An official Realtime Worlds poster has outlined the company's plans for APB in a lengthy forum post on the official forums. They're proposing a pretty startling revamp of many of the game's key faults. Read on for the details.
From the post by lead systems designer Jericho, "Realtime Worlds' goal is to grow APB into the game that its players want it to be, so we'll be asking for comments, posting polls and throwing ideas up for you to mull over at various points throughout the process."
Here are the main points they're focusing on:
- Combat
RTW are evaluating "almost every aspect" of the shooting in APB, from the basic feel of gunplay to the statistics of individual weapons.
- Matchmaking
They're improving the match-you-against-Sauron matchmaking mechanism that made some of your earlier fights so frustrating.
- Vehicle Handling
This looks like a top priority for RTW - they said they're already underway on a major fix for some of the wonky handling that'll make it "less slippy overall". You'll still be able to drift around corners, though.
- Missions
They're adding more interactive missions with more strategic choices.
- Rulesets
APB's biggest, coolest promise remains just a promise: custom rule sets for different servers. They name-drop a Newbie rule set that'll be safer for new players, a Pure Skill rule set which may include locational damage, and the Chaos rule set, where all players can shoot eachother.
You can read our APB review here. We'll let you know when you can jump into a test realm and try some of these out. I think it's great that Realtime Worlds are willing to address the major issues with the game, especially if they're taking pains to leave the core experience unchanged for those who enjoy it. Still, I wonder if they'll manage to pull it off - it seems like a tall order. What do you think?
