Med Spray Patch Announcement

[Hexerin 1140]

Change consumables to mods with a cooldown, like they should've been in the first place.

[explosiveUA 48]

1st update of the year! 

[mtz 496]

11 hours ago, Sakebee said:

N-tec 5

 

After the buffs to the N-tec’s 5 maximum bloom, it quickly became the jack of all trades for Assault Rifles again, leaving little to no room for other Assault Rifles that are less versatile to exist in the meta without the player feeling like they made the wrong choice overall. Consequently, we are reverting the N-tec 5’s maximum bloom buff. We will be keeping an eye on the Scoped N-tec 5 as the meta develops, though there are no current changes for that gun at this time.

 

• Maximum Bloom: 2.1 -> 2.4

Emphasis mine.

 

In true fence-sitter fashion, I will now put myself inbetween two sides of an argument and garner the sympathy of neither of them :^)

 

I feel like the N-TEC 5 being the untouchable golden child of the meta (a sentiment common among the replies here) is a problem, but nerfing it specifically instead of buffing other guns surrounding it in the respective class (the approach adapted in these changes) is not the right solution. If other assault rifles underperform compared to the N-TEC 5, they should be put up closer to it... but it is valid to discuss whether we should even be treating the N-TEC 5 like this cornerstone that we can't touch and merely mend everything around it.

 

My way of looking at things is that the STAR 556 should be the baseline, given that it is the starting gun for everyone; N-TEC's place should be as an alternative which sacrifices consistent accuracy for higher DPS/damage output — but this discussion would reach far beyond the scope of this thread.

 

11 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Grenades

 

Grenades have been a central part of APB’s gameplay in recent years. Currently, especially at the higher player skill levels, players will have both of their grenades on them at almost all times. Players also frequently rely upon using more than 2 grenades per push, enabled by mods such as Field Supplier, Mobile Supply Unit and previously the consumable Resupply box. The Mobile Supply Unit in particular has also enabled the possibility for players to endlessly spam grenades into a corridor to completely deny access, much like the consumable Resupply box did in the past.

 

Therefore, we have adjusted the resupply delay timer from one to three seconds on Frag, Concussion, Percussion and Low-Yield Fragmentation grenades. This change is intended to not only create gaps between grenade explosions in an endless resupply scenario, but also present a risk when resupplying grenades mid-push. This change should lower the overall amount of grenade spam per mission.

 

Bold move, I'll have to admit.

 

We can already see the outcry in this thread about how this "punishes higher skilled players", but I think the real issue here is whether anyone should have had the ability to shut down approach routes through resupplied grenade spam in the first place. This alteration should hopefully harm this tactic of spamming nades to prevent entry through some pathways. The resupply delay change alone doesn't alter anything about the grenades themselves...

 

11 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Frag Grenade

 

Frag grenades have been the most common grenade type at almost all levels of play because of their unforgiving nature and very high kill pressure, allowing players to be at a huge advantage when pushing even after a less than ideal grenade throw.

 

Therefore, to scale back this pressure slightly, we have reduced the frag grenade's maximum damage radius from 4 to 3 meters. This change means players have to be slightly more accurate with their grenade throws to maximize their potential, as players on the receiving end of a badly thrown grenade will now lose less of their HP as a result.

 

• Maximum damage radius 4m -> 3m

...but this change does seem to be mixing some things up.

 

I see the logic here, I absolutely do, and to some degree I agree with it. The regular frag grenade has been consistently the most versatile and most reliable in terms of damage output... but right now its max damage radius is just 25 centimeters higher than that of the concussion grenade. That proximity of their stats to each other sounds mildly concerning. The total radius, however, stays the same, so it should still be as good at spreading damage over an area as always...?

 

I don't have a strong opinion right now. It seems like a good change on paper. I guess we'll have to see how it works out.

_________

 

About the Med Spray change, I think it goes without saying that I like it.

As for the rest of the changes — yeah I guess. I don't have a strong opinion on those in particular, and the justifications seem mostly alright/agreeable/reasonable (the most appropriate term here is up to personal preference).

[koenyboy500 38]

1 hour ago, Frosi said:

 

These should be updated on the DB at some point, keep in mind its ran by a community member, not Little Orbit.

Is it now? Hmm.

A good scientist doesn't usually rely on civilian statistics. I made a lot of weapon builds based upon exact numbers. My favorite ones being for Heavy Barrel mods.

 

I know I shouldn't post things offtopic. And I don't need a reply. But PLEASE look into gold-threat servers. I LOVE playing APB:R but often me and my friend load up to see just ONE district (silver) for golds that is populated and then we are COMPLETELY UNABLE TO PLAY THE GAME because there is no district to join. (I'd suggest having some sort of yes/no survey when the district hits 40enfs/crims to 20 players, asking if they want to switch to $district for a bonus. Loading up APB:R (which is slow for me) and seeing the game is actually unplayable is heartbreaking. Please look into it. -ENDSTATEMENT

[MrChan 337]

1 hour ago, mtz said:

I feel like the N-TEC 5 being the untouchable golden child of the meta (a sentiment common among the replies here) is a problem, but nerfing it specifically instead of buffing other guns surrounding it in the respective class (the approach adapted in these changes) is not the right solution. If other assault rifles underperform compared to the N-TEC 5, they should be put up closer to it... but it is valid to discuss whether we should even be treating the N-TEC 5 like this cornerstone that we can't touch and merely mend everything around it.

The N-TEC 5 became a cornerstone because it's been one of the best performing weapons in the game since forever, it's a natural 'progression' from the STAR 556, and it's relatively easy to use, so as such it's very popular. As a consequence people like it, and because they like it, they don't want to lose their precious crutch gun want it to remain powerful, and if there are changes, it should be to make other guns to feel more like the N-TEC. They defend this like of the weapon by saying it's 'balanced' based on feel, even though a weapon that's almost always been in the top 3 guns in the game is hardly balanced vs. the other weapons.

 

It's also funny that a lot of the "pro" APB players want a slower ttk, but by buffing other ARs to compete with the N-TEC would actually slightly reduce the average ttk in the game because you'd have an entire class of guns that are better than they are now, and would probably need to tweak a few other guns upwards as well to compensate.

 

It really shouldn't have this cornerstone status, but good luck convincing people who've mained it for a decade and therefore couldn't possibly be unbiased about it, of that.

Edited August 17, 2021 by MrChan

[vsb 6171]

two steps forward, 3 steps back

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

OCA-EW / OCA-EW SD

OCA Whisper

nearly 12 months since the initial oca buff announcement where basically everyone said "hey this is a bad idea", we're so far past fixing such an obvious mistake that the actual fix just annoys me even more

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

N-tec 5

After the buffs to the N-tec’s 5 maximum bloom, it quickly became the jack of all trades for Assault Rifles again, leaving little to no room for other Assault Rifles that are less versatile to exist in the meta without the player feeling like they made the wrong choice overall.

if only there was another (F)AR that has always competed with the ntec, another (F)AR that received a completely unnecessary nerf that took it out of the competition, another (F)AR that hasn't been reverted despite a need for "choice" in the (F)AR category

 

wishful thinking i guess

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Joker SR15 Carbine

shouldn't have been touched in the first place but at least this fix didn't take 12 months, i'll generously call that progress

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Obeya CR762

actually a decent balance imo, altho the consistent toning down of the meta combined with the near complete lack of boosts for the trash guns has me fearing that gunplay will feel rather weak for however long the next balance patch takes

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Stabba -  PIG

tfw a gun gets nerfed so hard even the devs forget it exists

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Med Spray

its like being proud of a dog when it shits in the house and then decides to eat the poop instead of leaving a mess to clean up

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Grenades

seems like it could be a good change

 

its not really something i think i would want, but i am curious why explosives weren't given some similar resupply duration increase

 

 

13 hours ago, Sakebee said:

Frag Grenade

im fairly sure the problem with frags is the excessively large overall damage radius, because just about any chip damage while forcing players to move further out of position is always going to be useful

 

so i don't think this will change much tbh

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Frosi said:

Weapon balance will always be ongoing, and yes, I would also love to see some buffs to underused weapons like the Norsemen, ISSR-A, LCR or even the SBSR Rifle / Sniper. The list goes on, however, if you want to make these guns viable with things such as the OCA, Cr762 etc existing in their current state then you will have to buff them to an extend in which they will likely feel overpowered or simply unfun to play against, much like the current OCA. After this patch, there shouldn't be anything that is massively over the top which leaves much more room for diversity and also make it easier to buff weapons without running the risk of making them overpowered just to fit in a meta in which weapons are unhealthily strong.

orbit has already pushed big changes for underpowered and under-utilized guns, which pokes a few holes in this lazy excuse

 

and trash guns don't need to be brought up to top tier meta level in order to be viable - orbit has demonstrated a willingness to make small balance changes, those small changes are just wasted on guns that are already viable

 

mixed signals tbh

[Spillra 135]

I honestly don't know how to feel about these changes.

 

OCA: I think you're going about this the wrong way. It's not that the OCA is a good SMG its just better than the rest. Bring the other SMG's back up to the OCA might be a better option.

 

N-tec 5: ????

 

Carbine: Personally I've played a lot of carbine since it got buffed. i feel like its in a nice place at the moment. It can't really compete with SMG's in cqc and loses to AR's, Oscar ect on a bit further range.

 

Obeya CR762:  I dont know, guess ill wait and see.

 

PIG: ???????

 

Got nothing to say about the rest.  But as sciaN said "why is the infinite grenade supplier in cars not deleted"?

[Elxys 0]

actually all of those changes are the worst that could ever happen.

Listening to 20iq player’s opinion from APB:R Community is literally pathetic

 

Merged.

 

from what the only things that u need to buff n change ;

stabba pig

ntec

oca

this is enough.

[yourrandomnobody74 106]

19 hours ago, Tenginima said:

Todesklinge might aswell be in charge of balancing at this point, legit would make this game more interesting

basically this ^

Who is in charge of testing these changes and deciding what guns are in need of balance?

Why are you adding unskilled mechanics to the game and bringing the skill ceiling down even further?

It seems that spamming every Wednesday patch note post with "fix medspray" worked, so much for consumables being useful :)))))
Time to start a new trend: Fix scout and obir not being 100% accurate when zoomed in (with any HS mod, even though I find it ridiculous that HS grants you less RNG) and/or bring longer TTK to all guns and less RNG to guns.

Edited August 17, 2021 by qb

[AlienTM 138]

16 hours ago, Sakebee said:

• Frag Grenade resupply delay: 1s -> 3s
• Concussion Grenade resupply delay: 1s -> 3s
• Percussion Grenade resupply delay: 1s -> 3s
• Low-Yield Fragmentation Grenade resupply delay: 1s -> 3s

Gonna make like 0 difference.Is 2 sec more-not 2 minutes.If is 30 sec-thats another story(or at least 10)

Edited August 17, 2021 by AlienTM

[Ketog 1031]

I can't wait to test those changes against the 6 active players left!

 

 wow!

[Birthlight 4]

Going to enjoy watching this thread over the course of the next few weeks.

[NotTheEnforcer 222]

On 8/16/2021 at 4:14 PM, Iazer said:

but like, why is the jg still able to fire as fast as it can?

Have you fuckin slam-fired a shotgun before? Shotguns can shoot really fast, and thats assuming its even a pump action, whereas the SPAS can be semi auto lmao

 

Also RIP, they decided to finally do a balance pass after a year of sitting around doing fuck all. Yeah, this patch will totally affect the remaining 10 players on NA. Congratulations, such a huge and amazing accomplishment deserving of every award ever made, hurrah

Edited August 17, 2021 by NotTheEnforcer

[Flaws 1033]

I love how some mod felt the need to hide/delete my clown face gif reply to the N-TEC changes. Not that I'm surprised in any capacity but its a really bad look for LO so you're not doing them any favors.

 

The unfortunate truth is that there is little left to give in the way of feedback to such hilariously bad changes that are somehow still happening 3 years down the line after I've spent so many hours giving feedback on the N-TEC and explaining exactly why throwing more RNG at it (or in fact any other weapon in the game) won't solve anything and it isn't a fix for anything. It is clear that whoever is behind a lot of these changes has little to no idea about how the game works, especially at high/top level play. I've written way too many posts about weapon balancing and they've been largely ignored in favor of "ntec op nerf pls" posts so I just feel like a simple  is in order at this point.

 

Oh yeah, good job on fixing Med Spray and nerfing grenades. Only took you like half a year or however long its been to change a few values. Its been 3 years since the JG became the most overpowered CQC weapon in APB's history but thats still there somehow along with all the triggerbotters using it 24/7. Really makes you wonder how long that one will take.

 

At the end of the day it is your game and it is struggling for dear life while you're choking it out of it with all this bs. The customization won't carry APB for another decade.

[nitex 2]

"pulling back on the Joker Carbine’s power" but keeping the oscar not changed for years is just so delusional

[Deadliest 385]

lol imagine waiting for an update for months just for your favourite weapons to get nerfed or reverted the way it was previously. 

 

Man just add a trophy system in the game, if u really want to stop some grenade spams.

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Deadliest

[Boba 51]

Every time I see a weapon changelog from you guys I seriously get furious and remember I shouldn't let it get on my nerves because this game is too dead anyway..

 

Why does every "balance" patch have to be SO aggressive?? And why are you guys trying to completely eliminate a meta, this will never happen. Every game has a meta. You should only try to minimize the difference between the meta and the non meta. Every patch just takes the current meta weapon and nerfs it, rinse and repeat. This will never end.

 

Please, just revert all weapon changes since you've started tinkering with weapons (except the med spray change) and start on a clean slate, and take it slow and carefully, you just don't do such major nerfs every time.

[BlatMan 711]

Since you're reducing the damage on the CR762 to what it's like with Heavy Barrel 2, you should reduce the bloom per shot modifier to 0.352 as well. No one used HB prior because the damage trade-off was not worth it. Now you're forced to play with that reduced damage but no benefits.

 

The OCA and OCA 'whisper' just needed their range buffed back. They didn't need their rate of fired nerfed. You should also revert the PMG's range since it's less accurate than the OCA.

[AxeTurboAgresor 268]

Finally my OCA SD will be playable again. But why tf so much hate for nades? People are so desperate, they even started to play frag nades, and now they got nerfed even more lol wtf.

[Nerima 61]

So I assume this gun's name now refers to its damage, right?

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Nerima

[BlatMan 711]

3 hours ago, AxeTurboAgresor said:

Finally my OCA SD will be playable again. But why tf so much hate for nades? People are so desperate, they even started to play frag nades, and now they got nerfed even more lol wtf.

Most of these areas where you can spam grenades are only strong because the opposing team can't get close enough to spam grenades. If you have an OPGL you can clear them out but there's no permanent purchase option. I rather have a 0 slot OPGL added to the joker store than continue to nerf grenades.

[UwUMaster666 9]

This patch is what happens when even the SPCT don't play the game

 

Can't you just revert everything you have touched with weapons and never, ever, touch it again? pretty pls

[SkittyM 287]

4 hours ago, Nerima said:

So I assume this gun's name now refers to its damage, right?

 

 

 

 

Honestly curious why people refer to this gun.  It was bad from the beginning and you never see it ingame.  It's also one single preset out of i think 6?  Sales have to be Below Zero for the last 6 years on it.

[MrChan 337]

1 hour ago, UwUMaster666 said:

This patch is what happens when even the SPCT don't play the game

 

Can't you just revert everything you have touched with weapons and never, ever, touch it again? pretty pls

Exclusive N-TEC, OCA & N-HVR meta. Yes pls.

 

Or was it the PMG that was the go to CQC gun at the end of G1's tenure? Can't remember now.

Edited August 18, 2021 by MrChan

[Iazer 204]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:35 PM, NotTheEnforcer said:

Have you fuckin slam-fired a shotgun before? Shotguns can shoot really fast, and thats assuming its even a pump action, whereas the SPAS can be semi auto lmao

and you're one of those people that cares about realism of weapons in a game that is fundamentally an arcade shooter. lmfao