MMORPG.com APB Correspondent Cody Brunty writes this look at the two Cops and Robbers factions in the upcoming Realtime Worlds MMO All Points Bulletin.

Law and Order is on the brink of collapse in the famous metropolis of San Paro, the major city of All Points Bulletin (APB). But before you start playing one must first choose your allegiance with the city. Will you be there to protect the city from becoming corrupt, or have a hand in its criminal uprising?

While creating a character in APB, the user must choose their faction from either an Enforcer or a Criminal. Once this faction is chosen, the player will not be able to switch sides to the opposing faction. Since APB is not going for the original MMO feel there will be no leveling. Characters will only progress by enhancing their own gaming skills forcing players to build reputations within the gaming world. This will lead to unlocking clothes, items, cars, and of course more powerful guns. Also, by forcing the players to build a reputation, the game will feel like it's a more persistent world. Both factions Enforcers/Criminals have missions that will help them build a reputation in addition to the fight against one another. Once players build a high enough reputation they will be able to create there very own squads or gangs, complete with there own tattoos, clothes, colors, and the ability to fight for control of turf in the city.

Read Enforcers vs Criminals.

Oh God! Im drooling already! This "matchmaking" is awesome!...if it works of course...

Sigh, I hope they aren't making a mistake a few MMO's have made:

1) Multiple chars per server a must

2) Being able to play on both sides with *different* chars a must

Having to buy a 2nd account to try out the other side, or having to switch servers to do so is

COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

Hope that got the point across.

I don't mind having to switch servers to play the other faction but I suspect APB only has one server. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that. And THAT would be a problem.

They're definately having multiple servers.  I'm too lazy to look it up, but there was official developer discussion about a "Chaos" ruleset that would be present on some servers, allowing you to attack anyone even without a mission.

Ok, good. Then I feel a lot better about being able to play both sides but  on different servers. That's cool with me.

"Also, by forcing the players to build a reputation, the game will feel like it's a more persistent world"

Can I take that to mean its not really a persistant world? I'm looking forward to this game but I'm getting the feeling its going to play more like GTA multiplayer than an mmo. Which is fine, I mean thats still a lot of fun, but don't call it an mmo then.

So this game seemed pretty badass when it was announced like 5 years ago. Now it has been shrunken down to some sort of Battlefield 1942-style GTA multiplayer.

Pass.

If you think about what's called MMOFPS right now, this is till definitely an MMO.

Originally posted by eric_w66

Sigh, I hope they aren't making a mistake a few MMO's have made:

1) Multiple chars per server a must

2) Being able to play on both sides with *different* chars a must

Having to buy a 2nd account to try out the other side, or having to switch servers to do so is

COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

Hope that got the point across.

Playing both sides may create problems for a PVP game. Since you can setup a raid or attack, and change to your other account to "farm" your teammates.    Games like Planetside do this in a different way,  If you play one side, the other sides (theres more than 2) are bloqued for 1 hour.   Games like Darkfall and AION don't let you create a enemy character. So APB will work like AION and Darkfall. 

Also, ... San Paro is a spanish name, and a strange one the english traduction is   "Saint Unemployement"  ...heee... .lol!. 

All this  game is, is a fancy battleground.

I dont mind the idea that the game may be "just a fancy battle ground" as long as there's enough to do to keep me interested, and as long as i have enough quests and/or folks willing to group, i should be fine.

I am a bit concerned about this whole, " i can only play one faction" bit. 

I got around that in f2p games like neo steam by setting up another email address or two, obviously something like that wont work in this game...

forgive a newbie question, but can i get some clarification on how folx here think this is going to work? if i buy a box, and say, my buddy also buys a box, but we both dont want to be in the same faction, does that mean all we can ever do is work against each other? 

Will i mind nuking my bud's arse? no. =-) would we like to work together once in a while at least using different characters? sure.  are we screwed? 

some more insight from those more wise(?) ( or at least more knowledgable )  would be welcome.  Cheers!

Originally posted by dhayes68

"Also, by forcing the players to build a reputation, the game will feel like it's a more persistent world"

Can I take that to mean its not really a persistant world? I'm looking forward to this game but I'm getting the feeling its going to play more like GTA multiplayer than an mmo. Which is fine, I mean thats still a lot of fun, but don't call it an mmo then.

MMO stands for massively multiplayer online. I'm not sure what you took from that quote, but when there are more than 100 players within one server, that constitutes as MMO.

Mag, for instance, will be an MMOFPS, yet won't have near as many players per server as APB (10k+). So, by definition, APB is MMO. It's not a FPS mind you, but MMO it is.

I will say this, two faction pvp does not work.  It has been proven time and time again.  No matter how you restrict it, I have not seen or read any that really work.  I wish them luck, but I just do not see much success with this game.

Not something I would play anyways.  I think they are looking at a very small niche audience to start with.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I will say this, two faction pvp does not work.  It has been proven time and time again.  No matter how you restrict it, I have not seen or read any that really work.  I wish them luck, but I just do not see much success with this game.

Not something I would play anyways.  I think they are looking at a very small niche audience to start with.

Well, conversely, it's two faction pvp that breaks down on a grander scale. For instance, one crime syndicate battles another for domination of a territory; so there is fighting within the criminal faction. I only hope that they allow for some kind of IA to incorporate into the Enforcers side of things; crooked cops and whatnot. I'd go ahead and leave that idea for an expansion project though.

When I first heard about this game, I thought, "Great, a GTA MMO? Looks like they're trying to reel in ANOTHER large branch of non-MMOers." We're we're not talking about a "small niche" here; not by a long shot. If the devs and producers market the game a little stronger and soon, then they should have the population that is usually expected of a modern day MMO.

I also came to the realization that ALL of my anti-MMO friends are going to get on this train. I mean, the game looks fantastic and it completely caters to an ARRAY of gamers!  I golf clap RO for taking this and running with it. If this is what it's going to take to help my anti-MMO friends and family understand that there isn't really that much difference between the way they game and the way an MMOer games; especially since they still spend an average of about 7 hours a day playing video games. I'd say the only difference between us and them is that we are promoting a larger social gaming atmosphere then they are. I see that as a good thing, personally.

Sorry, as always, I begin to rant.

Originally posted by RoosterNash

Originally posted by dhayes68

"Also, by forcing the players to build a reputation, the game will feel like it's a more persistent world"

Can I take that to mean its not really a persistant world? I'm looking forward to this game but I'm getting the feeling its going to play more like GTA multiplayer than an mmo. Which is fine, I mean thats still a lot of fun, but don't call it an mmo then.

 

MMO stands for massively multiplayer online. I'm not sure what you took from that quote, but when there are more than 100 players within one server, that constitutes as MMO.

Mag, for instance, will be an MMOFPS, yet won't have near as many players per server as APB (10k+). So, by definition, APB is MMO. It's not a FPS mind you, but MMO it is.

Many MUD's can claim hundreds of not thousands of concurrent users, yet they are not "MMORPG"'s...

APB's 100 person zones don't mean it's a MMO in my book. Some FPS's can handle that many on a map.

People seems to have a short attention span these days.

They have already stated 100's of players per DISTRICT! Thousands of players within the city.

And it's quite obvious why its structured that way, Imagine how quickly youre game would crash with 1000 players on screen with the level of detail and customization in this game.

If you want a full out war between thousands of players at once, youre just going to get lost in the randomness of it all and you'd be better suited to playing RTS games.

But with the player limit on districts it keeps the action flowing but still personal. Zerg games get boring and old, very very fast.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I will say this, two faction pvp does not work.  It has been proven time and time again.  No matter how you restrict it, I have not seen or read any that really work.  I wish them luck, but I just do not see much success with this game.

Not something I would play anyways.  I think they are looking at a very small niche audience to start with.

i see great success i know tons of people that will be buying it

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I will say this, two faction pvp does not work.  It has been proven time and time again.  No matter how you restrict it, I have not seen or read any that really work.  I wish them luck, but I just do not see much success with this game.

Not something I would play anyways.  I think they are looking at a very small niche audience to start with.

The only time it's been a problem was in WOW and WAR. In SWG the two faction aspect worked fine, considering the appeal that was there toward both sides. The problem starts when you make one faction more appealing than another, WAR is a very good example of this.

Two factions can work fine when they are balanced and both are appealing, the best PVP there is (FPS), is always two faction oriented, so I think you're wrong that it's been proven not to work.

It's a matter of dedicating the same passion into both sides, instead of only the side that appeals to the maker more.

I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to play both factions on the same account with APB to be honest. With the way the matchmaking system works it's not like you can really abuse switching between enforcer and criminal. You can only fight people that you have been assigned to fight, or if you're answering a radio call for backup. You can't set people up then switch sides and give intel away because there's nothing they'd be able to do without the system permitting them to get involved in the first place.

The chaos ruleset is a different matter, however.

Originally posted by RoosterNash

Originally posted by dhayes68

"Also, by forcing the players to build a reputation, the game will feel like it's a more persistent world"

Can I take that to mean its not really a persistant world? I'm looking forward to this game but I'm getting the feeling its going to play more like GTA multiplayer than an mmo. Which is fine, I mean thats still a lot of fun, but don't call it an mmo then.

MMO stands for massively multiplayer online. I'm not sure what you took from that quote, but when there are more than 100 players within one server, that constitutes as MMO.

Mag, for instance, will be an MMOFPS, yet won't have near as many players per server as APB (10k+). So, by definition, APB is MMO. It's not a FPS mind you, but MMO it is.

What the initials mmo stand for, doesn't necessarily cover the definition of what an mmo is. 

One of the properties for an mmo as I understand it, is that it have a persistent game-world. What I took from the statement above (though I'm not sure, hence why I asked) is that the game-world is not persistent.

For me there is a difference between a multiplayer game and an mmo, regardless of the numbers of people involved.

Originally posted by Malickie

Originally posted by Ozmodan

I will say this, two faction pvp does not work.  It has been proven time and time again.  No matter how you restrict it, I have not seen or read any that really work.  I wish them luck, but I just do not see much success with this game.

Not something I would play anyways.  I think they are looking at a very small niche audience to start with.

 

The only time it's been a problem was in WOW and WAR. In SWG the two faction aspect worked fine, considering the appeal that was there toward both sides. The problem starts when you make one faction more appealing than another, WAR is a very good example of this.

Two factions can work fine when they are balanced and both are appealing, the best PVP there is (FPS), is always two faction oriented, so I think you're wrong that it's been proven not to work.

It's a matter of dedicating the same passion into both sides, instead of only the side that appeals to the maker more.

I dont see the two faction thing being a problem at all in APB.

I think it is safe to say that the criminal faction will be the more popular, which is great if youre playing the enforcer faction.

Why you ask?

Well lets have a look at the advantages of playing the underdog enforcer faction:

• Access to better weapons.
• More criminals = More crimes = More missions for Enforcers to try and stop them.
• Able to arrest criminal players, which takes the arrested player out of the action for 20-30 seconds opposed to the standard 10 second respawn if you kill a player.
• No inter-faction PvP allows enforcers to concentrate on taking out criminals, where criminals have to be worried about their own faction members hunting them down in gang-wars.
• You get access to enforcer specific items to dress up your characters, but still look as cool as any other criminal out there.

Im sure there is lots more we havnt found out about the game yet, but I am sure in a PvP centric game like APB they will definately be keeping a close eye on the balance of the factions, and their matchmaking system, if it works, will always match players together based on skill-level. Sending 4 noob enforcers after 1 veteran criminal, or vice versa.