The APB Reloaded blog has been updated with the exciting news that the 1.5 patch has been applied with significant changes and improvements to the game. v1.5 will ultimately be the open beta release build. Current closed beta testers are working to help the team iron out the bugs before the open beta launches.

Witnessing has RETURNED and it's bigger and badder than ever! Criminals earn notoriety and stash by committing crimes all around San Paro. Any crime – ram raids, stealing cars or mugging citizens –will earn Criminals notoriety and add to their stash. Criminals will want to get their notoriety as high as possible before dropping their stash off at the Money Launderer who'll give them an APB$ bonus based on their notoriety.

Enforcers however, need to be on the lookout for Criminals committing crimes. When an Enforcer sees a Criminal commit a crime they can "Witness" them (by pressing ALT) and start a mini-mission. When killed during this mini-mission Criminals will drop their stash which Enforcers can then grab. Whoever has the stash needs to make a run for their drop zone to get the cash! Get rich quick, or die tryin'!

There is a LOT more to read on the APB Reloaded blog so head over for a peek.

Can someone not affiliated with the company or game development give us an honest assessment of the game and how it differs right now from the game it was before it died and was sold off?

I only ask because I hated the game then and it will take a TON of changes to make me consider even trying the game again.

Originally posted by elocke

Can someone not affiliated with the company or game development give us an honest assessment of the game and how it differs right now from the game it was before it died and was sold off?

I only ask because I hated the game then and it will take a TON of changes to make me consider even trying the game again.

• Innumerable Balance tweaks
• Items are significantly more expensive.
• Contacts can be completed regardless of if your group leader is pledged to a different contact or not
• Missions have been redesigned. No more "I just logged in and got instantly roped into a mission"
• Client is signifnicantly smaller. Almost half the size of the original.
• Character upgrades are being redesigned. Kelvar increases health at the expense of run speed.
• Incorprating TrueSkill which will make match making much more accurate.
• In-Game VoIP has been improved.
• Performance has improved
• Many exploits have been closed
• PunkBuster finally works
• Most hacks have been stopped.
• Many annoying achievements that unlocked items have been removed and the items unlocked as part of contacts instead.
• Most achievements have beenc changed to only have 1 rank as opposed to many (Such as Car thief).
• LtL weapons have been nerfed

Loved it before, love it more now.

Originally posted by Miles-Prower

Originally posted by elocke

Can someone not affiliated with the company or game development give us an honest assessment of the game and how it differs right now from the game it was before it died and was sold off?

I only ask because I hated the game then and it will take a TON of changes to make me consider even trying the game again.

• Unnumerable Balance tweaks
• Items are significantly more expensive.
• Contacts can be completed regardless of if your group leader is pledged to a different contact or not
• Missions have been redesigned. No more "I just logged in and got instantly roped into a mission"
• Client is signifnicantly smaller. Almost half the size of the original.
• Character upgrades are being redesigned. Kelvar increases health at the expense of run speed.
• Incorprating TrueSkill which will make match making much more accurate.
• In-Game VoIP has been improved.
• Performance has improved
• Many exploits have been closed
• PunkBuster finally works
• Most hacks have been stopped.
• Many annoying achievements that unlocked items have been removed and the items unlocked as part of contacts instead.
• Most achievements have beenc changed to only have 1 rank as opposed to many (Such as Car thief).
• LtL weapons have been nerfed

And many more... The game hasn't changed "significantly" since you last played it. It's still APB. If you didn't like it before, you won't like it now.

 

 

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Awesome.  Thank you for replying.  My reason for not liking it has to do with the fact that I was expecting a Grand Theft Auto experience, meaning a massive city to roam around in with tons of story and instead of npc's roaming the area for me to rob or run over, it would have been players trying to do the same to me.  Ah well.  maybe they will make a GTA Online someday.

Originally posted by elocke

Originally posted by Miles-Prower

Originally posted by elocke

Can someone not affiliated with the company or game development give us an honest assessment of the game and how it differs right now from the game it was before it died and was sold off?

I only ask because I hated the game then and it will take a TON of changes to make me consider even trying the game again.

• Unnumerable Balance tweaks
• Items are significantly more expensive.
• Contacts can be completed regardless of if your group leader is pledged to a different contact or not
• Missions have been redesigned. No more "I just logged in and got instantly roped into a mission"
• Client is signifnicantly smaller. Almost half the size of the original.
• Character upgrades are being redesigned. Kelvar increases health at the expense of run speed.
• Incorprating TrueSkill which will make match making much more accurate.
• In-Game VoIP has been improved.
• Performance has improved
• Many exploits have been closed
• PunkBuster finally works
• Most hacks have been stopped.
• Many annoying achievements that unlocked items have been removed and the items unlocked as part of contacts instead.
• Most achievements have beenc changed to only have 1 rank as opposed to many (Such as Car thief).
• LtL weapons have been nerfed

And many more... The game hasn't changed "significantly" since you last played it. It's still APB. If you didn't like it before, you won't like it now.

 

 

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Awesome.  Thank you for replying.  My reason for not liking it has to do with the fact that I was expecting a Grand Theft Auto experience, meaning a massive city to roam around in with tons of story and instead of npc's roaming the area for me to rob or run over, it would have been players trying to do the same to me.  Ah well.  maybe they will make a GTA Online someday.

I feel your pain.  I just started up GTA:SA again a few days ago to try and recapture some of that old magic.  The size and number of playable zones was particularly lacking in the old APB.

Couple of questions since I'm still considering giving Reloaded a try: 

• Can old accounts be reactivated so that original characters can still be used?  What will happen to all the swag that was earned or made back then, such as custom tattoos and artwork, etc?
• New maps?  Expanded zones?  Anything like that planned?

Yeah, shoot me for not looking it up on the official site.  I'd rather get my answers here if I can.

I am still waiting for the new match making to go into the game; I cant bring myself to log back in until its in.

Kinda sucks that I was a beta tester before, pre-ordered the original, bought long term (6 month) sub, and signed up for the beta when the first "invites to sign up for the beta" were sent out, and I'm still not in...

Originally posted by eric_w66

Kinda sucks that I was a beta tester before, pre-ordered the original, bought long term (6 month) sub, and signed up for the beta when the first "invites to sign up for the beta" were sent out, and I'm still not in...

 

 Ditto man. And that whole "you get a beta key to apply to get a beta key" thing was ridiculously retarded, and shows me that the company is already making bad decisions.

 I am severely cautious about reloaded. Mainly cause of the company running it have a bad history of doing nearly nothing after a game is launched to stop and prevent cheating.

Those changes miles put up are tempting, especially the ltl nerf. Things being more expensive is just a f2p decision to get you to buy a booster item from the item mall to increase your cash flow I'm sure. Reducing certain roles to only having one rank confuses me a little though, unless they decided to make it one rank but make that rank take forever to get. It just seems counter-productive to most f2p developer's eyes to make something easier to get so they can't try and get you to buy something to make it easier.

And the trueskill matcher, exploits, punkbuster, and hacks being fixed...all I can say is "pics or it didn't happen". The matcher will undoubtedly be a fail bucket. Most game matchers fail. Don't see this company making one that works better. And the exploits and whatnot I don't believe due to the company's rep.

All-in-all I'll most likely try it out, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully they will invite everyone else next week.

"Kinda sucks that I was a beta tester before, pre-ordered the original, bought long term (6 month) sub, and signed up for the beta when the first "invites to sign up for the beta" were sent out, and I'm still not in..."

Same here, i'm really looking forward to it whenever i get in.

Just waiting for them to put mirrors up tot he full client so I don't have to use GamersFirst and Pando to download it. Won't happen until OBT, though. I can wait that long. Loved the CBT, but not worth installing PMB for.

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Lots of nice changes that are finally putting the game back on track to being more balanced.

Although I'd have to say with regards to the witness system that I forsee a lot of criminals logging into low pop districts to earn easy cash quickly, especially during non-peak hours.

Originally posted by elocke

Originally posted by Miles-Prower

Originally posted by elocke

Can someone not affiliated with the company or game development give us an honest assessment of the game and how it differs right now from the game it was before it died and was sold off?

I only ask because I hated the game then and it will take a TON of changes to make me consider even trying the game again.

• Unnumerable Balance tweaks
• Items are significantly more expensive.
• Contacts can be completed regardless of if your group leader is pledged to a different contact or not
• Missions have been redesigned. No more "I just logged in and got instantly roped into a mission"
• Client is signifnicantly smaller. Almost half the size of the original.
• Character upgrades are being redesigned. Kelvar increases health at the expense of run speed.
• Incorprating TrueSkill which will make match making much more accurate.
• In-Game VoIP has been improved.
• Performance has improved
• Many exploits have been closed
• PunkBuster finally works
• Most hacks have been stopped.
• Many annoying achievements that unlocked items have been removed and the items unlocked as part of contacts instead.
• Most achievements have beenc changed to only have 1 rank as opposed to many (Such as Car thief).
• LtL weapons have been nerfed

And many more... The game hasn't changed "significantly" since you last played it. It's still APB. If you didn't like it before, you won't like it now.

 

 

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

Awesome.  Thank you for replying.  My reason for not liking it has to do with the fact that I was expecting a Grand Theft Auto experience, meaning a massive city to roam around in with tons of story and instead of npc's roaming the area for me to rob or run over, it would have been players trying to do the same to me.  Ah well.  maybe they will make a GTA Online someday.

Meanwhile, in the real world everyone has realised this is impossible and is playing the game which is as close as it gets called APB. Dreaming doesn't help.

ill tell ya one thing .   this patch is huge.  har har   jealous?    you should be...

Just out of curiousity, why did GamersFirst even launch a beta yet when they hadn't even addressed 2 of the main issues that caused the original failure.

Matchmaking and Cheats/Exploits

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Just out of curiousity, why did GamersFirst even launch a beta yet when they hadn't even addressed 2 of the main issues that caused the original failure.

Matchmaking and Cheats/Exploits

They have addressed both of these things already. They did an interview a while ago where they talked about fixing matchmaking and have already posted several things on how they are combating and fixing hacking. 

Originally posted by Xerith

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Just out of curiousity, why did GamersFirst even launch a beta yet when they hadn't even addressed 2 of the main issues that caused the original failure.

Matchmaking and Cheats/Exploits

They have addressed both of these things already. They did an interview a while ago where they talked about fixing matchmaking and have already posted several things on how they are combating and fixing hacking. 

Key point is, beta has been running for more than a month now and they are just now addressing it. So why have a beta client running that we ALL know is fail? Atleast have the major game flaws fixed before beta testing no?

They mentioned match making and hack fixing weeks ago, and are also using the beta client as a way to stop even more hacks from getting in or appearing. The matchmaking they talked about how bad the originally programmed system was and how they basically had to redo it from the start, these were both posted at least 2 or 3 weeks ago in a couple of the interviews. 

Hack prevention is an ongoing process, it will never be completely done as people will always work on ways to get past current security measures. 

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Originally posted by Xerith

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Just out of curiousity, why did GamersFirst even launch a beta yet when they hadn't even addressed 2 of the main issues that caused the original failure.

Matchmaking and Cheats/Exploits

They have addressed both of these things already. They did an interview a while ago where they talked about fixing matchmaking and have already posted several things on how they are combating and fixing hacking. 

Key point is, beta has been running for more than a month now and they are just now addressing it. So why have a beta client running that we ALL know is fail? Atleast have the major game flaws fixed before beta testing no?

Do you know what a Beta is for?

Originally posted by Kalfer

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Originally posted by Xerith

Originally posted by Rhoklaw

Just out of curiousity, why did GamersFirst even launch a beta yet when they hadn't even addressed 2 of the main issues that caused the original failure.

Matchmaking and Cheats/Exploits

They have addressed both of these things already. They did an interview a while ago where they talked about fixing matchmaking and have already posted several things on how they are combating and fixing hacking. 

Key point is, beta has been running for more than a month now and they are just now addressing it. So why have a beta client running that we ALL know is fail? Atleast have the major game flaws fixed before beta testing no?

Do you know what a Beta is for?

I know what in house alpha testing is for, if you don't start with that, your just wasting time and money.