Thoughts on APB

[WaitingUntilTrueF2P 1]

It's been quite some time since I've touched this game.

 

I just saw a video of a guy playing it on youtube and honestly it brought back some memories.
Last impression was not great. And I'm happy that you're aiming to retouch the game on UE 3.5 and of course it's important. But graphics and engine is not the most important thing that's lacking.

 

Here's a sort of list of issues that I remember encountering back when I last played APB.

 

I literally despised the way buying weapons worked and it was a Pay 2 Win mess. If you want this game to make a comeback it needs to be TRULY f2p with micro-transactions for specific cosmetics etc. OR Buy to play with no micro-transactions what so ever. We're playing games in 2019 that are Free to play, making millions every year. 
Another serious issue that I can remember back then was cheaters. Every mission 1 or more cheaters. 
I hope bugs will someday be wiped. Maybe the new Engine will sort it out but damn this is too old game to still have so many bugs. 
Really important issue for me as well, was the horrendous matchmaking. It wasn't even balanced in terms of we have 1 high level player, enemy team has one as well but a bit better. We're talking Miles apart.

 

These are the things that come to mind, when I remember APB. And I seriously feel sad that this game never really took off. It would be amazing to see a comeback happen, even though I doubt it. But I'm still rooting for this game. I hope new management sorts some things out and revives this title.

[zyde 34]

I guess that you didn't play this game enough to understand and realize, that this game is absolutely NOT pay to win. Almost every weapon in the armas marketplace is a reskin of an already existing weapon that you can buy for 10 days lease. And those who aren't reskins are not even that good and can be countered by other free weapons. The only "good" weapons that I can think of which are not reskins and are STILL easily countered are probably gonna be the: Euryale, OSCAR, CSG/TAS20. Can't think of anything else currently.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxX 280]

Only thing even remotely close to p2w is the ursus and even that is only marginally better if at all than the ntec. Most armas guns are not viable at worst or slightly inferior to f2p guns. Cheaters have been far less of a problem lately, I personally can't say I've encountered any myself personally, may be luck, may be just the fact I don't touch FC. Bugs are gonna get squashed after the UE3.5 update, and despite that, they've already gotten rid of quite a few bad ones (seeing names through fire hydrants, Yukon fire rate to name two big ones). Matt also addressed MM, that's still a ways of unfortunately though.

[TheOppositePolarBear 93]

1 hour ago, WaitingUntilTrueF2P said:

Pay 2 Win

 

 your crediblity hit the floor pretty hard.

 

ok, lets do a list of your complains:

 

-bugs: what do you think the new engine is for?

-matchmaking: again, what do you think the new engine is for? (new engine = phasing = bigger playerpool = better matchmake)

-cheaters: check your "matchmaking" point, think about it.

-P2W: meta guns-> N-tec (free), OCA(free), SHAW(free), NHVR(free), SR-15(free), OSCAR(free), you need nothing else.

 

26 minutes ago, WhiskeyTangoFoxX said:

Only thing even remotely close to p2w is the ursus

 

russian army, is that you?

Edited January 9, 2019 by TheOppositePolarBear

[CookiePuss 5379]

I mean... Cool down timers are an issue as well as the Fang. 

So we aren't completely free of p2w aspects. 

And if he's an old player the Nano used to be p2w as well as the Troublemaker. 

 

... Buncha booliez

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

If APB is p2w my winrate should be 1000%.

[WaitingUntilTrueF2P 1]

Cool guys. Thanks for the input.

 

56 minutes ago, TheOppositePolarBear said:

 your crediblity hit the floor pretty hard.

It's just concern as a consumer man. I don't need credibility to express my previous experience with the game, I have nothing to gain out of this topic. AS I said it's been a long time since I last played. Upwards of 5 years. 

1 hour ago, liav said:

I guess that you didn't play this game enough to understand and realize, that this game is absolutely NOT pay to win. Almost every weapon in the armas marketplace is a reskin of an already existing weapon that you can buy for 10 days lease. And those who aren't reskins are not even that good and can be countered by other free weapons. The only "good" weapons that I can think of which are not reskins and are STILL easily countered are probably gonna be the: Euryale, OSCAR, CSG/TAS20. Can't think of anything else currently.

About buying weapons. Meh. Basically you can rent a weapon for 10 days, but to buy it you can either spend cash and insta-buy it OR spend alot of hours with little progression to buy lower tier weapons. 

 

 

1 hour ago, TheOppositePolarBear said:

ok, lets do a list of your complains:

 

-bugs: what do you think the new engine is for?

-matchmaking: again, what do you think the new engine is for? (new engine = phasing = bigger playerpool = better matchmake)

-cheaters: check your "matchmaking" point, think about it.

Again. I don't know what has changed since then. And no I don't think that the new engine will change MM or cheaters. Matchmaking "rules" can stay the same. And anticheating software may not improve. So changing the engine wouldn't fix these issues.

So all in all. Would you recommend this game to new players as it is right now?

[Fortune Runner 796]

Ok reading this thread from beginning to now it looks like it was meant as questions on then and now but was worded a bit off so people misunderstood.

Assuming this is correct then all can say at the moment is the things that truly made it pay to win in the past was over broken things to begin with and have since then been fixed.

Once they were fixed to work as intended then P2W was claimed by those who for the most part were new to the game and didn't understand how the guns work on APB.

We really need a better tutorial to teach the weapons and what situations to use them in.

[vsb 6171]

4 hours ago, WaitingUntilTrueF2P said:

I literally despised the way buying weapons worked

never really understood the issue here tbh; aside from the fact you start the game with 2 permanent (and quite good) guns it takes maybe 2 missions to get enough money to lease a gun for 10 days, if you want a gun for every range you'll have to do 4 missions or so

 

if an hour per week is too difficult, apb probably isnt the right type of game for you - altho to be fair once you start getting into slotted guns and mods its no longer quite so easy

 

i also (might be biased, considering the filth that is my purchase history) have no problem with how the game encourages you to pay money for the convenience of skipping "the grind", its not like this is a typical mmo where theres indestructible endgame gear and unbeatable top tier weapons players can purchase 

[WaitingUntilTrueF2P 1]

49 minutes ago, BXNNXD said:

never really understood the issue here tbh; aside from the fact you start the game with 2 permanent (and quite good) guns it takes maybe 2 missions to get enough money to lease a gun for 10 days, if you want a gun for every range you'll have to do 4 missions or so

 

if an hour per week is too difficult, apb probably isnt the right type of game for you - altho to be fair once you start getting into slotted guns and mods its no longer quite so easy

 

i also (might be biased, considering the filth that is my purchase history) have no problem with how the game encourages you to pay money for the convenience of skipping "the grind", its not like this is a typical mmo where theres indestructible endgame gear and unbeatable top tier weapons players can purchase 

I see. Well to be honest, it's a personal opinion on my end, but I don't see how this is an appealing method of obtaining gear. Guess you could say I would prefer a more mainstream way of getting gear. And no I don't mind grinding to some extend, since I've played too many MMOs to count really.

[Kanav 2]

Played APB again for the first time in a few years and I was getting destroyed by an OCA "reskin" ... Population is low as hell (ColbyNA) aswell so I had to figure out how to get my gold account into a bronze waterfront, which was impossible so I had to play in a silver financial. I can see why new players quit the game quick. Not much has actually changed. I wouldnt say the guns are pay to win but you definetly have an edge. I usually shotgun/ACT44 and the OCA "reskin" would shred me in 1.5s, I couldnt even get my second shot off in time in some cases. Now I know what some die hard veteran will say "buy a gun to counter it", if thats how this game works now, than count me out. Why should I have to buy a load of counter weapons for certain scenarios because my CQC gun cant beat another CQC gun. Sure, shotguns and submachines differ but I still have the camera swapping,free aim, and strafing and even then I am getting shredded by the "reskin". Seems like these days only diehards are playing and keeping the game alive through their ARMA purchases of "reskins". Biggest problem for me back in the day was the Nano but I have yet to come across it again. Weird how people justify ARMAs weapons purchases as cosmetic items and then say things like "these in game purchasable guns are no different". I mean with a game like fortnite, atleast people can actually see your puchased skin,axe, or glider. You can barely see someones gun in this game and usually all it is, is an indicator that they are pretty deadly. Just my 2 cents.

[TheOppositePolarBear 93]

3 hours ago, WaitingUntilTrueF2P said:

Again. I don't know what has changed since then. And no I don't think that the new engine will change MM or cheaters. Matchmaking "rules" can stay the same. And anticheating software may not improve. So changing the engine wouldn't fix these issues.

So all in all. Would you recommend this game to new players as it is right now?

 

i already explained how the new engine is supposed to help the matchmaking get better, so im not going back to that point.

 

when i told you to check your MM complain ("one team has one player who's skill is miles apart from the rest"), it was because, if you admit that the game is putting you against oposition way stronger than you, then how do you know they are cheating? because they are better than you? cheaters are uncommon in the mission districts, saying there are "1 or more cheaters every mission" is simply fake, but i understand where you're comming from, if i were put vs global elites in csgo, i could also think they are cheating.

 

would i recommend this game to new players as it is right now? if they are willing to put the time to learn the game, if they are willing to blame themselves and not the guns or calling everybody a cheater, then yes, if they are easly frustrated and want something pretty casual, no.

[CookiePuss 5379]

4 hours ago, WaitingUntilTrueF2P said:

So all in all. Would you recommend this game to new players as it is right now?

I would not.

[Ketog 1032]

only things that are remotely pay to win are the fang RFP-9 , the premium cooldown timers  , and armas 4x4's and opinion on those may vary

 

literally all the top tier weapons are free , if you think apb is pay to win only because people kill you with paid weapons , you definetely didn't played that game enough .

Edited January 10, 2019 by Ketog

[Kevkof 806]

4 minutes ago, Ketog said:

armas 4x4's

Those aren't really pay to win though. You can get them without spending any real money in 7 weeks as a max rank. 

 

It's an example of pay to shortcut, but I wouldn't put that under pay to win.

[WaitingUntilTrueF2P 1]

30 minutes ago, TheOppositePolarBear said:

when i told you to check your MM complain ("one team has one player who's skill is miles apart from the rest"), it was because, if you admit that the game is putting you against oposition way stronger than you, then how do you know they are cheating? because they are better than you? cheaters are uncommon in the mission districts, saying there are "1 or more cheaters every mission" is simply fake, but i understand where you're comming from, if i were put vs global elites in csgo, i could also think they are cheating.

 

would i recommend this game to new players as it is right now? if they are willing to put the time to learn the game, if they are willing to blame themselves and not the guns or calling everybody a cheater, then yes, if they are easly frustrated and want something pretty casual, no.

Well it's obvious you've invested alot of time in the game so I'm not going to question you on the fact that there were alot of people that might have been plainly better than me. But I'm talking aimbot level aim and reactions. I've played my fair share of FPS as well. I'm no global elite in CSGO by any means, but I can differentiate a person who's blatantly cheating from someone who's REALLY good and/or lucky in 1 play.

Anyway I might be talking out my behind right now, since it's been 5 years. But the important thing is that I had a BAD experience with cheaters in this game. Take it with a grain of salt but it is how I remember the game. 

Oh one more thing that came to mind. Was a hitbox issue. Either there was 1 hit box for the whole player model or hit box tracking was trash.

39 minutes ago, Kanav said:

Played APB again for the first time in a few years and I was getting destroyed by an OCA "reskin" ... Population is low as hell (ColbyNA) aswell so I had to figure out how to get my gold account into a bronze waterfront, which was impossible so I had to play in a silver financial. I can see why new players quit the game quick. Not much has actually changed. I wouldnt say the guns are pay to win but you definetly have an edge. I usually shotgun/ACT44 and the OCA "reskin" would shred me in 1.5s, I couldnt even get my second shot off in time in some cases. Now I know what some die hard veteran will say "buy a gun to counter it", if thats how this game works now, than count me out. Why should I have to buy a load of counter weapons for certain scenarios because my CQC gun cant beat another CQC gun. Sure, shotguns and submachines differ but I still have the camera swapping,free aim, and strafing and even then I am getting shredded by the "reskin". Seems like these days only diehards are playing and keeping the game alive through their ARMA purchases of "reskins". Biggest problem for me back in the day was the Nano but I have yet to come across it again. Weird how people justify ARMAs weapons purchases as cosmetic items and then say things like "these in game purchasable guns are no different". I mean with a game like fortnite, atleast people can actually see your puchased skin,axe, or glider. You can barely see someones gun in this game and usually all it is, is an indicator that they are pretty deadly. Just my 2 cents.

This is what I'm kind of talking about. I remember people who have actually spent money on the game at that time, that "reskins" were actually better.

[vsb 6171]

44 minutes ago, Kanav said:

Played APB again for the first time in a few years and I was getting destroyed by an OCA "reskin" ... Population is low as hell (ColbyNA) aswell so I had to figure out how to get my gold account into a bronze waterfront, which was impossible so I had to play in a silver financial. I can see why new players quit the game quick. Not much has actually changed. I wouldnt say the guns are pay to win but you definetly have an edge. I usually shotgun/ACT44 and the OCA "reskin" would shred me in 1.5s, I couldnt even get my second shot off in time in some cases. Now I know what some die hard veteran will say "buy a gun to counter it", if thats how this game works now, than count me out. Why should I have to buy a load of counter weapons for certain scenarios because my CQC gun cant beat another CQC gun. Sure, shotguns and submachines differ but I still have the camera swapping,free aim, and strafing and even then I am getting shredded by the "reskin". Seems like these days only diehards are playing and keeping the game alive through their ARMA purchases of "reskins". Biggest problem for me back in the day was the Nano but I have yet to come across it again. Weird how people justify ARMAs weapons purchases as cosmetic items and then say things like "these in game purchasable guns are no different". I mean with a game like fortnite, atleast people can actually see your puchased skin,axe, or glider. You can barely see someones gun in this game and usually all it is, is an indicator that they are pretty deadly. Just my 2 cents.

this entire situation could be resolved with consistent numerical stats ingame

 

no, any gun that is a reskin (or "functionally identical" i think it says on armas) does not have any edge over its f2p variant - identical means identical 

 

shotguns do high burst damage and in return they have a shorter range, 1.5s is more than enough time to get 2 shots off

 

it honestly just sounds like you dont fully understand the game which, given you were trying to play in a bronze district, is understandable

[Noob_Guardian 418]

49 minutes ago, Kanav said:

Played APB again for the first time in a few years and I was getting destroyed by an OCA "reskin" ... Population is low as hell (ColbyNA) aswell so I had to figure out how to get my gold account into a bronze waterfront, which was impossible so I had to play in a silver financial. I can see why new players quit the game quick. Not much has actually changed. I wouldnt say the guns are pay to win but you definetly have an edge. I usually shotgun/ACT44 and the OCA "reskin" would shred me in 1.5s, I couldnt even get my second shot off in time in some cases. Now I know what some die hard veteran will say "buy a gun to counter it", if thats how this game works now, than count me out. Why should I have to buy a load of counter weapons for certain scenarios because my CQC gun cant beat another CQC gun. Sure, shotguns and submachines differ but I still have the camera swapping,free aim, and strafing and even then I am getting shredded by the "reskin". Seems like these days only diehards are playing and keeping the game alive through their ARMA purchases of "reskins". Biggest problem for me back in the day was the Nano but I have yet to come across it again. Weird how people justify ARMAs weapons purchases as cosmetic items and then say things like "these in game purchasable guns are no different". I mean with a game like fortnite, atleast people can actually see your puchased skin,axe, or glider. You can barely see someones gun in this game and usually all it is, is an indicator that they are pretty deadly. Just my 2 cents.

reskins are only reskins, they provide no bonuses.

[Kanav 2]

5 minutes ago, Kevkof said:

Those aren't really pay to win though. You can get them without spending any real money in 7 weeks as a max rank. 

 

It's an example of pay to shortcut, but I wouldn't put that under pay to win.

Yea.. because 7 weeks at max rank is reasonable..
There is a such thing as "pay to shortcut" however, when the shortcut is literally surpassing all levels up to max and 7 weeks of playtime at that max rank, I thing it falls under p2w simple because you are purchasing it to.. have an edge that would take a really long time to achieve. So long if fact, you might quit the game like alot of people have before getting to maxrank.

[vsb 6171]

1 minute ago, Kanav said:

Yea.. because 7 weeks at max rank is reasonable..
There is a such thing as "pay to shortcut" however, when the shortcut is literally surpassing all levels up to max and 7 weeks of playtime at that max rank, I thing it falls under p2w simple because you are purchasing it to.. have an edge that would take a really long time to achieve. So long if fact, you might quit the game like alot of people have before getting to maxrank.

its a car

 

and its not the first or second best car either

[Noob_Guardian 418]

4 minutes ago, WaitingUntilTrueF2P said:

Well it's obvious you've invested alot of time in the game so I'm not going to question you on the fact that there were alot of people that might have been plainly better than me. But I'm talking aimbot level aim and reactions. I've played my fair share of FPS as well. I'm no global elite in CSGO by any means, but I can differentiate a person who's blatantly cheating from someone who's REALLY good and/or lucky in 1 play.

Anyway I might be talking out my behind right now, since it's been 5 years. But the important thing is that I had a BAD experience with cheaters in this game. Take it with a grain of salt but it is how I remember the game. 

Oh one more thing that came to mind. Was a hitbox issue. Either there was 1 hit box for the whole player model or hit box tracking was trash.

This is what I'm kind of talking about. I remember people who have actually spent money on the game at that time, that "reskins" were actually better.

I've played since open beta, I assure you "reskins" aren't actually any better  and never were different, let alone statistically different. Considering I own 3-4 OCA varients, have used 3 ntec varients, etc etc and have all roles to 15 currently...

 

Silenced vs non-silenced do have stat differences though. Also, cheaters are nowhere near as prevelant as they used to be. I honestly havnt seen one since LO, and even before that not really. FF/BE did good

[Ketog 1032]

Just now, Kanav said:

Yea.. because 7 weeks at max rank is reasonable..
There is a such thing as "pay to shortcut" however, when the shortcut is literally surpassing all levels up to max and 7 weeks of playtime at that max rank, I thing it falls under p2w simple because you are purchasing it to.. have an edge that would take a really long time to achieve. So long if fact, you might quit the game like alot of people have before getting to maxrank.

uhm , i can tell you it's completely reasonable , also no , you do not need to be max rank , you literally just have to play fight club, that is ALL you need to do , you can just daily do your fightclub and then leave and do other things , if you think that is unresonable and pay to win then many many games are pay to win for you .

[Kanav 2]

1 minute ago, BXNNXD said:

this entire situation could be resolved with consistent numerical stats ingame

 

no, any gun that is a reskin (or "functionally identical" i think it says on armas) does not have any edge over its f2p variant - identical means identical 

 

shotguns do high burst damage and in return they have a shorter range, 1.5s is more than enough time to get 2 shots off

 

it honestly just sounds like you dont fully understand the game which, given you were trying to play in a bronze district, is understandable

Okay well all you did was say "No" to what I said. It can say "functionally identical" and I guess thats the end all be all? Its not like they can just say that and not tell anyone its actually a bit better. I estimated the 1.5s part because I dont actually know but it was quick enough to the point where I couldnt get off 2 CSG shots. "Dont fully understand the game" I guess a gold 200rank doesnt understand the game anymore. Fair enough. I was only trying to join a waterfront server that had players, and it happened to be bronze. Im trying to unlock the OSKAR from birth.

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

54 minutes ago, Kanav said:

 

Where do I buy this OCA reskin that is better. I wanna buy it so I can play gud.

[Noob_Guardian 418]

they fixed the hitbox tracking issues "mostly" with a recent network patch and by nerfing sprintshooting. You can pretty much land every hit you fire now.