nah fam the engine update wasn't the worst thing to happen to apb.
it was GamersFirst.
Your whole argument would be invalid if they kept their promise/actually worked on the engine update (I doubt they did very much when they were here as GamersFirst kept quiet on the progress on engine update and there was way more progress when LO took over). It didn't help that they didn't even communicate with the community very well or the fact that instead of working on the engine update, they went and release a half baked console version which no one really asked for.
Now it can't really be helped as UE3 is vastly outdated and it is in the best interest to upgrade it to UE3.5 which will aid development in the game as it's easier to work with(something along those lines I don't know the specifics)
Besides, we've been waiting like years for it anyway, if you're still here you obviously can wait. Beta 2.1 is around the corner, I doubt the miraculous engine update will take years more to come.