I think the current Bounty Systems needs a rework....

[MStomm 24]

Originally, the system allowed anyone with a bounty to be shot by anyone, and in return, shoot anyone. Crim Bounties could be claimed by other crims, but this was taken away to balance it, making it like 4cer bounties, where killing a bounty on your side resulted in a penalty for you.

 

The problem was, people would often exploit this by reaching N5/P5 and camping spawn areas or "griefing" missions, especially in districts populated by new players. Some even going so far as to form groups of players with bounties working together to lay waste to anyone they spotted. This was especially true for Crims, as N5 could reliably be achieved by just mugging NPCs. This was understandably frustrating to players, and I see it frequently cited as the reason the current system (where only people in the mission against the bounty can claim it) was put in place.

 

However, one of the upsides of this system was that it helped balance missions. If a team gets a good camp spot set up, or the match is just hilariously unbalanced, the opposing team may struggle greatly, resulting in them getting consistently annihilated, which generally pisses people off and makes them quit playing. But as the team with the advantage keeps mowing people down, they'd get bounties, which meant they became targets for anyone in the district to attack, which weakened their advantage and gave the struggling team a slightly better chance. This is missing in the current system, and I believe this is helping to drive new players or returning veterans away, as they don't know the difference between good players/spots and "cheats".

 

Therefore, I'd like to propose 2 options for changing the system, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on them.

 

Option A: P5/N5 can only be achieved in opposed missions, and ends as soon as the mission ends. All players not in a mission are able to pursue the bounty, but anyone not in a mission is also a potential victim.

 

Option B: P5/N5 can be achieved at any time, regardless of mission status. Players in missions unrelated to the Bounty cannot claim the bounty or be damaged by them. Players not in a mission can opt-in, so new players can stay safe, but more experienced players, or those wishing to try their luck, can take the risk.

[Hexerin 1140]

 

The system was disabled for good reason. Good riddance, and it can stay gone.

[vsb 6171]

1 hour ago, MStomm said:

But as the team with the advantage keeps mowing people down, they'd get bounties, which meant they became targets for anyone in the district to attack, which weakened their advantage and gave the struggling team a slightly better chance.

i never understood the notoriety system as a balancing mechanic - if you're getting beat down so badly that 50 other players are activated as "backup" wouldn't you want the mission to end as soon as possible, rather than dragging things out with a single bounty kill?

[TheMessiah 430]

When mission ends and u still bounty-then players not in mission can kill u-thats it

Edited February 23, 2023 by TheMessiah

[Hexerin 1140]

3 hours ago, glaciers said:

i never understood the notoriety system as a balancing mechanic - if you're getting beat down so badly that 50 other players are activated as "backup" wouldn't you want the mission to end as soon as possible, rather than dragging things out with a single bounty kill?

Defense always has an innate advantage, so assuming teams of relatively similar skill, attacking the objective is technically a stalemate. In this kind of situation, one of the defenders getting rekt because of bounty could be all that the attackers need to push the objective. Which isn't just theoretical either, being something that happened often in practical gameplay.

 

The issue is that this goes both ways. The attackers can also get bountied (because notoriety doesn't reset on death or between missions), and often this can happen with bad timing resulting in the bountied attacker getting rekt while they're attempting to do the objective. As a result, the defense gets a free win.

 

The only way to make the bounty system actually work from a gameplay standpoint, is to:

• Only players assigned to defend an objective can accrue notoriety.
• Notoriety is reset:
  • On death
  • When a mission stage concludes.
  • When a mission concludes.
• Notoriety accrues at a significantly faster rate.

This, for very obvious reasons, wouldn't make any sense from a thematic standpoint, and thus would just be an ugly feature.

 

There's no actual way to make the bounty system function as a whole feature.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Hexerin

[Thial 176]

no thanks, had enough of bounty speedhackers killing everyone or griefers ruining missions

Edited February 23, 2023 by Thial

[MACKxBOLAN 431]

One of the basic exploits to the bounty, was crim's stealing, n ya note up to 5 n be stealin

n some other crim will note up n come kill ya n take your stash. 

 N it be sometimes a cop who switches to his crim or visa versa where the extra crim will see u stealin note 5, 

 n go get their cop.

 In those days the more pop in dist meant less cars n npcs roaming around.

So a crim would come kill ya note 5 just to run u out of the dist, so he could have better muggin opportunity

 

[Mitne 724]

17 hours ago, Hexerin said:

 

The system was disabled for good reason. Good riddance, and it can stay gone.

I disagree. System was disabled (or more like "castrated") for no little to zero reasons. It's funny how people were fuming over being bounty for one life because it "might" affected mission.

Like in normal gameplay it would change anything.

 

People fuming over sandbox part of APB will always have my laugh because that was the charm of this game.

[Reprimand 98]

The bounty system was hilarious. Golds deserve to get stomped for once. Turn it back on. 

[Queen of Love 452]

P5N5 was a problem for:
Tryhards with ego issues.
Fake gold cheating.
Tryhards with cheats.
Goldies that stomp Bronzies on bronze district.
Goldies stomping new players.
Goldies .
Clinic cases of mental disorders.
Tryhards with ego issues, and with a Goldie friend carrying him.
Goldies.(Did i told this yet?)

 

Coherence:
Is ok a score with a team with zero kill and oppo team with 37-46 kills but is not ok give a little chance to the fresh meat with p5n5 working  (for the noobs? yes the noobs, cause they are new players or low Pc player, ehy, they are player too, genius..)

Ipocrisy:
The noobs have to git good. (Sure, after unistalling it, in another game maybe)

 

[Maddalic 5]

Do it. 

It's a game. I think it'd actually be funnier to make contacts into pseudo town guards where if you are P5N5 in their area, they'll shoot at you with OP guns and near perfect aim. It will protect the newbies and people 'in spawn'. It'd also make the areas more lively if the contacts could come alive. Although the contacts moving around could be grief-y-ish too... maybe give them a few side people that lay about then come alive when a P5N5 comes near by (shooting at their car, shooting at them, etc). 

The flip side is people should get more rewards for holding onto that notoriety in a populated server but nothing that can be lost on death (direct payment of cash, an increasing XP boost, or a small amount of Joker Tickets).

Edited February 23, 2023 by Maddalic

[Thial 176]

Anyone claiming that it's a good idea to turn the bounty system back on has clearly never been a bounty before.

 

Not only was the system highly abused by cheaters who were either driving around or speedhacking around the map and killing everyone from the opposing faction when they got a bounty.

 

It was also a griefing tool used especially in very competitive matches where people were either calling their buddies or random people were coming to kill the bounty effectively killing the person who was for example defending team items / points effectively ruining the mission for everyone on that team.

 

Or non mission people were getting bounties themselves which allowed them to camp missions and grief effectively making you play vs 2 teams.

 

There was nothing good about that system. All it was doing was either punishing you for being good or it was used by others to grief.

 

Get good and stop crying and asking for crutches like the bounty system to carry you.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Thial

[Y2Venom 219]

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

Anyone claiming that it's a good idea to turn the bounty system back on has clearly never been a bounty before.

• Had it plenty of times, it should come back. Especially when i was stomping a team, it gave them the breather they needed and a way to balance up the game.

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

 

Not only was the system highly abused by cheaters who were either driving around or speedhacking around the map and killing everyone from the opposing faction when they got a bounty.

• This was never big issue in the game.

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

 

It was also a griefing tool used especially in very competitive matches where people were either calling their buddies or random people were coming to kill the bounty effectively killing the person who was for example defending team items / points effectively ruining the mission for everyone on that team.

• again this was a non-issue, nobody came onto the forums posting about it.

 

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

 

Or non mission people were getting bounties themselves which allowed them to camp missions and grief effectively making you play vs 2 teams.

• again, this hardly ever happened and didnt impact matchmaking as much as /abandonmission

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

 

There was nothing good about that system. All it was doing was either punishing you for being good or it was used by others to grief.

• was a very good addition to balance out the game, espectially a game with a lot of pre-made teams.  Hardly ever used to grief, why ?  because nobody ever posted about it as an issue.

 

22 minutes ago, Thial said:

 

Get good and stop crying and asking for crutches like the bounty system to carry you.

• this is the cancerous attitude that plagues the game. If you truely like the game, you would carry and teach other players as much as possible. Instead of hiding behind your pre-made team and stomping new players. The more players that are carried, increases the population.

[Thial 176]

ok dude, it was all a non issue because you say so basically or because it wasn't mentioned on the forums enough. Sounds valid.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Thial

[vsb 6171]

1 hour ago, Y2Venom said:

Had it plenty of times, it should come back. Especially when i was stomping a team, it gave them the breather they needed and a way to balance up the game.

that still doesn’t make any sense - you stomp hard enough to get notoriety, die once, and then get right back to stomping

 

what kind of balance is that?

 

 

 

the bounty system has always been flawed at its core because it wasn’t intended as a balancing mechanic, its supposed to be an extra reward for players who were already playing well, but the pitiful rewards for pvp kills are entirely not worth the consequences of a bounty

 

also worth noting that one faction could pay down their notoriety and the other couldn’t, another poor mechanic tacked onto the system

[Thial 176]

Exactly. The bounties didn't make the game better in any way. Getting a bounty didn't have anything to do with stomping either most of the time. You would just randomly get it when you least expected it.

 

Oh you got it while there's another mission next to you and suddenly there are 10 enemies around you and you were finishing the last objective ? Well sucks for you.

 

Oh you were defending an item and you got a bounty due to a singular kill. Guess what, free wallhack for your enemies and a chance for some random to just kill you during a crucial moment of the mission.

 

Oh you are transporting team items ? Guess what. Not anymore.

 

Oh you lost the bounty ? Guess what, here comes some random dude with a bounty surfing with an alig or a volcano who decides to hang around and starts griefing.

 

What a great system.

[Gothina 22]

I liked how it was before.

[nursery 9]

This is a good idea. A rework would add a sense of individuality and uniqueness to the sandbox aspect of the game. Sure it was annoying but if implemented in a different way like protecting bounties in missions until its over could help balance it.

 

idea: if 2 bounties are on a map and not in mission, the district turns into a 50v50 n whoever kills the bounty gets a prize or sum. (similar to the chaos mode they tried to release 10 years ago)

[magik 184]

14 hours ago, Mitne said:

People fuming over sandbox part of APB will always have my laugh because that was the charm of this game.

This - I notice it when people complain about hitting other players cars in missions and it screwing up their shots or when you're dealing with multiple missions nearby.

Like would you rather play on an empty map with just your team and enemies? Or make everyone phase through each other like a forced passive mode?

[LilyRain 674]

While I do enjoy the Bounty System, my liking to it is subjective. However, objectively speaking, it is quite the mistake to make APB nothing but Team Blue vs Team Red. There are many games out there that does this better & APB shouldn't straight up compete with that. APB should strive at making itself better at what it has unique, its chaotically-alive District nature. It isn't like we have after-mission leaderboards for it to be a problem. The moment you get your scoreboard, look at it by pressing Tab then press K, that match-history is GONE FOR GOOD. There is simply no reason to pretend that it is a problem.

 

Moreover, years ago, the Bounty System was really lucrative rewards-wise. All Money and Standing were doubled, even those awarded at the end of a mission, so getting one at the last stage was a decent deal to those good enough to maintain it. But of course, that got nerfed to promote buying premium. Objectively speaking, I'm certain many people would have enjoyed this and actually help keep districts more alive away from peak times just because of how more likely it is to benefit from it. Additionally, it would help kickstart districts earlier because the hassle of farming non-opposed missions will be effectively HALVED (NA would've been fine a while ago when people needed Waterfront to progress & things were looking dead because of it. I wonder why nobody considered this, hmm?). Getting the Bounty System to be more rewarding again will be an unquestionable boost to APB. That is a clear-cut fact.

 

More pressingly, progressing weapon roles without the Bounty System in mission districts is substantially slower. It doesn't matter what your average K/D per match is, you WILL get a massive hit to your role progression simply because of how many kills are required for max role. It is evident this wasn't considered/compensated when the system was switched off.

 

The Bounty System should come back, it carries substantially more merits against meaningless, subjective demerits.

Edited February 24, 2023 by LilyRain

[Thial 176]

I still fail to see how earning a tiny bit more money or JT justifies dealing with all of the griefing and unfairness which the bounty system brought to the game. To me it looks like people are looking for stupid excuses to just give themselves a free wallhack and allow better players to be griefed instead of getting better themselves.

Also there's nothing subjective about the demerits. The bounty system was straight up a griefing tool abused by many to either intrude on other missions and ruin them by using things like hvrs, opgls, volcanos etc or by cheaters to just drive around / speedhack with a bounty and kill everyone in sight. It can be used as a free wallhack and griefing tool to kill someone who's for example the last person stopping the enemy team from scoring a win. It was also abused in very competitive matches where people were calling their buddies with bounties to help with the mission or to hunt down the bounty on the oppoising team. I really fail to see how small rewards justify bringing all of that back. Not to mention randomly getting your bounty pop because of whatever reason and suddenly you have the whole district against you while you are let's say transporting team items. It was random, it was dumb, unfair and highly abused. No thanks.

It makes me laugh when people are attributing somehow making the districts more alive and better because of bounties. No, you just want to grief other people's missions by either being a bounty or killing the other bounty which only adds to the toxicity of the game, that's all.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Thial

[Queen of Love 452]

16 hours ago, nursery said:

This is a good idea. A rework would add a sense of individuality and uniqueness to the sandbox aspect of the game. Sure it was annoying but if implemented in a different way like protecting bounties in missions until its over could help balance it.

 

idea: if 2 bounties are on a map and not in mission, the district turns into a 50v50 n whoever kills the bounty gets a prize or sum. (similar to the chaos mode they tried to release 10 years ago)

This is a crazy idea !! Is a madness !
__
I like it  

[iRawwwN 282]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:46 PM, Hexerin said:

The only way to make the bounty system actually work from a gameplay standpoint, is to:

• Only players assigned to defend an objective can accrue notoriety.
• Notoriety is reset:
  • On death
  • When a mission stage concludes.
  • When a mission concludes.
• Notoriety accrues at a significantly faster rate.

This, for very obvious reasons, wouldn't make any sense from a thematic standpoint, and thus would just be an ugly feature.

 

There's no actual way to make the bounty system function as a whole feature.

Just because you cannot figure a way to make it happen does not mean there is 'no actual way'.

[LilyRain 674]

6 hours ago, Thial said:

I still fail to see how earning a tiny bit more money or JT justifies dealing with all of the griefing and unfairness which the bounty system brought to the game. To me it looks like people are looking for stupid excuses to just give themselves a free wallhack and allow better players to be griefed instead of getting better themselves.

Also there's nothing subjective about the demerits. The bounty system was straight up a griefing tool abused by many to either intrude on other missions and ruin them by using things like hvrs, opgls, volcanos etc or by cheaters to just drive around / speedhack with a bounty and kill everyone in sight. It can be used as a free wallhack and griefing tool to kill someone who's for example the last person stopping the enemy team from scoring a win. It was also abused in very competitive matches where people were calling their buddies with bounties to help with the mission or to hunt down the bounty on the oppoising team. I really fail to see how small rewards justify bringing all of that back. Not to mention randomly getting your bounty pop because of whatever reason and suddenly you have the whole district against you while you are let's say transporting team items. It was random, it was dumb, unfair and highly abused. No thanks.

It makes me laugh when people are attributing somehow making the districts more alive and better because of bounties. No, you just want to grief other people's missions by either being a bounty or killing the other bounty which only adds to the toxicity of the game, that's all.

- The Bounty System doesn't award JTs..
- "the last person stopping the enemy team from scoring a win" doesn't really work in APB. The game is against going Rambo (1 man army) against entire teams. He/She will get pushed and killed. Doesn't change the outcome.

 

I'm not sure how to tell you this but if you have trouble killing 1 person whom you can literally see on the mini-radar in real time, you're probably not good enough to be discussing game balance.

[Hexerin 1140]

2 hours ago, iRawwwN said:

Just because you cannot figure a way to make it happen does not mean there is 'no actual way'.

So come at me with a counter proposal on how you'd make it work, instead of a flippant and irrelevant response.