Matchmaking

[Hiyate 0]

As a returning player who last played in 2014 I see that this game still has the same problem as always. No matter what you join you're matched with people who are Rank 200+ and will own you, partly because of better gear and partly because they simply have more experience (i.e. better players).

To make matter worse this game is filled with fake silvers. Some trolls usually seem to say "You can still be bad even though you're R255", I would argue that you can't. Its next to impossible to play a game for that long and still be as bad as a new player, the experience alone would make you better and the unlocked gear will help.

A simple solution: Auto-kick or disable missions for gold rank on bronze servers.
A second, more complete, solution is to disable unlockable items above a certain rank for bronze/silver/gold. I.e. for some modifications/weapons/cars you need a certain rank, don't make loadouts with these valid.
E.g. on bronze you might only allow items that are available between rank 1-79, on silver 80-194 and on gold 195-255. These restrictions could be separate depending on mods/weapons/cars and case specific.
This would remove any gear specific advantage, making it more about skill. In addition to this, matchmaking needs to be based on the combination of rank and threat if anything, but I guess the playerbase won't be able to support that - which is why I see locking items more viable. I am sure there have been hundreds of suggestions regarding this.

I fear that the reason for the state of this game is that high-levels need to be able to own noobs or they will stop paying, and it's the high-levels that are the cash cows.

[IAmRaykan 1]

You can't really change the matchmaking with negatives in game without breaking the community and possibly the game.

I thought about this and also researched a bit. There are 0 rewards that I could find to be gold player. There is no incentive to rank up unless you want to. I mean I couldn't believe it at first, but honestly even if there is, it's so bad people don't care and de rank all the same and play in silver servers while gold. 

You could say adding more ranks would help it, and I agree, IF the amount of active players wouldn't be so scarce, you do that, servers would be unpopulated. Making silver servers for silver only and etc? Same would happen, not all players would do it BUT a lot would. I could explain it in my words but I got a feeling everyone knows what I mean... 

My suggestion is simple, make one more rank, give out different rewards scaled with ranks in the end of a season, every month or so or yearly (A yearly season is the normal, but idk, APB isn't the game normal people keep playing (casuals) for a year non stop to get rewards, maybe doing it once a bigger community is established). This other rank would define really good players, diamonds, turning APB into a even more competitive game might give it a better chance of surviving, with esports (Actually I want to know your position on linking APB to esports).

In the end, giving players a reason to stay is all you need, so daily rewards for newcomers, rank rewards for killing two birds with one stone: now golds will stay gold for it, and giving a reason for newcomers to continue persevering! 

Why do de-rankers exist? Because there's no point on staying high, in fact you'll just have more fun if you de-rank. The demerits are there, but demerits alone aren't enough, if you have time to de-rank, then less money won't bother them, neither contacts and much less leveling slower... And giving really punitive punishments for it is just going overboard for someone who just wants to have fun. This wouldn't kill all the de-rankers at all, but the matchmaking would certainly be a bit more leveled. As now there's a reason to play against golds and rise to rank diamond first place NA! 

UNFORTUNATELY... there's little to give out. Any in game reward is just "yay". Maybe exclusive animations, or cars... I don't even know... In game currency? Add it to the pile. It would be good as a daily reward for newbies, nothing else. Exclusive skins/ weapons? They can probably afford them all... Or already have them... Real world currency as G1C? LO needs money now, they can't just give it away. Exclusive mega customized clothing? Most people already do that, not sure how can they beat them. 

Conclusion: Any real measures to improve matchmaking, as my guess, can only be viable after the engine update. LO can't afford to drop it under other work heavy suggestions, if they do, that time for sure APB will die (If it does, please give it out for free, so players can make dedicated servers...). Why? Well because at least 30% of the population is here playing to support LO for it to happen... Including myself... Basically LO is in a super tight spot right now... Even better, they bought a type of game with 0 experience on it. But I love them, because they're trying to revive APB, and I hope they do, which will only truly happen after the engine update.

[TheMessiah 430]

1.Make event(free G1C,JT etc)bring players back
2.District select,advanced,"show recommended only" tab - checked and hide it
3.Hide threat(both dist. and player)
4.Done
...
5.They gonna do it?No...
 

Edited September 30, 2018 by TheMessiah

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

On 9/28/2018 at 6:42 AM, Hiyate said:

To make matter worse this game is filled with fake silvers. Some trolls usually seem to say "You can still be bad even though you're R255", I would argue that you can't. Its next to impossible to play a game for that long and still be as bad as a new player, the experience alone would make you better and the unlocked gear will help.
 

You'd be surprised how bad some people are at APB still despite hitting max rank and having hundreds/thousands of hours in game.