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The APB:Reloaded conclusion?
RabbiFang
Member Posts: 149
Hi Everyone,
I've been a premium subscriber since the Open Beta launched in June this year, along with three friends whom I always play alongside. During this time, I have both thoroughly enjoyed, and thoroughly detested my time in game. This post outlines why I'm so polarised in my views of this fantastic game.
I hope that I gain some support for what I am about to say, and I hope that those who take the time to read it understand that it is being said for all the right reasons. It is not aimed at anyone in particular, but written with the hope that someone with the power to make a change can empathise with an external perspective; relate with the message, and treat it with the appropriate level of importance.
We are what you might term “old school gamers”; brought up with the likes of Elite and BattleChess, and I consider myself lucky to have been treated to such a myriad of magical gaming titles throughout my youth. In truth, many games interest me and being of an IT background I can fully appreciate the level of work, man-hours and the vision that has gone into the APB (Reloaded) Project.
At the risk of sounding cheesy; multiplayer games bring people together. For years, my friends and I have searched long and hard for, and played through just about every game you care to mention; over our LAN and over the internet. We pick them up, we play them for a while and then we put them down. In honestly, most of these games are uninstalled after a few weeks or days and then we move on. Then there are those games which permeate into more than the sum of their parts; those that mean something to us. Call it irrational love (if you must), like your favourite book on the shelf; it’s a prized possession and deep within its pages, there's a personal feeling that you don’t want to let go of. Not too dissimilar in the fact that much like a book, you use it every single day; that is, unless there is something that you don’t much care for stopping you from picking that book back up. You get to a certain page and think, “I’ve totally had enough of this and I’ve enjoyed it thus far - I’ll put the thing down”; which nicely leads me to the point of this thread.
There is definitely something poisoning the APB pudding. It doesn’t really matter if you stick a flake in it or flambé the damn thing, the underlying issue needs some serious and proper attention, as I’m not the only person skipping desert. The issue here is not game content, it’s not performance and it is most definitely not the gameplay. It’s a fantastic game; that isn't in debate. The issue, however, is cheaters.
Why paint such a pretty picture and hang it in an ugly frame? Take the likes of Neocron and Gunz. These were both great games, but nobody wants to play against all the cheaters. As such, the games subsequently lost most if not all of their player base.
The problem escalates further, as there are real people out there paying money to play against individuals that just cannot lose. You wouldn’t play an online game of poker with no chance of winning, would you? (In my case I wouldn’t play either way, but you get my meaning!)
I know what you’re thinking; you don’t have to pay, but from your commercial perspective, you do, of course want people to pay. It only takes a quick scour of the immensely popular MMORPG.com website, to discover hundreds of posts affirming my above point that cheaters/hackets/aim-botters are killing this game for your customers.
Please, do not get me wrong; I, like many of the people in the community, appreciate all the time you are putting in to develop new content, but truly... PunkBuster isn’t working – FACT.
It doesn't take a first-degree business major to realise that these cheats are costing you customers, which will inevitably lead to costing you money. Right now, the game is in its prime; the best and biggest it's ever been... so why assist in its early demise by allowing the hacking to continue? isn’t it important enough? If this was my business, I would focus 100% of my team's efforts on to resolving the cheating issues PRIOR to additional content being added. I assure you, that many of your lost premium subscribers would return on hearing such news.
I see it as highly likely that you're going to end up losing all of your paying customers (like me, and my three gamer friends), before this thing is out of beta. Believe me... none of us want to see APB shut down.
“Free to play”/”Freemium” business models have both strengths and weaknesses. It is your responsibility from a commercial perspective to understand that it attracts all sorts of individuals, from all over the world; many of whom simply do not care if they get banned; they can just sign back up again using a new account. A few people out there come back at me with “it’s ok the GM’s block their IP address”. Again, it doesn't take the most technically-savvy individual to realise that this isn’t a solution. Most internet service providers use a DHCP model; meaning all they need to do is reboot their router and sign back up. Alternatively, they have the option of using a free proxy server.
Furthermore, the internet is riddled with videos showing how easily people can get hold of cheats/hacks/aimbots for APB:Re-Loaded, and spoil it for those who want a fair game. Who even knows what it’s like when cheaters face cheaters; the battle of who has the fastest aimbot, maybe? Again, I appreciate all that APB is and what it stands for, but let’s liken it to the RIOTS here in the UK for a moment; why build such a nice shop and then allow a load of snot nosed little idiots to smash it all up? That’s going to put off your customers right?
You should be commended for improving arguably the best multiplayer online shooter of all time (that’s my honest opinion). Now it’s time to get the recognition you deserve, by getting rid of these cheaters once and for all.
Sadly, I cannot bring myself to keep paying my hard-earned money to be shot through walls, or for me to shoot at seemingly invulnerable enemies. I urge you... please; drop everything else you're working on, and fix this hugely debilitating, and potentially business crippling problem.
To the community; if you agree with what I have said here, please /aign to show your support.
We don’t want it to go the same way as the old APB. I truly don’t understand what people gain from cheating, but I have a good measure of what you stand to lose if we don’t take much more action to stop them.
Please don’t see this as a moan, see this as a message from a group of people who want you to succeed. You’ve got the game, you’ve got our interests, now protect yours.
Comments
Cheaters and pay to win.
I really liked this game too. Its is fun to play and has the kind of gameplay you cant find anywhere else. Sadly, I agree with you about the hackers/cheaters. This was a huge problem in the original version and it is even worse now that the game is free. There is no reason NOT to hack at this point. Even if you get banned, just create another email account and jump right back in. There is no IP banning, only account banning.
I have had some awesome times in this game. I jumped the gardrail off a highway overpass and landed on a badguy without trying. I hit a van with 4 bad guys in it with two grenades before they could get out and away and racked up an instant 4 kills and I have been able to win a 1vs2 several times due to skill. Sadly, there are other times when a bad guy always knows where we are and there is no surprising him. He hits with every shot from across the map without crouching and aiming and can take a group of 4 out in less than 6 seconds.
The cash shop is getting worse too, $50 for a weapon is just silly. There are also other overpowered weapons like the rocket launcher (oswma I think). The guy can hit your car pulling up and kill everyone in it or close to it with one shot. You can not hide around a corner and pop out for a few shots becuase he will just send a rocket down the hall and the splash damage will kill you. He can hit you from 5 feet away and still not die, giving him a one-shot kill everytime.
I'm with you on the love/hate thing and I wont be spending any more money to stay premium and support the game until some of the major issues are fixed.
cheaters definitely ... pay to win is just an excuse by those who suck. every gun you can get on the armas marketplace (pay real money for guns) you can get in game. the only thing Armas guns do is get rid of the grind a player would have to go through in order to get the gun they desire.
and thats not what this game is about, this isn't WoW or any of those other MMOs where in order to be competitive in PVP you have to grind your life away to get the mystical purple items.
Hell really you don't need anything beyond the starter gun (the STAR 556) i have seen some top rank people just obliterate with that gun.
Having top rank weapons as an option for beginners is pay to win and the whole renting system just makes me laugh.
APB is a fantastic concept for a mmo and laughed my ass off when I started playing it, I had a blast the first few days in it until I figured out what was going on, however as stated, the game riddled with hackers and cheaters.
I'm not going to play a game where aimbots, hackers and cheaters hangout with a P2W system as well.
Obviously cheating is a deal breaker in any competetive game so /signed.
I was going to try this game but now that it seems cheating is so rampant I think I will pass.
My gaming blog
no its actually not, if those weapons were BETTER than what you could get in game then you would be right, if those guns on armas added huge bonuses you would be right. but they do not, all they do is allow a player to skip the grind and then there is no gaurentee that the player will do well with that gun.
its more like pay to skip the grind. this game isn't about levels its not about gear ... go back to wow if you want to grind for hours on end just so you can start being successful in PVP.
i agree whole heartedly about the cheating in the game, its has ruined this game thus far. i paid for the game the first couple months it came to open beta got to rank 80 i belive b4 i said screw this shit, untill i see the aim bots and wall hacks are gone i wont return.
iv played APBr.. i liked APBr but frankly the game is toast the way its being run.
there are some really skillful players out there 1 hittting anyone they want, and then there are the large degree of cheating. be it a wall hack or aimbot. makes no differance. the cheating is killing the game.
while anyone can pick up a gun and win with it, lot may not be as skilled as some and automatically call cheating on it.
thats understandable in a fps.. iv been server banned off old CS and CSS servers in the past for owning with mac 10s it happens.
but when you enter a match and have .0000001% shot at even killing a person who can 1 hit snip you through walls or knows exactly where you are coming from every time it kills the game.
no one wants to play a game where they have no chance of winning. iv hit several matches months ago where i and the team i had.. really had no shot at winning, everyone was low rank <30R vsing people who were rank 100+ not only did no one have the level 1 passive buffs no one had any chance against people with 3x lv 3 passives as well as P2W 1 hit kill weapons.
there is little challange in APB if you are buying your way to the top.. unless they magically changed the match making (last i heard the match making is still broken even after their last patch for it) to give noobs less risk of being thrown against people they cant even hit let alone kill without some insane luck..
and it is that, which drives many to cheat. if you cant beat someone with a sniper or rocket launcher why not just cheat?? make it fair??? seems to be the thought many are having for the game now.
rather sad as its a pretty decent game other wise.
I have been playing APB Reloaded for about a month now. I am a long-time gamer and was seriously burnt out on all the other MMO'S. But now I am enjoying playing time again due to this game. I have not spent a dime and am very comptetitve....as long as the group I am fighting against doesn't have a haxor. Yes, there are players who obviously cheat, and when you accuse them, they get all irrate and deny it saying it's their skill, lol.
Anyways, this is a great game and I am addicted to it atm.