The latest APB-Reloaded update starts with the news that the game's Facebook page now has over 80,000 "likes" and is gunning for more. That aside, devs have also noted that the latest update will feature more Vivox servers as well as tweaks applied to the threat levels and matchmaking systems.

As hackers attempt new cheats that work for limited periods of time (and idiots pay the hackers for the cheat - which basically lets hackers install a keylogger on each machine running the cheat), we will eventually detect it (we always do), and at that point we will invalidate everything you have achieved in the game, and eventually we will also suspect anything any of your friends have also done or achieved in game.

Nueume will shortly share more information about the upcoming City Council program and other exciting community events in the near future, and as all these initiatives get underway, we look forward to growing a great San Paro community that can thrive and prosper as a self-governing city in cyber space...

Read more on the APB-Reloaded blog.

It's a really fun game, but there are a couple things that have me cooling my heels.  The first is the aspect of 'renting' guns instead of buying them.  If I dole out some hard earned real life cash in their market, I should be able to own the guns rather than rent them for 30 days. And if I'm a premium member paying a monthly sub, I would expect that I could earn those things in game.

The other thing that kind of bothers me is the email I got the other day.  The weapon they are peddling in their store looks awesome, but that's the problem.  I could see if it was fluff they were selling, but they are selling stuff that will affect game play, especially in a game that is all about pvp and competition.

Yeah, I know they need to make money to run the servers.  But all this work they did on the game...I don't know.  I don't feel it.  It feels pretty much like the same game to me.  It doesn't run any better, I still see the occasional player with uncanny, fishy skills that raises a question mark as to cheater or not cheater.

I loved APB.  I still do really like it.  But I'm really not interested in spending more than what I would spend on a typical mmo game, $15 a month.  If they want the $15 plus money to 'rent' stuff so that i can remain competitive in game....meh....forget it.

for a F2P it's pretty damn sweet. i do agree with Terranah about the Pay 2 Win situation but we all knew it was going to happen, it's just how F2P works. you can play it for free casually and be handicaped or if you want to be serious you have to shell out some good cash.

i like the fact that i have a choice of playing it for free even if it puts me at a disadvantage against those that pay for items.

I would pay $5 a month for the character customization tool and the music editor. Unfortunately, that's about all I would participate in. The rest is better found elsewhere, in my opinion.

Originally posted by Terranah

It's a really fun game, but there are a couple things that have me cooling my heels.  The first is the aspect of 'renting' guns instead of buying them.  If I dole out some hard earned real life cash in their market, I should be able to own the guns rather than rent them for 30 days. And if I'm a premium member paying a monthly sub, I would expect that I could earn those things in game.

 

The other thing that kind of bothers me is the email I got the other day.  The weapon they are peddling in their store looks awesome, but that's the problem.  I could see if it was fluff they were selling, but they are selling stuff that will affect game play, especially in a game that is all about pvp and competition.

 

Yeah, I know they need to make money to run the servers.  But all this work they did on the game...I don't know.  I don't feel it.  It feels pretty much like the same game to me.  It doesn't run any better, I still see the occasional player with uncanny, fishy skills that raises a question mark as to cheater or not cheater.

 

I loved APB.  I still do really like it.  But I'm really not interested in spending more than what I would spend on a typical mmo game, $15 a month.  If they want the $15 plus money to 'rent' stuff so that i can remain competitive in game....meh....forget it.

 

That's exactly how I feel and the reason I didn't play much so far despite being invited in closed beta a few weeks ago. The last thing I want to see when I log is that my weapon magically disappeared and now I have to grind just to get it back. And 15$ a month is hugely overpriced for what it offers, especially when you take into account that AAA MMORPGs cost that much and offer a lot more content (and polish too in most cases).

And what saddens me more is that the devs don't seem to care that much about these aspects, despite some negative feedback from the players.

I'm not sure that we don't care. We've talked a lot about this internally and publically. One big thing we wanted to do was ensure that players who are supporting the game feel it is worth it.

At the moment we've extended our 'beta' discount on premium so you can grab it for $9.99 USD. You can also purchase an unlimited amount of additional months of premium for 20% off ($7.99 USD). So it is a steal right now and we're planning to keep it at that price until we feel we have the game in a solid state.

It's interesting when free players describe the Armas guns as pay to win because the majority of paying players who have them complain that they should be more powerful. In our opinion that means we've probably got the balance on most of them right. Also, players who have Armas guns don't out perform the average player so, it appears that we got the balance mostly right.

Well, it is nice that you answered (I noticed you doing that on massively.com as well), but it's still not clear what's your stance on renting guns for both free and premium accounts. Any chance you can provide more info on that? As in, are you discussing a change in the current model? Thanks in advance.