Asylum Preview – Halloween Just Got A Little Crazier

On October 11^th, an anonymous user posted a mysterious audio file and tiny image on the APB Forums.

Players were intrigued.  What was that haunting score with eerie Tubular Bells' style syncopation? And what was up with that 200 x 200 pixel image?

Over the next few days a new image was posted in random forum threads. Some valiant players started putting together the pieces.

After some time it all became clear… we have arrived at the Asylum.

On October 22 we took down Fight Club to make way for our October 25 preview of "Asylum" to San Paro in the form of, “Fright Club.”

While this is not the full version of our soon-to-be new game area and game mechanics designed for the Asylum, we wanted to give players a serious taste of what’s to come and a chance for the community to provide layout feedback on the core game map.

When you log into the Asylum District for the first time you will unlock a new Title – “Asylum Seeker” since nothing says, “I’m a little off my rocker,” to the world than "Asylum Seeker” floating over your head.  Whether you’re hearing voices in your head, or just morbidly curious, this new Title is just the thing for you.

Fright Club includes 7 new Missions and some pumpkin smashing activities that would make Gallagher want to trade in his watermelons for pumpkins. Just leave your Gallagher-style sledgehammer at home and do it San-Paro-Style and shoot that pumpkin!

Players will also get Joker Distribution tickets when they advance new roles in the Asylum district.  

Enjoy the Asylum, collect those Joker Tickets, and go to the forums and provide map feedback on the Asylum.  Regular Fight Club will return the week after Halloween.

Also here is quick note from Qwentle:

A Message From Qwentle, Lead Designer

“Hey guys,

Due to its construction (multiple level indoor areas with very limited vehicle access) and lack of mission targets, the current version of Asylum is not a straight up Action District.

Our final goal for Asylum is a free-fire district with elements of "turf control" and it also adds some non-PvP oriented goals (emphasising completing non-opposed objectives in enemy territory over engaging in combat, even rewarding players for avoiding combat during certain engagements). We paper-prototyped a number of solutions for more flexible and less goal-oriented designs, and our final design can best be described as modified small scale Turf Wars.

Completing the full non-opposed objectives for Asylum will still take quite some time, but since the map is very close to complete, and we felt Asylum fit Halloween perfectly, we wanted to take the opportunity to share it with you as quickly as possible. This meant temporarily making it a Fight Club map (or in this case a 'Fright Club' map with some modifications).

Keep in mind that the current game modes are not yet finalised, but certainly feel free to give us constructive feedback on the map layout itself.

With those important caveats in mind, please go out and enjoy this preview of Asylum!”

Don’t forget to stay tuned for more details regarding all of the Halloween Contests and Events we have going on starting this week!

Trick and Treat Time Again

It’s that most wonderful time of year again. Halloween is here San Paro, and we’re bringing back a couple of familiar faces from last year.

Trick and Treat are back!  Little is known about the origins of Trick and Treat, but some claim that they are the spirits of dead Criminals and Enforcers called forth on Devil's Night to count the cost of the fallen. These two Halloween Contacts will be chilling in the Asylum District, a place we know you’ll be visiting soon (stay tuned for the blog update shortly with all the "2-Weeks of Asylum" Details!).

Trick and Treat in the Asylum

For those of you who may not be familiar with these crazy characters, there will be four levels of Missions to complete just like last year.  Criminals and Enforcers get the same number of Missions to complete for their respective Contact.

                  Level 1 – Start

                  Level 2 – Spooky Symbols (Unlock 4 Symbols)

                  Level 3 – Terrifying Themes (Unlock 4 Music Themes)

                  Level 4 – Petrifying Pumpking Mask (Unlock Pumpkin Head)

This year we’ve added 2 more Levels and all new Mail Rewards:

                  Level 5 –  Thrilling Titles (Unlock Title: “Wraith” or “Ghost”)

                  Level 6 – Wicked Weapon Skin and a Horrifying Headband
                                  (Unlock Halloween Weapon Skin and A-Knife-Through-the-Head )

When you go visit Trick or Treat in the Asylum district you’ll notice that it has been decorated with some spooky looking pumpkins all over the place.  One can only assume the patients residing there did not do the carving themselves; mentally unstable people and sharp objects tend to not mix.

These pumpkins aren’t just lying around for you to admire the Halloween spirit of the place.  It’s smashing pumpkins time!  (Not to be confused with the legendary rock band.) Smash these pumpkins for quick cash rewards and keep smashing them to progress a special new role.  Every Level of pumpkin smashing gets you a new Title:

                 

                  Level 1 – Unlock Title: “Pumpkin Chaser”

                  Level 2 – Unlock Title: “Pumpkin Murderer”

                  Level 3 – Unlock Title: “Pumpkin Assassin”

                  Final Level – Unlock Title: “Pumpkin Terminator”

The top pumpkin smasher in each world will be awarded an exclusive Title Unlock: “Pumpkin King” or “Pumpkin Queen.”  This special title for the top smashers will be given sometime after the Halloween event has ended, giving everyone to the last second to maximize their Pumpkin Kill Count.

We’re crazy about our pumpkins so we’re also bringing back the Pumpkin Head Customization Contest. In homage to Sleepy Hollow we are calling this year’s contest the, “Headless Gunman Pumpkin Head Contest.”  We’re even increasing the stakes this year by improving the prizes for the winning submissions.  Use your old Pumpkin Head that you’ve kept from last year, or get one by completing Missions for Trick or Treat this year.

Costume Customization Contest

We will also be holding a Costume Customization Contest again this year, so be sure to join the “Halloween District Parade Costume Contest.” Check out the APB forums for further details on rules and prizes, and submit your entries there. On Halloween, Wednesday, Oct. 31st, San Paro Citizens are invited to dress up in their Halloween costumes and go to Social District to participate in our GM-led Halloween District Parade.  Trick out your characters and there could be some treats waiting for you.

Saving the best for last, this year we will be celebrating Halloween with “Fright Club” our introductory preview of The Asylum District!  Fright Club will replace our regular Fight Club for the duration of the Halloween event, so starting Monday (October 22^nd) regular Fight Club will be unavailable.  Fright Club will be going LIVE on Thursday, Oct. 25th.

But have no fear. You will be able to still earn Joker Tickets during this time!  All those goodies in Joker Distribution are within reach.  And just so you know Fright Club has the following Missions set up:

Moving Target Item
Moving Target Item Large
Team Death Match
Territory Control 1 Point
Territory Control 3 Points
Territory Control 5 Points
VIP Survival

You’ll get a lasting souvenir upon your first visit to The Asylum District as well! When you log into the Asylum District for the first time you will unlock a new Title – “Asylum Seeker.”

Please keep in mind that this Asylum preview is your chance to give all your initial candid feedback on Asylum as we work on completing it as a district (it's left as a Fight Club only temporarily).  We are eagerly looking to hear back from all of you to see what you think.

Halloween 2012 – Let’s do this San Paro!

Urban Warfare Escalates

It wasn’t too long ago, but those early riots seem like a walk in the park compared to life on the streets of San Paro nowadays. Take but a few steps down the sidewalk and you can feel bullet shells roll underneath the soles of your shoes. More shells collect around storm drains and all along the curbsides. You’re moving too fast to even notice anymore. No time to stop and smell the tear gas.

Block after block smoke rises and dims the sky. Be it from fire, gas, napalm – who knows. No time to make out who that silhouette is at the other end of a cloudy alleyway. Secure your helmet and strap that bulletproof vest on tight.

Everyone is trying to represent Criminals or represent Enforcers in their own unique way.  But in the end everyone is the same; everyone is raging on the inside thinking about the loss of friends and family to the cause. No need to show off those tattoos, scars, or war paint to let the world know which side you're on.  Now is the time to cover every last bit of exposed skin you have and make sure you survive.

--------------------------------------

Next week a whole new set of Combat Gear is coming to the Armas Marketplace.  Urban Warfare escalates and it’s time to armor up. 

Enforcers can get the Armored Urban Warfare Pack and Criminals can get the Impact Urban Warfare Pack. Both packs will contain the brand new set of heavier Combat Gear, the never before released 4 Slot Performance Vehicles, and a FREE never before released ATAC 424 mid-to-close range Assault Riffle.  We will also have the Combat Gear sold separately also with a FREE ATAC 424. Here is the breakdown of the NEW Urban Warfare Packs and Bonus Packs coming out next week:

Armored Urban Warfare Pack

·       Combat Gear: Armored

·       V20 Patriot Pursuit Special (4 Slot Performance Vehicle)

·       FREE – ATAC 424 (Mid-to-Close Range Assault Rifle)

Impact Urban Warfare Pack

·       Combat Gear: Impact

·       V20 Nightrider (4 Slot Performance Vehicle)

·       FREE – ATAC 424 (Mid-to-Close Range Assault Rifle)

Armored Bonus Pack

·       Combat Gear: Armored

·       FREE – ATAC 424 (Mid-to-Close Range Assault Rifle)

Impact Bonus Pack

·       Combat Gear: Impact

·       FREE – ATAC 424 (Mid-to-Close Range Assault Rifle)

Players can also have a chance to win these soon to be released packs for free by participating in our “Heavy Metal Fighters” in-game event starting TODAY until Tuesday (Oct. 16^th, 12 PM PDT):

Complete as many opposed missions as possible from now until Tuesday at Noon.  The top 500 players with the most opposed missions completed will be entered into a random drawing to win.  10 Winners will get their choice of either new Urban Warfare Pack (depending upon whether they want Enforcer or Criminal), and 10 Winners will get their choice of either new Bonus Pack (Enforcer or Criminal). (For further details visit our APB Forums)

We’ll have more screen shots and images of the new Gear and the ATAC later, but for now here are some concept art and screen images of the new Vehicles and kits.

  

(Please note that players who have previously purchased the Performance Kits will be sent a free update for the new kits, shortly after we have updated the current Performance Kits on Armas.)

Stay tuned for more updates regarding the Armored and Impact Urban Warfare Packs coming out next week and join us for the Heavy Metal Fighters event. 

Armor up San Paro.  Armor up.

In the Spirit of Scots and Schoolgirls

Now that 1.9.0 (New Breed Part 2) has made its debut to San Paro, we can take a brief moment to share some of the things going on behind the scenes leading up to the big launch.  We have a few stories of travel and adventure to share first, and then we’ll get into the title of this blog post.

About 2 weeks prior to 1.9.0 launch, some members of our US Team (including myself), went to visit out UK Team. For many of us this was our first time visiting Scotland.  For those of you who are not familiar, our Reloaded Studio is located in Edinburgh, Scotland - a very beautiful European city rich in its history and culture. Our office is located right in the heart of Edinburgh within walking distance to many historical and famous attractions such as the Scot Monument, Edinburgh Castle, and the National Gallery.  Not quite the birthplace you’d imagine for the chaotic world of APB Reloaded.

Let me paint a picture of some of the stark differences between a city like Edinburgh and a city like San Paro.  One city has cobblestone-streets lined with quaint cafes, brownstone buildings, and red double-decker buses passing through.  The other city has asphalt roads lined with looted electronic stores, neon-flashing billboards, and sidewalks littered with pedestrian corpses throughout.  One city was founded before the 7^th Century AD – antiquated and European.  The other was founded in the New Millennium- modernistic and Californian-inspired. 

Our journey to Edinburgh did not come without a few hiccups. I’ll start off with the security line at LAX airport.  One of the guys traveling with us forgot about a USB at the bottom of their bag.  This was no ordinary USB, it was a special USB we made specifically for marketing APB Reloaded… and it was in the shape of a bullet!  Needless to say we had to wait for our lucky travel buddy to pass security after some scrutiny. 

Outside of some rain the first day we were there, the rest of the trip was pretty smooth. In a nutshell – lots of meetings, lots of cross training, lots of lunches, plenty of haggis, blood pudding, and whisky.  Not to mention some of the best scones I’ve ever had.  

For one full week the Reloaded team was under one roof in one singular spot on the globe.  Not only did we get the opportunity to spend time with each other in person (versus video conference), we were able to have more in-depth discussions going about our plans for the future and how to move forward with those plans. Included in those plans were the new sets of Gear we had thought about right around the time we launched the Combat Gear and Tactical Gear Packs & Bundles.  Enter scene – Schoolgirl and Highlander Packs!  We are excited to announce that these new additions to the Armas Marketplace will be available this week or next.

What might have inspired this particular combination you might wonder?  Well, the connection to the Highlander Packs and Scotland Weapon Skin I’m hoping is apparent.  Plus if female characters are going to get skirts shouldn’t the male characters get something similar?  So there you have it – Highlander (Enforcer) and Goth Highlander (Criminal) Packs. Both packs include the Scotland Weapon Skin (a.k.a. Saltire Flag Weapon Skin).  One little fun factoid –the kilt included in the Enforcer Highlander Pack was inspired by our Lead Designer’s family tartan.  That’s right – now you can pay homage to Qwentle and family in game!

As for the inspiration for the Schoolgirl outfits, some of you may remember our live-action trailer.  Although, this concept for the Schoolgirl outfits was something the community has wanted for a while perhaps the trailer reminded everyone.  On a side note, one of our artists was inspired by…well… the desire to see female characters in little skirts.  I’m not naming names, however, the in game description specifically for the Schoolgirl Skirt hints that there was some ulterior motives when this pack was conceived.  The in game description says:

“A schoolgirl skirt. 100% cotton and schoolgirl cut. Someone ‘accidentally’ moved a zero from the length to order number category when ordering skirts for San Paro High. This is the result.”

Guess who that “someone” might be? Finally, the fun factoid for the Otome Neko Weapon Skin – this was inspired by one of our very own APB Community members.  Now player-made content has made it into the game and into Armas.  We are pleased to have such a creative player community!

So as I mentioned keep your eyes peeled for these tantalizing editions to the Armas Marketplace we will be releasing this week or next.  You too can soon celebrate APB Reloaded in the spirit of Scots and Schoolgirls. 

APB Reloaded 1.9.0 Now Live! Big Bonus Offers and Free Premiums

Every 4 years countries around the world send their athletic elite to compete in their honor.  Every 7 years one can view a full Solar Eclipse from the same spot on earth.  Every 13 years cicadas come swarming from the sky to inhabit the US Eastern Coast.  But only once in an entire lifetime does New Breed Part 2 go LIVE. That’s right APB Reloaded version 1.9.0 is live!

We’ve started the celebration early by offering a limited-time pre-launch promotion – the 20% G1C Rebate Promotion!  Players will get 20% of the G1 Credits they spend in the Armas Marketplace back on their accounts shortly after the promotion ends.  We’ll be counting all G1 Credits spent in the Armas Marketplace starting from yesterday until July 31^st, 11:50 PM PDT.

That’s not all!  We are celebrating the release of New Breed Part 2 by sending all players a FREE gift of 1 Day Premium and 400 Joker Tickets.  All players have to do is go to the Redeem Code page in Armas and click on the promo code link.  But everyone should hurry to redeem their codes because they will expire at the end of the month - July 31^st, 11:50 PM PDT!

As Qwentle had mention in one of our earlier 1.9.0 preview blog post that one of the big new features New Breed Part 2 was bringing was the Joker Distribution in Social District.  After everyone’s redeemed their promo codes and have their Joker Tickets in hand – go to Social and say hello to our new NPCs - Ophelia and Wilde!  They’ll have some fun stuff for you to buy with your Joker Tickets – including Titles and Armas Items.  You’ll also dig the new tunes playing inside Joker Distribution and be sure to check out the crowning glory of all Joker Ticket prizes!

Onto the next brand new feature – Activities!  This feature we are introducing first with Fight Club where players can complete smaller tasks while in a Fight Club Mission and get additional rewards.  Those smaller tasks could be things like “Get X amount of Assists” or “Kill X amount of enemies with your side arm.”  There are 3 tiers of Activities: Bronze, Silver and Gold.  Each tier becomes increasingly challenging but also increasingly rewarding.

Attaining a Bronze or Silver rank will immediately reward you on the spot, but attaining a Gold rank will win you a significantly larger reward at the end of the week.   Activities can also be skipped if there is another Activity available that you want to go for instead. 

Please advise,  Activities will be available in game as of Monday (7/30/12), in order to follow our regular Fight Club Challenge Rewards cycle.  Although we are introducing the new Activities system with Fight Club, our hope is to add them to general Missions as well.  So while we are testing out the waters with Fight Club Activities we’d love to hear from all of you to see what you like and what you don’t like about this new feature.  We want your feedback!

Finally, while you are taking a gander through Joker Distribution in Social, completing new Activities, or customizing your new Character Titles (there are some fun Titles our team took creative liberties with – you’ll see…), take advantage of a few other promotions and events we have going on to top off the New Breed Part 2 celebration:

·         Double Premium Discount Weekend – That’s right it is back!  From Friday through Sunday, (7/27/12 -7/29/12), Premium members will get 40% off all Armas purchases (double their regular 20% discount).

·         Joker Mystery Box 2 BOGO Sale – From Friday through Sunday, (7/27/12 -7/29/12), buy one get one FREE – Joker Mystery Box 2.  This Box will only be available for a limited remaining time on Armas after this promotion ends so stock up while you can.  Delivery of the bonus Joker Mystery Box 2s will be completed shortly after the promotion end date.

·         San Paro Triathalon – Enter this video and screenshot forum contest for your chance to win some cool Armas Kits, Packs and Premium Days.  Check out our Forums for further details!

That about sums it up for all the goodies New Breed Part 2 has to offer for right now, but stay tuned as we have some other events, promotions, and new products in store for later…

Cheers to 1.9.0!

Account Wide Permanent Weapon Conversions in Progress, New Pricing Tiers

Around 12:00 midnight PST (about 08:00 GMT) the team started the conversion progress. We expect the full conversion process for people that held permanent weapons prior to June 28 to take up to 24 hours, so if you are expecting a converted gun, please be mindful that there is some delay, and it also means it may not show up in your account until June 29.

New Account-Wide Permanent Weapons (AW-PW) vs Character-Bound Permanent Weapons (CB-PW):
The new account-bound weapons are available for purchase right away from the Armas Marketplace (go check them out). Going forward the price difference between Character Bound Permanent Weapons and Account Wide Permanent Weapons is around 20% (give or take a tad based on exactly which weapon it is).

In other words; if you have an active premium membership, an Account Wide Perma Weapon will cost you the same as it would have cost a non-premium player to buy a Character Bound Perma Weapon


AW-PW Pricing Tiers:
The pricing is now in three simple tiers; 1799 / 2899 / 3999 credits based on the gun, with an additional  20% discount for active Premium players, PLUS any potential future additional discounts and time based sales that our Designers and Producers may engage in for certain events.

That's a pretty decent value for money, given that in theory you can have up to 100 characters on one account (!). Not sure you'd want that many, but IF you did, you would also have yourself 100 permanent guns if you made one AW-PW purchase...

This means the lowest priced Account Wide Permanent (non-sale or "MSRP") at 1799 G1 credits gets you for example an NTEC PR-1. On the high-end, the most expensive Account-Wide Perma Guns (for example the pair of OCA-626 guns) will run 3999 G1 credits.

Translating those prices to "Real World Currencies":
For those not familiar with G1 Credits, this means...

NTEC-PR1 AW-PW will cost $22.49 USD / 17.99 EUR / 14.50 GBP if you are a non-Premium player, and $17.49 / 13.99 EUR / 11.25 GBP as an active Premium player.

OCA-626 AW-PW models will cost $49.99 USD / 39.99 EUR / 32.75 GBP as a non-Premium player, and $39.99 / 31.99 EUR / 25.75 GBP as an active Premium player.

Hopefully the above explains the new (and terribly simplified) CB-PW and AW-PW pricing schemes that are in effect as of right now.

Remember to "Try Before You Buy":
We always encourage you to first take advantage of the free trial-periods to try out all the guns in the game before you spring for any purchases. This way you can decide for yourself if any of the Armas guns are to your liking, or if in fact you like one of the non-Armas guns instead.

And yes, our games are free2play, and you WILL be competitive without buying these guns, though the style of gun (each with its own specialization) will truly allow you to pick a completely different playing style.

As we have pointed out many times before (and as is supported by those who actually play APB, and not just read about it), these guns are not OP, they are simply specializations catering to specific play styles. And yes - if you want a gun that fits your exact play style (think of it as an Armani suit, tailored to your specifications), you will in some cases have to pay for it. And of course, when you do, you also join thousands of other gamers in showing your direct support for the Development Team, as it continues on the very long and ardouous quest to create a bigger, better and more optimized APB...

That kind of support is greatly appreciated by the whole team. For example, last week we were able to hire a fantastic new UI and UX artist to tackle the conversion to Scaleform, and all those things that will make navigating the UI better, more intuitive and more efficient. That kind of improvement was directly funded by the ongoing support from gamers like yourself!

Thanks all, and see you in San Paro!

/TechMech

New Breed Part 2 - 1.9.0 Preview

(Post by Qwentle, Lead Designer of APB)  

Hot off the 1.8.0. release and Weapon Skin improvements, we wanted to get back to the New Breed series of patches.

Next up, APB version 1.9.0 where we'll introduce Ophelia and Wilde, our resident Joker Distribution representatives. Situated in what was previously the Star Screen Cinema complex in Social, Ophelia and Wilde stock weapons, vehicles, clothing, car kits, titles and other goodies that players can purchase through the use of a new type of "award/currency" called Joker Tickets.

With the first release of 1.9.0 you will be able to start earning Joker Tickets when you win Fight Club challenges. Over time we will also start adding Joker Ticket Awards to Mission Districts as well.

When you win a Fight Club challenge, you will receive a stack of Joker Tickets giving you access to  exclusive items from our new contacts. While some of these will be short-cuts to in-game rewards or items unique to Joker Distribution, we will also be allowing players to use these tickets to access items previously only accessible through Armas. Items available through this system include several Car Kits, Clothing Assets, Vehicles, and a number of previously Armas-only weapons. This gives players a path to earn some of these exclusive items purely from in-game activities.

Oh, I also mentioned Titles up there. As part of 1.9.0. we will add the ability to show a preferred title as part of your name, for that extra little bit of customisation. By default this is your rank, but you can choose from a number of options based on how you've progressed through the game, what achievements you have unlocked, and various other activities. This is a totally opt-in activity however, and it's something you can choose to disable if it's something you'd not like to broadcast yourself, or see on others.

There are also various optimization and security enhancements planned for 1.9 (and later versions) as we continue working toward improving the game in all areas.

/Qwentle



A note from Tech Mech: 
Sometime in the "near-ish" future we are going to start sharing info on some REALLY BIG items being worked on by our "special" internal teams. Most of these items are still a long ways out before they are even remotely complete, but we hope to start talking about our long-term plans publicly sometime in the near future.

Some of these new things may blow your mind when we can finally share more info... but until them - have fun in 1.8, and we are all looking forward to seeing you in 1.9 when we release this version sometime in mid-July.

/TechMech

Crazy Vegas Weekend!

It all began with a fun little event called the 1.8.0 Challenge.  At the end of it 10 lucky winners per world server were awarded the never before released Vegas G24 (4-Slot customizable vehicle) and the Vegas Hot Rod Kit.

Those 50 players were hailed the exclusive owners of the Vegas G24 and Hot Rod Kit with bragging rights included...until now!

Today we have launched three new products in the Armas Marketplace:

Vegas Uber Bundle
Spring Sale Price: 3119 G1C
w/Premium Price: 2495 G1C

Vegas Uber Bundle includes:

• NEW! Patriot Vegas G24 (4 Slot Customizable)
• NEW! Vegas Hot Rod Kit
• Vegas G20 Mercury Kit
• Vegas G20 Rugido Kit
• Vegas G20 Wheel Kit

Vegas Kit MEGA Pack
Spring Sale Price: 1949 G1C
w/Premium Price: 1559 G1C

Vegas Kit MEGA Pack includes:

• NEW! Vegas Hot Rod Kit
• Vegas G20 Mercury Kit
• Vegas G20 Rugido Kit
• Vegas G20 Wheel Kit

Hot Rod Kit
Spring Sale Price: 969 G1C
w/Premium Price: 775 G1C

Vegas Hot Rod Kit includes:

• Vegas Hot Rod Spoiler
• Vegas Continental Spoiler
• Vegas Hot Rod Rolling Cage
• Vegas Hot Rod Skirts
• Vegas Hot Rod Hood
• Vegas Hot Rod Rear Bumper
• Vegas Hot Rod Taillights
• Vegas Hot Rod WingMirrors
• Vegas Hot Rod Headlights
• Vegas Hot Rod Front Bumper

Need a Refill on G1 Credits? CLICK HERE


LET IT RIDE" VEGAS CUSTOMIZATION CONTEST:

In celebration of this NEW edition to the Vehicles family - check out the “Let It Ride” Vegas Customization Contest for your chance to show off your customization skills, win Power Joker Boxes, and have your talent displayed in full glory in the Armas Marketplace!

Contest Rules Prizes:

• 10 Talented Winners will be selected for their customization skills!
• All Winners will get 3 of each Joker Mystery Box (1, 2 and 3) - Total of 9 Boxes
• If any of the winners incorporate at least 3 components of the new Hot Rod Kit in their design, they will have their Joker Mystery Boxes upgraded to the Joker Power Boxes instead of the regular Joker Mystery Boxes.
• In addition to the upgrade in boxes, those winners will have some of their screenshots published in our Armas Marketplace.
• Screenshots must be taken in the car customization window, UNALTERED - no use of Photoshop or graphics software permitted.
• All submissions must include 4 total screenshots taken from different angles that best showcase their design work.
• Please include your Character name and Server to your submission.
• Submissions must be entered within the contest period 6/22/12 - 7/1/12 11:59 UTC
• Winner will be selected, announced and awarded within a week after contest end date.

Post your submission for the contest HERE

Account Wide Permanent Weapons to launch June 28

On June 28 we plan on launching the long anticipated Account-Wide Permanent Weapons feature.

It has taken quite a bit of back-end re-engineering to support this feature, but from a player perspective it makes total sense, and this feature makes your account as a whole more valuable, and also brings more purpose and meaning to having additional character slots now that all your slots will be able to equip the same permanent gun you have purchased.

At the launch of this feature we will convert ALL CURRENT PERMANENT WEAPONS held in your account to the account-wide version of the same gun.

Therefore ANY permanent weapons you purchase between today and June 28 (at the current lower prices) will become account-wide on the day of conversion (at the ‘single permanent gun’ price).

AFTER the conversion, going forward players will have the option of buying ‘single character permanent weapons’ (at a lower price) and more expensive ‘account wide permanent weapons’ (the latter of course given to ALL your characters in an account).

Now, there are people that have purchased two of the same permanent gun for two different characters on their current account. For those players we will refund the G1 credits used for the second gun +20% bonus credits that were part of that second purchase.

In most cases though it appears people have purchased different permanent guns for their multiple characters, and for those players the change will just means that ALL their account-wide characters can now access all the guns.

We will send out more details before the change-over takes place, especially while we are performing our last minute sanity checks over the course of the next 8 days to make sure the change will not cause any other issues along the way.

Cheers,
/TechMech

Version 1.8 released - 1 day FREE PREMIUM for everyone

Just because we are feeling generous (and because our downtime and maintenance took much longer than usual) we have pre-loaded ALL ACCOUNTS with free 1-day Premium Codes. These can be redeemed anytime in the next 7 days, and after that they will magically disappear from your account again.

To redeem your 1-day free Premium Code, just log in to the game, then launch the Armas Marketplace, and then click "Redeem Code" at the top of the page.

After navigating to the Redeem Code page, select the code at the bottom of the screen, then click "Redeem"

Enjoy a Premium Day (and enjoy the automatic 20% discount for all the new items)!

APB ban hammer time - "Inside Mole Edition"

The endless war between cheaters and gamers continue. In the last few days (along with the release 1.8) we were able to mass-ban everyone who have ever used one particularly annoying cheat. Our inside mole that has infiltrated the inner workings of this particular operation reports the following from their private message boards... Utter pain and confusion...

Remember - there is no such things as 'just a little bit of cheating'. You will get caught. And you will lose everything on every account you have ever played. Sure you can re-roll. And get caught again...

Or - how about - just don't cheat...

Your TechMech

And to be clear - the ban affects not just APB but all games where PB is used....  (as illustrated in this post):

New Weapon Skins Coming with 1.8.0 Update

(Post by Qwentle, Lead Designer of APB)

With 1.7.0 out of the way, we thought it's about time to talk about what we've been working on with the next big update. While there will be a number of items and updates in 1.8.0, the big talking point that I'm going to discuss is the introduction of Weapon Skins.

Over the past couple of months we have added a number of uniquely textured weapons as part of various promotions, both in Armas (The Sitting Duck and Hazardous Tommy Gun) and in-game as Fight Club Challenge Rewards. While we are big fans of these unique looking weapons, we felt that it was a bit unfair to have to purchase new weapons each time you want to have a unique skin, and a bit clunky to have to pull mods out of one gun and into another each time you want to change your look. To solve this, we're adding the ability to choose your weapon skin as a drop down option for a lot of the weapons in the game.

How Do Weapon Skins Work?

By default when you unlock a weapon skin, all skinnable weapons in the game will gain access to that skin. In some cases however this will be unique to the weapon, available to all weapons of that type (Shotguns for example) or archetype (Pointman weapons etc). When you are near an ammo zone, you can choose from a list of all weapon skins, mousing over them to preview the item. If you select an unlocked skin (shown highlighted in white) your weapon will immediately switch to the selected object and if you mouse over a non-unlocked skin (greyed out) you will be told how to attain it.

Why aren't all weapons skinnable?

To get this feature to you guys as soon as possible, we'll be initially rolling out a limited selection of weapons (generally one from each weapon group). Adding the ability to switch the skins quickly and with a minimum of network traffic / memory has required us to completely switch how the textures on the weapons work, and it takes time to convert from the old version to the new. As such, the first release will include the following weapons, with more to follow as they are converted:

OCA-626 (and variants), NTEC (and Variants), CR5, STAR, JG, CSG, NFAS, Obeya CR-762, OBIR, SHAW, HVR (all variants), Colby SNR, Obeya FBW.

While we understand that there are a number of other weapons in-game that are much loved by you guys, we wanted to ensure that we had an even spread to start, and felt this was the best selection we could make for an initial release.

In addition, any unique weapons (for instance the Fireball from the Challenges, or the Sitting Duck from the Joker Random-Box) will be unable to have their skins changed.

Why can't I completely customize my weapon?

The massive amount of customization in APB is a feature that makes us stand out from the crowd, but it comes at the cost. The amount of customization over the large number of players in any one district means that sending and building of customizations is one of the most resource intensive parts of the game. Full customization of weapons would increase the number of items being built per character from 2 (Vehicle + Character) to 3, an increase of 50% of customization data being sent. The increased bandwidth here would put too large a strain on the clients and servers, so is unfortunately infeasible, despite how cool it could have been. By selecting from a large selection of pre-made options, we keep a lot of the benefits of visual weapon customization while only sending a tiny amount of information across and removing any customization building.

How Do I get Weapon Skins?

Firstly we will be adding an extra level to each of the Weapon roles. Completing these will unlock a unique skin for those weapons. On top of this, some weapon skins will be available through Armas. Each faction also has a special skin that is unlocked through completing a new achievement that is triggered from completing the boss contact with that faction. This will likely mean that for players that have completed the organizations / killed a lot of players with certain weapons, a number of skins will unlock when you log into the game following the patch.

Can I see weapon skins in actions?

Last chance for 50% G1 Credit Bonus, ends tonight (April 30)!

[Edit: May 2nd at 3:00pm PST: The bonus credit process just completed for all players. You should now have your 50% credit bonus in your account (if you spent credits in Armas during the bonus period). Enjoy!]

Just pointing out that 11:59pm PST April 30 (or 07:59am UK time on May 1) marks the end of the "post 1.7 and tactical gear" 50% G1 credit bonus, where 50% of the G1 credits you spend in the marketplace will be redeposited into your G1 account! So if you have not yet gotten your items from Armas, you should take advantage of the last few hours of the bonus.

We threw the bonus in as another incentive to smooth all the minor issues after the 1.7 major release and to coincide with the tactical gear pack this weekend.

Here is the forum link for the actual details: http://forums.gamersfirst.com/topic/274877-urban-warfare-packs-50-g1c-refund-promotion/

Last time we had a G1 credit bonus was 10 months ago, when the game went from Closed to Open Beta (and at that time it was a 100% bonus!), so chances are that there will not be another credit bonus for quite some time after this one (though we usually try to throw them in once a year or so).

See you in San Paro!

/TechMech

Gear Up & Roll Out - Paramilitary and Tactical Armas Release!

As announced in our earlier posts we will be releasing the all new Paramilitary Pack along with a revamped re-release of the Tactical Gear Pack. When will you be able to get your hands on the new Gear?  This weekend starting Friday!

For those of you who remember, the Tactical Gear Pack first made its debut on the Armas Marketplace during Thanksgiving Weekend for a Limited Release.  The first rendition of the 'Tac Pack' had a very limited release as it was only available for purchase for that weekend only.

Five months later, we're bringing the Tac Pack back. While this release will not be quite as "Limited" as the first time we released the Tactical Gear Pack, we do have a limited offer some unique Bonus Gifts and suped up bundles that will only be available for the first couple of weeks for the release.  Here is what's in store for you:

• Paramilitary Gear Pack + FREE Paramilitary N-TEC 
• Tactical Gear Pack + FREE Tactical CR-5
• Paramilitary Urban Warfare Pack 
• (Includes Paramilitary Gear Pack, FREE Paramilitary N-TEC and Nulander Nomad Q134)
• Tactical Urban Warfare Pack 
• (Includes Tactical Gear Pack, FREE Tactical CR-5 and Seiyo Citadel V4)
• Seiyo Citadel V4 (4-Slot Vehicle)
• Nulander Nomad Q134 (4-Slot Vehicle)
• Combat Helmet
• Elbow Pads
• Knee Pads 

New Gear, new Vehicles, and new unique Weapons are here for you to gear up and roll out!

And because we want to share a little look behind the scenes of the making of this new release we have our Lead Character Artist, Peter Andersson, sharing with us the process and back story for our latest Armas release.

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(Written by Peter Andersson - Lead Character Artist)

With 1.7.0 we’re seeing both the release of the Paramilitary clothing and gear pack and the re-release of the Tactical pack. I wanted to give you guys an insight into some of the thought processes behind making them and also a hint at where we will be looking in the future when it comes to making more character assets.

To get the full picture I’m going to jump back to when G1 and Reloaded first took APB on. When we were asking ourselves what we could improve in our respective areas I had some pretty clear ideas of where I wanted the character assets to go. The biggest issue in my mind was that, for a game that primarily uses combat as its core game play element, there was a noticeable lack of character assets to support that notion. Work therefore started on a set of gear that was aimed entirely at pushing the combat aspect of APB. This eventually led to the release of the Tactical pack. Most of the inspiration came from professional combat units; tactical vests and webbing, ammunition pouches, Kevlar helmets, knee-pads, elbow-pads etc.

Combat gear inspiration

Upon the first release of the Tactical pack there were two things that stood out in the feedback we received. Firstly, people seemed to like this choice of a pack of gear revolving entirely around the combat aspect of the game. That part obviously made us happy and feel that we were somehow taking this in the right direction. Secondly, they seemed to think it was much more useful for kitting themselves out as an enforcer than a criminal so that for criminal players, the pack felt somewhat lacking. When I saw this feedback I felt that the players very much had a point. Knowing that this pack had drawn its inspiration heavily from combat units which was the main idea, I also knew that those units were mainly elite police and army divisions. These professions obviously have a much stronger connotation to law enforcement than crime out there in the real world so this reaction felt natural and justified.

Too similar

We decided that even though the direction seemed good enough, some tweaking of the plan was in order to better support the idea of the criminal/enforcer factions. We therefore started looking into a set of assets that would serve the criminals better, which led to the creation of the Paramilitary pack. This pack features some assets similar to the Tactical pack like the idea of an ammunition vest, separate pouches and additional webbing, only for the criminals we have gone in a different direction with the style. Their version looks more like it would have been obtained from an army surplus store or some other unofficial source, maybe dug out from a dusty attic somewhere and appropriated for urban warfare. We’re looking at the same underlying idea but executed differently for each faction.

Same thing, different look

In my mind this strengthens the perception of factions in APB and will hopefully help players feel more unique in the game world. Whatever you decide to do with your character customization, this prevents someone from the opposing faction turning up looking just like you. Not only does it feel inappropriate that somehow an opposing faction member has been able to kit themselves out exactly like you, it tends to confuse game play quite a bit too. As we have seen already in internal play tests, introducing these rather distinguishing faction-specific items has meant that all of a sudden it’s become that much easier to see who is friend and who is foe in frantic fire fights. Having the art content support the game play in that way definitely constitutes a win in my book.

A clearer faction representation

There are indeed other areas we want to support too, such as the many fashion styles and subcultures of the real world you can draw inspiration from when you’re designing a full video game wardrobe for a game like APB. More fancy clothing is definitely on the agenda, not just bulletproof vests and ammunition pouches. Exactly what they are will remain undisclosed at this point but I’d like to let you know that work has already continued in both areas: cool clothing as well as more combat related gear. We are definitely not short of ideas. On the contrary the idea list is massive and the challenge we’re facing is rather determining exactly how and when these ideas will best manifest themselves.

I hope this provides a little insight into what lead up to this asset release and some clue as to what direction we’re planning to take it in. I’m looking forward to the next time I’ll be writing an announcement of new exciting stuff for the game.

1.7 now live (a.k.a launching is hard) and... One Free 3-Day Premium for All !

[UPDATE: the code distribution completed at 4:40pm PST April 20. If you do NOT have a code in your account when you visit the Armas marketplace after 4:40pm PST / 02:40 EU time - then please submit a support ticket. Keep in mind only accounts created BEFORE the distribution started are eligible for the code]

Ok - so - launching a build with as many inter-dependent changes as 1.7 is a giant task, and while having been thoroughly tested, you never know what little trolls will rear their heads in the machinery when it hits live volumes of players.

Just after launch we experienced several unexpected server crashes, most related to an unexpected bug in the auction house when dealing with live data. Most of the issues were mitigated throughout the day, and things are becoming more stable. Also - just because the timing could not have been worse - our private backbone provider, which links our datacenters, decided to have connectivity issues at the same moment, making our troubleshooting much harder than it would normally have been, and also introducing strange lag issues. That too appears to have been mostly cleared up.

We are likely to have a minor update patch early next week to patch lingering issues.

Now that the dust has settled, Quinzel and the APB team want to extend a general 'thanks' to everyone who have stuck it out and are now playing 1.7. It's critical to get as much play time in as possible into 1.7, so we can finalize all the changes going in to the next major version.

So just in time for the weekend she will be sending out a few million 3-day premium codes to everyone who logs in, so look for a notice in your email inbox in the next day or so that your personal code has been activated (and no - you don't really have to do anything to be eligible to receive one other than just play the game).

Once the promo has been triggered, you just need to open the Armas marketplace (and if you haven't done so before, this could be a new experience), and claim your free 3 day premium by clicking the "Redeem Code" button at the top of the Armas marketplace page.

When you get to that location, the code will "automagically" have been deposited in your account (it will appear at the bottom of the "Redeem Code" page - so you need to click the code to activate it in your account.

Once you redeem your code, you will enjoy 3 days of 20% off everything in the store, as well as faster progression and all the other premium goodies.

This is our little token of saying "thanks for playing right at the launch, in spite of any hiccups that may crop up at a major version launch!"

Check your email in the next day or so, and we'll see you in San Paro!

/TechMech