Joker Madness Patch Announcement

[Sakebee 2271]

Hello everyone,

 

A new patch is going up onto the Live servers for PC. This patch will be happening on Wednesday 3/4/2020. The Patch is scheduled to start at 9 AM UTC and will last up to 4 hours. Console will have its normal maintenance starting at 9 AM UTC as well.

 

OVERVIEW

This week kicks off *Joker Madness*, where we are greatly increasing both the drop rate and the number of Joker Tickets dropped from opposed missions for the month of March. We are also moving all of the shotgun stats that have been tested into all districts. These stats are what we are comfortable going live with, but they could still be tweaked in the future. You can read more about these changes and the Joker Madness event here.

 

CHANGES/FIXES

• Moving shotgun stats from Prototype districts into all Districts.
• Doubling drop chance of Joker Tickets from opposed missions for the Joker Madness event.
• Tripling the amount of Joker Tickets dropped from opposed missions for the Joker Madness event.

 

This post is cross-referenced under Game Updates for your convenience.

 

 Sakebee

[SmilyFace 300]

Wow, alright, i wasn't expecting these type of changes, im impressed, need to say that, congrats.

Btw.. what about the numbers LO? x)

I mean.. JMB 24?

Where is the 23? @Sakebee

[SkittyM 287]

Love me some MAPS.

[Sakebee 2271]

24 minutes ago, AlishaAzure said:

Wow, alright, i wasn't expecting these type of changes, im impressed, need to say that, congrats.

Btw.. what about the numbers LO? x)

I mean.. JMB 24?

Where is the 23? @Sakebee

That was a typo. Our apologies. The article is being updated with the correct JMB number - 23

[MrChan 337]

Lethal version of the NL-9...

 

kek

 

(idk, maybe it'll be amazing)

[vsb 6174]

Quote

but this is our first small step towards making sure Joker Mystery Boxes remain a compelling and exciting part of your APB gameplay.

i try pretty hard to remain neutral in the face of little orbit's continued incompetence, but damn this sentence was just a huge yikes

 

 

as for joker ticket mission rewards is there any chance of detaching them from the random reward system so that they don't conflict with consumable mission rewards?

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

2 hours ago, Solamente said:

i try pretty hard to remain neutral in the face of little orbit's continued incompetence, but damn this sentence was just a huge yikes

 

 

as for joker ticket mission rewards is there any chance of detaching them from the random reward system so that they don't conflict with consumable mission rewards?

Guess Matt Scott took that long hard look at loot boxes that he said he would and decided its okay to gamble APB players out of their money.

 

Great job.

Edited March 3, 2020 by NotZombieBiscuit

[Snubnose 646]

3 hours ago, Solamente said:

i try pretty hard to remain neutral in the face of little orbit's continued incompetence, but damn this sentence was just a huge yikes

 

 

as for joker ticket mission rewards is there any chance of detaching them from the random reward system so that they don't conflict with consumable mission rewards?

 

55 minutes ago, NotZombieBiscuit said:

Guess Matt Scott took that long hard look at loot boxes that he said he would and decided its okay to gamble APB players out of their money.

 

Great job.

yea umm, didn't they at some point say they'd implement some kind of new system for legendary weapons?

[SkittyM 287]

3 hours ago, Snubnose said:

 

yea umm, didn't they at some point say they'd implement some kind of new system for legendary weapons?

That's still the plan but its quite a ways off.

[Snubnose 646]

1 hour ago, SkittyM said:

That's still the plan but its quite a ways off.

aight so untill then, keep milkin'! :^)

I know, I know... LO needs to make money.. and there's nothing wrong with releasing armas content (as long as it's not p2w).

but come on, they could really try harder and maybe release this weapon as a standalone (or with some new clothes / bodykit) and a joker store variant with less slots, and later on when they got their new legendary weapon system implemented make a legendary variant of the base weapon, with some special mod and it's skin...

I mean you know how bad it looks to the "outside community" of APB (the people that once played, but haven't in a looong time, waiting for the engine update) when LO releases payed content... it's especially bad if payed content is a gambling box.

 

@MattScott maybe release some more joker store items while you're at it... (more bodykits and clothes mainly), so free to play players (or people who really don't feel like buying gambling boxes) have something to look forward to aswell...
I mean you wanted to keep updating the joker store for some while, but we haven't seen much of that since the one big update with the weapons dropped...

[Fumiku 249]

" That is why we are happy to announce that opening Joker Mystery Box 23 will always grant 100 Joker Tickets on top of its normal prizes!"

So 99 G1C for 100 Joker Tickets

[Fasalina 163]

The link is giving me a "403 forbidden" error.

 

Also, im sure this patch will get more people to play! :^) 

[thelinux 51]

So every single box will get you 100 JT? If so, you're effectively making JT a G1C alternative. Joker Tickets have been a f2p currency for all these years, sort of a more special alternative to apb$, and I don't approve of the idea to change that completely. On the other hand, it is a smart decision from an economic point of view.

 

Obviously, people are going to buy loads of boxes and then spend the JT in the Joker Store, indirectly paying for the weapons which you advertised as something essentially for f2p players. We all praised you for making so many permanent weapons available to f2p players, but this now sort of devalues that action.

 

It seems that what Matt stated in his last post really applies here: "2 steps forward and 1 step back." 

I guess that's one way to reach goals eventually!

 

Edit: I do appreciate the idea of making JMBs more rewarding, but... it's not exactly what you're doing (as it has the side effects described above).

Props to the increased JT drops/rates in missions, though. Let's hope it helps the pop.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by thelinux

[Salvick 248]

 

What the legit f is "RedHill" ffs? 

Thought we'd get rid completely of that player-made content failure that only thing it did was breaking the lore immersion of APB.

[DoesntExistAnyMore 144]

Yay , Thanks for the jts event  <3

[mtz 496]

50 minutes ago, Salvick said:

 

What the legit f is "RedHill" ffs? 

Thought we'd get rid completely of that player-made content failure that only thing it did was breaking the lore immersion of APB.

Well, there's my nomination for the award of Today's Most Terrible Take.

 

For better or worse, the RIOT gamemode was a part of the game for a brief moment in time. It failed for several reasons, there's no denying that. But underneath the failed gamemode there is development of the world we play in. Do you remember that we've had an ARG that made players search for clues and look for answers as to who RedHill are? Do you realize that we still have Lawrence Holland residing in Social? Have you ever even noticed billboards around town changing as the ARG developed?

 

Please don't pretend that you give a rat's patootie about APB's lore. If anything, from a world-building standpoint RIOT was a breath of fresh air after literal years of absolutely nothing going on. Bringing up "lore immersion" is a silly position to take, considering how 1) very few people care about this game's lore, characters and world-building; 2) it's hard to believably and properly expand upon a world written by people who probably aren't even with the company anymore; 3) the lore has already been "ruined" by the addition of Specialists.

 

If you think that the events surrounding the RedHill Institute of Technology do not fit APB and that they "ruin the sanctity of lore" (choice of words up to personal preference), why are you not speaking up about how none of the Specialists are acknowledged by anyone who existed before them? Chung-hee is friends with Orlenz' and Chiza, Criminal missions reference the death of Jenna Casey, Michael Simeone namedrops Byron Bloodrose as the one who protects the Roses from CSA cyber-espionage — but DDog, Ernst, Aletta, Mischa, Birth and Gumball? They exist in their own bubble. They reference one another or the contacts who came before them, but they're practically never mentioned by any contacts who aren't a part of their group. How is the existence of the RedHill Institute of Technology a unique problem?

 

APB hasn't had any sort of real lore development for literal years now. San Paro itself remains suspended in 2010s, both in terms of its aesthetics/atmosphere and its world (as in characters and the events surrounding them). Practically all the Specialists do not exist in any mentions by their preceding contacts.

For all its faults, RIOT actually gave us an interesting plot thread and a potential third force who would want to exploit the two sides of the San Paro conflict. Expecting Little Orbit to just hush up and never bring up or reference what they've created is just an incredibly silly approach. Plus, as it is a research institute, it gives LO a perfect excuse to have more experimental weaponry that would not fit any other weapon manufacturer. Case in point: this very legendary, the LS1 "Corsair". STABBA Non-lethal is a company which has an outright policy of not manufacturing lethal weaponry. Having RedHill be responsible for developing a lethal version lets LO satisfy those people who have expressed interest in seeing an NL9-like slug shotgun.

 

As a community, we could really use a bit less negative thinking and a lot less of dealing in absolutes.

[TheMessiah 430]

19 hours ago, Sakebee said:

• Doubling drop chance of Joker Tickets from opposed missions for the Joker Madness event.
• Tripling the amount of Joker Tickets dropped from opposed missions for the Joker Madness event.

So instead of 2 JT u get 6(gonna be most cases)Not a big deal..i dont see how gonna keep us playn this broken matches or how this gonna bring new players.Better rework riot like i suggest here and make good rewards.Last time i suggest this..if ur smart u gonna make it

 

[vsb 6174]

36 minutes ago, MartinPL said:

Well, there's my nomination for the award of Today's Most Terrible Take.

 

For better or worse, the RIOT gamemode was a part of the game for a brief moment in time. It failed for several reasons, there's no denying that. But underneath the failed gamemode there is development of the world we play in. Do you remember that we've had an ARG that made players search for clues and look for answers as to who RedHill are? Do you realize that we still have Lawrence Holland residing in Social? Have you ever even noticed billboards around town changing as the ARG developed?

 

Please don't pretend that you give a rat's patootie about APB's lore. If anything, from a world-building standpoint RIOT was a breath of fresh air after literal years of absolutely nothing going on. Bringing up "lore immersion" is a silly position to take, considering how 1) very few people care about this game's lore, characters and world-building; 2) it's hard to believably and properly expand upon a world written by people who probably aren't even with the company anymore; 3) the lore has already been "ruined" by the addition of Specialists.

 

If you think that the events surrounding the RedHill Institute of Technology do not fit APB and that they "ruin the sanctity of lore" (choice of words up to personal preference), why are you not speaking up about how none of the Specialists are acknowledged by anyone who existed before them? Chung-hee is friends with Orlenz' and Chiza, Criminal missions reference the death of Jenna Casey, Michael Simeone namedrops Byron Bloodrose as the one who protects the Roses from CSA cyber-espionage — but DDog, Ernst, Aletta, Mischa, Birth and Gumball? They exist in their own bubble. They reference one another or the contacts who came before them, but they're practically never mentioned by any contacts who aren't a part of their group. How is the existence of the RedHill Institute of Technology a unique problem?

 

APB hasn't had any sort of real lore development for literal years now. San Paro itself remains suspended in 2010s, both in terms of its aesthetics/atmosphere and its world (as in characters and the events surrounding them). Practically all the Specialists do not exist in any mentions by their preceding contacts.

For all its faults, RIOT actually gave us an interesting plot thread and a potential third force who would want to exploit the two sides of the San Paro conflict. Expecting Little Orbit to just hush up and never bring up or reference what they've created is just an incredibly silly approach. Plus, as it is a research institute, it gives LO a perfect excuse to have more experimental weaponry that would not fit any other weapon manufacturer. Case in point: this very legendary, the LS1 "Corsair". STABBA Non-lethal is a company which has an outright policy of not manufacturing lethal weaponry. Having RedHill be responsible for developing a lethal version lets LO satisfy those people who have expressed interest in seeing an NL9-like slug shotgun.

 

As a community, we could really use a bit less negative thinking and a lot less of dealing in absolutes.

i think @Kewlin made a more detailed post on why the new lore sucked, but my personal issue with the redhill stuff is that it’s all awful 10th grade fan fiction level even relative to the rest of apb lore - the characters are awful, the backstory is contrived, and some of the redhill lore almost directly contradicts existing lore rather than just being strangely disconnected like the specialists 

 

no amount of “freshness” makes the seemingly low effort attempts acceptable imo

 

and the new legendary (besides not actually being a legendary because joker boxes suck) would be far more appropriate for a joker gunworks release, as they already have a history of taking “inspiration” from other companies’ products

 

also i’m pretty sure most people dislike anything involving redhill more because of its sole attachment to the disastrous game mode, and little orbit dredging it up again makes it seem like they might do something awful like riot again

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Solamente
typo

[mtz 496]

1 hour ago, Solamente said:

i think @Kewlin made a more detailed post on why the new lore sucked, but my personal issue with the redhill stuff is that it’s all awful 10th grade fan fiction level even relative to the rest of apb lore - the characters are awful, the backstory is contrived, and some of the redhill lore almost directly contradicts existing lore rather than just being strangely disconnected like the specialists

 

no amount of “freshness” makes the seemingly low effort attempts acceptable imo

Not really going to debate this part since it's, well, your personal opinion and there's nothing wrong with having one, but I don't get the part about the characters. Wasn't Holland pretty much the only named character we've got out of it all? I guess there was also the whistleblower from the ARG, but the website seems to be down so I can't check how much character development we got out of that one.

 

1 hour ago, Solamente said:

and the new legendary (besides not actually being a legendary because joker boxes suck) would be far more appropriate for a joker gunworks release, as they already have a history of taking “inspiration” from other companies’ products

Assuming you mean the reskins in Joker Distribution — fair point, actually. Still, I don't see anything wrong in having RHD as a manufacturer of (for example) more unconventional weaponry, considering that we already have some weapons that don't seem to have an apparent manufacturer — namely, all weapons from the Pack of Revelations.

[Salvick 248]

  

5 hours ago, MartinPL said:

Well, there's my nomination for the award of Today's Most Terrible Take.

 

For better or worse, the RIOT gamemode was a part of the game for a brief moment in time. It failed for several reasons, there's no denying that. But underneath the failed gamemode there is development of the world we play in. Do you remember that we've had an ARG that made players search for clues and look for answers as to who RedHill are? Do you realize that we still have Lawrence Holland residing in Social? Have you ever even noticed billboards around town changing as the ARG developed?

 

Please don't pretend that you give a rat's patootie about APB's lore. If anything, from a world-building standpoint RIOT was a breath of fresh air after literal years of absolutely nothing going on. Bringing up "lore immersion" is a silly position to take, considering how 1) very few people care about this game's lore, characters and world-building; 2) it's hard to believably and properly expand upon a world written by people who probably aren't even with the company anymore; 3) the lore has already been "ruined" by the addition of Specialists.

 

If you think that the events surrounding the RedHill Institute of Technology do not fit APB and that they "ruin the sanctity of lore" (choice of words up to personal preference), why are you not speaking up about how none of the Specialists are acknowledged by anyone who existed before them? Chung-hee is friends with Orlenz' and Chiza, Criminal missions reference the death of Jenna Casey, Michael Simeone namedrops Byron Bloodrose as the one who protects the Roses from CSA cyber-espionage — but DDog, Ernst, Aletta, Mischa, Birth and Gumball? They exist in their own bubble. They reference one another or the contacts who came before them, but they're practically never mentioned by any contacts who aren't a part of their group. How is the existence of the RedHill Institute of Technology a unique problem?

 

APB hasn't had any sort of real lore development for literal years now. San Paro itself remains suspended in 2010s, both in terms of its aesthetics/atmosphere and its world (as in characters and the events surrounding them). Practically all the Specialists do not exist in any mentions by their preceding contacts.

For all its faults, RIOT actually gave us an interesting plot thread and a potential third force who would want to exploit the two sides of the San Paro conflict. Expecting Little Orbit to just hush up and never bring up or reference what they've created is just an incredibly silly approach. Plus, as it is a research institute, it gives LO a perfect excuse to have more experimental weaponry that would not fit any other weapon manufacturer. Case in point: this very legendary, the LS1 "Corsair". STABBA Non-lethal is a company which has an outright policy of not manufacturing lethal weaponry. Having RedHill be responsible for developing a lethal version lets LO satisfy those people who have expressed interest in seeing an NL9-like slug shotgun.

 

As a community, we could really use a bit less negative thinking and a lot less of dealing in absolutes.

 

When I say that the "only thing it did was breaking the game immersion" I'm saying it in regards that the effect of it didn't contributed at anything at all. I know what it is though.

 

 

Everything related to RedHill is plain awful, specially each one of the things you're mentioning. The billboards...well I could live ignoring these as any random billboard, the treasure hunt / riddle hints and clues thingy was like a player made Discord thing that not only was absolutely unprofessionally implemented but also boring and detached from the actual community that is not part of the unofficial community social networks.

The stuff at Social oh lord, please remove all that garbage for good already, even the ugly colors they choose looks like something that some random player could've made more than something coming from actual game developers, that character ffs, even G1 made a contest that, besides imo it could be totally rigged, allowed plenty of players to show off their creations in an attempt to pick a properly designed character or gather ideas along with some background stories, and then the backstory of this RIOT guy is plain garb if you want to ice the bullcake.

Everything related to RIOT makes the game feel like the less creative and dumb players are in control of the game content additions, that splash screen with a 90s ugly graffiti style logo, the way they tried to implement this new game mode failure to generate some hype that lasted less than the game mode itself. EVERYTHING RELATED TO RIOT IS UGLY.

I really doubt it was LO and their staff the ones who came up with this idea, I honestly think there has to be something else and someone else who convinced them this could work, it was such a waste.

Now, if it really was LO with their actual staff who made it, props to them for trying something in a game they were barely learning about, but even then if I think of it in this way it makes no sense that they would come up with these ideas just out of the blue because they thought implementing a new game mode in a 7-8 years old game that they just acquired a couple of months ago would worth at all.
 

 

 

3 hours ago, MartinPL said:

Not really going to debate this part since it's, well, your personal opinion and there's nothing wrong with having one, but I don't get the part about the characters. Wasn't Holland pretty much the only named character we've got out of it all? I guess there was also the whistleblower from the ARG, but the website seems to be down so I can't check how much character development we got out of that one.

 

Assuming you mean the reskins in Joker Distribution — fair point, actually. Still, I don't see anything wrong in having RHD as a manufacturer of (for example) more unconventional weaponry, considering that we already have some weapons that don't seem to have an apparent manufacturer — namely, all weapons from the Pack of Revelations.

 

 

Now, either if you are just defending RIOT stuff because you like it or because you or someone you know was part of the making off of that bad nightmare that everyone wants to forget, is still your personal opinion too as same as what I've said is mine. I respect your replies and willingness to debate thought, I just do not agree.


Here he made it very clear, I couldn't say it better and that Kewlin's post he is referring to also explained what I'm trying to point out here.

4 hours ago, Solamente said:

i think @Kewlin made a more detailed post on why the new lore sucked, but my personal issue with the redhill stuff is that it’s all awful 10th grade fan fiction level even relative to the rest of apb lore - the characters are awful, the backstory is contrived, and some of the redhill lore almost directly contradicts existing lore rather than just being strangely disconnected like the specialists 

 

no amount of “freshness” makes the seemingly low effort attempts acceptable imo

 

and the new legendary (besides not actually being a legendary because joker boxes suck) would be far more appropriate for a joker gunworks release, as they already have a history of taking “inspiration” from other companies’ products

 

also i’m pretty sure most people dislike anything involving redhill more because of its sole attachment to the disastrous game mode, and little orbit dredging it up again makes it seem like they might do something awful like riot again

 

 

Personally I just dislike the aesthetics, the design choices and the backstory of it along with the way they implemented it without involving the community at least to provide some feedback if not a full official design contest to produce the new content, but even if they'd choose to do that with the currently low population it would turn any community participation sort of unreliable.

To be honest probably if the game mode would've been presented in a different way and lasted a bit more I might be playing it indeed, but even Anarchy mode which some could say it was probably one of the best attempts to add a new game mode lasted very shortly after its release, so this makes me guess that APB is what APB is and perhaps there isn't much space for new game modes.

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Salvick

[Fortune Runner 796]

22 hours ago, Sakebee said:

but they could still be tweaked in the future.

 if someone does not like the new change they should keep in mind it is not set in stone and may be adjusted further.

people should also give feedback of the pros and cons of what they do and don't like on this.

[mtz 496]

32 minutes ago, Salvick said:

Now, either if you are just defending RIOT stuff because you like it or because you or someone you know was part of the making off of that bad nightmare that everyone wants to forget, is still your personal opinion too as same as what I've said is mine.

Or — and bear with me on this one — I wasn't a big fan of RIOT nor was I friends with anyone involved in its development. I simply refuse to jump to absolutes and think of RIOT as a "total and utter failure on every conceivable front" like I've seen many people do.

Edited March 3, 2020 by MartinPL

[Salvick 248]

1 hour ago, MartinPL said:

Or — and bear with me on this one — I wasn't a big fan of RIOT nor was I friends with anyone involved in its development. I simply refuse to jump to absolutes and think of RIOT as a "total and utter failure on every conceivable front" like I've seen many people do.

 

Well that's actually something I could totally agree then. Wasn't my intention to look like an absolutist pessimist either way but I had some difficulties to put it with the right words when it came to express my opinion about it, I find it really ugly and a bit annoying while also had some laughs at some of the stuff.

 

Wish they could completely remove it so we all forget it happened, lol.

[Kewlin 692]

9 hours ago, Solamente said:

~snip about Kewlin and RIOT~

 

It warms my heart that my name is still being mentioned despite me leaving APB months ago.

 

This is the post you were referring to I think:

 

P.S. there are some typos in that post that made me die inside, please, forgive me.

[TzickyT 212]

i don't want to be an patootie but what about people who can't buy any jokerboxes becous of a ban on them in there country ...

I personaly would like to buy these jokerboxes but due to not able to buy them becous of the goverment. is there already thought about how these country's could buy these boxes?