June 2019 - Next Steps with RIOT

[Zolerox 564]

only reward is the Yakuza skin and progression is unreliable. 

 

Keep on truckin matt i have faith you'll make this mode better.

[yood 345]

4 hours ago, MattScott said:

 

Next, here are some interesting stats for the first week:

- RIOT was played 4x more on Citadel than on Jericho due to low population issues starting the mode

- Fight Club ran 2.2x more matches than RIOT during the same week on Jericho, but 92%+ of accounts playing FC also played RIOT

- Fight Club ran 1.2x more matches than RIOT during the same week on Citadel, but we saw 1.5x more accounts in RIOT than FC

- ~40% of the active player base during the week played RIOT at least once

 

 

good job.  interesting figure Boss

 

I would like you to PUBLISH more frequently statistics . I don't need numbers .

[NotTheEnforcer 222]

7 hours ago, MattScott said:

(1) take the mode down until it has seen major work

As it stands right now, I can see this as the only viable option.

Granted it was a good way to learn the inner workings of APB, but it's just not something the community wanted. Nor was it polished enough on release. Jericho could hardly even play it as it was. 

 

I think of this as like a student project. Everyone's going to see it, everyone's going to try it and critique it, but nobody is going to play it afterwards.

 

For now, I say put RIOT on a side burner. Work on it if you've got free time or assets, mold and mesh it into something good using suggestions and feedback on development from the community. For now, focus on the Engine Update. I think I can safely say thats the only chance APB has of retaining its current playerbase and bringing in old/new players again.

 

I mean I haven't even played since a couple months before the RIOT update just because of what I've seen from development and user reviews after it released. Im only here to watch and see where it goes. Id definitely play again if the Engine Update released though, no matter what people said.

 

That and Marketing, but that has to wait until after.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by NotTheEnforcer

[Hexerin 1140]

8 hours ago, MattScott said:

EDIT: I have two more updates planned, but ended up in meetings for the rest of the day, so I'll do those next week.

We are not moving forward with any Battle Pass or Seasonal content till the kinks are worked out.

Good plan, especially considering Jericho doesn't have anywhere near enough playerbase to support that.

[JackBauerHan 2]

Hi, @MattScott ,

 

Do you still remember the characteristics of the game to attract you to buy?  these characteristics also make players not give up the game for almost 10 years, if you want to save APB, please carry these characteristics forward, somthing like new clothes, new cars, new Contacts, new districts. new heating level, new ranking level, new achievements, new roles ... ... ... ... 

 

About RIOT, I usually look down on imitation and plagiarism, If I like the Battle Royale mode, why dont I go to play PUBG?  this is another question, LO only can do imitation and plagiarism? About new game mode, you can check annual festival activities or events, G1 have tried a lot, they have tried Survival event before, and others like headless horseman..., the end result of all these new mode is that the players weren't much interested. I seriously doubt that RIOT team is the same guys from G1, they never know what the players really want.

Edited June 22, 2019 by JackBauerHan

[FakeBungo 248]

add heaps of ramps to the map, put cars in (especially sports cars including rare 4x4 vegas's)

 

then just add more stuff to the map and fix camping (really easily to hide on a roof or random corner to surprise ppl, whereas in mission district u can predict which roofs people will camp the objective)

 

Merged.

 

TLDR riot becomes racing district

[Fortune Runner 796]

1 hour ago, JackBauerHan said:

somthing like new clothes, new cars, new Contacts, new districts. new heating level, new ranking level, new achievements, new roles

That has been mentioned before that it is planned to do so.

1 hour ago, JackBauerHan said:

About RIOT, I usually look down on imitation and plagiarism, If I like the Battle Royale mode, why dont I go to play PUBG?  this is another question, LO only can do imitation and plagiarism?

What? That is not what plagiarism is.....

 

1 hour ago, JackBauerHan said:

About new game mode, you can check annual festival activities or events, G1 have tried a lot, they have tried Survival event before, and others like headless horseman..., the end result of all these new mode is that the players weren't much interested

Where were you for those events? it is busier during those vents than during normal weeks.

 

1 hour ago, JackBauerHan said:

the end result of all these new mode is that the players weren't much interested. I seriously doubt that RIOT team is the same guys from G1, they never know what the players really want.

One complaint I have seen is the population numbers / splitting a low player base.

Another is how some people don't like BR modes and others do like it.

 

[TheMessiah 430]

10 hours ago, MattScott said:

Right now, the big decision I need to make is whether to:
(1) take the mode down until it has seen major work

dat and give me the skin so i can get out of the game

p. s. with the pace things are going - no 3.5 till autumn dats 100% sry folks is da reality

Edited June 22, 2019 by TheMessiah

[Dead_Game 73]

10 hours ago, MattScott said:

Hi everyone,

 

First, many many (many many) players have asked why we "wasted" time doing RIOT, and I think that's a valid question.

 

What was point of releasing new JMB when the gun balance is broken? 

 

 

 

[iTzBlackout 139]

10 hours ago, MattScott said:

Right now, the big decision I need to make is whether to:

(1) take the mode down until it has seen major work or
(2) add some more tiers along with another reward that will enable players to continue grinding Joker Tickets while we make changes.

I'm not interested in clinging to or defending something that isn't working, but I still see some value in the mode itself - just perhaps not in the original way we intended.

Thanks for your update! I honestly have fun playing RIOT. I got used to the mechanics and tried to be efficient as possible. (Like get as much cash as possible)

Would like to see some more rewards even for the first tiers, because it takes really long to level up. (I know it's a beta)

After I finished the contact I got my first daily activity and I was really surprised by the rewards. It's just a 5 day lease but still you can get some "unique" weapons like the 3 slotted Cap40 or the DOW Stock which you cannot get anywhere else. (Don't forget the cool weapon skin)

[TzickyT 212]

10 hours ago, MattScott said:

Hi everyone,

 

First, many many (many many) players have asked why we "wasted" time doing RIOT, and I think that's a valid question.

 

The mechanics for RIOT were specifically designed to give my team a chance to learn how the inner workings of APB fit together. I felt that we could implement this mode without taking a lot of dev resources, we could keep our focus on the Engine Upgrade, and that the experience would give us an excellent sandbox to make mistakes. If we messed up RIOT, we could simply set it aside with no lasting damage. If we mess up the main game, then it becomes much more difficult to fix.

 

The design for RIOT also included a number of underlying systems that we need. Some of them are focused on design elements such as cleaning up the district blocks or tracking new aspects of play. Other systems focused on replacing Joker Mystery Boxes. It's clear that legislation will eventually make these illegal, so we need new ways of building value that our players can spend money on.

Next, here are some interesting stats for the first week:

- RIOT was played 4x more on Citadel than on Jericho due to low population issues starting the mode

- Fight Club ran 2.2x more matches than RIOT during the same week on Jericho, but 92%+ of accounts playing FC also played RIOT

- Fight Club ran 1.2x more matches than RIOT during the same week on Citadel, but we saw 1.5x more accounts in RIOT than FC

- ~40% of the active player base during the week played RIOT at least once

 

We are spending a lot of time going through all the feedback here on the forums to see what is feasible. There have been lots of great suggestions.

 

There are clear issues with the mode, and the team is working on a relatively light weight pass of tweaks and fixes to make it more fun.

Areas that need work are: The end-game, Sound, and respawns.

 

Right now, the big decision I need to make is whether to:
(1) take the mode down until it has seen major work or
(2) add some more tiers along with another reward that will enable players to continue grinding Joker Tickets while we make changes.

I'm not interested in clinging to or defending something that isn't working, but I still see some value in the mode itself - just perhaps not in the original way we intended.

 

EDIT: I have two more updates planned, but ended up in meetings for the rest of the day, so I'll do those next week.

We are not moving forward with any Battle Pass or Seasonal content till the kinks are worked out.

 

Thanks,
Matt

 

first of all Cool that u guys are using this game as a test server or Practicefield. personaly i would suggest the next time there wil be a testing season .. make it in a test server and keep it online for a week. (and give a promotion to all peopel who tested it.) personaly i wanted to see new players to this game. all the promotion and the hype u gave all the veterans made maybe 5% new players test out the game. i find this a bit underwelming. yes some veterans came back to test it out and most of em think this game mode ... has no potential. (maybe a few wil say finaly something new and enjoy it even.)

 

Comparing Jericho with Citadel is not one thing that u need to put in the statement. u guys know the population is low. why make that one of your intresting stats. ... i feel that is even a bad statement to annouce it. i also wonder how much people stil play the game mode after a week. thats something im more intrested than just a first week impression. everyone wants to try it the game mode. than after a week if they stil play are playing. make than a statement if the mode is doing ok or not.

 

at this moment i don't think my suggestion wil be make intresting statements to change the game and make it better. Personaly i would like that this mode needed to be tested by the whole community s i would like to see all the updates u guys make. let the whole community work together to make this mode work to bring back new players. stil the choice is yours. I wouldn't suggest to add new rewards i just want to see a working game that delivers a purpose to the game. rewards can be added later in season 1 of riot mode.

 

( NOT PUTTING ANY HARM TO ALL THE SPCT PLAYERS BUT I WONDER WHAT U GUYS THOUGHT ABOUT THIS GAME WHEN U WERE TESTING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME)

 

 

ps: My thought about Riot. I like the game mode ... i hate the Begining . Middle. and end of the game mode.

[Pufty 113]

Good timing with the update. Cleared up quite a lot of what I've thought to what regards the engine and Riot. This update still feels much quicker than g1 ever cared.

 

I've already pointed my opinion towards Riot, but here is a short version - It's like-able at the current stage, which gives potential for something good to come out. At least both sides of the fence can agree finally on that the engine wasn't being held back by putting effort in Riot.

[TackoGirl 130]

Matt you are doing the right! I trust you, lead us into the e upgrade

RIOT is so damn cool ! I play it every day and i love it dont close it in the future.

[Sayori 311]

Thanks for the update but this just doesn't make any sense to me.

A couple of months after LO took over, you mentioned the new game mode and everyone called it BR. Now you say you felt you can implement it without spending too much dev resources but still it's been a long time already so this surely can't be the case.

And on top of that you guys made press releases to advertise your sandbox for mistakes.  Yeah, who cares if our sandbox for mistakes is a flop, APB is already surrounded by negativity anyway, some more won't affect it! /s

Btw the 40% who have tried RIOT is still pretty low. I think maybe you need a bigger and better carrot.

Waiting for the engine update(decent one) then maybe I can finally recommend this game to others.

 

<Insert "It's okay, we didn't want this game mode anyway" meme>

Edited June 22, 2019 by Sayori

[Mitne 724]

@MattScott

 

What about randomization of teams despite people being in groups?

I ask like third time again. Third.

 

Why it hasn't been implemented in first place? Why it isn't in plans?

You evade my question about it like fire. I mean it can't be that hard to code that...? Or is it?

I prefer polite no, than silence.

 

My whole rant might be over the edge but I think random teams are more valid concern than others. (Although yeah, end-game and respawns need serious rework, sound isn't something major on it's own but can be fixed easily)

 

In my case the main reason which drove me away from RIOT is not respawns, not constant deaths, not bad and unfair end-game but fact that if I don't find group of "cheaters" I most likely won't succeed as I run in the same dominating groups of sus people over and over. Randomization of team would at least reduce that problem.

Edited June 22, 2019 by Mitne

[Alexs410 0]

Endgame is something strange, lots of pistols, mountains of dead bodies. Another battle royale but it is more, than just a "don't copy it so obvious". I like barrel hijack mechanic, but can't it be a long-term gamemode. APB is MMO, but it is session based MMO with open world. 

I thought, that riot will be something like the long conquest war for goods and guns, with random events. It needs a lot of buffs/nerfs/revorks, or a complete rethinking. 

Anyway, good luck. 

[neophobia 216]

9 hours ago, Zolerox said:

only reward is the Yakuza skin and progression is unreliable. 

 

Keep on truckin matt i have faith you'll make this mode better.

as it was stated in the post, seasonal rewards are planned and leveling up the contact is just supposed to give you JT for now

 

it's a beta

[KnifuWaifu 499]

11 hours ago, CookiePuss said:

GG

 

Once again MattScott has poured honey in to my ear and has me waking up the next morning shouting "RIOT! RIOT!" Thank you.

13 hours ago, MattScott said:

- RIOT was played 4x more on Citadel than on Jericho due to low population issues starting the mode

 

Areas that need work are: The end-game, Sound, and respawns.

My only nit-pick is that it makes it seem like pop. issues with RIOT are seen as a problem but not an area that will be worked on?

[cheater 296]

Too bad you couldnt do a simple thing like asking the community what they wanted, a new BR game mode that is more or less the anarchy mode or something else, I guess you guys just like doing a mistake after a mistake

[PGAW67 11]

@MattScott,

 

Thank you very much for the honestly and hard work. No one though APB was going to be an easy task and for tho I really want to thank you and the team for not giving up and keep trying hard to improve the game.

 

Keep up the hard work and more importantly don't give up.

[Thial 176]

Well here's my little rant.

 

What I was expecting: JUNE 2019 - NEXT STEPS WITH THE ENGINE UPGRADE
What I got: JUNE 2019 - NEXT STEPS WITH RIOT

 

First the plans were to finish the engine until the end of 2018.

Then the new engine was supposed to be tested by the SPCT in February and then available to the public for testing.

Now June is almost over and god knows when we will get it. Maybe not even until 2020.

 

I would put all people to work on the engine instead of a BR mode since it's the core component to evolving the game and getting the players back.

There are so many people who can't even play the game because of how badly it runs.

There are so many people who stopped playing because of broken spawns, broken threat and broken matchmaking.

There are so many people who stopped playing because of stupid balancing issues like for example mobile spawner.

(mobile spawner was added by G1 because they were too lazy to fix the spawn system so they just slapped on a band aid)

There are so many people who hate BR in general or they hate games which are adding BR out of nowhere where it doesn't even fit the base game

(look at the backlash that CS:GO got for it).

There are so many people who are just sick and tired of BR games. We have been playing them for the last few years.

 

I really don't understand why the BR mode is being the focus here while the engine upgrade is the key to everything.

As soon as the engine will be released so fucking many people will come back and there will be no need to taint APB with BR.

Instead the base game should be upgraded. By adding BR the main APB's direction is being watered down.

Now you will need to be balancing and upgrading the base game AND the BR mode which will consume even more time.

 

A lot of amazing games are coming out in few months as well so you should be aware of the fact that even more people will leave APB.

People are playing APB for APB, not for BR. As soon as some actual BR game will come out all of those temporary "BR fans" players will transition

to the new BR game. Wanting to revive the community by luring in BR players is very unwise because it's a very temporary community.

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Thial

[GhosT 1301]

I still think RIOT needs a complete overhaul in order to succeed. The battle royale style simply won't work.

[swft 356]

Expected. All we want is the engine upgrade so you guys can actually start creating content that belongs in APB and improving the game's looks and performance.

Edited June 22, 2019 by swft

[VanilleKeks 737]

As I said in the other thread, I would take it down until its fixed (preferably after 3.5). It will take months to make it good and I don't see it doing us any favors being the new "frontline" of APB in this state (The BETA tag only gives so much lenience). I'm glad that you are considering this option, I respect it when people own up to their mistakes.

Edited June 22, 2019 by VanilleKeks

[Seedy 324]

17 hours ago, MattScott said:

Hi everyone,

 

First, many many (many many) players have asked why we "wasted" time doing RIOT, and I think that's a valid question.

 

 

Thanks,
Matt

You know what, you do listen to us and I can not thank you enough for that. Thanks man. Im going to buy stuff today!

 

Onwards and Upwards

 

I think RIOT should be an occasional thing and as you work on changing aspects of the mode you can tell us what you have done and then let us all play it. If you come up with something fabulous, i am 100% confident that we will all want to play it and ask for it all to be kept live on a full time basis.

Just by thoughts on moving forward with it.

 

Merged.

 

13 hours ago, IROCkiller said:

I say take RIOT down and rework it. I'm personally in favor of making it a Planetside 2 style gamemode, I gave my thoughts as to how it would work here:

I think APB would benefit from a change like this, but I'm not a dev. I have no clue if the things I'm suggesting is possible.

hey man I read your post. This is like turf wars if i am not mistaken which we have been talking about since RTW day. If @MattScott did this I am sure we would get right in to it with open arms. The community pretty much as a whole have spoke about this and wanted it at some point.