question Hesitant about returning - what has changed in 6 years besides the 64 bit update? Is the population larger? Is the cheating handled?

[HesitantReturner 1]

Hello everyone. I am a bit hesitant about rejoining this game, despite my former love of it in years gone by. I am hoping that you all will be able to relieve me of my worries, or possibly confirm them so I don't waste time getting addicted again. Fair warning that this post is a bit long so if you want to quit reading to respond, then a good summary of this entire post is "How popular is the game, and how bad is the current cheating problem in 2023 compared to early in 2017?"

So according to my Steam profile, I last logged in to APB Reloaded on April 17th, 2017. Yet it remains my highest played game according to Steam's hours check with several thousand hours of gameplay logged - and I never left the game online when AFK so I suspect it to be a truthful glimpse at how addicted I once was to APB Reloaded.

I used to love the game, and would spend hours of every single day playing it. The best thing I liked about it was mainly the epic customizations, the way I could create a completely unique look to any other person in the game unless they tried really hard to copy me. It was no wonder that out of all the online games I ever played including LOTRO, FFXIV, and hundreds of others, that this was the game that I spent the most time of my life actually playing. So what was it that made me quit? More importantly, will those things still be a problem for me now in 2023?

 

First was the issue of popularity. There were times back before I finally quit where I would have to waste time for ages before a match would pull me in. Waiting more than a half hour during off-peak times was common and sometimes wouldn't start even after several hours of waiting. You can only rob stuff, or pretend to be a patrol officer for so long before the fun dies. Inevitably I would find myself having to break my immersion just to keep myself entertained. I mean, yeah, it was fun at times to hang out with people and do weird stuff just to pass the time while ignoring which side everyone was technically on... but it certainly didn't feel like what an actual pseudo cop or gang member should be doing. So... if I rejoined today will there actually be enough people playing that I can immerse myself in my characters?

 

Next is the big one.... cheating.

 

Is the cheating prevention now in 2023 better, the same, or even worse than it was in 2017? Is the cheating level, including the more subtle ones, so bad that anyone remotely good is getting pretty much automatically assumed as part of the cheating crowd? Is the cheating so bad that even ignoring the subtle cheaters you will at least once a day see either a speed hacker zooming through the streets faster than a fighter jet / or someone flying and firing down at you / walking through walls / firing from the ground? Are there still people proudly using cheats without getting busted for hours or even longer?

 

What I absolutely did not like at all back then in April of 2017 and earlier was the sheer mass of cheatery going on. It had become so prevalent by that time, that even when you did not cheat you were accused of it simply because people _expected_ it of the golds. I mean it made sense to be seen as too good when you would deliberately de-rank down to play as you 'were' showing skill levels that seem too good to those lesser skilled people. But even in Gold matches, if you had any skill with aim at all then aimbot would be called out quite common. Even worse if you had spent any time at all studying map layouts and figuring out common entry routes / hiding spots people would use and based on that try to predict stuff by being ready to cover that place if any movement or shots happen... well cue the cheat callouts for daring to use your brain and not just your mouse clicks.

 

I understand why these accusation existed of course, wallhacks do exist after all, but anyone who actually has taken the time to study videos of gameplay can quickly tell the difference between someone who generally knows where to aim, and something that instantly lock on aims. In games where cheating isn't a big issue those things are treated as the skills that they are... but back then in APB:R the cheating was so prevalent even among the more subtle users that pretty much all of us were suspect as a result.

 

I never considered myself an expert or anything, but towards the end of my time playing the game, (if I wasn't deliberately dropping my ELO so I could play with friends / group members who were lower ranked) playing naturally between my decent reaction times and some good brain usage I would stay in Gold status 99% of the time with the occasional brief drop to Silver which would instantly revert itself after just 1-2 matches back to Gold.

 

But, as a result of that skill level and knowledge, I semi often in matches got labelled by one or two players as a cheater a few times for being "too good", this despite my switching to live streaming on twitch everything I was doing just for full transparency. I very rarely ever had to snap react, as I usually kept my aim at rest position in the general location of where I expected people to show up and usually was correct.

After 6 years of inactivity, inactive even from any fps game for most of those years plus also being in my 40s now with slower reaction times, I suspect I will quickly plummit if I start playing again until I regain the hang of everything... ...but is there even any point? Are there so many cheaters in the game currently that it is hard to find a fair fun match? Or also even if the overt cheating is gone, is the subtle cheating still so prevalent that I will just get the same calls of cheater in a few weeks, months, or years when I will have relearned everything I had lost by quitting?

 

So those are my big concerns. Is the game population healthy enough, and is the curtailing of the cheaters good enough that a person can actually enjoy time in the game now? I feel that there is no point in getting addicted to something which will just cause me stress after all. Especially when my purpose for playing would be to destress from life. I get enough stress from my job, I don't need it from my entertainment.

[vsb 6131]

you're going to get two answers for cheating

1. the cheating is bad
2. the cheating is not bad

given your post, i think you'll probably land in "the cheating is bad" category

 

population is objectively bad - it spiked for a bit after the upgrade, but its returned to NA (~100 peak) being unplayable for a majority of the day, and EU (~300 peak) being a bit better off but still not good

[CookiePuss 5356]

1 hour ago, ninjarrrr said:

 

heres the community spirit in 2023

couldn’t even get all the displays smh 

[HesitantReturner 1]

Oh dear. Well I still thank you both for your time. I wish that the answer had been different, but deeply appreciate that you saved me from future misery.

[cowhorseman 441]

you will love this game if you love people crying and being toxic. you will also love the cheaters who are not cheating but are cheating. as well as all the premade gold groups using discord in order to kill you at a 0-30 for several matchs in a row. oh and um armas being p2w or something

[SuperChaffee 69]

4 hours ago, ninjarrrr said:

heres the community spirit in 2023

Rather than a community spirit, I think he is someone with serious problems, possibly a lack of affection. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by SuperChaffee

[BlatMan 656]

It's about the same. Some weapons and vehicles were changed but nothing game breaking. Cheating is less since EAC came out. but LO still ignore cheat reports. TBF, they get a lot of spam reports from lower threat players, and the legit reports get overlooked because support just wants to clear the ticket queue.

Edited July 16, 2023 by BlatMan

[Gateron 267]

TL;DR: The recent update significantly improved performance and reduced cheating thanks to EAC. However, a small number of cheaters still exist. Content-wise, the game hasn't changed much, but it has improved overall. The declining population is more affected by veteran players grouping up and dominating randoms rather than cheating.

[MACKxBOLAN 385]

20 hours ago, HesitantReturner said:

how bad is the current cheating problem in 2023 compared to early in 2017?

Here is what we have after waiting 5 yrs for upgrade so we could have anticheat.

Back in 17' we had segregated districts, so most hackers inevitably turn gold, n therefore

at that time were segregated to the higher threat districts. Only becoming a problem to the 

general pop if they dethreated then entered the bronze server. 

bout 3 yrs ago, a bunch of golds, hackers, n trolls cried in this forum to the dev's 

over n over again till they back stabbed the general pop n let golds into bronze district.

At the time they did this there were only maybe 10 golds that played NA, and another 

10 Regular players who played bronze. 

 So LO gave the poor excuse for back stabbing their long paying customers n said pop was too low for segregation.

This in conjunction with giving back all the banned accounts from fair fight over the years, and turning off FF.

So we waited, we even kept paying and buying in good faith that as soon as the engine was done, 

We'd get our anticheat n all the bad hackers would go away.

So bout 4-5 months back they Achieved 64bit engine.

Said Anti cheat was first on the list, and We waited.

Word was they had to test and 'adjust' eac to make sure it dint falsely ban.

So they watered it down to nothing more than a stain on your britches, a Label.

They released it and we had about 12 hrs of peace, and a large contingent of hackers Cracked it

in 12 hrs, n all the golds came rushing back in. 

At this time they also had a podcast or what ever u kids call it, where the game was advertised.

This brought a Bus Load of new players in, and old players back, who stayed a few weeks till it 

petered down a bit. So population has risen, but mostly for EU, NA is still struggling to fill a server.

 Now back to the anti cheat. it seems it will not detect 3rd party like ff did, im not sure what exactly it does do.

But it was cracked, n its pretty much common knowledge it was. So the word has been if you see or think a hacker.

Report it. and Support will investigate it. 

 I don't know if they investigate or not, and I see no evidence they do, I don't see hackers disappearing.

I in fact see more and more hacking every day. Not just the idea that if they kill me they hack. No..

I'm talking about hax i haven't seen used since 2k16 or so. Not to mention that the 

few hackers they did ban recently, were temp and or they made em pay a fine, let em right back in.

 

 Now lets talk about MM n since they let the golds into bronze district to farm us.

All the missions are one side Grouped Golds V low rank bronzes n low silvers. 

The chat box is ran by the sweatys. If you say anything they all instantly insult your mother, and 

claim you are mental cuz your K/D isn't 85-0 n U have no right to speak in Their Chat. 

  So Now it is a Hackers Game, I refuse to report anyone for hacks, due to the back lash i get 

from their alt accounts and friends. However I don't think any report for hacking goes anywhere

or is even read. 

 You see there is this hack called Smooth Aim. it doesn't look like a snap or bot.

The player simply sprays in the general direction n most the bullets hit, and because I know this 

and own most of weapons, and I know their limits for range.

 Ya I think anyone who gets me n don't miss at 70meters with a carbine is cheating, or they have 

incredibly good aim, and the wind is blowing the bullets my way.

So what is the game now to me, well I dabble. I won't play like I used to

cuz its always golds, n if ya get one on your team, he will rant in chat that U aren't carrying the

mission for him, tk you cuz he mad you don't cheat or have the super human skills to win.

 So with no word of fixing eac or any word at all about cheating from Matt, we have no game.

 I find it almost insulting to have a sale with these types running amok in district, n Ya if they make a 

full sized pick up or a cowboy holster for my 6-gun I'll buy it, but This is no longer a cop n robber game.

It is a hackers squad based sandbox. and the golds see it that way, not as The San Paro Storyline.

So you go into every match knowing the other side will most likely be hackers stacked in a group

doing their best to keep low ranks from scoring any xp at all, Lunch Room Bullies with computers. 

 

 

[Netdragon20 0]

3 hours ago, MACKxBOLAN said:

Here is what we have after waiting 5 yrs for upgrade so we could have anticheat.

Back in 17' we had segregated districts, so most hackers inevitably turn gold, n therefore

at that time were segregated to the higher threat districts. Only becoming a problem to the 

general pop if they dethreated then entered the bronze server. 

bout 3 yrs ago, a bunch of golds, hackers, n trolls cried in this forum to the dev's 

over n over again till they back stabbed the general pop n let golds into bronze district.

At the time they did this there were only maybe 10 golds that played NA, and another 

10 Regular players who played bronze. 

 So LO gave the poor excuse for back stabbing their long paying customers n said pop was too low for segregation.

This in conjunction with giving back all the banned accounts from fair fight over the years, and turning off FF.

So we waited, we even kept paying and buying in good faith that as soon as the engine was done, 

We'd get our anticheat n all the bad hackers would go away.

So bout 4-5 months back they Achieved 64bit engine.

Said Anti cheat was first on the list, and We waited.

Word was they had to test and 'adjust' eac to make sure it dint falsely ban.

So they watered it down to nothing more than a stain on your britches, a Label.

They released it and we had about 12 hrs of peace, and a large contingent of hackers Cracked it

in 12 hrs, n all the golds came rushing back in. 

At this time they also had a podcast or what ever u kids call it, where the game was advertised.

This brought a Bus Load of new players in, and old players back, who stayed a few weeks till it 

petered down a bit. So population has risen, but mostly for EU, NA is still struggling to fill a server.

 Now back to the anti cheat. it seems it will not detect 3rd party like ff did, im not sure what exactly it does do.

But it was cracked, n its pretty much common knowledge it was. So the word has been if you see or think a hacker.

Report it. and Support will investigate it. 

 I don't know if they investigate or not, and I see no evidence they do, I don't see hackers disappearing.

I in fact see more and more hacking every day. Not just the idea that if they kill me they hack. No..

I'm talking about hax i haven't seen used since 2k16 or so. Not to mention that the 

few hackers they did ban recently, were temp and or they made em pay a fine, let em right back in.

 

 Now lets talk about MM n since they let the golds into bronze district to farm us.

All the missions are one side Grouped Golds V low rank bronzes n low silvers. 

The chat box is ran by the sweatys. If you say anything they all instantly insult your mother, and 

claim you are mental cuz your K/D isn't 85-0 n U have no right to speak in Their Chat. 

  So Now it is a Hackers Game, I refuse to report anyone for hacks, due to the back lash i get 

from their alt accounts and friends. However I don't think any report for hacking goes anywhere

or is even read. 

 You see there is this hack called Smooth Aim. it doesn't look like a snap or bot.

The player simply sprays in the general direction n most the bullets hit, and because I know this 

and own most of weapons, and I know their limits for range.

 Ya I think anyone who gets me n don't miss at 70meters with a carbine is cheating, or they have 

incredibly good aim, and the wind is blowing the bullets my way.

So what is the game now to me, well I dabble. I won't play like I used to

cuz its always golds, n if ya get one on your team, he will rant in chat that U aren't carrying the

mission for him, tk you cuz he mad you don't cheat or have the super human skills to win.

 So with no word of fixing eac or any word at all about cheating from Matt, we have no game.

 I find it almost insulting to have a sale with these types running amok in district, n Ya if they make a 

full sized pick up or a cowboy holster for my 6-gun I'll buy it, but This is no longer a cop n robber game.

It is a hackers squad based sandbox. and the golds see it that way, not as The San Paro Storyline.

So you go into every match knowing the other side will most likely be hackers stacked in a group

doing their best to keep low ranks from scoring any xp at all, Lunch Room Bullies with computers. 

 

 

RESPECT my guy for every word said.

[BUC0 5]

I feel like cheaters are on descent, there is less players after anti-cheat updated and i feel like it is because of it. i personally saw low rank obvious cheaters that were online for 1-2 days and then gone, they had new accounts so i guess they got banned before or just testing. And also the toxicity agoinst LO might be started by cheaters. LO and Matt Field have not done anything bad to the game, just good things with 64 bit and anti-cheat.

[MACKxBOLAN 385]

26 minutes ago, BUC0 said:

just good things with 64 bit and anti-cheat.

They listened to known hackers and let gold into bronze so they could farm legit players.

Then they put in a shadow of an anti cheat, I dont know what 'Cheats that eac detects cuz its not ours, 

only thing it detects are people making symbols, and people who had custom crosshairs.

It wont detect 3rd party cheats, even if the hax din't crack it, it wouldn't have done anything.

So yea we have right a to be angry with LO cuz first they listened to hackers n let em in bronze, 

then they put in a fake anti cheat, and coddle the hackers they do catch thru other means.

Making them pay a fine when they should be perm ip banned.

Ok you never see any Staff in game, ever. oh yea we have volunteer gms, but Matt nor any 

Dev comes to the game to see what the golds do. To see what they did to our game.

LO Ruined the game by letting cheaters into bronze district

[PingOVER9000 179]

18 hours ago, SuperChaffee said:

Rather than a community spirit, I think he is someone with serious problems, possibly a lack of affection. 

Talking about that one sick of attention  ...  anyway

On 7/15/2023 at 6:35 PM, HesitantReturner said:

. I am hoping that you all will be able to relieve me of my worries

Honestly I hate the current situation done from LO making promise then for what? just for hurting their credibility FOR FOREVER in the publisher industry, the CEO put also its face for then disappear for months, years, GREAT MOVE FOR A FELLA ENTERPAUNER, WHAT A CRAFTY FOX!  ....anyway APB in small doses it's still good.. well  expect those nasty times with some nasty people, but it's sort of passable, just dont expect a lot from LO except superficial BS.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by PingOVER9000

[FakeBungo 242]

the game is as broken as it was in 2016, don't waste your time. its just a bunch of cheaters fighting eachother to see who has the best aimbot.

[Yapopal 123]

Every game has rules. Well, there are no rules in this game. It's all about the indifference of the administration. The actions of the players and the thoughtless actions of the administration led to the fact that APB turned into a running simulator with an automatic rifle.
I noticed that after each update the population is decreasing. This happens because the expectations of the players are not justified. For example, a 64-bit update did not solve the problem of stuttering, the cabinet menu hangs as before. Anti-cheat may work, but players like you won't notice it. Matchmaking will throw you on missions with veterans whose skill level is much higher than yours.

Veterans will make you a character from a Gachimuchi movie. You will write insults in the chat and tell your friends that this game is shit. The circle is closed.

[CIoud 26]

⠀

Edited September 6, 2023 by who

[explosiveUA 45]

Come back in 5 years. Perhaps there will be something new)

[NRK 1]

On 7/16/2023 at 1:21 AM, cowhorseman said:

you will love this game if you love people crying and being toxic. you will also love the cheaters who are not cheating but are cheating. as well as all the premade gold groups using discord in order to kill you at a 0-30 for several matchs in a row. oh and um armas being p2w or something

very very accurate 100%

[Jilleroo 349]

On 7/15/2023 at 9:35 AM, HesitantReturner said:

"How popular is the game, and how bad is the current cheating problem in 2023 compared to early in 2017?"

Nothing has changed. It's still a dumpster fire and the people in charge don't care.

You may be bored and looking for something to play, but this isn't it.

[cowhorseman 441]

On 7/21/2023 at 3:50 PM, Jilleroo said:

Nothing has changed. It's still a dumpster fire and the people in charge don't care.

You may be bored and looking for something to play, but this isn't it.

honestly in this state watching paint dry or fishing is much more enjoyable.

[killerskull 111]

I miss this game.

[WaIeed007 65]

Unfortunately, it seems that not much has changed since 2017. Cheating is still prevalent, the game population is mediocre, and overall, the experience remains largely the same, but its still fun to play for three weeks after every 4 months.

[Tronkles 5]

Everytime i drop by to see what's changed, i'm not even surprised at the lack of updates given since it reminds me of the G1 days. 

I feel like LO bought this game as a hobby project and tinker with it everytime they have downtime on other projects, because i just cant see how this is profitable in any way these days. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Tronkles

[AlienTM 138]

1 hour ago, Tronkles said:

I feel like LO bought this game as a hobby project and tinker with it everytime they have downtime on other projects, because i just cant see how this is profitable in any way these days. 

They bought it in 1st place cause saw Riot mode(BR for apb)was done from G1 and they thought gonna bring them more players and money.Also they was thinkin dat the upgrade to unreal engine 3.5 was almost done and not much to do to finish it.They was wrong..and now it looks like is too late for anything cause obviously LO is dead as a company and they not gonna invest more money/work power in this game.For me everything is pretty much finished

[TzickyT 210]

On 7/15/2023 at 6:35 PM, HesitantReturner said:

Fair warning that this post is a bit long so if you want to quit reading to respond, then a good summary of this entire post is "How popular is the game, and how bad is the current cheating problem in 2023 compared to early in 2017?"

1 ... popular ... the game aint popular but we are gettign new updates maybe in the near future. it all is speculating what the company is doing and thinking.

2 ... Cheating ... The game has some cheat engines attached to it as in there are some programs out there that are used by some people. but its not that heavy as in 2016-2017 as the population isn't that big.

3. i wouldn't recomand playing the game as nothing realy has changed from big updates. we are waiting for a better matchmaking and updates on content like 2 new characters + a car