OfficerEdd

Just decided to give it another shot. I hope I made my point clear this time around.

And like I already said, it still takes a ridiculous amount of time to do so, even longer without having premium It by design has a huge impact on gameplay. While most ARMAS weapons are niche weapons there are some that offer clear advantages over the free counterparts and it just constitutes as an unnececary divide in player experience. I don't know. Why do peaple play Counter Strike? Because it has mechanics that make it both skill based and unique. A leveling system wich offers progressively better equipment cannot offer a fair experience. Where is the reward when you only win every 5th game when you just created a new account? It doesn't feel deserved and there is a pretty big disconnect between win states and the effort you made to contribute to the team. APB is more of a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. It's always been that way so the design should represent that. Believe it or not but it is possible to enjoy a game on the basis of playing it instead of bastardising by splitting up its content and sprinkling it all over the game only so your next 12 year old can be happy about unlocking the next new shiny thing. So you like it when games get reduced to slot machines and milk its players without offering any meaningfull enjoyment. The reason APB failed in the first place was the expectation for it to basicaly be full blown GTA: Online RPG. That isn't really a surprise since the idea behind APB was born from the maker of GTA. It simply was a disappointment and got severely neglected by its developers until Realtime Worlds went bankrupt. There are plenty of good games that survived despite not having micro-transactions as a business model. Also... you know that you can watch gameplay before you actually buy a game right? Steam refund also exists for a reason. I also don't see a growing player count simply because of how "rewarding" the game currently is. If anything peaple got turned off by that and left it for good like I did.

I've already said everything that I needed to. I don't see a point in reagitating. You are clearly very in-line with the masses.

Wow, really. I don't think I've read a more shallow statement than this. I'm starting to get the feeling that you're trolling. If this is the taste in games that peaple develop nowadays then it is no surprise that companies get away with it. The quality of games is at an absolute low despite maijor technological improvements and then this...

Well, yea. Kind of emberassing, I didn't have the same views back then. I started playing when APB was in open Beta. I was also one of the peaple that defended the devs when peaple started to complain about how long it took them for the engine update and lack of communication. I had fun with the game together with friends and enjoyed the outstanding variety in costumization options in the game. Thats the more reason to criticise the game because it didn't even come close to its true potential. All these faulty mechanics and the wrong business model ultimatively will mean the death of the game if they don't make drastic changes. Nothing is changing and I found a better nichee in the tactical shooter genre so it really isn't worth it anymore.

You are living ona different planet if you think the game is worth more than a full fledged AAA title. The very fact that it is founded in Psychology does not mean it is not anti-comsumer. Merged. I don't mind points or ranks as an asthetic, as in to measure a players experience. What I criticise is how it promotes inbalance by offereing the best equipment to those that already have a lot of experience in the game and thus a distinct advantage over anyone new to the game. It is not nececary to hide the games content behind an arbitrary wall to make a game enjoyable and psychological tricks are exactly what degraded the whole industry in jumping in on the train that are micro-transactions. Making an actual good game with rewarding mechanics and a high skill ceiling can make a game just as if not more successfull in the long term. A game can be rewarding in itself without throwing shiny new skins and points on the players face. Its a disingenuous way of making a game and shows how little respect the industry has for its consumers.

Again, I'm not arguing about the value of the game. Presuming that I want everything "For a penny and a dolar" is a strawman. I wouldn't mind paying 60 bucks or even 50% more as a one time payment to access the game. Aside from that I already have contributed more than enough to justify beeing in this position. Exactly wich scientific studies are you talking about? A few sources would be great. When a AAA game is in the price range of 80 to 120 dollars, then charging 20 dollars for A SINGLE GUN is more than unreasonable. That you conclude that I want everything for free on that basis just shows how accustomed everyone has become of practices that would be considered fraud in the 90's.

Name is OfficerEdd in the Citadel server it was I believe... Screenshots will fallow Merged. It's incredible what game companies get away with nowadays. It really astonishes me that my views are met with so much criticism instead of asking what of it really is nececary. [Merged and snipped double quote -Spuzva]

I have played APB for already thousands of hours, have spent +550€ on it, so telling me that I don't understand the game doesn't really stick here. Yes you can get everything by playing the game, but without premium it takes ridiculously long to unlock every weapon with full capacity and modifications.

I realize that I elaborated too little for peaple to understand it in the way I intend to. I just stated my general opinion. I realize that a pragmatic solution would have to be a bit more suphisticated. The best thing they could do right now would be to lower prices to where they are reasonable. When a single permanent weapons skin costs as much as a half decent game then I think everyone could agree that that is somewhat shady. As for the argument of peaple getting upset over past investments... I mean.... isn't it a bit ego-centrical to support a shady business model just because you made the mistake of buying in the first place? What difference does it make if all ARMAS weapons become free. All that really means is that you get every other item you want for free. The damage has already been done. It's just another way to delude yourself into thinking that you didn't waste your money in a way. Why can peaple not simply appreciate the fact that they supported the development of the game? All peaple really pay for is EXCLUSIVE access and I have to ask... is that really something worth paying for? A pay to play plan could be more nuanced then just flipping a switch from one day to another. It could involve giving the game out for free to those that already have paid in one way or another.

Nice strawman.

I'm honestly getting sick and tired of this type of business model as a whole. No matter how little the effect on gameplay. Microtransactions are fudamentally designed to pull money out of our pockets by disingenuous means. The day I come back to this game is the day they drop this business model as a whole and instead make it pay to play again but god knows that will never happen :). I could start a whole new chapter about grinding for items and equipment but it would still be more enjoyable if they just let us unlock the ARMAS weapons. My general opinion however is: Grinding has to die as a game mechanic. Microtransactions need to die as a business model. I never understood why peaple are only capable of enjoying a game if they had ranks to climb or stuff to unlock. It really strikes me as an arbitrary element. Shouldn't the game itself be enjoyable?