| |
| Posted By:
TourGuide
@ 28 July 2010 - 01:13 PM |
This is just a short post to keep you up to date with what's been happening since we announced some of the areas of the game currently under redevelopment.
Matchmaking
We've already made a fair amount of progress on developing the On/Off Duty system and had some internal playtesting on it last week. The playtest uncovered various issues which are being worked on at the moment. It also uncovered a number of problems with how the system is presented and explained to players, so we're also working on updating various UI elements to support the system and make it more intuitive.
Work is also proceeding with the Pure Skill district ruleset, and we're hopeful that we'll be able to release this along with the new matchmaking system, or very shortly thereafter.
Vehicle Handling
The new pass on vehicle handling is now largely complete and has been through internal QA as well as a team playtest here. Overall the effect is considered to be a clear improvement on the existing system, with vehicles being much more responsive in most situations.
Combat
We've been playtesting our new weapon values, complete with recoil, for a couple of weeks now and are close to the point of being very satisfied with them. The weapons feel more reactive and have much more individual character, and with the addition of new audio effects the overall experience is a lot more satisfying. There's still some work to be done on the camera and visual effects, but progress has been rapid and I hope that we can have a first round of testing on PTW in the very near future.
Missions
I think I mentioned in the original post that we've already started prototyping and playtesting various changes to some of the contentious stage types to improve the way they play and reduce the imbalance and opportunity for exploits. The VIP-on-both-sides, which is the first of these, is already a much better play experience and leads to much more of a cat-and-mouse game than the current one-sided version. Prototypes for new versions of Checkpoint Capture and Item Capture using a bonus time system are underway and then we'll be looking at the most difficult of the bunch - Escape. As an aside, we're also looking to alleviate problems with vehicle delivery missions by removing the dropoff timer and making delivery instantaneous, so that crazy mad-dash deliveries will be much more viable.
|
|
Comments: 0 ::
View Comments
|
| Posted By:
TourGuide
@ 22 July 2010 - 12:45 PM |
Greetings residents of San Paro!
In the continuing spirit of open communication, we wanted to let you all know about our imminent plans for a Buddy Key program.
THE BASICS
Participation allows you to invite a friend to temporarily join you on the streets of San Paro, for free. If they end up buying APB: All Points Bulletin we will give you 400 Realtime Worlds Points – equivalent to 30 days unlimited Gametime! The Points will get credited directly to the referrer’s account, with a minimum turnaround of 48 hours.
We will shortly be launching the first phase, which is open to anyone who has purchased additional Gametime. If you have paid for any amount of unlimited access (30/60/120 days) or 20 extra hours, expect an e-mail to arrive shortly (and don’t forget to check your Spam folder just in case).
And yes, this does mean that anyone buying Gametime DURING the first phase, right up until it ends, will also get a mail including a Buddy Key. But make sure your friend redeems it before the deadline of midnight GMT / 7pm EST on Sunday 8th August, or they’ll miss their chance!
In your e-mail will be a special key with instructions for redemption. Forward this e-mail to a friend, and he or she will be able to register for a free account, linked to yours, which gets 7 hours of Action District Gametime that can be used over a 5 day period. This is counted from the moment they redeem their Buddy Key. It’s a great chance for them to get a taste of San Paro’s fast-paced action!
THE NITTY GRITTY
During or after the trial period, your buddy can choose to purchase a retail copy of APB from the Store or other available channels, apply that retail key, and upgrade their account - meaning he or she gets to keep their character’s customization, progression, and all associated information, including remaining Gametime. As a bonus, if they convert to a retail account we will give you 400 RTW Points!
However, please note that a Buddy Key can only be used to create a new account, and cannot be applied to an existing account (including Closed Beta and Key to the City). A Buddy account cannot redeem any other type of product key (such as Points or Rewards) until they have upgraded to a full retail account. This offer is currently only open in North America and Europe.
Also note that participation in this initial phase will be tracked so that as we expand the Buddy program with additional benefits, those already participating will also reap the rewards.
Please look for more news about later phases of this program in the coming weeks.
See you on the streets of San Paro!
The APB Team
|
|
Comments: 0 ::
View Comments
|
| Posted By:
TourGuide
@ 22 July 2010 - 09:34 AM |
Upgrades in APB are a really contentious issue. We see plenty of criticism from you guys in the community that they really unbalance the game. Some people think they should be removed entirely and others think the system is okay as it is and players should “just out-skill them”. We think we can come up with a few critical additions that change the nature of upgrades in the game so they are less overpowered and at the same time more useful.
The Problem
Upgrades and in particular combinations of Upgrades significantly alter weapon balance. The key culprits seem to be:
- ‘Savage’ and ‘Spray and Pray’ on the weapons.
- ‘Monolith’ and ‘Survivor’ on the characters.
Almost all characters that can, run with these Upgrades equipped. Not only does it create balance issues it also means some of the other Upgrades tend not to get a look in.
The Beta players will also remember the old values for Upgrades. They were much more powerful! We made them considerably weaker for launch and this has had a positive effect in retaining more game balance. It’s not solved the problem though as the feedback has shown. We need to do more. So what will we do about it?
The Proposed Solution
We are currently discussing grouping Upgrades together into several categories as well as adding in a more Upgrades to increase player choice.
Upgrade categories will prevent less desirable choices being made. You will have to choose between ‘Savage’ or ‘Spray and Pray’ but cannot equip both. This effectively lowers the advantage that can be gained through statistical increases. It also means players will get to choose Upgrades from the other categories which should promote a more nuanced, less power-hungry approach to Upgrade selection. The exact design of this system is still being decided upon although it’s likely we’ll include a couple of specialist categories and allow you to equip a number of generic Upgrades.
We are also coming up with a range of new Upgrades to add into the game. Our primary focus is to give our community new tactical tools rather than straight statistical benefits. These will fit into the group categories so that player choice will be more interesting still. Will you take the added power of ‘Savage’ or an Upgrade that enables you and your team to get the drop on your opponent? On top of this we’re looking at new Upgrades to deal with some common complaints around LTL weapons and new Upgrades for our jazzed up Combat experience.
We’ll continue to expand the range of available Upgrades in the future to allow players to further refine their tactical toolbox.
Other Concerns
What do we do with old weapons? At the moment we are considering a few options. Preset weapons will be automatically adjusted but the community have a large number of custom weapons already. Our current thoughts are along the lines of:
- Grandfather them in so there will always be a pool of increasingly rare ‘uber’-guns available. This is obviously unfair to players without these guns but is the smallest change we could possibly make.
- Pop out the upgrades back into the players’ inventory and let them rebuild those weapons. There are a number of technical issues with the Locker size that make this a tricky proposition and it might be a headache for you to do.
- Remove all Upgrades from your customised weapons and give you the cash equivalent. This lets you re-buy the Upgrades that you actually need as well as purchase a few new ones. It also stops you being left out of pocket or forced into lots of fiddling about selling old Upgrades and buying new ones
|
|
Comments: 0 ::
View Comments
|
| Posted By:
TourGuide
@ 19 July 2010 - 06:19 PM |
Scheduled Maintenance - APB Game Servers 07/20/2010 0
All APB game servers will be offline between 03:00 PDT / 06:00 EDT until 06:00 PDT 09:00 EDT on 07/20/2010. This is to deploy 1.2.1 (47) and bring the PunkBuster service fully online. Keep an eye out on apb.com for the latest patch notes.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
|
|
Comments: 0 ::
View Comments
|
| Posted By:
TourGuide
@ 17 July 2010 - 07:56 PM |
Today we bring you an interesting first look at the patch notes of the upcoming APB 1.3.0 patch. These fixes and changes are issues that we highlighted early on, or didn’t quite make it into earlier builds.
1.3.0 currently has no definitive release date, but will be here soon. You’ll hear more from us on that in the near future!
Many of the changes we’ve been discussing recently, such as match making changes, will be rolled out in later versions.
See you on the streets.
Fixes for 1.3.0
GENERAL
- An issue with characters not displaying the Character Select screen has been resolved.
- An exploit has been fixed where players could exceed the character customisation limits.
- Players can no longer capture movies while in the character select screen.
- The overlay strength of clothing items are no longer saved when the player presses cancel.
- Choosing to replay the intro videos no longer causes some players to crash.
- A rare server crash that was caused by a player switching their weapons via the inventory has been addressed.
- A client crash that can occur when accepting a clan invite has been addressed.
- The achievement ‘Indoctrinate the masses’ can no longer be progressed towards without finishing spray paint actions.
- The achievement ‘Who Are You?’ is now awarded correctly.
- There has been an increase in performance for the in-game browser.
- A client hang that causes the loading wheel to spin perpetually when entering a district has been addressed.
- The APB Launcher no longer consistently requests the player to restart the computer when first installing the game.
AUDIO
- Audio display points in the Realtime Worlds building no longer clash with ambient background music.
- Missing 'Sweep' SFX has been added to the 'Chat', 'Emote', 'Console' and 'Character Info' menus.
- Missing SFX for the 'Garage Editor' interface has been added.
- Missing SFX from the 'Locker', 'Marketplace', and 'League' menus has now been added.
- Enforcer death themes now play correctly when arresting a Criminal player.
- Players can no longer control more than one audio display point at a time.
- Music player shortcuts now function correctly when in the various customisation studios.
- Improvements have been made to the Music Player search functionality.
- Numerous additional audio fixes/improvements have been made.
- Improvements have been made to the audio ducking feature.
LIVING CITY
- Pedestrians can now be mugged from any angle.
- Pedestrians have had their collision box sizes decreased.
- Living City drivers no longer remain calm when their vehicles are on fire.
- Improvements have been made to Living City driving routes in various areas of the Action Districts.
- Living City characters no longer continue to animate after death.
VEHICLES
- A rare crash that occurred when players vehicles collide no longer occurs.
- Mission related vehicles in a critical condition will now continue to lose health even after their related mission has been completed.
- Custom vehicle exhausts and engines now function correctly in the Action Districts.
- Vehicles being used as a mobile resupply point can now be entered from the drivers side door.
- Preset vehicles retrieved as league or progression based rewards can now be customised and saved correctly.
- Players are now able to enter the Exec Saloon or Dolton Broadwing when touching them.
- Mission related vehicles now correctly de-spawned when the mission is completed.
ITEMS
- Selling items to contacts no longer results in the error message 'SALE FAILED'
- The item information for the SHAW 556 has been corrected.
- The ‘Supermag’ weapon upgrade no longer upgrades both the clip and the magazine size.
- Customized clothing that has been manufactured can now be sold to contacts.
- The ‘Steel Plating’ vehicle upgrade level 1, 2 and 3 now correctly adjust a vehicles armour value.
- Various items of clothing now correctly remove the waist star badge.
- Large task items no longer clip through female characters arms.
- Female characters using the OSMAW are now shown to be holding a rocket during their reload animation.
GAMEPLAY
- The mission 'Money Trail' now correct finishes after the fourth stage.
- The mission task items in 'Money Trail' are now displayed on the HUD, and can be picked up by the opposition.
- The mission ‘Divide and Conquer’ now correctly displays the number of lives Criminals have.
- Receiving damage as a Criminal while on an escape mission now causes a time penalty.
- Damage caused by vehicles exploding near characters is now applied correctly.
- Crouched players are now able to stand up by pressing the jump button.
- Character upgrades can now be changed when using a Mobile Supply Unit or Field Supplier.
- Players can no longer drop task items through fences causing them to become unreachable.
- Players who choose to use the ‘Hold’ option for marksmanship option will now be able to use marksmanship mode correctly after sprinting.
- Survival missions now function correctly.
- The targeting reticule now correctly represents where a weapon is pointed when a player is hanging out of a vehicle window.
- Players should now receive random rewards from contacts other than Double-B and Wilson LeBoyce.
- If a VIP player disconnects from a district while on a mission both teams should now be correctly informed that a new VIP has been selected.
- A wall in Block 20 that lacked collision now has collision.
- Mission objectives that have been inadvertently damaged by weapons or vehicles can now be interacted with correctly.
- Numerous mission spawn volumes have been altered to prevent potential issues.
- VIP and enemy players markers no longer remain after the player has died.
- Criminals can now be witnessed when sitting in the back seat of Living City vehicles.
- Players can no longer use the Ctrl+Shift+M shortcut to switch districts during a dispatch.
- Players now correctly suffer explosive damage when exiting a vehicle as it explodes.
- Players are no longer able to kill themselves by firing a weapon while intersecting another player.
- Players are now able to perform vehicle break ins while carrying a medium or large task item.
- Climbing ladders no longer prevents stamina from being regenerated.
- Players are no longer able to get vehicles inside the spawn bays surrounding Violet Prentiss and Mirri Kent.
- Players are no longer able to trap themselves behind Veronika Lee
- Players are no longer able to see opposed enemy players through walls by looking at a destroyed vehicle husk.
- Amendments have been made to various ‘camping spots’ in both the Financial and Waterfront Action Districts.
WEAPONS
- Splash damage caused by explosive weaponry is now functioning correctly.
- Grenades can now be thrown even when the players other weapons require reloading.
- Thrown grenades should no longer be dropped at the players feet if they are suffering from high latency.
- Weapons fired when a player lands after falling from a height now register correctly.
INTERFACE
- Items with long names no longer cause issues with the UI.
- The Mouse Cursor will no longer disappear when holding the right mouse button and opening the options menu.
- The track timestamp no longer resets when pausing a track.
- The 'Selected Only' checkbox in the Wardrobe now functions correctly.
- The player can no longer interact with the Wardrobe while the Playlist Editor is open.
- The hotkeys '1', '2', '3' and 'ALT' now have the same functionality across all the editors.
- A bug where the Options menu would sometimes fail to open or close has now been fixed.
- A bug where the flashing APB logo was shown on the death screen has been fixed.
- The 'Edit Item' menu in the Locker no longer appears as a button.
- The music player mini-HUD is no longer shown in the Customisation Studios.
- Immediately selecting multiple decals will no longer result in the opacity of the last selected item applying to all the decals.
- The Main Menu now correctly displays the hotkeys for the Knowledge Base.
- Selecting a new track in the Music Editor no longer causes the Pattern interface to shake.
- The correct thread image is shown on the ceremony HUD for someone of the opposite faction
- There is no longer a delay at showing the spawn map when loading into a district.
- The names of tattoos no longer appear when adding more than 4 to a player.
- Tool tips are now positioned consistently.
- Items in the inventory are now correctly highlighted when being hovered over.
- Custom themes now correctly display the creators name.
- Players should now be able to successfully accept the Music Import Privacy Agreement .
- The ‘Rename’ and ‘Save As’ buttons now function correctly in the Symbol designer.
- The Marketplaces ‘Usable’ checkbox no longer sets the Rating search criteria to 1-1.
- The Music Studio should now function correctly in all languages.
- Pre-set vehicles now display the correct rating requirement in the Garage.
- An invite button has been added to the Group menu.
- Clan member ranks now have associated icons in the Clan Management menu.
- The inventory compare function now displays the correct information.
- Clan members now show up in the Clan tab.
- The vertical scale button is now selectable and usable when a tattoo has been applied as a wrap.
- Using the Symbol Designer shortcut keys while dragging a symbol no longer prevents changes from being applied.
- Players are now correctly messaged when they leave a clan.
- Ceremony messages how display a related icon when unlocking a feature.
- Players reticules now correctly update when looking through vehicle husks.
- Pre-order vehicles can now be equipped through the garage.
- Weapon values displayed on the UI now correctly represent their actual values.
- Saved custom colours can now be properly deleted from a players palette.
- Level 5 player Heat/Prestige icons are now scaled correctly.
- Players with less than one minute of Action District time remaining are now able to see how much time they have left.
- Players reticules now appear in the appropriate colour when landing a killing shot on another player.
- The faction select screen now animates correctly.
- Group VOIP icons now behave correctly when the group is split over two or more instances/districts.
- The ‘Reaper’ medal now has the correct description.
- The arrest timer is now of a unified length for both Enforcers and Criminals.
- Players are now correctly informed how much it costs to manufacture a song.
- HUD markers now display correctly if a player carrying stolen items and driving in a vehicle carrying a task item exits the vehicle.
- The Clan Management screen can now be accessed at any time.
- Improvements have been made to the ordering of various Persona components.
- Mission win streaks are now correctly messaged to the player and the district.
- The decal reset button now functions correctly in the various customisation studios.
- Players are now informed why they cannot group with players who have not completed the tutorial.
- Several small fixes/improvements have been made to the inspect player UI.
- Numerous improvements to Marketplace functionality have been made.
- Numerous small UI fixes/improvements have been implemented.
- Numerous localisation issues have been rectified.
MAIL
- League mails no longer allow you to retrieve empty reward packages.
- Rewards attached to mail messages can now be successfully retrieved.
- Clicking between several mail messages will no longer cause a client hang.
- Mail messages now contain the correct time and date stamps.
- Display point tokens now feature suitable descriptions when attached to reward mails.
- The ‘Daily cars stolen by Criminal Clans’ league reward package now contains the correct display point token.
- The Financial District ‘Weekly Total Kills by Players’ league reward package now contains the correct display point token.
- The Financial District ‘Daily Total Kills by Players’ league reward package now contains the correct display point token.
- The Financial District ‘Weekly Missions Won by Players’ league reward package now contains the correct display point token.
- The Financial District ‘Weekly Missions Won by Clans’ league reward package now contains the correct display point token.
|
|
Comments: 0 ::
View Comments
|
| |
Interested in seeing other, different TAC game servers?
Let us know about your suggestion here!
|
|