Player Perspectives on APB: Reloaded - A Study on Its Evolution

[Cyranule 5]

Dear APB community,

I have created a survey to explore player opinions on gameplay elements that are now nothing more than nostalgia. This is not comprehensive and addresses only the basics. There certainly exists a risk for bias, and I am no expert, but the data provided would allow for thematic extrapolations and would provide an interesting entry-point contribution to a currently lacking database. Any input would be appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemeBQtPloLLwejf8HBHSZ-3loIIkwbUxc_cmvN_WVvVnARWw/viewform?usp=sf_link

 

All the best,

C.

[dogmanlol 0]

great post hopefully @MattScott sees this, like OSRS i personally love the idea of a old school version of apb

[mtz 496]

Got briefly confused by the "Rank the following elements by level of importance in terms of contribution to the previous question" part. My understanding is that this is not supposed to be my personal view of how important I consider these things, but a list of 5 elements in order of how much they impact my view of APB returning to its state circa 2012-2014 (as per the previous questions), is that correct?

 

Layout-wise, I think that specific question would've worked better if the options were put vertically, not horizontally. As in, instead of horizontal axis being "how important is it to you"" and vertical axis being "which subject does this apply to?", I think switching the axes and making importance go from most to least would be more instinctive because you're literally vertically putting things over other things.

 

Also, I think this question would work better in isolation instead of being contextual to the one preceding it. My opinion on the order of importance of those questions (from most to least) without the context of APB circa 2012-2014 is: Player population and community > Development decisions and engagement > Game mechanics > Gun balance

Can't really fill in the "other" option in the poll, though even if I could I wouldn't be sure what to pick.

 

Nevertheless, I've done my part and filled in the survey. Cheers!

[Yapopal 179]

You want to make the game better. But your suggestion is not correct. The game has a set of problems that need to be solved with the help of modernization and optimization. I agree with you that some of the new content needs to be removed because it spoils the game visually and reduces overall performance. Some serious problems of the game are quite simple to solve. For example: 
1. The "High-Magnification Scope" modifier to change the drawing range by at least 10 meters, change the range of the bullet to the same distance. Make the damage of sniper rifles as predictable as before. 
2. The "Car Surfer" modifier to add bloom to the sight. Goodbye Agrotek! 
The game lacks a variety of combat mechanics. Right now, everything is limited to Ursus broken by Colby.45 AP, and a broken "Green Fart" modifier And that's it, you're the god of the game. It's a depressing sight.

Some people will read this and say, "Take Ursus, Colby, and the Green Fart modifier and play with them." What is the problem? 
The problem is that I realize that this shit is broken. Why would I play with broken shit? This is disrespectful neither to oneself nor to others.

What needs to be done in order for the game to live:
1. Fix the mechanics of player selection. Outcome of the matches is clear at the first stage of the mission. Therefore, it is not interesting to play.
2. To deal with anti-cheat, (the administration does not control it) He lives his life. He does not ban crooks who use seemingly harmless things. For example, automatic running, graphics configurations. The year is 2024! What low graphics settings can we talk about? I played at maximum settings on an Intel core 2 duo cpu and got 30 FPS.
3. Hire employees! This is necessary for the commercial success of the game! Solving problems is delayed for YEARS! This is unacceptable!
4. Fix the weapon! All this broken shit that pseudo-golds like to shoot out of! This is terribly spoiling the game!
I got the impression that the developers don't like this game. The main proof of this is the complete disregard for the problems that greatly spoil the game, and which can be solved in one working day. I see the potential in this game even after 14 years. APB deserves better, much better.

I think the administration is listening to the wrong people. Because the current state of the game is beneficial only to a handful of veterans with ties to the administration. For the rest of the population, the role of bots is highlighted, whose interests are completely ignored.

Edited January 20 by Yapopal

[Cyranule 5]

Yes, that was what I intended, @mtz. Thank you for the feedback. I've added a slight clarification for now and will look into improving the format. Any relevant insight into player experience based on these questions is helpful and will be used. I appreciate the time you took to clarify this for me, as I am not yet skilled in formulating experiential questions.

 

 

Thank you for your response, @Yapopal.  My approach is interpretive and descriptional, centering on specific core mechanics from the era many players consider to be APB's prime, ~2013. I want specific data that can be analyzed thematically, looking for patterns and insights that can lead to a greater understanding of the topic. It is all about the player experience, not about any suggestions made by me, however opinionated the survey may seem. I agree that there are certain frustrations present in the game which would be more logical to address, but I am not suggesting that anything should be added or removed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts; I consider them a valuable reflection on the game.

 

All the best,

C.

[Queen of Love 453]

Great job.
You did more than any CM since 2020

 

[Ellix 416]

Good to see people still do this kind of stuff.

I like those kind of poles!

 

But 1 thing is sure.
The forums aren't alive anymore as they used to be so you wouldn't get a lot of responses from people who still actively play the game
LO's Discord or APB Reloaded Community Discord are a place to post this  

[R3ACT3M 489]

Put in my 2 cents
TL;DR guns need an accuracy buff across the board and their bullet spread needs to be replaced with recoil. I also think Shotguns and SMGs should be rebalanced with having to ADS them in mind. (to help discourage the same strategy of just strafing really fast or corner popping with shotguns. 

[Cyranule 5]

Thanks for saying so, and good idea. I've posted it in a discord server and got quite a few responses. I'll be waiting until data saturation is achieved, so if anyone wants to continue providing feedback, I would appreciate it.

 

All the best,

C.

[BlatMan 717]

I filled out the form, but I don't think anything can be done to improve APB without solving the network problems. The gameplay is drastically different when Little Orbit's service provider isn't throttling your connection. You feel like you have god mode enabled, because no one has time to react due to the low ttk. Currently you need to VPN hop until you find one that isn't throttled. Cloudflare WARP and WARP+ don't work with APB, or their service is blocked. Login works, but can't join districts. APB doesn't support IPv6, which prevents the use of many mobile connections, and limits routes the game data can take.

 

I doubt Little Orbit will do anything meaningful with APB from now on. It took them a year to release an unfinished vehicle. The new matchmaking tests have 99% of the matchmaking features disabled. I tried finishing this post, but the post editor decided to submit the post prematurely.

Edited January 21 by BlatMan

[FakeBungo 248]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:03 PM, dogmanlol said:

great post hopefully @MattScott sees this, like OSRS i personally love the idea of a old school version of apb

well OSRS is garbage because they just brought back everything that runescape did wrong in the first place, like promoting pay2win and promoting botting with the readdition of the grand exchange.

 

old school APB would just mean APB without LO or mattscott, because they are the reason for it continuing to suck and not developing or managing it in any meaningful way.