Returning player

[Yvez 14]

Hi all

 

So, I thought I'd reinstall for a 30 minute nostalgia hit, fully intending to just see how the game ran with my current pc, remain firmly "Not ready" and drive about a bit to recall the good old times but then I went and stupidly readied up and 8 matches later I'm asking my old clan mate if he wants to get back into it because it was surprisingly fun. 

 

When will I learn? 

 

First thing is I noticed the only thing left intact of my account is the fact that I have one. All characters gone, all extra slots gone (ticket raised... Not too upset about it, I'm happy to start again from scratch but kinda think I should still have the stuff I did originally invest real money into), even my forum id isn't associated properly (but apparently the id is still taken, "Ydiss"). 

 

I originally bought RTW's version in early access, played through until it went belly up, mourned and tried to fill the void with games that never quite scratched the same itch, rejoiced when G1 resurrected it, played for several months after the relaunch until the segregation, apparent lack of borked mission fixes and general, natural fatigue for the game stopped me playing. 

 

That was about 2012 I guess. 

 

I've read a lot here to give myself a bit of a refresher on the status quo, what's happening; interesting development with LO, not so interested in yet another game mode to ultimately segregate population further, noticing the community hasn't changed in the slightest - both negative and positive, read that as you like - pleasantly surprised that the game is still going. 

 

But, mainly, really surprised I actually enjoyed my first session in seven years. We were all golds back in the day but I fully expected to return, get steamrolled by gold premades (or just not match up at all) and just not have any fun. My expectation was subverted nicely. 

 

So, thought I'd give a brief account of my returning player experience in case anyone cares. 

 

Once I'd gotten over the slight disappointment of seeing no characters, shrugged it off, created a throwaway criminal and chosen a name (noting that my old character names are still taken...), the biggest no no (and probably the only one) was the game prompted me into the tutorial district. I'd forgotten it doesn't exist (I think they were scrapped right at the end of my time playing) and the game promptly set about trying to load me into a nonexistent instance, with no way to quit except using task manager. I had to Google to work out what was going wrong. 

 

That's a bit of an issue for new players. 

 

Anyway, loaded back straight into Financial and walked through the tutorials (useful to remember muscle memory, reset my keys to how they used to be and remind myself the various controls and ui setup; not entirely certain doing away with the mission guides was a great idea for brand new players but didn't affect me). 

 

Of course, the tutorial didn't take long before prompting me to ready up (sneaky!) and so I did. Might as well... 

 

Straight in to oppose a mission. Me versus two silvers. Oh, APB, how I've missed you, my old friend

 

Got my backside roundly thrashed, surgically removed and handed back to me with a cherry on top. Baby steps. Muscle memory started to kick in, map memory was still strong, started to get into my rhythm again... By the 2nd match I got an assist on a multi backup mission... Then got my first kills on the 3rd or 4th mission. By the 8th, I was pretty much back into it, hooked again, winning as many missions as I lost. Had to stop myself readying up again, as it was late. 

 

Overall impression is match making didn't feel so bad. Saw a handful of golds but only because of some overzealous backup calls. Otherwise, it was mostly silver with one or two bronze. What really surprised me is that no one blew me away in terms of skill. Almost all of the players were not at a level that would have caused us concern way back when. I'm certain that'll change as my threat rises and I'll start to see more great players that have stuck around for years, but it didn't feel like the player population was significantly distorted in the session. 

 

By the time I'd finished I'd really been reminded that there really isn't a game that's like APB. It's harsh as it always was, unforgiving, has frustrating moments and quite often isn't fair... But no other game captures that feeling of racing through the streets (even in my piddly starter car) to the next objective, the anticipation of where and when the enemy will arrive, the chaos (that map knowledge converts to advantage) of the battles, naff spawns or the thrill of outsmarting and getting the jump on someone, quite like this game does. It helps that I'm technically a veteran (I'm not convinced I'd have enjoyed this as a "new player" experience as much as I did back when it was new for everyone); where I'm undeniably rusty and horribly out of practice, I still remember the maps and most of the objectives and what to do. I think it also helps that I don't care nearly as much about it as I did back then, quite happy to lose whilst I level back up and get my beloved carbine back. But, the overall feeling was "that was really fun". 

 

I hope LO can keep it going a bit longer. 

 

Not sure how long I'll stick around this time. I don't play nearly as much as I used to. So maybe it'll be a while. 

 

See you in San Paro. 

 

[Recon_Puppy 43]

The hope is always that LO will keep the game going, if for nothing else than Nostalgia purposes for most.

 

I have my own issues with the game in regards to community or lack of progress on performance enhancement. I still play it for nostalgia reasons myself, it can be quite enjoyable despite the glaring issues that it has, namely the server performance.

 

You are right, there is no game like APB and thats precisely why I love it and want to see it do better than ever under LO, sadly my hopes have typically been dashed by business decisions on their end. But nonetheless, the game is enjoyable. I do hope you continue to have fun in the game alongside everyone else for as long as the game may survive.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

[Seedy 324]

good to see you back

[iRawwwN 283]

If you played before the server merges happened (both EU together and both NA together) you probably missed out on the character merge part. I have a feeling that they still have all the correct information on all accounts from before that time as you are unable to take certain names as they are 'taken' but also not taken. 

 

Not sure if LO even know how to read their database 

[Fortune Runner 796]

8 hours ago, Yvez said:

~snip~

 

There were server mergers with G1 so it is possible your characters are stuck in limbo somewhere still  existing. Did you contact support yet?

[Havana 216]

Tutorial district?  Please Elaborate. 

[Yvez 14]

1 hour ago, iRawwwN said:

If you played before the server merges happened (both EU together and both NA together) you probably missed out on the character merge part. I have a feeling that they still have all the correct information on all accounts from before that time as you are unable to take certain names as they are 'taken' but also not taken. 

 

Not sure if LO even know how to read their database 

Thanks! 

 

I'm not too worried either way but Matt went out of his way to message me and reassure me I should get them back (pretty impressed by that to be fair, says a lot about LO). 

 

I mainly want the slots back if possible and the customisations. Would like my old death theme back. 

 

My daughter just rolled a crim and spent 45 minutes customising her (she really loves customising cars as well), so potentially got another recruit hooked

Will teach her how to ramraid and steal cars next time

 

 

5 minutes ago, Havana said:

Tutorial district?  Please Elaborate. 

There used to be an instance where new players did basics and missions without being opposed. 

 

They don't exist now but the game still suggests you join them the first time you play. 

[jerycho 16]

wb and please enjoy your stay :3

[Fortune Runner 796]

29 minutes ago, Yvez said:

Will teach her how to ramraid and steal cars next time

Ah quality time with family

[Yvez 14]

5 minutes ago, Fortune Runner said:

Ah quality time with family

Nothing teaches them the way of the world quite like letting them get face-rolled by a dump truck grief squad early on in life. 

[yood 345]

3 hours ago, Fortune Runner said:

Ah quality time with family

never ! clan members will not become a family . you are just fellow travelers , as soon as your interests diverge you become the worst enemies .

I survived alone many such piles of children and students .

 

at the moment, given the number of players on the servers , I don't see the viability of clan wars . maybe later . when the population is sufficient ( more than 1000000 ).

Edited May 22, 2019 by Yood

[demonoid 16]

I'm pretty much back into the swing of things now as well. Rarely been on in the past three years since I got into trucking. But now that I've got me a laptop, I can game from the road. I've popped onto the forums and in game here and there when I had home time. But I'm now working on trying to hone my skills again. Hardy played any games at all the past few years, so least to say I'm rusty. But I've still got a good memory of the maps and what not.

 

Luckily I still have my characters and all my stuff. Best wishes, and enjoy your return to the game.

 

Too bad Rust isn't as easy to relearn with all the new stuff they've added over the years. APB has become my new training grounds until then lol.

[Ydiss 15]

Well, that's embarrassing.

 

Matt got back to me and helped me "remember" that I'd used another email address to set up my original account way back. So it's this one. Hi again everyone.

 

I even have 325G1C on the account haha. Bonus.

 

Played again last night for an hour or so on my new character. Again, had fun. Even popped my head into a silver district when the bronze Financial got too quiet. Faced some tough gold groups that seemed pretty good (seemed everyone was gold, but I expected that after reading here); lost a couple (I got beaten hard in one) and won a couple (mostly 2v2s). So it seems there's still a nice spread of skill ranges playing, which is reassuring.

 

Edit: 4.7k posts... Ouch. I guess I was pretty active.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by Ydiss

[iRawwwN 283]

On 5/22/2019 at 4:24 AM, Ydiss said:

Well, that's embarrassing.

 

Matt got back to me and helped me "remember" that I'd used another email address to set up my original account way back. So it's this one. Hi again everyone.

 

I even have 325G1C on the account haha. Bonus.

 

Played again last night for an hour or so on my new character. Again, had fun. Even popped my head into a silver district when the bronze Financial got too quiet. Faced some tough gold groups that seemed pretty good (seemed everyone was gold, but I expected that after reading here); lost a couple (I got beaten hard in one) and won a couple (mostly 2v2s). So it seems there's still a nice spread of skill ranges playing, which is reassuring.

 

Edit: 4.7k posts... Ouch. I guess I was pretty active.

 

 

Not too bad, very nice of them to help you out so fast. Usually Support is slow, but you got lucky or else support has caught up with their huge list.