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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The APB resurrection
Welcome to the APB Reloaded blog.

Over the next several months as we work hard to resurrect APB: All Points Bulletin under the new name APB: Reloaded, I will use this blog to discuss several of the changes and enhancements we are planning to implement in the game, introduce key team members, take feedback from former gamers, even hopefully reconnect with former RTW staff, and also share some of our experiences working with some of the original material as we convert the game form a retail/subscription game to a free-to-play experience.

I will also share some of the wider plans we have as a company for several different development efforts underway that we have not previously shared.

The team clearly realizes the immense scope of the task ahead with APB, so I am sure this blog will cover the many of ups and downs we are likely to run in to over the next several months.

I will update this blog at the end of each week with all major developments, so check back shortly for our "week 1 updates."

113 comments:

  1. Can't wait to get back on the streets of San Paro. :)

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  2. Good news, I will follow the process and do not plan to add a section that would have the players to express their wishes, is not it possible to make the game better.

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  3. Nice, We all want to play the most faster possible !

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  4. Hey man, thanks to you guys for doing this. Really appreciate it.

    If you need Beta testers, us APB vets will be glad to help, we easily put 700+ hours into the game.

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  5. I meant, me specifically put 700+ hours in the game, but Iknow thousands did to >.<

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  6. Hello Bjorn!
    At sunday I sent a letter to pr@gamersfirst.com , named "Few suggestions (Important!)" and still no answer. Its REALLY important and its about APB.
    I just want to know what you guys read that letter, nothing more.

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  7. Great to hear you all are picking up APB and have plans to improve things. Looking forward to giving some feedback/suggestions and can't wait to see what you all are able to do with such a promising game idea.

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  8. Great to hear you bought our game and plan to continue running it. One question i would very much like answered. When its back online, do i just log into my account and continue from where i left of? Or do we all have to start over? i meen i too have allready spent arround 400 hours ingame. It would be a shame if it was all a waste. especially the car thief grinding. Still bug thumbs up from me for you doing this!!

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  9. Fantastic news. One important thing I'd like to ask (if I may) is will the original user database be intact? I had a character who was Rank 243 with several things unlocked and accomplished, and I'd like to keep him. Also, what happened to my payment information? That's pretty sensitive stuff.

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  10. Awesome, look forward to the updates while I impatiently await the streets opening back up again!

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  12. Seriously, if you want this game not to fail (again), get rid of those lame non-lethal weapons, character enhancements (like Monolith), add more types of missions, increase party size and add a new district or two.

    You should also add in some new clothes options, and maybe the ability to customize your weapon with different styles, colors or other bling (non-statistical).

    Quite simply, the problem with this game was the character and weapon enhancements. This is a shooter, not an RPG.

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  13. My understanding is we will only have to pay for premium weapons. Everything else will be bought with ingame money. Right?

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  14. can't wait to play APB again.

    I currently live in Dundee and got to walk past RealTime Worlds Studio every day sort of depressing but so glad to see there hard work is coming back.

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  15. just keep the old data base and everything will be fine :p

    and @ id: it's not true. it was an arcade shooter with RPG elements.

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  16. I don't care if I have to start all over with my characters, etc. I just want to play APB again. It made everything else I played seem boring... and I still haven't found an online game that keeps me running back to the PC to play some more.
    I liked the customization... however, the only thing I got bummed out on was the limit on how many layers you can use when customizing the cars. I don't know if the limit was put due to slower PCs having to load it all.
    But nonetheless, I am anxious to play the game again!
    I just want to know:
    Will we still have the option to load our own music into the game?
    If it is going to be F2P, does this mean it will cost us to get upgrades, etc? And if so, what sort of stuff will be costing us?

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  17. Micro-transaction games could work. But it would be disappointing if the G1 market sold exclusive weapons and upgrades that are better than what could be achieved by in-game players only. It would be ideal for the G1 market to sell items specifically for character development (EXP boost or Gold boost) or cosmetics.

    Micro-transaction games that sell items and character upgrades that are exclusive to paying customers only reduces the player base resulting in a smaller community for the game.

    Another thing to note are some of the missions. There are many missions that heavily favor one side or are extremely frustrating/boring. These missions need to be removed or adjusted. For example:

    Escape missions - Usually resulting in a 10-15 minute car chase -- not very interesting --.
    VIP missions in small numbers - Heavily favors the VIP team, because they could hop in a heavy armored vehicle and camp by a gas station as teammates gun down opponents, or also another 10-15 minute car chase

    Triple check point holds in small numbers – These missions usually end up in the favor of the team that sits around for 9/10 of the time and attacks the last minute to wipe out and capture two of the bases. It is time wasted sitting around that makes the mission dull. This could be fixed by adding in a point system for time held on each checkpoint.

    There are many other missions that are not on the top of my head that needs adjustment. Hopefully all of this would be addressed before the release.

    Also, there needs to be another two or three district maps for the release. The two districts that are currently out are excellent. However, since there are only two it makes the game-play repetitive, even if more missions are added.
    Things to keep in mind while developing a district is versatility (multiple directions to assault from, no one direction alleys that allow and promote camping, multiple ladders for accessible roofs and cross street rooftops to allow same elevation fights). These traits are all apparent in the current district map pools, with exception of the rooftop issues.

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  18. @Karyl, that it did terrible at. You can't mix the two and expect multiplayer to be balanced for everyone. Sorry, that's just not the way competitive shooters work. If you reward the players that have been there the longest and then match them against players that just started, you're causing a serious discrepancy and I can guarantee that was the reason why this game failed like it did. No one wants to fight someone that has more health, more damage, faster healing and better weapons with better enhancements. That is completely unfair.

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  19. And again, you can't/shouldn't create a skill-based game and then give some players the ability to be inheirently better, in addition to whatever skill they have, and expect it to be a level playing field for everyone.

    I would not expect everyone to be good at shooters, but that gap between a bad player and a good player is expanded to extremes when you reward the player that is already a difficult beat by giving him even more power over the next player.

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  20. And I suppose I meant "a more skilled player over a lesser skilled player". Bad/Good players isn't accurate for what I'm saying.

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  21. just fix the matchmaking so it takesd into account gearscore and player level.

    fix weapons level requirements, make them way higher

    allow missions to have 8v8 players by allowing backup calls

    fix backup so it dosen't match 4vs7



    ADVERTISE THE DAM GAME! #1 reason for low subs was the zero adbertizing

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  22. I wonder if there's any plans for anything special for people who purchased APB originally. I know it's very unlikely we'd keep our characters, but it'd be nice to have some veteran cosmetic items or something.

    As for the skill based / upgrades based argument, RTW had already solved that and just hadn't pushed the update: pure skill districts will let everyone compete on the same level, while still letting you earn character upgrades to play in the normal districts.

    I can't wait for APB to be back, it was a very interesting game, with nothing incredibly similar to it.

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  23. oh and also remove ltl, makes upgrades unbalanced.

    do keep the player progression tho

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  24. also let vetts beta test it, specially the ones that complained the most :p i know code killers is itching to come back

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  25. my gf made a good point, think about charging something to make a new accounts and the older players would get in free. why?

    if a someone wanted to cheat/farm on an alt account they can tranfer the goods and make a new account when banned.

    charging any amount would allow you to blacklist their billing and make it harder for them to make new accounts

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  26. @dreamss;

    "just fix the matchmaking so it takesd into account gearscore and player level."

    This will never work properly for everyone. This isn't WoW, either - there shouldn't be a gearscore.

    "fix weapons level requirements, make them way higher"

    Terrible idea. Low level players should not be restricted from using high level weapons, especially if those weapons are better than lower level ones. You cannot treat this game like an RPG and an FPS - it's one or the other.

    #1 cause of this game failing was better equiped players with equally equipped friends running around in groups destroying low level pub players with significantly crappier gear. You do that enough times, and that person will quit, because the game ceases to be fun at that point.

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  28. Awesome ! Can't wait (again..) to play APB !

    Any chance to completly remove every "damage" enhancements for weapons ?.. Scopes, mags and extra gadgets would be enough.

    Any chance to try and keep players of the same level together. Sad to be matched again and again with the same opponents 200 rating over...

    And fix the cheating.. Please...

    ... I suppose hit boxes are too much to ask right.. ? :)

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  29. I'm very happy the game has returned but I have a few questions...

    What happens to the people that paid for it? The $50 I used out of my own pockets along with the extra RTW points I bought (and never got the chance to use) I have well over 100 hours of gameplay in those measly 3 months, what happens to me now? How do I fit in this picture character-wise, economically, and user account-wise? What happens to me?

    Will we get any sort of compensation? Priority for beta testing? We'd probably be the best for that because of how much time us APB vets have played. I'm just looking to see where I fit in the picture and how I can be of service to help progress this game. Thank God it's back.

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  30. complain at RTW for the game you bought, this is a different company and game.

    @id:
    so you think there should not be progression?

    you don't think is stupid that a level 50 could buy a rocket launcher and own "newbs"?

    WAIT, you don't want geared people to own newbs but you want the weapons accesible?

    at the end i played enough to notice the issue was due missmatched player levels, matchmaking would only take into account the TL.

    player level was based on progression, aka time put into the game makes sense to use it to award access to gear/weapons AND as a matchmaking variable

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  31. @id "#1 cause of this game failing was better equiped players with equally equipped friends running around in groups destroying low level pub players with significantly crappier gear. You do that enough times, and that person will quit, because the game ceases to be fun at that point."

    That is not the #1 cause of the failure. The #1 cause of failure was Realtime Worlds management of funds. The game at the state that released should not have cost nearly $101 million.

    After the management of funds, the next biggest failure was the advertising for the game. Realtime Worlds did not do well enough on getting across the gaming world what this game even was.

    FYI, the issue you have with the equipment and upgrades could easily be solved by playing the "Skill based" servers, which does not account for any weapons/character upgrades they have.

    Also, I created an alternative character a month or two after release and still did fine and got rank 14 without any upgrades pass tier 1, which took literally less than 10 hours of gameplay.

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  32. not to mention a gearscore would make it more more skill based.

    JUST keep the teamsize balanced, at worst 1 team should have 1 extra player.

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  33. @id
    "This will never work properly for everyone. This isn't WoW, either - there shouldn't be a gearscore."

    This isn't CoD, there ARE varying levels of gear... The pureskill districts would be fine for putting people on an equal level, but for the normal servers there needs to be something akin to gearscore used for matchmaking, or at the very least matchmaking based on levels.

    Low level players shouldn't be restricted in their choice of basic weapons, but the requirements for the slotted weapons absolutely should be increased. It leaves the pureskill districts for people who want an even playing field, and still leaves some kind of "endgame" for people to tweak weapons exactly like they want when they max out.

    The pureskill ruleset, which was complete and ready to roll out on the day they announced the servers were closing, actually addresses most of your issues. Personally, I'm thrilled this isn't just another urban fps, but instead has progression. There's zero reason to do away with the system they already have when you can cater to the people who don't like it with something as easy as a different ruleset.

    If you don't like the rpg elements, stick to the pureskill districts, and if everyone agrees with you I'm sure you'll have no shortage of people to play with. There's no reason they won't be out for the relaunch, RTW was ready to patch it in, it had already finished testing on the PTW and should be as ready as anything else they've acquired.

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  34. My biggest concern: level playing field; character and weapon upgrades shot, mutilated, and buried this hope. If you keep this in, make sure everyone can get access to any tier without having to kill people or do missions, even if that means having to spend $2 in the shop for a weapon.

    Might I suggest--if you keep upgrades in--making all tiered/advanced weapons available, but at an increasing cost and add durability to them all, as well as giving a point cost to each upgrade (tier 1 = 1 point, tier 3 = 3 points, etc.) that detracts from the allotted points on a weapon; i.e., each weapon has 6 points for upgrades--and varying number of slots--so a weapon may only hold two tier 3 upgrades, or three tier 2 upgrades, or a tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 upgrade, etc.

    Anyhow, can't wait to get back in to San Paro, even if I don't get my old characters back--though I'd like to get something for my trouble. I've really missed cruising around the city and running folks over in a semi at max prestige/notoriety.

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  35. if they make weapons buyable i be happy as long they obtainable by playing

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  36. "not to mention a gearscore would make it more more skill based."

    Uh, no. You're rewarding players that have been there the longest - that in and of itself causes an imbalance. You can argue in favor of WoW being balanced all day, but you'd be wrong all day, so you probably shouldn't.

    "there ARE varying levels of gear"

    Which is why this game failed. Strange that no one else sees that. Again, you cannot make a skill-based game, add an imbalancing factor like "varying levels of gear" and expect it to be balanced, because everyone at any given time will have a different outfit, and factoring in varying degrees of skill, it will never, ever be balanced for anyone. Ever.

    But you're right - if pure skill had been implemented, the problem(s) could have been solved sooner. It's a shame they never got around to it.

    I stand firm with my belief that character and weapon enhancements ruined this game. You can say it was marketing or advertising, and you wouldn't be wrong entirely, but the game being terrible from the onset, and being completely and utterly imbalanced from the very beginning because of trying to implement two different types of systems into a game when they simply do not work together in the slighest is what really killed this game.

    Lack of efficient advertising/marketing may have inhibited growth, but a game that was not fun after that "new game smell" wore off, and people getting frustrated with how the game played in general, is the real issue here. You cannot argue against that - my logic is infallible. The game was not fun/balanced enough to keep the playerbase it had, and that is the truth. The evidence of this is when you go from 50+ districts to less than 10 in just a few weeks.

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  37. game was a "mmotps" you gotta have progression. take any other shooter out there.... all of them have unlockable weapons

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  38. Unlockable weapons, sure. Benefits that make you tougher/harder to kill and let you do more damage? With a few exceptions, not many.

    You must also realize that very, very few, if any, have such a huge discrepency between "character level". Black Ops has 50 levels, Modern Warfare 2 has 70, but you're not getting stronger the higher you get, you're just unlocking different weapons and customization options, and many of those weapons could be considered worse than what you start with.

    In the case of Black Ops, it also does not take a huge timesink to get to an equal status with other players - a few hours of play will get you enough money to equip your favorite weapon(s) and gear. After that, it's skill-based.

    The difference between the latest incarnations of COD and APB, is that COD doesn't try to tout itself as an RPG in the slightest - it has the customization of one, without the stat benefits. APB tries to be both, in a world where these two types of gameplay cannot coexist together. You show me a successful skill-based and stat-based action/shooter, and I'll show you a two-headed flying monkey. There's a reason it hasn't been done, and that's because skill and stats have no place in the world together.

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  39. I made plenty of recommendations on the APB forums about stuff to add to the game to make it more customizable. Someone else here mentioned some other things, too.

    For instance; expanded mags, quicker reloading and scopes are fine additions - they don't make you stronger or healthier. How about weapon paint to customize your own weapon? How about different models for your weapon with the same, default statistics, such as a basic Assault rifle type, but varying models and skins for them to customize it, but with the same damage output overall.

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  40. it only was 8% higher dps, dint make much difference weapon wise. my lvl100 cop would beat lvl3 upgraded people.

    and try to kill endgame with starter weapons in cod... dosent hapen

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  41. I do it all the time.

    And 8% does make a difference, especially when you also have bonus health, bonus healing, damage reduction, spray & pray or any number of other bonuses. It stacks up and DOES make a difference.

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  42. if you took into account the player level for matchmaking then there is no reason there should be a 2 tier difference unless the lower geared player chooses to not get level3s

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  43. Excellent news, just please don't f**k it up like the last lot!

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  44. @id: no, they didnt make that much of a difference.

    when i played my character without upgrades i've won exactly the same ratio of missions as with the one without.. same goes for the rest of my clan and people i know. the game is skill based.. equipment and upgrades are just "nice to have" and something you can boast with.

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  45. Glad to see somone has got this game back up and running, it has some amazing potential, few things i thinked it lacked in the main release was:

    1. End game content, there was nothing to do

    2. Clan activitys, the leagues was such a bad idea and do hope you come up with somthing better

    3. Bigger groups, whats the point in having an mmo when you can only play with 4 of your mates.

    Hope you think up some much needed updates to make the game even better.

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  47. @Id

    It is with this game, like any other game. If your are not there from the start, you will be behind other players. And i hate to break it to you, but this is not the start. I wasnt there from the start but i fought my way up anyways. It was tough times, but worth it. If you would quit on the way then thats your business. You cant just start same place, as others that allready put alot of time into it. To use your own words "Sorry, that's just not the way competitive shooters work." But why dont you think old players is entitled to what they worked for, in my case 400 hours+? Think of all the clans that will be broken, all the desigs gone to waste and the way we all personalized our avartars. And for the record, it is not a fps or rpg. It is a POWS (persistent open world shooter) with group chat, clan chat. So how will you treat it as a pure fps or rpg? It doesent make sense.

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  48. It would be great if they can bring old characters back. .. played 400+ Hours. Criminal, US server, La Rocha, created 2 characters. nickname Krrris 290R and Krris 220R. please bring them back.....

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  49. Firstly best of luck with the task ahead :)

    Secondly I must say I think I may be in the minority who actually prefered to pay a subscription fee per month. I'm a little aprehensive about microtransactions, my main concern is people paying for weapons or items etc. Anything that affects combat should not be purchasable.

    Should people be able to pay their way ahead of others in combat you will have just created a problem comparable to that of the hacks in the original APB.

    Sure charge people for clothing, cars, maps, whatever but please not stats, weapons etc. Ofc it's early days and nothing's been announced, I'm just voicing my concerns the same as I did during beta and on the live forums. My only hope is this time our new dev team will listen to the players. Do that and you will have all my respect and more ;)

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  50. oh... and +1 to maintaining the original databases please! If only so I can keep my appearances and vehicles whether the stats etc remain or not. That would be too sweet.

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  51. Agreed with previous comment. Keep it balanced.

    My only thoughts so far, is improving player xD You know, so you can ride in a car with music you want AND make every1 else to hear it)

    Anyway, keep up the good job!

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  52. I agree with morgan. Id rather pay a sub than have microtranssactions, but if there are no weapons or upgrades for purchas it might work

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  53. Realy good.
    I will follow this game to the end of the world.
    One thing, please make it so that you can use your carahter from APB in the APB reloaded. I would hate to start the whole thing over that took me days, nonstop.

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  54. i prefer a monthly subscription fee, too btw :p

    but it will be free2play, so you should only be able to buy designs(tattoo etc.), tuning parts for the cars and stuff like that.

    nothing which could destroy balance like upgrades and weapons.

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  55. This was a great game but died from a few major flaws:

    #1) The character and weapon upgrade system sucked because playing an fps game where your opponents do more damage, have more hps, and regen faster than you do is not fun. If upgrades gave players more variety in allowing them to change how they did things as opposed to just making them stronger, the game would have been much better because skill and strategy would decide fights instead of gear and grind.

    #2) Hacks were rampant. It only takes one hacker in the opposing side to frustrate an entire team and ruin the mission experience. RTW was terrible at policing hackers. This ruined the game because eventually there were so many hackers that competitive players became frustrated and quit.

    #3) Matchmaking was terrible. Playing without a pre-made team usually lead to large amounts of frustration. If player upgrades were more universally even, it might have been easier to match players against each other.

    #4) Risk/reward for missions was very skewed. Players who cared about winning were often teamed up with players who were just looking for a little fun, or who were trying to grind cash or contact levels. Separating players playing for rank and those playing for exp/cash/fun would have gone a long way towards making the game better.

    If K2 fixes this issues this game has a good chance on re-release.

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  56. Thanks for resurrecting this great game again reign in San Paro
    And here my first question ...
    Segir being also the game in Spanish?

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  58. Looking forward to this. There's so much for K2 to do, but there are a couple things that I think if done quickly will help a lot:

    1) Give us a forum to discuss the game in.

    2) Let us know if you have plans(yet) on the following fronts:

    A) Will we get our old characters back?
    B) Will there be some sort of cool decal for APB vets?
    C) If the answer to A is yes, will formerly banned accounts still be banned? These people openly cheated on the last days and rubbed our faces in it. If you're going to maintain old characters, please maintain the character bans. (And to answer the obvious question, yeah, I'm mad bro.)
    D) If A is yes, will clan affiliations still be intact?

    3. Did I mention that we could use a forum? =D

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  59. As far as I'm concerned, weapon and character upgrades didn't break the game because both sides had access to them (except LTL). What broke the game was the match making system. Upgrades wouldn't create an unbalance if both sides were equally equipped. They just needed to make a system that accounted for that. Personally, I think the weapon upgrades added another aspect of customization. The variety of upgrades allowed for slightly different play styles

    I also think I'd prefer a sub fee over microtransactions. The way it was setup didn't even require you to pay once you got an inflow of in game money. And the only way I can see microtransactions working, while keeping the game balanced, would be to use it for cosmetic things/customizations. I think this is a horrible idea. For one, it detracts from the customization that the game prided itself in. It also demeans the efforts of those who actually spend the time to unlock things such as vehicle upgrades (wheel man).

    Another alternative I see would be to charge fees for the customization process rather than additional customization options. This would also detract from the only thing the game had perfect from the start. Regardless of how the microtransaction system is installed, they should make everything accessible regularly as well.

    #1 reason to fear free to play: griefers

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  60. I'm so glad to see that other people out there didn't think the game was trash. I can't wait to see this revived in any way what so ever!

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  61. Please leave all our our stuff there!!

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  62. Sooooo looking forward this! Really enjoyed the game first time around.

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  63. Sigh..i just hope they wont ruin the character customization. and actually allow free users to enjoy the unlimited customizations but its gamersfirst were talking about here.. they will ruin APB. trust me, they will.

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  64. Guys... Go to the forum and read up on the links provided before making predictions. So far everything I've seen looks pretty positive.

    They're keeping the character customization.

    They're changing the business model, and likely you'll be able to purchase "good weapons", but similar weapons will be obtainable through standard play. Their goal is to make it so fun for free players, that they keep coming back and will consider becoming premium subscribers. The goal is also to retain premium subscribers by making the perks good enough to keep them as subscribers, but not good enough to unbalance the game.

    They've got the user database, and they're looking in to what they can do to restore some of that data, but at this point they're not sure what is possible and what is a good idea. (Remember all the cheaters? Do they restore THEIR stuff too? There's questions to consider...) They're also looking in to some perk for veterens. Personally, I hope one of the perks is a decal we can put on cars and clothes. =D

    The first version will likely be San Paro as it was when it went down, plus the never released patch, plus some fixes to address game breaking issues, plus the new f2p(free to play) model. It will be largely what you remember.(This info is direct from interviews) They will then continue to patch the game, and will likely add in the "race mode" which was already being worked on, and the new action districts, which also were already being worked on.

    The f2p model is not up for debate. It's decided. That's how G1 does business. You can vent about it, but if you're holding your breath expecting change...well... It's not going to happen. Preaching them about how f2p won't work is just going to make them look at you funny. It's already working for them. They probably know more about this than MOST of us. Move on to issues we CAN give input on.

    Again, go to the forum, and read the thread on APB. There are lots of links to interviews posted. Lots of great information. I'm sure most of you will come out feeling pretty good about it.

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  65. Hello. I would like to hear about the countries of Europe. I am interested in Russia. Will there be a single publisher? Please write about this in the near future.

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  66. If you ever need more marketing help, let me know, I am (was) an avid APB player and I am also a business major in college right now with concentrations in marketing, corpprate management and finance. I would love to help in the revamping of this awesome game. I'm also located in California :) If this could count as an internship or college units it would be even more appealing. Let me know!

    ~ericmac017@yahoo.com

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  67. It's great to see APB coming back. As an "old-skool" player from the early Beta I'm thrilled to play again. With Gamersfirst now owning it, I got my hopes up good here. The F2P Model will be something I wouldn't quite expected for APB (I'm a bit afraid of how micro-transactions will go and how much disadvantaged people are with less money - luckily I'm not one of those), but GamersFirst is "quite" experienced in this sector so I shouldn't be worrying here.

    Now let's see how well this gets promoted! RTW quite failed at advertisement on the game.. (Not blaming it entirely on them, though.)

    Does anyone know if there will be a bèta? I can't wait to play, and if I have to spend hours a day just testing and reporting bugs - gladly!

    -Aldun

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  68. I HAVE ONE QUESTION:
    WILL WE BE ABLE TO PLAY WITHA AN OLD ACCONT /CHARACTER?

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  69. Bruno:

    No I am 99% sure that you will not be able to use a character from before. Most likely RTW destroyed this data when they went bankrupt since all they could really(legally?) sell was the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). If you're like me, I lost over 300+ hours on my Enforcer :( o well, still can't wait to see how this turns out!

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  71. DJ-E, that would be incorrect. G1 has said in interviews and on the forum that they have the user database, they just aren't sure what they're going to do with it yet.

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  72. Can we finely sit on chairs now?
    Oh and YEAH!!! APB's back!

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  73. I got something to add... Will the big RTW building in the social district stay the same???

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  74. I THINK this is so awsome players can express there selfs in there chars and there cars its such a great game this game is a cros between mmorpg and fps you guys had to pay for it wel not any longer BECOUSE ITS GOING TO BE F2P HELL YEAAA!!!!!!

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  75. APB team, hear me out - your focuses should be primarily on the mechanics of shooting, the content/missions (make it so that if someone is dispatched against you, the missions are fair as well. It sucks to have no chance) and make it more friendly to single players. Give alternatives, choices for ways to do things are always the best

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  76. In my opinion if you make microtransactions for customisation. Please keep the current customisations FREE. I know that just before the servers got shut down. They added a cowboyhat to the game. And if RTW can add a cowboyhat in a patch, surely you guys can add stuff too. So my sugestion would be make new stuff and charge us for them. It would have to be cool stuff though, so people will buy it. Like for instance a cowboy gunbelt to go with the hat. And maybe other special styles. Kinda like in battlefield heroes. they got diffrent outfits with multible items for a whole set. And sometimes there even comes a gun with it. Not a better gun but a gun with for instance a pirategun skin for the pirat custume and so on. You could bind the items to character or account to avoid people from passing on their store bought items. You could allso sell $boost. But i think xp boost is a bad idea, that would ruin the progression type. wouldent it? Just a thought. :)

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  77. i am so happy im gonna cry ;.; don't wait until 2011 you have a solid game RIGHT NOW that i would give my RIGHT FOOT to be back playing... oh and im guessing all my pimp cras and stuff are gone eh?

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  78. Yay, APB is going to be a "free-to-play" game in which you have to spend $50 every month on items if you want to be competitive! weeeeeeeee

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  79. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, KEEP THIS A M RATED TITLE. DO NOT MAKE IT FOR KIDS, PLEASE, KEEP IT THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE. Seriously, this is my worst fear. I LOVED playing this before. It is meant to be rated M. Every ex player I've talked to said that if it becomes E or E10+, they will not even play it. The language, the violence, made it so much fun. It was almost like running in a Detroit+New York type place. My worst fear is that you are going to take away all the fun, make it instanced, and make us have to spend all our money, to have what us players had before. But now that it is free to play, its gonna be over run with 10 year olds, unless you make it rated M. Wont keep them all out, but it helps. PLEASE take this into consideration. I do not want to see my beloved APB turn into Hello Kitty Island Adventure with guns.

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  80. This is indeed good news. Really happy APB is going to be relaunched, Just loved that game.
    Only downside for me is the F2P part though..

    What are going to happen to us who had bought the game and still had Realtime World Points left when the game got shut down? Nothing at all?
    And because of the F2P model, I guess there would be an option to buy some kind of currency, buy features and/or some kind of premium status?

    Thanks for picking up APB.

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  81. I can't agree. The swearing was completely over the top and not needed. It actually distracted from the gameplay. It is completely ridiculous to have every character in the game swearing like a sailor. Honestly, I'd rather have them remove it ALL and reach a wider audience then keep it the way it was.

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  82. Great to hear APB is coming back in some form of another. I always liked the potential the game had but was frustrated how it remained a good concept and never reached it's full potential. Hopefully you will be able to raise the level of quality and take it to a more professional level.
    I'd be welcome to share my vision on the game, was beta testing APB and played the game until the servers were shut down. I've dabbled in some amateur modding myself so I'm always interested in this kind of stuff even if I don't directly get anything out of it besides a better game.

    You can contact me:
    RaulS1987 [at] gmail [dot] com
    Skype: Sandrock87

    Good news!

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  83. I agree with Lance and dbrinkley3, the swearing and flaming was to much at some points. But you had the option to disable voIP and could /ignore people. So i think its ok, that it is rated M or +18 which is the rating on my APB box. The game wouldent be suited for younger audiences. Besides how many people under 18 have a credit card anyways?
    Dont answer that. Allso i thnik, that alot of perants would find this game disturbing. For their young kids to play. And that could end up bad for gamersfirst. So to be clear i dont condole the swearing, but i allso dont think they should fiddle with the rating.

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  85. And lance by every character, you dont meen your self right? I think that conviction is a little harsh on the rest of us.

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  86. Huzzah for apb! One question though. The game stays the same as the one we bought, with changes, updates and fixes of course. So the lot of us that bought the first APB, are we gonna be charged again for it? Either way I'm gonna play APB again!

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  87. I meant all the NPC dialog in the game. VOIP is different. I personally don't swear. I know some people feel like they need to swear to express themselves, and I assume G1 has a policy on this, or will shortly. My personal hope is that it is discouraged. I'd like to see the game reach a wider audience, but to be clear, I'm not talking about 10 year old kids. I'm talking about people who are old enough to handle the violence, but don't want to hear an f-bomb every other word. There's more of us than you think. =D I'll play either way, but I know a lot of people who didn't and still won't if it's the same.

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  90. Lance, I agree some of the cussing went over the top, but if they said nothing, it would be very cheesy. I live in the some what "ghetto", and if someone gets shot or shot at, they won't just go, "Oh golly, I'm shot". That will NEVER happen on the streets. I'm not saying to make them like, "****, thats a **** **** ****in ****.". But when someone gets shot or shot at, a few swears are bound to come out. I don't want the swearing over the top, but please, keep it at least a bit realistic. I don't wanna see this game become very cheesy.

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  91. Hi guys If you were in The Crimson Order enforcer clan on La Rocha, were getting ready for when its released again so please contact me on steam player tag is SavinoOwnz just say who you were in the clan.looking forward to playing with you all a second time and being the TOP clan in the WHOLE game once again:)

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  92. Gamersfirst should just keep this the way it is, but remove SOME of the cussing. I don't mind an f-bomb here and there, and if they keep it an M rating, and the parents think its innappropriate for their kids, clearly it's the parents fault for not monitoring their kids. The game is clearly rated M, which is 17+. Gamersfirst shouldn't be at fault for what the parents are allowing their kids to play if they chose to keep it a M rating. RTW had a gem on their hands, they just didn't know how to balance things. And I personally think that if Gamersfirst wants to get the most out of it, they should keep it the way it is, but cut down a bit on the swearing. Hell, even if you bring it down to a T rating I'll be happy. But you CANNOT have a "gang" and police game, with a story behind it of mayhem and chaos, and not have a few f-bombs in there occasionally. It just won't feel the same... Which will make me sad because I can't stand free to play games, and APB was my favorite game I have EVER played. Let's just hope you don't ruin this gem.

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  93. main problem is to fix match making,and fix it by making it go by rating instead of threat level

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  94. Really... Just an option to turn off NPC dialog would work as well as far as swearing goes... But I don't think it's really needed. The core of the game is when I'm fighting you, not when I'm listening to the dialog of the NPCs. I would rather make the game accessible to a wider audience by removing swearing in it's entirety, or by enabling controls that allow the user to decide what their experience should be. And remember, by "wider audience", I'm not talking about 8 year olds. They shouldn't be playing this game at all in my opinion. I'm talking about adults who would love to play this game, but don't like to hear the constant NPC swearing. And don't bring up VOIP again. If I don't like what I hear on VOIP, I'll turn it off. I already have that power.

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  95. @Lance

    OK Lance in that case i dont agree on the swearing so much, as i havent really noticed the npc's swearing. Not till now that is, i recall them shouting stuff after you on the streets. And if you want it changed, i would go for the no npc dialog option. As for me the npc remarks gives a better picture of a city run amok. But i do however not need to be mocked or provoked by other players verbally. That beeing said i am glad you didnt meen that it should maketed for underage kids. Sorry to get tat confused.

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  96. Я провел в APB ОКОЛО 1000 ЧАСОВ. Начиная с збт и заканчивая закрытием игры. Хотелось бы попасть на збт и довать советы K2 Networks по улучшению APB.

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  97. As someone who lives on firstpirson shooters (and GTA IV) as a main source of firearms-related entertainment, the only thing that dissapointed me about APB, aside from poor matchmaking, was the fact that scoped weapons didn't actually have a usable scope, and headshots didn't count. The latter works if your up against a machine gun or a shot gun, but with a High Velocity (sniper) Rifle, it's a bit silly to allow someone to walk away from a shot to the head.

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  98. And actually, If it's possible, could you add some more hair styiles? My first, and main, character was a fictional character whom I use in the stories I write, and there was one hair style that was a close match to hers (I believe it may have been the second one) But I couldn't make it waist-length (or the right shade of red), which I found dissapointing, though understandable considering how hair is made in video games. Also take out gender restrictions. The only matching type of glasses were male-only, as were the safety goggles, and that irked me a bit.

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  99. Visit www.apbpivateserver.webs.com! Curently looking for Administrators and Moderators!

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  100. @Bruno you honestly don't see a problem with posting this stuff to the site of the company who is trying to resurrect a dead game? You don't see how your actions could hurt the very game that you love playing enough to participate in a private server? You honestly don't see how selfish your actions are? Or is it that you don't care? (hint: Now is the time you either apologize, or make some lame excuse to justify your actions. Go on...we're all waiting...) *eye roll* I hope the community as a whole can see the potential damage these sites can do. Do us all a favor and don't help them out. The game is going to be free to play anyway, so why go to a private server?

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  101. I played APB from beta as sharpshooter. I tested on PTW and attended keys to the city. I bought the game and played it religiously with GoodGameLosers clan. I helped submit many, many, bugs to the development team.
    I would be honored to be a part of your closed beta testing. I could be available to test as many as 40 hours a week. Please consider me for a spot in your testing community. I will not let you down.

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  102. Why not post the game as a torrent? It'll ease stress on your servers and the advantages might outweigh the disadvantages.

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  103. Good to see that APB isn't going to die, after all. Also, this company seems to have it's act together a lot more than RTW did.

    However, as a lot of people have commented on a lot of work needs to be done. There are a lot of aspects that need to be taken into account, and I think people aren't willing to think 'outside the box' enough to get the game up to where it needs to be.

    If APB comes back, I'd really hope they re-think the LTL system completely. Don't take it out, but just 'stunning someone so they have no chance to survive' is not really an enhancement to gameplay, and it's a concept RTW didn't seem to grasp.

    The balance issues were obvious and it would seem this new company knows exactly what NOT to do again, so I have high hopes.

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  104. If this is where you listen to what the community i think you should make it much better if you could be a private person that is just carrying a gun for protection. And if you agree i think you can outside of
    San Paro like New York or Los Angeles
    Please Ask people if they think as i do the game was great when i had it but i would make this change i thought it was cool that you could create your own clothes and cars and music and stuff... Can wait for APB Reloded please answer

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