My solution for the imminent death of APB.

[PitterPatter 139]

It's been a few years since I've actually held any interest in this game and with LO taking their time I felt some unpopular opinions especially with the veterans still playing need to be heard. This game needs drastic changes to ever be relevant again. The only thing that brings people back is Nostalgia and the main thing pushing new players away is the old players that stomp on them. However if you want to do nothing but stomp noobs and drive new players away then go ahead and downvote and trash talk.

 

The engine upgrade will only temporarily bring players back if things arent done to improve new player introduction and welcoming.

 

Threat and Rating:

 

Threat based servers need to be dissolved. It just doesn't work when toxic players sit there and dethreat to bypass the system anyways. Instead it should be based on rating. Whether or not you think rating correlates with skill doesn't matter. If you are almost max rank and you are STILL at the same "skill level" as a brand new player I'd rather have those brand new players be given the chance to get better with players their own rating and not with people who have thousands of hours on the game. If you suck at the game that badly it's your fault and your fault only. Go watch youtube videos and learn how to be better or get out. You deserve zero hand holding. You know who you are.

 

Your district choices will depend on how high your highest chars rating is + your threat level. If you're already pushing gold and you're a new player the game should assume you're a smurf and kick you out of the new player district. Worry not matchmaking is still based off threat but to all you 255 bronzies and silvers too bad you're gonna have to actually sweat now against golds.

 

 

Guns: 

 

All new players start with one of the 3 slotted primaries of their choice from each category.  

 

(Choose one in each category)

 

Marksmen choices: HVR, OBIR, OBEYA

AR Choices: STAR, NTEC

CQC Choices: OCA, PMG, JG

Anti-Vehicle: ALIG

Secondary(Not 3 slotted): FBW, NFA, PDW, ACT, RSA

 

Grenades:

 

Will no longer be locked behind rating. Locking essential tools makes for an unfair gaming enviroment so every grenade type should be available to every player. 

 

Mods:

 

All mods Level 1-3 are unlocked by default and useable and all rating requirements are removed. Currently there is no point to keeping them locked behind rating and roles in a game in such a late stage. By locking them behind rating you do nothing, but make it even harder for new players to overcome veterans.

 

Starter Vehicle:

 

Starter cars are nice, but garbage in comparison to other cars. Players should start off with the most sturdy and forgiving vehicle there is. Two slot Pioneers for Enforcers and Espacios for Crims. 4 slots still locked behind paywall because you dont NEED a 4 slot.

 

Premium:

 

The 50% cooldown reduction needs to go. This is the ONLY pay 2 win mechanic. Let's not give people a reason to call APB P2W. 

 

Customization:

 

One of the main core mechanics of this game that makes APB so unique is the customization of your char, vehicles, sprays and tunes. You have so many nice cosmetics on the armas market now there is no reason to not start players off with more non armas customization options. It's a proven fact that people who love the way their char looks stay and play it. Having every noob start with the same 4 pieces of clothing and locking basic clothing behind hours of grinding puts off a ton of players. Let people put hours of work into their char customization and develop a bond to it then go get stomped trying to learn. 

 

 

Now I know you're thinking "How is LO supposed to make money if they hand everyone 3 slot weapons for free?" There are literally hundreds of cosmetics and other gun choices on ARMAS.  You shouldn't have to pay to compete in a non MMORPG style shooter or level up. You should be given the basics to compete from the beginning. This isn't an MMORPG like WoW. You are delusional and selfish if you really think low threat veterans with all these unlockables dont have an advantage over new players with a STAR, an FBW, frags an starter car. Can't wait to wake up tommorow to the lynch mob waiting for me. Gnight yall.

 

(If you think I missed anything that could help new players be able to compete with veterans let me know. In bed tired af so I'm sure I forgot something.) 

[quixxius 67]

this is shit grats. 3 slot weapons? are u high or something

[WhiskeyTangoFoxX 280]

49 minutes ago, Signarly said:

The engine upgrade will only temporarily bring players back if things arent done to improve new player introduction and welcoming.

The Engine Upgrade is not the destination, it's a needed element for LO to actually make the changes APB needs. The performance and graphics changes are just side effects of that.

 

27 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Threat based servers need to be dissolved. It just doesn't work when toxic players sit there and dethreat to bypass the system anyways. Instead it should be based on rating. Whether or not you think rating correlates with skill doesn't matter. If you are almost max rank and you are STILL at the same "skill level" as a brand new player I'd rather have those brand new players be given the chance to get better with players their own rating and not with people who have thousands of hours on the game. If you suck at the game that badly it's your fault and your fault only. Go watch youtube videos and learn how to be better or get out. You deserve zero hand holding. You know who you are.

 

Your district choices will depend on how high your highest chars rating is + your threat level. If you're already pushing gold and you're a new player the game should assume you're a smurf and kick you out of the new player district. Worry not matchmaking is still based off threat but to all you 255 bronzies and silvers too bad you're gonna have to actually sweat now against golds.

I'm sorry but this is the dumbest possible "solution" aside from removing threat restrictions entirely. The only thing anyone needs to do to stomp on newbies using this system is take the 10 mins it takes to make a new email and then a new G1 account. Better yet you try to handwave it away by saying it should "just kick smurfs." How should a game even know someone is a smurf? Using their threat? Congrats, you're back to square one except now you are also locking the silvers who accidentally slip into gold into those districts, making the game unplayable for them.

 

LO has already planned a far better solution via cross-district matchmaking.

 

36 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Guns: 

You wildly overestimate the necessity of mods on most guns. Sure they help, but not as substantially as people like to believe.

 

37 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Grenades:

This I actually agree with.

 

37 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Mods:

See above. Mods don't mean much at all. Only change with mods I would make is reducing the ranking requirement to use 195 mods to like 120 or so.

 

38 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Starter Vehicle:

The Calabria is actually a really good vehicle to give to new players. It's easy to drive, isn't completely made of tissue paper and can carry a heavy item. Giving them faster or stronger vehicles at the start substantially increases the learning curve for vehicles, and would overwhelm new players with choices for stuff they don't know anything about yet.

 

40 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Premium:

I suggest actually checking what has already been done before making essays. LO did this last month.

 

41 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Customization:

On the flip side, if you give them more to start with, they have less to work towards. I know for one that I grinded a lot to get specific clothing pieces back when I was still fresh. Was always excited when I got new stuff and hopped onto social to try them out. You'd be taking away that experience, I don't think that's a good idea.

 

44 minutes ago, Signarly said:

You shouldn't have to pay to compete in a non MMORPG style shooter or level up

A: You don't. STAR is actually a great weapon, as is the FBW. Frags are great too. No reason why you NEED to buy anything to kill people. B: APB absolutely is an MMORPG style shooter. You level up your character, it's massively multiplayer. There are elements that are locked off due to levels. Those are all hallmarks of an MMORPG, and APB has had them since the start.

 

TL;DR, these are all non-solutions, especially compared to the actual solutions already planned by LO. Rome wasn't built overnight.

[Rolpack 99]

1 hour ago, Signarly said:

Premium:

 

The 50% cooldown reduction needs to go. This is the ONLY pay 2 win mechanic. Let's not give people a reason to call APB P2W. 

 

everyone has the "premium" cooldowns already, so you are a little late on that one

[Lato 188]

insignificant changes, also removing the grind out of this game will only make it more dead

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Signarly said:

~snip of logical points that will benefit the survival of the game~

I love how the community downvotes every single bit of information thats actual worth while and not just about nerf hvr and buff every other gun till everythings OP.  Were the reason this game is dead and will die lmao.


Doesnt even matter how negative or positive OR even helpful / thoughtful an idea or opinion ism it just gets downvoted to oblivion.  Thats why Ive stopped giving a single shit about this community and how people uphold me, I truly dont care what dumbasses think on this forum / community cause 90% of all of yall are the most toxic people Ive ever seen lmao.  Trying to discuss things is like trying to convince someone that youre selling them gold in a box for 5$.





But yeah, my little slice of advice is just make all the guns 3 slot, no more locked shit at this point cause its been what its been and now we are here where were at because of it.  The tutorial is the most god awful confusing mess Ive ever seen thats not the slightest bit helpful, anyone who is starting this game has zero idea of what is actually going on or where anything is at or how anything works and taking that into consideration mixed with the shit matchmaking that puts no lifers against new players... Lmao, no wonder noone stays anymore.    The premium cooldown thing was an absolute joke and Im glad its gone but the customization limit needs to go, its so stupid when APB is considered one of the most indepth customizable games when it comes to player and player items.    I know that would render premium useless but damn at this point IDK what else would even entice people to stay.   Make leveling shit ton easier while youre at it cause I dont think any sane person would grind for hundreds of hours to be able to use Rank 195 items.    Right now, this game is extremely confusing, difficult, and looks super pay to win to be able to do anything to new players and I can honestly see why/how lol.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Guest
Mina_ has a cute butt

[chromaticflight 4]

lol.. dumbest thread yet, ranking up in apb is one of the games main attractions

working toward something makes it even more enjoyable to have when u finally achieve it, and apb has a very good work/reward/balance ratio as it is

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by chromaticflight

[claude 223]

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

All new players start with one of the 3 slotted primaries of their choice from each category.  

 

(Choose one in each category)

 

Marksmen choices: HVR, OBIR, OBEYA

AR Choices: STAR, NTEC

CQC Choices: OCA, PMG, JG

Anti-Vehicle: ALIG

Secondary(Not 3 slotted): FBW, NFA, PDW, ACT, RSA

You unlock most of these guns within the first 2 hours of play, idk why you'd take away early game progression to just give it all to the new player and overwhelm them with a wide selection of guns the moment they open their mailbox.

 

You start with the STAR and FBW, and with the 10 day weapon selector, you can pick one other weapon (most pick the HVR/JG/OCA.) This allows the player to swap between 2 primary weapons while they rank up and unlock MORE weapons. The goal is to keep them playing for as long as possible, and if you take away the weapon exploration from the new player, you're shortening pretty much any drive or motivation to play the game.

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

Grenades:

 

Will no longer be locked behind rating. Locking essential tools makes for an unfair gaming enviroment so every grenade type should be available to every player. 

 

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

All mods Level 1-3 are unlocked by default and useable and all rating requirements are removed. Currently there is no point to keeping them locked behind rating and roles in a game in such a late stage. By locking them behind rating you do nothing, but make it even harder for new players to overcome veterans.

 

I don't really see the point in granting every new character access to 195 items, there would be no difference between playing on a 255 and a r10. Frags and percs are the most noob-friendly grenades in the game, and they are the first two grenades you unlock. Giving new characters concs and low-yields is a terrible idea, since it would make rerolling way less of a hassle and take away the "hype" of reaching new milestones and unlocking cool shit because of it.

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

Starter cars are nice, but garbage in comparison to other cars. Players should start off with the most sturdy and forgiving vehicle there is. Two slot Pioneers for Enforcers and Espacios for Crims. 4 slots still locked behind paywall because you dont NEED a 4 slot.

 

So instead of giving the new players an easy to drive car with a small/med health pool, we should give them the 2 slot variant of the most overpowered vehicles in the game? Combine this with "All mods level 1-3 are unlocked by default" and suddenly, everyone's cruising in their car spawner SP3 pioneers/espacios, running with items (big complaint from lower ranked community/new players) and pretty much embracing the car play meta that literally nobody enjoys.

 

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

The 50% cooldown reduction needs to go. This is the ONLY pay 2 win mechanic. Let's not give people a reason to call APB P2W. 

 

This was already done.

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

Now I know you're thinking "How is LO supposed to make money if they hand everyone 3 slot weapons for free?" There are literally hundreds of cosmetics and other gun choices on ARMAS.  You shouldn't have to pay to compete in a non MMORPG style shooter or level up. You should be given the basics to compete from the beginning. This isn't an MMORPG like WoW. You are delusional and selfish if you really think low threat veterans with all these unlockables dont have an advantage over new players with a STAR, an FBW, frags an starter car. Can't wait to wake up tommorow to the lynch mob waiting for me. Gnight yall.

You don't have to pay to compete, you evens aid it yourself that the 50% cooldown reduction needs to go and that it's the only pay 2 win mechanic. Well, it's gone now. 3 slot variants of these weapons aren't "basic." Mod synergy for weapons in APB would easily confuse new players so I don't really understand why you think their main concern from the beginning is whether they want CJ3 or IR3 on their ntec when in reality, it will take them a couple dozen hours just to understand the 0-100m distance cap in APB, effectiveness in range, TTK (which is almost irrelevant when you're bronze/silver), movement, car health, general map awareness in Financial and Waterfront, etc. Most of the time, mods don't make a difference for these newer players anyway. You honestly think a bronze/silver with an oca could tell the difference between CJ3 and no CJ at all? In their eyes, it's an SMG that shoots fast. Let them grind and unlock and try new things in a natural way. 

 

Low threat veterans going against new players is an entirely different problem on it's own, and I promise you that the solution to the issue is not to just unlock everything for new players.

 

Wait for phasing.

Edited July 15, 2019 by claude

[vsb 6171]

6 hours ago, Signarly said:

However if you want to do nothing but stomp noobs and drive new players away then go ahead and downvote and trash talk.

immediately dismissing anyone who disagrees with your suggestions is a shit way to encourage positive discussion

 

 

2 hours ago, a Pair of Socks said:

Thats why Ive stopped giving a single shit about this community and how people uphold me, I truly dont care what dumbasses think on this forum / community

for someone who doesn’t care you bring up this topic just about everywhere

 

me think thou doth protest too much 

 

 

[Eisena 86]

My solution for imminent deaths has always been to simply let it happen. There's no stopping it.

[BlueB 35]

5 hours ago, Eisena said:

My solution for imminent deaths has always been to simply let it happen. There's no stopping it.

Tell that to my cat...

[PitterPatter 139]

10 hours ago, Glaciers said:

immediately dismissing anyone who disagrees with your suggestions is a shit way to encourage positive discussion

 

 

I mean I'm not looking for discussion especially with this community that cant even get it through their thick skulls that protecting new players from veterans is more important than protecting trash veterans from better veterans. Maybe it's because the only people left playing are veteran silvers on Jericho/fight clubbers and the EU players. 

 

Oh well. Back to the other hundreds of better games out there with better game mechanics. Hopefully one day LO will completely ignore you lot and fix the game.

[vsb 6171]

37 minutes ago, Signarly said:

I mean I'm not looking for discussion especially with this community that cant even get it through their thick skulls that protecting new players from veterans is more important than protecting trash veterans from better veterans. Maybe it's because the only people left playing are veteran silvers on Jericho/fight clubbers and the EU players. 

 

Oh well. Back to the other hundreds of better games out there with better game mechanics. Hopefully one day LO will completely ignore you lot and fix the game.

if you arent interested in discussion then why bother posting at all tbh, should have just DM'd this garbage to mattscott or one of the other staff

 

fronting your "solutions" to several of the largest apb issues as perfect and untouchable only makes it less likely for anyone (including orbit probably) to actually take it seriously

[PitterPatter 139]

37 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

if you arent interested in discussion then why bother posting at all tbh, should have just DM'd this garbage to mattscott or one of the other staff

 

fronting your "solutions" to several of the largest apb issues as perfect and untouchable only makes it less likely for anyone (including orbit probably) to actually take it seriously

You call it garbage but I look at how many people still play this game and see you all have zero idea what you're doing. If I can host and maintain a private server with more population and make more $$ than a retail game It says I know what I'm doing so your opinions irrelevant to me. You guys can keep thinking you know what's best until the population hits EU too because dont worry it will happen. Now I got events to run for my players. Peace out.

[UubeNubeh DaWog 136]

4 minutes ago, Signarly said:

If I can host and maintain a private server with more population and make more $$ than a retail game It says I know what I'm doing so your opinions irrelevant to me.

Would love to see btw.

[CookiePuss 5379]

4 minutes ago, UubeNubeh DaWog said:

Would love to see btw.

I second this. 

Cuz it smells of bull feces to me. 

[PitterPatter 139]

12 minutes ago, UubeNubeh DaWog said:

Would love to see btw.

 

8 minutes ago, CookiePuss said:

I second this. 

Cuz it smells of bull feces to me. 

Sorry my dudes. Showing off your server is how people like Peyton from WoWScape got caught. First rule is never tell anyone even close friends what kind of server or which one. There are people on here who know me irl. Also googling my ign brings me up as well. (Have fun with it)

[UubeNubeh DaWog 136]

4 minutes ago, Signarly said:

 

Sorry my dudes. Showing off your server is how people like Peyton from WoWScape got caught. First rule is never tell anyone even close friends what kind of server or which one. There are people on here who know me irl. Also googling my ign brings me up as well. (Have fun with it)

So it exists, we just have to take your word for it?

Yawn, Pass.

 

I dont think this is you for one second,

Edited July 16, 2019 by UubeNubeh DaWog

[Poque 25]

Do you have any idea how many suggestions were made so far that are actually good?Protecting new players from veterans?Where did you even see that happening?Mario?Chill dude,population issues hit the servers not because of the veterans but because of the poor performance of the game at given times.And regarding cars mods and such...whats the point in leveling if you already got them unlocked..3 slot weapons...pretty much destroys the weapon roles concept.You cant expect a new player to log in and get everything by default

[PitterPatter 139]

20 minutes ago, UubeNubeh DaWog said:

So it exists, we just have to take your word for it?

Yawn, Pass.

 

I dont think this is you for one second,

Lmao I'll take it. Surfs up on them silver/bronze veteran tears.

[UubeNubeh DaWog 136]

Just now, Signarly said:

Lmao I'll take it. Surfs up on them silver/bronze veteran tears.

Nah im just sitting on the beach watching the bullshoot sail by.

[vsb 6171]

47 minutes ago, Signarly said:

You call it garbage but I look at how many people still play this game and see you all have zero idea what you're doing. If I can host and maintain a private server with more population and make more $$ than a retail game It says I know what I'm doing so your opinions irrelevant to me. You guys can keep thinking you know what's best until the population hits EU too because dont worry it will happen. Now I got events to run for my players. Peace out.

it could just be my experience but to me a private server means a bunch of people who agree with the admins or get banned, which isn't really a good business model for most publicly available games imo

 

further supported by you comparing yourself to someone who illegally made hundreds of thousands of dollars (and was also a generally shitty person iirc)

27 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Showing off your server is how people like Peyton from WoWScape got caught

 

that aside, assuming your server is an rpg shooter it seems weird that you would purposely make matchmaking a nightmare and remove a majority of the progression rewards

 

 

27 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Also googling my ign brings me up as well. (Have fun with it)

googling your ign was not fun, all i found was a youtube channel with 48 subs

[BlueB 35]

God i prefer qol sugestions over this guy... he even asperg he has a private server more succesful than apb and with more income.

 

God open the water doors from heaven already.

[CookiePuss 5379]

Just now, BlueB said:

God i prefer qol sugestions over this guy... 

Horses when?

[PitterPatter 139]

1 minute ago, BlueB said:

God i prefer qol sugestions over this guy... he even asperg he has a private server more succesful than apb and with more income.

 

God open the water doors from heaven already.

Uwotm8?

3 hours ago, MattScott said:

Hi all,

 

This thread has gone long enough without a response from LO, so here is where I stand on this.

1) We are working on getting more GMs in-game to help

But this is not an effective solution. Just like drivers who slow down when a cop is around, they always speed back up as soon as he's gone.

 

2) LO is not ignoring this issue

Every solution we have discussed or seen discussed on the forums takes development resources and will compete directly with releasing the Engine Upgrade. I'm not opposed to spending dev time to fix dethreating. But from what I can see, all the ideas thrown around would take a couple weeks of dev time and players would find new work arounds in a couple days, which doesn't seem like time well spent.

 

3) Dethreating is an issue but its the symptom of larger problems

IMO, we need real change in the architecture of how players are matched. The only lasting solution that I can see is to launch 3.5, merge all the worlds, and finish implementing cross-district phasing, so that we can match players across all districts / regions. This will move all 8 players to the "best" district based on best ping and best tick time.

 

In this scenario players will simply choose the district type based on where their friends are, so they can mess around till a match starts. No spamming a district with 79 players to get the last spot. No visible threat segmentation. Once a match is ready, they all get moved. That way we can have golds fighting golds alongside bronze fighting bronze in the same district. The new phasing also allows us to spin up more servers dynamically, so we can add more Waterfront or Financial servers based on demand.

 

From there we can work on ways to improve the algorithm and incentive all players to reach Gold rather than dethreat to Bronze.

 

Thanks,
Matt

Gg ez bois. No more visible threat segregation. Aka threat based servers dissolved. His choice is better, but mine was based on them having to not make something new.