July 2019 New Content (for release with the Engine Upgrade)

[LilyV3 323]

if the Eu will work well and performance significantly increase, the content update will be an important part in helping to bump up playercount.  But it really means you need to iron out the flaws that the engine upgrade might have.

 

I am not sure what purpose EMP will have, surely it helps dragging stuff like vegas and the Pioneer/citadell down to the level of the other cars when it comes to "health" but it seems limited in time, so it won't be a proper choice over a nade that just blows them up.

 

also, for the act 44 or RSA, have you tried shooting at that ranges? instead of altering tkk of the rfp to make them more "competitive"  it would be nice to bump their accuracy, even the act 44 Golden marksman, which is more accurate as the standard act 44 it hits unreliable at 70m. That is it's major problem. and while the RSA is more accurate and therefore having less of an issue it really isn't working well on those ranges due to unreliable accuracy. Especially with partial cover they are more lottery than skill to hit.

Edited July 24, 2019 by LilyV3

[Iosono 44]

I’ve never once thought OCA was OP.

i never use it and am rarely killed by it unless it’s a whisper.

what are you doing? 

[TackoGirl 130]

not again senseless weapons changes I would be more happy if you fix all the bugs ... and do not always try to change anything.

the other things sound interesting.

I'm glad to try it when it comes for testing

Edited July 24, 2019 by TackoGirl

[CookiePuss 5378]

9 minutes ago, toodamnmuch said:

you shouldn't bother keeping the nfas in the game if you nerf it so heavily for starters, it's already completed invalidated by the showstopper or nfa-9 anyway

Current NFAS-12 ttk 0.58

N-FA 9 .63

Showstopper 0.70

 

 

[BrandonBranderson 672]

27 minutes ago, CookiePuss said:

N-FA 9 .63

?!

[nikitos5 51]

How about we make three shotguns and each will fire differently, like 3 modifications of JG. For example JG model 1 will fire like it did in 2016, JG model 2 will fire like it does now and JG model 3 will fire like it will do on OTW soon.

Edited July 24, 2019 by nikitos5

[CookiePuss 5378]

12 minutes ago, BrandonBranderson said:

?!

Sorry thats N-FA 9                                 0.63

[TheMessiah 430]

Impressive blog and looks like they will keep coming.So from what i read..i understand that is very likely 3.5 open test to be in september?

You plan to release 3.5 and this new contacts in same time right?What about the matchmaking?I know for the future plans but you must release all 3 things(engine upgrade,contacts,matchmaking)in same time otherwise gonna sux.Whos gonna lvl up this new contacts under conditions of broken matches?Gonna kill the entire experience.Solution in my opinion if new matchmaking is not ready - just hide threat(both player and district)Gonna work because of the big influx of players after such patch.Hiding threat plus permitting players to choose only the recommended districts from "district select-advance"("show recommended only" box-checked and also hidden)In result - easy matchmaking fix.Visible will be just player rank in blue for enf. and red for crims

I like the new grenade ideas.Ill read later the weapon changes(not very interested)Overall nice blog GG 

Edited July 24, 2019 by TheMessiah

[BrandonBranderson 672]

After giving my rant on shotguns yesterday, I'd like to just say great job on everything else.  A new grenade type that does more than just explode is really interesting.  It's awesome to hear how close the engine upgrade is now!

[Uhtdred 238]

2 hours ago, Glaciers said:

what about it?

no changes on it?

[Lord Cashpoint 269]

@MattScott Can I ask what the rationale behind making those new contacts not top tier was? I understand the desire to not block off the content from lower rank players, but I feel like this will mess up the contact progression massively. It's clear that there were meant to be 4 "specialist" contacts at the end of the progression, and we already got 3 of them so far - why disrupt it now?

[vsb 6171]

5 minutes ago, Uhtdred said:

no changes on it?

i didn’t see any

 

it's possible there will be down the line, since this seems like it will be an ongoing balance process

[Knell 4]

Nice to see some progress, though I want to put my two cents here about shotguns...

The majority of shooters that I've seen that balance shotguns by TTK, tend to fall flat in one of two ways: The shotguns suck, or the shotguns are overpowered.

The one way I've seen shotguns behave in a balanced manner is treating them not as TTK weapons, but as the kings of popping corners, focusing on STK rather than TTK.

Since it seems poking at the shotguns has become the norm, I just want to put that little bit of an opinion out there!

Keep up the hard work, guys!
 

 

P.S. Just got down to the bottom, I believe you may have it backwards when it comes to the PMG and the OCA.

Both weapons can kill about 4 people in a magazine, but due to needing less shots to kill, I think the PMG/5 Shot Kill SMG is more forgiving than the OCA/8 Shot Kill SMG.

I don't want to seem overly opinionated, but it sounds like you guys are on the path to making the PMG a tad... broken.

Basing it on magazine size is all well and good, but if you count bodies per magazine rather than the straight comparison of 21 vs 30, the PMG is a tad more forgiving in more ways than one.

Heck, arguably, the OCA gets closer to a 5th kill before the magazine runs dry than the PMG does, at 3/4ths of the way(6 Bullets) vs 1/5th of the way (1 Bullet).

Sorry for being a ranting nerd, lol.

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Reyku

[Kanav 2]

Thanks for f*#&% up the shotguns again. Only reason I liked to play APB is how much fun I had shotgunning. Not much holding anyone to this game except their dollars spent in ARMAS.

[vsb 6171]

26 minutes ago, Reyku said:

P.S. Just got down to the bottom, I believe you may have it backwards when it comes to the PMG and the OCA.

Both weapons can kill about 4 people in a magazine, but due to needing less shots to kill, I think the PMG/5 Shot Kill SMG is more forgiving than the OCA/8 Shot Kill SMG.

I don't want to seem overly opinionated, but it sounds like you guys are on the path to making the PMG a tad... broken.

Basing it on magazine size is all well and good, but if you count bodies per magazine rather than the straight comparison of 21 vs 30, the PMG is a tad more forgiving in more ways than one.

Heck, arguably, the OCA gets closer to a 5th kill before the magazine runs dry than the PMG does, at 3/4ths of the way(6 Bullets) vs 1/5th of the way (1 Bullet).

Sorry for being a ranting nerd, lol.

the pmg isn’t being changed as far as this says, and it’s already pretty broken tbh

 

the oca is more forgiving because a missed shot affects ttk far less than a missed pmg shot

[Knell 4]

Just now, Glaciers said:

the pmg isn’t being changed as far as this says, and it’s already pretty broken tbh

 

the oca is more forgiving because a missed shot affects ttk far less than a missed pmg shot

Aye, true.

In that regard it is more forgiving, and I know they aren't changing the PMG.

Suppose it was more a caution against over-nerfing the OCA, the way it read sounded like they were going to nerf it's TTK or something.

Thanks for pointing out the missed shots forgiveness, I actually hadn't accounted for that.

[vsb 6171]

26 minutes ago, Reyku said:

Aye, true.

In that regard it is more forgiving, and I know they aren't changing the PMG.

Suppose it was more a caution against over-nerfing the OCA, the way it read sounded like they were going to nerf it's TTK or something.

Thanks for pointing out the missed shots forgiveness, I actually hadn't accounted for that.

the oca is simply being returned to its pre-buff state (.7s ttk, slight accuracy and bloom recovery "nerfs" iirc), which imo was perfectly balanced

 

if need be the accuracy and bloom recovery can be tacked back on, but the ease of use that the oca has means it should have a relatively higher ttk

[N66 97]

My 2 cents,

 

On the positive side: Interesting to read about this EMP grenade, this may feel like a new unique mechanic, nice to finally have new contacts, hopefully with more mods, radar jammer changes seem very well thought.

 

On the not as positive side, the balance, I'm in favour of some balance changes, but my take on this is as follows:

Shotguns generally were designed and intended around corner popping, this is how they are different from other CQC weapons, you lose in the open (slower ttk), you win behind cover, and I think this is brilliant.

I agree that they need to be more reliable, but I don't like some of the changes, namely: 

- NFAS 0.72 is too much, it is intended as knife range, at which it'd be very deadly, and then useless, so I'd make it a bit more reliable, a bit slower to kill (it wouldn't be OP if first pellets didn't give more damage)

- JG is unreliable yet OP sometimes atm, I wouldn't give it any buff, I wouldn't make its TTK competitive with CQC sub machine guns either

- Shredder is broken atm, entirely, sometimes you shoot someone at 2-3m range, 5 shots, well aimed, and they brush it off and keep going, it should be a CSG range version of NFAS kinda

- Ogre, would remove initial pellets giving more damage on this as well, and it'd be fine, wind up time is needed to force it's play style to corner waiting, it'd also be OP without it.

 

-- I also don't think removing inventory access from munition boxes is a good idea, that's their main use, you don't use them in combination with a Field Supplier.

--- I really think Boom Box needs a change, it's only useful on paper.

 

[Pedroxin 107]

On the topic of long-range secondaries, why isn't the "R-2 Harbinger" mentioned? 

By far it's the most good looking, yet overlooked, revolver in the whole game.

Edit* if you search Harbinger in the forums only 3 results will show up.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Pedroxin

[SkittyM 287]

2 minutes ago, Pedroxin said:

On the topic of long-range secondaries, why isn't the "R-2 Harbinger" mentioned? 

By far it's the most good looking, yet overlooked, revolver in the whole game.

It's a gun so bad that most people literally forget it exists.

[Pedroxin 107]

2 minutes ago, SkittyM said:

It's a gun so bad that most people literally forget it exists.

fair point but it really has potential. I mean it would be a waste since all the effort that went into designing the thing goes down the shitter. it deserves a proper balance imo.

[L0pht 28]

New contacts will be released, before or after EU 3.5? @MattScott

[Uhtdred 238]

some things to fix:

 

ghostshots (carbine, thunder, oscar, joker rfp)

 

the glitch that sometimes happens when u get out of cars (your enemy see you in a certain place but you're actually in another place or "flying")

 

 

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, L0pht said:

New contacts will be released, before or after EU 3.5? @MattScott

"Over the past couple weeks, I have alluded to new content for the main game that will launch after the Engine Upgrade."

Source > https://www.gamersfirst.com/apb/news/2019/7/23/content-update

[7GX 5]

42 minutes ago, L0pht said:

New contacts will be released, before or after EU 3.5? @MattScott

When its gonna be launched the new engine.