Patch Notes 1.20.0 (1167)

[jerycho 16]

24 minutes ago, ForumUser said:

Is the free account lifetime clothing bundle a specific bundle or are we allowed to choose which clothing bundle we want? If it is the former, which clothing bundle is it or what does it consist of?

This ^ please do tell. I don't want to waste time and probably more money than needed on going from paypal to razer to armas.

[Pillowlol 86]

everyone in this game is silver change my mind

[TheWalke 17]

NTEC 5 Nerf am i dreaming right now ??? Thanks LO..... now we need an working anti cheat system..... and banning macro players.

[CookiePuss 5373]

1 hour ago, Flaws said:

I went and played around with the N-TEC on both prototypes, shooting at a wall of course because both districts were 0-0 but with changes like these, that's all it took to see they are big no-nos.

 

Prototype "B" is a massive no-no, outright forget about it. Reducing the firerate on N-TEC would kill it just like back when you changed Improved Rifling and everyone went to the CR762 for the time being because it already has bigger range and it fires faster with Cooling Jacket on it. I also fail to see how lowering the ammo capacity is going to change anything significantly. I am very against ammo changes on any gun in general.

 

I main N-TEC 5, sure. However, I can use any other weapon in the game equally as good and I can switch (before anyone comes to my reply with that invalid argument). The N-TEC 5 is one of the very few weapons that actually require learning to be mastered, I talk to new players constantly who stray from the N-TEC because they find it challenging to use. This is the reason why I've picked to main it, because it requires a lot more than just focusing on one thing, it combines all the meaningful mechanics of the game (recoil control, fire rate control, aim tracking targets instead of point and click, using cover in a smart way, knowing when to push and when not to, etc) into one versatile gun, yet even when you do master it, it still will not outperform any of the other weapons in their ranges. SMGs and Shotguns beat it 9/10 times in close quarters, Carbine and OSCAR can destroy it in mid-range unless it is played smart from cover and I won't even mention how long range weapons rip it at actual long range.

 

Also, jump shooting is not an effective enough strategy to deserve a nerf, considering that it is only good if you can take someone by surprise meanwhile the rest of the time you will be stuck in a jump-fall pattern which is always exactly the same and easy to counter as long as you have a monitor and mouse. On top of that fact add the fact that the N-TEC is an RNG fest the moment you lift off the ground so you are at an even bigger disadvantage. Nerfing that is unnecessary.

 

How about, instead of penalizing good players who know how to play APB, we start penalizing all the players who abuse weapons like the AMG, the True Ogre mains, the explosive weapon mains, Showstopper users, remote detonator users and so on and actually make the game skillful and fun instead of outright killing all weapons that require skill and learning and overall lowering the skill ceiling of the entire game? The same people who are most likely the reason we are even getting an N-TEC nerf to begin with  Reducing the game down to W + Left Mouse Button will be APB's undoing, especially if it wants to be any kind of competitive in the future.

 

You should really stop listening to people who don't understand the game well enough to know how to balance it. This is the reason we have been stuck with broken shotguns for so long, the weapons that take as little skill as clicking the recycle bin icon on your desktop are now the most rewarding in APB, as if they weren't rewarding enough before.

[GhosT 1301]

1 hour ago, Flaws said:

I went and played around with the N-TEC on both prototypes, shooting at a wall of course because both districts were 0-0 but with changes like these, that's all it took to see they are big no-nos.

 

.....

 

I kinda expected the biggest N-TEC main to come in here and defend it.

I gotta say, you've got a talent to take something that's negative about the game, and make it sound positive.

 

 

Yes, new players can't handle the N-TEC, because nothing and no one ever tells them to tap fire at a specific firerate and to not tap it too fast. When you know that, that skill is quickly and easily "mastered" and the N-TEC becomes a very rewarding semi auto rifle.

Yes, other guns can be better than the N-TEC in their niche, but can't do anything outside of it.

 

But somehow people fail to realize that the N-TEC can easily hold its ground against all these niche weapons without much of a struggle and still be incredibly strong at other ranges, that's where it shines and why it's considered overpowered. Not to mention its insane mobility.

 

Now arguments like "switch to an OCA if the objective is in a building" or "switch to a sniper" don't really make any sense, even less so after the ammo box nerf. An N-TEC player never has to switch weapons ever.

Nor does it make much sense to say "play a sniper and tell your teammate to use an oca" when you can play solo and don't get teammates willing to do that. Some of you "top skill" people need to get out of your comfort bubble and realize that a game has to be well balanced in order to succeed, not grouping up and using tactics to defeat one guy with a broken gun.

 

You also said the N-TEC needs "recoil control, fire rate control, aim tracking targets instead of point and click, using cover in a smart way, knowing when to push and when not to, etc". All of these apply to many other guns in APB, and the last two are general game knowledge and not something the N-TEC requires you to do. Also worth to mention that the N-TEC is one of the easier guns to master, hence its popularity.

 

You've listed other things like remote detonator, which is perfectly fine - it's Explosives 4 that make it overpowered. All it could use is a cooldown time.

Or the true ogre, which has literally never been an issue to anyone knowing what he does. Not to mention that it has always been a horrible gun to use as an attacker.

[yood 345]

after each post Nerf . trying to change weapons is bad . the game has more than 50 series of weapons . stop poking around .

Edited September 18, 2019 by olo

[BrandonBranderson 672]

Awesome, can't wait to get those harnesses!  Wasn't expecting you guys to make them so soon.  Can we get Zombie's wallet chain at some point too?  Also I can see some fireman cosplays incoming.  Is that the old fireaxe weapon model that just never ended up being used, or is it just a new one?  Now you gotta use that double barrel model for a real gun :3  Might work as a kinda secondary Strife.  Massive damage but with a really wide spread and only two rounds per reload.

[Lato 188]

Useless patch, you can't please everyone, stop changing weapons. Focus on more important things

[Frosi 722]

I'll give my two cents on the N-tec changes, I've personally played this gun a ton grinding my way to Rifleman 16 so I want to say that I have a pretty good idea about the guns strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness. What I am saying below is my personal opinion and I'm happy to discuss the things I am talking about.

 

While the N-tec is a fun gun, it is by far also the most used gun in the game for a reason, it is quite possibly the most versatile gun in the game which is also easy to get into using. Imo the main skill ceiling with the N-tec lies in knowing what fights you can take and how to execute them and the N-tec has an overall pretty low skill ceiling outside of that.

 

In my opinion the main issue with the N-tec and why its so versatile lies in its CQC viability. The gun has extremely fast bloom recovery and more importantly a still very tight max bloom (even with IR3) that lets you take on fights in cqc without having to pay much attention to anything but tracking as there is little to no recoil to control. This is the area they should tackle when it comes to nerfing the N-tec, allowing it to still be as potent in mid range but making room for other assault rifles that were designed around potency at closer ranges at the sacrifice of less range capabilities. In its current state, the N-tec is the jack of all traits as no other assault rifle can come close to what the N-tec can do.

 

Jumpshooting while some say it might rely on RNG is still something most players do with the N-tec and get away with successfully but is yet again situational, knowing when it is benefitial to jumpshoot with the N-tec is extremely important but doesn't justify its ridiculous damage output while in mid air as you will more often than not land atleast 3 or so shots on targets if you have found yourself in a situation where jumpshooting the N-tec is benefitial to then find yourself in a still very accurate max bloom situation which allows you to finish off the target.

 

 

 

Now to what is being tested on the Prototype districts.

 

I personally don't agree with reducing the range of the N-tec 5 as it is meant to be the Assault Rifle that is more potent at those higher ranges as compared to the STAR however the Jumpshooting accuracy change is a must, it is simply too potent if done right.

 

Test A

 

Simply said, this test won't change the N-tec whatsoever, magazine capacity is rarely ever a limiting factor and I don't think that 4 bullets less in the mag is going to have any impact whatsoever.

 

Test B

 

This is an interesting one, it limits the N-tecs capabilities in close range making it so missing your initial bullets is a far bigger downside due to the lower rate of fire (If the reduction in rate of fire is intended) while also making it a higher ttk than weapons that are designed to be potent at those ranges and most importantly it does not touch its range capabilities at all. This is a direct nerf to CQC which might just be enough to put it in line and not make it a sub 1 second ttk laser in cqc that is easy to use and control as more often than not its tight max bloom will not make you miss all that much.

 

If however the reduction in rate of fire is not intended and it is only supposed to be a change in bloom recovery then I don't see this do much at all since you will most likely simply commit to spraying rather than bursting.

 

 

Proposal

 

If the reduction in rate of fire on Test B is not intended then I don't see either versions of the N-tec 5's be a significant enough nerf to bring them in line and make room for the other Assault Rifles in the game so I would propose different approaches to limiting its CQC viability by increasing its max bloom quite a fair amount, making it bloom quicker and more substantially after the 3rd shot and onwards. This in combination with the jumpshooting accuracy change should put the N-tec in line.

 

 

 

Feel free to quote and discuss below, I'll chime in whenever possible.

[GhosT 1301]

3 minutes ago, Frosi said:

I'll give my two cents on the N-tec changes...

 

Very fair points.

 

Is test B really different from what they wrote? Did they change the fire rate?

They wanted to slow it down by giving it slower accuracy recovery, not by changing the fire rate.

 

I do agree that a fire rate change is unnecessary and should not be done, it's an AK after all and those don't shoot slow.

If you guys want to "reduce" the fire rate, do as you said and give it a slower recovery time so it can't be spammed as fast on range.

Though as I said earlier, a accuracy recovery change needs really precise fine tuning as it could balance the gun or completely ruin it.

[Frosi 722]

1 minute ago, GhosT said:

Is test B really different from what they wrote? Did they change the fire rate?

On Test B its rate of fire is decreased by a good bit while also having slower bloom recovery.

[Darkzero3802 606]

Lets see if this razer promo actually works and if the items are actually worth anything (and if I dont already have the clothing or not)

Edited September 18, 2019 by Darkzero3802

[GhosT 1301]

4 minutes ago, Frosi said:

On Test B its rate of fire is decreased by a good bit while also having slower bloom recovery.

 

First they went away from giving actual stats, now they're going away from listing major changes.

Or they just forgot to mention that, I hope.

 

Wish I could test it myself, but I'm unable to play right now.

[moxxichixx 148]

I like the new payment method for APB from Razer but I do not know if I can trust them. The site doesn't look safe and my nickname was really weird. Idk if it is because Razer is upgrading their site and everything breaks but if someone already got access to my Razer Gold account I don't know if I can trust Little Orbit as well :x

Edited September 18, 2019 by moxxichixx

[nikitos5 51]

People react like n-tec will become the worst gun in the game. First they complain that n-tec is OP then they complain that the nerf will kill it. Nice. My suggestion for cr762 nerf: reduce damage to 225 from 245, reduce dropoff range to 50m

[Alani 475]

4 hours ago, GhosT said:

Side note, the Obeya CR762 will become the new N-TEC, which is actually a perfectly balanced gun and not as brutal as the N-TEC due to less mobility and not being as good in close quarters.

 

But it has massive overdamage that should be looked at. Getting shot 4 times will leave you with 980 damage, enough to be a one shot from almost everything at any range. And you thought getting 850'd by a HVR was bad. 

And can actually put Heavy Barrel 3 on it and it'll still be a 5 shot to kill. Not that anyone would actually use that on the Obeya, but I think you get my point.

dont say the obeya is perfectly balanced 

i remember everyone preaching about balancing weapons around the ntec because its 'perfectly balanced'

 

now you are going to see an obeya change in the future

[LilyRain 669]

I have asked my Fortune Teller about APB's nerf-train:

 

 

-----------------------------------------------

We hopefully won't get to that point since changes are usually minor, but instead of 'Hey! This weapon is the current-best right now, let us give it a nerf', I'd personally like to see more of 'these weapons are severely underused and not as competitive, let us give them a raise'.

[Darkzero3802 606]

17 minutes ago, nikitos5 said:

People react like n-tec will become the worst gun in the game. First they complain that n-tec is OP then they complain that the nerf will kill it. Nice. My suggestion for cr762 nerf: reduce damage to 225 from 245, reduce dropoff range to 50m

cr762 is a ntec reskin

[Frosi 722]

23 minutes ago, Darkzero3802 said:

cr762 is a ntec reskin

The CR762 is the Obeya Rifle.

[Uke 101]

6 hours ago, Running Eagle said:

The reduced bloom settle speed DOES reduce the TTK at range.  It literally does exactly that, while leaving it untouched when in a situation where you can full-auto the gun and land all 6 shots.

That's exactly the opposite of what should be done.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Uke

[Mitne 724]

Finally.

It was insane enough that SMGs had hard time to get N-TECs who were just jump shooting.

And it won't destroy gun like previous attempts to nerf did.

 

I prefer variant B. Variant A won't be felt at all by neither side. But one note: I yet need to test both.

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Mitne

[Acornie 490]

The balancing has been hopeful this time around, but there's a clear pattern of overnerf when it comes to widely used, and complained about weapons. Before I complain though, the less accuracy while mid air and 28 mag size is fine, I don't really prefer the damage dropoff to start at 45m because 50m is the standard for other ARs, but the -5m is nothing compared to how Test B would make it inferior to other ARs.

 

Test B would completely kill the N-tec 5, it would push it completely out of the competitive AR scene, a ttk in the 0.85 range simply does not make sense. The goal is 'balance', making them balanced with one another. We have the FAR at .7 and the STAR at .75, and of course the Ntec 7 at .7ttk.... you gotta keep it competitive with other ARs.

 

I don't want to sound like this is an overreaction comment from the way I phrased things, this is really the only way I know how to describe what Test B does to the weapon

Honestly, if you really want to balance the N-tec properly, going back and reverting the changes RP did in 2015 and then start from there. But that would be a bit more work 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Acornie

[Iazer 204]

B's N-TEC 5 is substantially unusable, as it isn't either a long range or a close range weapon with the current stats, it has completely lost a place. It won't beat anything at 50m+ and is completely slaughtered at 50m-. In my mind the N-TEC 5's only real issue was ever the consistency when mid air as that was really the only thing that made it so good in CQC as you would move through the air and with the current way that the servers are performing and the latency of players using the "jump and lean meme" it makes it quite unbeatable as it is such a surprise and comes out of no where. As for the magazine changes, it really wont make a difference in game play as it has a 6 STK so the chances that someone is going to use 28 bullets to kill 1 player is very unlikely. The N-TEC 5 overall should be in my mind more of a Mid-Low Long range Primary that doesn't beat most things in CQC.

[Alani 475]

everyone keep praising stupid ntec nerf

 

not realizing the same people who use ntec will just switch to weapons such as the RABID, FAR, and NSSW with how alike they are in performance to the ntec

 

then they'll start bitching about how the FAR, RABID, and NSSW need some sort of changes.

 

I would prefer if the LO people would look at the added weapons before looking at the current weapons. because all you're doing at this point is telling all of the veterans 'we messing with ntec' and the veterans will just go 'k i will use X weapon then' and suddenly people will start complaining about how X weapon is OP now because the veterans are annihilating people with them.

[Benguin 141]

First completely nerf it to the ground so the next patch they can change it to something reasonable so people will accept it. Yeah nah.

 

I'm not a n-tec main but I'm sorry, if you are losing against jumping n-tecs with an OCA it's probably because of your lack of skill.