VickyFox

Lol with OP's broken English, It's not a bad guess. OP get 2.4/10, was a dull read but it wasn't enough to be boring... or at least not enough to make me want to go to bed despite the time. I'd say you're opinions are really unfounded and sad but it's clear it's just bait from a troll.

A permanent explosive weapon(s)... are you sure about that idea? And people say Armas Marketplace makes APB:Reloaded Pay to Win now!

My point was that LO was and is trying to get new content out in the meantime while the Engine Upgrade is being down, The OP wan't a new map while the Engine Upgrade is being done instead. LittleOrbit spent more time with coding for Riot than actually altering the map. It's easy to say what people want and what people don't like, But when asked what people like, they tend to become unsure and disagree with others. I don't think making a new map is going to be any more quicker than the Unreal Engine upgrade to 3.5

That was pretty much the idea with Riot that it's a new game mode which would would provide new content for new and old players, while also being trendy as a Battle Royale but not so tradition in the way it is that it won't piss off existing users with the fact it is a battle royale. but of course Riot was not well received. As for a new map with new contacts and rewards... do you have any idea how long that would of taken?

...but why? Adding more districts just because you can? The many suggestions of forcing players to be locked to their threat's district would cause district numbers to drop as it is, but dividing the current district numbers by 9? You'd have 10 people per district at the very best peak of times on a good day.

The fear of cheating and hackers is high just like the fear of terrorism. The reality and level of threat is low due to false perceptions and a higher than ever vigilance. A new anticheat system has been added (again) and a lot of less experienced players are quick to assume cheating just because they are not as knowledgeable as another player. Sometimes it can also just be just sheer luck but a majority of claimed cheating cases are just more experienced players doing better. ... And yes some veteran player deliberately try to make their threat lower, make new characters just to deceive and troll.

It is an old pet peeve but The VBR Tempress and Cap40 NFCP2 should be released, but I don't think they should be on Armas know how they originally were added to the game.

Open conflict didn't work as intended due to server populations being too low for it's unique match making system to work properly. OC worked on the basis of hiding people's threats and ranks and mixing both side's with a balance of high and low rank/threat players, this would of balanced out both teams. OC didn't work primarily due to the fact traditional districts still existed and why would anyone want to plan against randos when they can dethreat and know they can get easier opponents. On top of this, OC was undermined if people grouped up and the matchmaking system didn't have much of a way to mitigate that. Dethreaters are deterring new players form playing APB further, and innitial reports from SPCT is that Unreal Engine 3.5 reduces loading times of APB 2 or 3 times from that of Unreal Engine 3.0 Again Unreal Engine 3.5 should be more stable and unified as a code. the amount of bugs and glitches may initially be high but should quickly be ironed out more so overall.

I am so tired of repeating myself. District Threat segregation is the reason why Dethreating started to become a problem at all. Matt Scott said Dethreating is symptom of a bigger problem (either the threat system or matchmaking needs a rework if not both). And you said it yourself that smurfs would increase, well if people are willing to put in the time and effort to dethreat, why wouldn't they just make a new account? Bare in mind that further separating of threats would make district populations appear lower despite the total population number not changed. Dividing district numbers by 3 may make further players leave as they perceive the lower player numbers as APB is dying quicker. Credit where due, as a short term fix it should work. But it is drastic, it would have to be very temporary and not greatly effective for long. And while I want to help new players, as a veteran player, it feels alienating. Other new players have suggested this idea countless time to the forum, It partly feels like an excuse now to just punish veteran players for just being better at the game out of spite and frustration, even if it is unintended to paint all high threat level players with a broad stroke paint brush.

What do you suggest to fix the population numbers? What I've said for years but a lot of people would only see and treat the symptom and not check for anything else underlying.

Lets just clarify something, I DO NOT WANT to have players hard locked and restricted to their own district threat levels. There is the common saying "Practice makes perfect" I agree with this belief as these kids will indeed become the perfect bronze! To become better one has to go against better opponents and learn from them and one's own mistakes. Some lessons are best learnt the hard way. I also believe that skills can be learnt, but not always. This doesn't mean every lesson has to be learn the hard way though, give the newcomes a chance. At the end of the day, I do have a Max rank gold threat cop on Jericho. The difference between me and you is how I conduct myself, Just because I am polite and considerate doesn't mean I won't go easy on an opponent. I think you really are needing to reconsider just who you think you are.

Who are you to tell others how to enjoy their games, APB is an open world multiplayer. This is not Call of Duty where Kill/Death Ratios is all that matters. The mentality you presented is unsporting, belittling and dismissing of a completely valid issue that is hindering the growth of APB in player numbers. If the experience of the new players shouldn't matter to veteran players, then the low population numbers and lack of uptake of the game should be of concern.

-It is a bandaid fix but obviously all veterans don't want it because it is alienating to the veteran that are playing fair. -New players would not want to team up with higher threat player friends if it meant they'd have to play on the higher threat district. -Experience which could be shared from veteran players acting as mentors are lost -This bandaid fix can be circumnavigated by just creating a completely new account like banned hackers would do. -I think the biggest negative that affects everyone is that this will divide the population numbers of districts leaving less opponents to play against and giving the perception that the game is more dead than it actually is. As a temporary move, it seems a bit harsh and hasty but as a temporary move, I hate to say it would in theory work. If no more new players try and stay long enough with APB, then this could make even more players leave with a smaller pool of opponents. It could cause population numbers to crash to the point of no return.

How has no one come up with this yet?

...Car Surfer and Brick...

Did you even read the original post? Players that are competent and have experience with other shooter games struggled to get off the ground with APB. I'm pretty bad at Rainbow 6 Siege but that doesn't mean can't respect and enjoy the Pro League! It is that kind of mentality that is belittling to other players and the problem which is so frequently complained about. I was going to say that your post was one of the worst approaches to the problem... It is elitist, judgemental people like you that give this community a reputation of being toxic. @CookiePuss I take back what I said earlier. Shameless maybe, but maybe there is a time and place to call out those that are in our community making things worse!

I don't think you realise how little veteran players would care for a bonus. The richest players in game get more of a reward for what exactly? bare in mind this will knock on the marketplace making things more expensive for the newer players Again with the hard approach to prevent golds joining, If a veteran wants to stomp on new players and troll then I don't doubt they'd be patient enough to take the 10 to 20 minutes to make a new account. Cheaters do it when they get banned. Separating threats with different districts is what caused dethreating in the first place!

Lol there is it! Yeah you can rename districts and delete or even add some threat levels... It won't change a thing as this doesn't solve HOW people dethreat!

For the same reason as Refer A Friend was exploited but no one got punished for it. Too many people have abused an exploit which at this time cannot be rectified. Trying to tell who dethreated deliberately and who went down a threat level by chance is also a logistical nightmare for some cases, for other cases it is clear cut. Also this had been an issue for YEARS, predating LittleOrbit's acquisition of APB and GamersFirst.

I'm pretty sure a Thread is an individual topic of a Forum/Sub Forum. You really don't make it easy tell what should be considered seriously or to be taken as a joke at times. Personally I'd suggest to Little Orbit would be to do a complete review of the threat system, something in it surely can be improved to give a more average ranking to make dethreating more harder. Also threat segregation should be removed, players and mix with other threats but give an incentive for players to stick to their threats with a 50% reward penalty for being in a district 1 threat lower and 80% for being in a district 3 threats lower. Now to some new comers and cynical people this would be a redundant move to let players move go to what ever district they want, The reasoning behind this is to allow districts times to acclimatise and to return under their own terms rather than using force and giving reason for players to try and circumnavigate the threat system. I am also very much an advocate that new players should get a mix of players including harder opponents now and then to become a better player. There have been a lot of suggestions to give GM more responsibility to kick / move players form districts for being too high of a threat and rank. Honestly I think this would be a waste of GM's time when they could be giving advice and support to those new players if the game itself could try and encourage players to stick to their respective threat districts. I could post this to the Suggestions and Ideas forum but honestly I feel jaded that my suggestion would just not be read by Little Orbit and it'll slowly go down the list of pages and forgotten.

Are you trolling right now?

I think everyone in the thread is just stunned you post this now, Nothing really changed. I'm sorry this has become personal for you as you're friends now feel deterred but what did you think the previous complaints from new players were for? Just some red herring, they're incompetent or maybe it was just some sort of meme? It is a valid complaint that has been made repeatedly for year and multiple suggestions have been made include a hard threat level restricts to districts. ...I'm confused what the purpose of this thread if for, the 1 SPCT member is going to get the attention of Little Orbit more than the 500 or so other complaints from new players? Honestly I'm not trying to come across hostile or antagonistic right now but you're trying to shame people who do this consciously, completely under their own volition, with full knowledge and understanding of what they're doing. Are you seriously trying to shame those that are shameless into stopping? You know we're on the internet right, telling someone to stop on the internet is going to have the opposite affect and they're going to mock you. The issue of dethreaters in Bronze district stomping on new players needs a solution from Little Orbit.

First off, welcome to APB. You can trade certain items with friends but it is at your own risk, Lending weapons is something I am hesitant about due to the potential for it to be abused. The option to leave a mission but at a cost is a suggestion I don't think I've heard before, But the cost of leaving a game should reflect the player's rank and threat level I feel. I suspect due to the game's limitations that it may not be possible for players to edit cars made by others. Lifetime weapons from contacts with normal in game money is most likely never to be a thing, this is because "money sinks" are needed to keep the value of apb in money stable. Otherwise all players would become infinitely rich while the poor don't get much more money. If someone accuses you of cheating, just ignore it. If they say you are cheating a lot in multiple games then you can report them back for harassment but if you've done nothing wrong then nothing is going to happen to you.

Personally my computer has a Intel Cor 2 Quad (Q9550) a CPU from 2007, And a EVGA Geforce GTX 760 from 2013/14 ...A bit of a tangent but actually due to Unreal Engine 3.0 Multi core CPU are not utilised properly, Matt Scott has said this is the primary reasons why more high end computer are actually running worse than older computers. The reason for this is Unreal Engine 3.0 take and runs on a single core (ideally the strongest). So when people have 8, 16 or even 32 cores in their CPU. The game will only use 1! Can you imagine playing APB for years and yet after spending over $2500 for a new high end computer and some kid is having a better experience playing APB on his mom's laptop! I will agree that a there is a lot of veteran players who just go to bronze to use new players as practice, to troll, or just because they want to be lazy with an easy game and easy opponents. It is really sad if veteran players who are willing to offer support need to have to make a new account to give advice, feedback and mentor new players. If this was for the odd friend then yeah I can see that happening. But who is really going to take advice or feedback from a new account with green threat level, claiming to be a veteran player? Also this is one way that people can bypass the threat system and GM may not be able to tell if this is genuinely a new player that is very good with shooters, or if it is a veteran player playing on a alternative account. This is very good observation which I agree with. There is a perception that APB is Pay to win with guns from armas, that and the perception of there being a high amount of cheaters (due lack of awareness of dethreating). I've tried to be polite as I can be but now is the time for me to be brutally honest and truthful to myself. It is absolutely nothing personal and i'm not upset at all but just trying to make people aware that fixing APB in the community, trying to prioritise problems and keep everything in prospective is tiring and painful... and not just this year, The Engine Upgrade has been talked about since 2013 and we're still waiting for the single biggest fix to a majority of APB's technical issues. After reading very similar suggestions for what feels like the 100th this year, you write a short reply trying to raise awareness of the same issues and outstanding problems which are much wider, and complex than the simple solution that was suggested. You do get pissed off at the same sh-t! This is why I'm not a mod, or working in customer service. I'm really sorry! @cyral will confirm my stance and probably get a laugh out of me reacting like this.

I apologise for coming across negatively but there is a few layers to this suggestion that need to be addressed: It must be about 50 times this year i've seen suggestions of have threat level segregation, I am against it because GamersFirst introduced a soft segragation in restricting threat to district equal or 1 threat level below. This meant gold players could not join a bronze district, this is when Dethreating became a problem and people actively tried to circumnavigate the the soft threat lock. A harder threat lock I think is just going to be more of an incentive for people to dethreat rather than a deterrence. Bare in mind with population numbers where they are at, forcing a hard threat lock would divide district numbers by 2 thirds! My personal believe is that while practice makes perfect, One doesn't become better unless they try to do better. In real life I have had 10 years Emergency Response and First Aid experience, but those years of practising and actively doing it doesn't make anything more than what I've practised. I am brilliant in the First Aid I do but that doesn't make a Paramedic or Doctor! You can practice being bronze and silver, but that won't make you gold if you don't try to go against harder opponents. Some lessons are best learnt the hard way, sometimes a hammer is just simply the best (or only) tool for the job, but not always. Regrettable Little Orbit is a small team and while they are working hard, It is at Staff's digression on how many GMs they would like and how much responsibility they should have. Being a mod can be a demanding role but to have a good coverage throughout the day would require a dedicated team and it would be a very demanding role to try and keep as many players to their districts as possible. bare in mind people log in constantly. This is something which i think is unfair of an expectation on GMs when automated systems could do this, there is better things they could be doing with their time. The flip side of the coin is the GMs are busy while new players are left not sure how to play APB and all the experienced plays who may be willing to offer advice and guidance (including me) to new player are forced out of district It is very much a chicken and egg situation where the game needs fixing with the engine and coding, the matchmaking system and threat system needs a rework, But before all that the total population is probably going to crash but who is going to want join and play a game that needs is nearly 10 years old and needs repairs. What comes first? The critical repairs needed to help create new in game content and features as well as encouraging new player to try APB as it doesn't seem as outdated, OR focus more efforts on encouraging new players stay while also trying to stem the haemorrhaging population numbers because the game needs repairs, has looks which makes PlayStation 3s look good and runs like an Xbox 360 at the best of times. It's nearly 2020, this isn't good enough by modern gaming standard. If new players are not going to leave because of the Matchmaking then I suspect then we got to consider if they would want to stay for the gameplay when they could pay for GTA V and play GTA Online? I am coming across pessimistic but APB:Reloaded is really on the back foot and it has been for a few years as GamersFirst were slow to react to new technologies coming out, new games acting as competition, and changing industry and consumer trends. Those are my personal opinions and while one tries not to be pessimistic, It does get a bit tedious hearing the same suggestions that may not consider wider aspects, implication of root causes of the problem. TL;DR: I use the analogy of trying to increase water pressure in a broken fire hose to help fight a fire but you're just wasting time and resources when it could be quicker to just do the repairs needed, and the results from the repairs have a more effective. GM's time shouldn't be used trying to keep people to their threats when the game should be able to do that anyway, GMs who are busy and with experienced players now taken moved on leaves new players on their own to learn everything with little to no advice or help except what the game provides. Matchmaking system and Threat algorithm needs updating and threat segregation is the main reason why dethreating became a actual problem, It did happen before then but it didn't matter and people did it just to troll. But now it's mainstream to if you want to play and are gold. I'd suggest reserve the soft threat lock and give an actual incentive for people to play in the district under their own volition. Forcing players to play in their threat districts will significantly drop bronze and silver district numbers when they are already low! ...I've been typing away for probably 45, 50 minute or maybe an hour. I honestly lost track of time and yeah probably is more I could say... ...Yeah we've heard a lot of suggestions on how to address Threat levels, Matchmaking, New players feeling overwhelmed, Game updates. It's a lot to factor in and a lot needs to be done, but locking people to districts with their threat level is a sticking plaster of a fix. It won't last a week before people find a way to get around it and everything returns to the way it was before or actually may actually make things worse! What I can say for a fact though is yeah the community can be toxic. But this DOES NOT mean that they do not care, or are not concerned about the low population numbers.