who was blocking it. In particular, during G1 times, it was Qwentle.

This is such a huge skill issue, genuinely unreal. We all know the game is relying on silvers/bronze players which have been clueless for years and It was always known in the community that forum dwellers are in the deepest pits of silver/bronze hell, but this is just ridiculous. I sincerely hope no one from the balancing team takes this comment serious. The new FBW changes are the single best change the secondary has had in the past few years. It made the gun more consistent, it feels great with the faster recovery delay (0.1 to 0.05) The RS1 version is even better, granting it less RNG as a whole. The FBW changes, along with the PDW changes, are a welcoming addition, since they're unwilling to budge on attempting greater balancing. Sadly, they don't wanna fix the underlying issue with the balancing as a whole. I'll drop a quote to illustrate what we're dealing with right now. They're just moving the knife around, nothing else.

All of these changes are way too mild. TTK to ~1s, Marksmanship modifier = 0 across all guns, lower bullet spread while shooting will make the player feel 10x more in control over the game than the current dice simulator that we have. Oh and also, double the crouch movement speed. This is a decent buff to how the PDW plays, but changes like these just expose the general issue with balancing Most pistols should have a uniform modifier of walk, run, sprint to 1 (sprint especially, since the slight discrepancy between run & sprint modifier affect 1st shot accuracy when switching movement modes from sprint to run while shooting) If I understand the formula correctly, it won't be a huge change in practice. It'll definitely have the best accuracy (RS1 version) while running from the most common secondaries used, when compared to FR0G Thumbnail it's ~3cm difference (base FBW is ~0.5cm of FR0G Thumbnail, the RS2 modded one)

Almost as if mods which affect TTK and range shouldn't exist? It's insane to me how they haven't learned their lesson that Qwentle's vision of lower TTK in this game has failed. I don't know who's in the LO team, which people are giving advice to them in terms of weapon balancing, but I can surely say that they're all clueless. I don't understand how they expect a successful launch on Epic Games with the hideous state the gun balancing is right now. And no, the announced gun balancing for September will still not steer the game into the right direction. The game has a bloated mod and weapon pool which needs desperate attention, perhaps even deletion of certain weapons & mods. (real) RTW stats were a step in the right direction in terms of gun balancing, but it was still lacking in some aspects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SjlOMi3biw&nbsp And if someone says "BUT WE'VE HAD HIGH TTK / RTW BUT NO ONE LIKED IT" The RTW testing district and high TTK district were botched on purpose by Qwentle by adding a ton more bullet spread or how the community falsely calls it "bloom" (fake) RTW test district bullet spread can be seen here (compare it to video above, night and day) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wezZNyXmNGk

Your comment clearly showcases your overall mechanical skill in shooters and lack of basic foresight as to what makes a game great and competitive. I don't see a reason for not to ask this question. It is clear that APB's gameplay mechanics have not stood the test of time and that the game is spiralling downwards. People would stick to the game if the fundamentals were good. The only reason people are coming back is because of nostalgia and the invested time in customization (or in general, wanting to roleplay) Sprintshooting was removed because of technical debt / lack of server infrastructure / dumbing the game down. Look at old games such as CS1.6, the game has more players than APB just because the original mechanics are great, fluid and timeless. I'm not gonna derail the thread w/ elaborations of my questions and the thought process behind them. HF.

Game balance questions 1.) Will you consider lowering overall RNG of the game and transitioning to a bit longer TTK, as the game was originally intended to (perhaps even make ADS 100% accurate for all guns). Perhaps even properly done RTW/High TTK districts without the original RNG garbage the old administration served us? 2.) Trimming/slimming down mod selection since they interfere with balancing (some mods should not exist at all, such as some red mods - CJ3, IR3,.. on top of my head. RS3 is useless, Slimming down green mods & adjusting blue mods for characters is also something to look at). WIll this ever occur? 3) Unbalanced missions (or even simpler, obscure game mode choices for FC) when are they getting tackled? 4.) Waterfront is long due for an overhaul (old forum had a great thread on suggestions as to what to change with screenshots of problematic spots) Will you ever detail the your plans with it? With proper full before-after screenshots. (using https://imgsli.com/ for example to showcase a before-after) 5.) When are we getting new movement mechanics? Walljumping, sliding, air strafing (such as the unreleased air control mod). Akin to GunZ, Double Action; Boogaloo, The Specialist (HL mods) 6.) Vehicle top speed & stats in general need fixing, any plans for this? 7.) Crouch movement speed needs attention, any plans for this? [take a look at Dopefish suggestion thread at my post below] UI questions 1.) UI changes / unification of UI interfaces (inconsistency between Scaleform & Kismet frameworks) When will this happen? The UX is hideous right now (queue system, hello?..) 2.) Why can't we have all 3 FC maps simultaneously running, now that the game is 64bit? Is this a UI limitation? That was the last answer I had on this topic. 3.) You still cannot preview ARMAS clothing items individually, as seen with the release of the new bundles), Will this ever happen? Considering APB's main monetization relies on customization, I'm baffled this wasn't considered yet. 4.) Why are we still not able to uncap FPS in-game and have a adjustable in-game FPS cap? (using WaitablSwapChains for proper CPU/GPU synchro, even Trackmania in 2009 had this...) Can we also get a OneThreadFrameLag toggle in-game already too? There are too many toggles hidden under config changes. 5.) We don't have a proper in-game VOIP system for YEARS now, are there any plans for this? 6.) Crosshair customizations (dot, X, colors, etc.), along with crosshair actually displaying real accuracy of gun. Oh and resolutions and crosshairs dont play well together When will this get tackled? https://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/2804-resolution-differences-affecting-crosshair-and-perceived-recoil/ New content 1.) New hair styles? When? 2.) Any plans on new clothing that isn't the hideous poor leather effect BDSM? Take a look at the clothing suggestion thread once in a while, or at least use web-archive to access the old forum ones (examples I can think of rn: jewelry is heavily missing on both genders) 3.) Are there any plans on a new district/map, such as the Midtown (EllixOnline has great assets which could be re-used imo), which would drive the new contacts 4.) Are there any plans for a new game modes, such as BR or the legendary sought-after racing district? RIOT was a good concept but poorly implemented. Perhaps even a competitive district to segregate the casual & comp crowd of the game. 5.) Any plans to add Melee weapons? Fists, katana's axe's, frying pans etc. I think it would freshen up gameplay mechanics. 6.) Motorcycles, when? 7.) Music studio overhaul or additions, when? 8.) Clan progression / warfare content, when will this get looked at? For example: https://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/2042-game-clan-progression/ Misc 1.) Why is the server still running at the abysmal tick rate it's running at right now? Can we get any updates on whether you have any plans for upgrading server infrastructure on any news on current state of server performance? A few helpful links: https://web.archive.org/web/20160503010949/http://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/386708-new-ui-aka-scaleform-warning-there-are-a-lot-of-images-be-aware-of-internet-traffic/ https://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/5968-am-i-the-only-dude-that-dislikes-the-slow-ttk/?do=findComment&comment=71943 https://web.archive.org/web/20150128031946/http://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/288723-dopefish-list-of-suggestions-and-issues-v2/ [great thread] [i got a few more in my post history]

Just because the concrete implementation of a concept (BR) was done carelessly does not mean it cannot work within APB as a whole.

There was nothing of substance added in the recent patch. It's a dying game with greedy management, capitalizing off of nostalgia that people have since players spent their youthful years playing the game. They've just released assets from early APB in this patch. Game still has bad weapon and movement mechanics for years, not awarding skill in any way. Game still runs horribly even on modern PC's, since it's running on UE2 (UE in general is shit) with barely any thought behind good performance-oriented code If you wanna play the game for the customization aspect, there are other titles to take a look at. The old forums & current forums community section brims with ideas from passionate players, but for +10 years the devs have ignored them due to personal visions of how the game should be (or just general incompetence / unwillingness to do them), such as: - New district/map,, - Clan warfare content,, - WF overhaul (old forum had a great thread on suggestions),, - Lowering overall RNG and damage on problematic weapons (heavy HVR had issues for years, inaccurate representation of accuracy with crosshair + no customization of crosshair etc.), - Trimming/slimming down mod selection since they interfere with balancing (some mods should not exist at all), - UI changes / unification of UI interfaces (inconsistency between Scaleform & Kismet frameworks, still not allowing 3 FC maps simultaneously, you still cannot preview ARMAS clothing items individually, as seen with the release of the new bundles), - Tutorial overhaul (the game is not user-friendly at all, in terms of UI and gameplay mechanics. Just bad UX in general) - Rework of Prestige/Notoriety system - New game modes (BR would've been a great headstart for propelling APB, but they haven't capitalized on that) - Adding a functional frame limiter + uncap game in its entirety without the need for config changes (using WaitableSwapChains for capping method, for proper CPU/GPU synchro, even Trackmania from 2009 had this...) - Melee & skill-based movement mechanics (walljumping, sliding, fast direction changes/strafing etc.) - Unbalanced missions & obscure game mode choices for FC General UX of APB has stayed the same for years, apart from the great JT change Little Orbit did. All of this is in vain however, since no one wants to approach the game in an objective matter. Everybody seems to be living under an illusion and just pushing some agenda from Discord servers without critical thinking.