APB Pre-order Registration Open!

[Manic Velocity]

http://apb.com/pre-order/

Pre-order now!
APB: All Points Bulletin, the ground-breaking new title from Realtime Worlds, is now available for pre-order from APB.com.

APB’s incredible customisation tools allow you to create a truly unique identity, from outfits to tattoos to personal theme songs. Use your creativity and your trigger finger to make your mark on the living city of San Paro, and become famous - or infamous!

APB is a persistently online multiplayer action game for PC, priced at £34.99/$49.99/€49.99. It will be released on June 29th in North America and July 2nd in Europe. The game includes 50 hours of action gameplay, plus unlimited access to the social district customizing, socialising and trading on the marketplace. The retail package also contains a bonus 100 RTW points towards your next purchases.

Players will be able to top up their action game time in several flexible ways, offering excellent value.

To learn more about the game check out www.apb.com

To learn more about payment see www.apb.com/faq

In addition to the full game, players who pre-order via APB.com receive the following great in-game bonuses:

    * As an APB VIP, you get access days before the rest of the world
    * A bonus 10 hours of game time!
    * Your own key to the city, allowing access to the pre-launch event
    * Exclusive clothing options (for both Enforcer and Criminal characters)
    * An exclusive Decal
    * Two exclusive Emotes
    * An exclusive, customised vehicle

[Tbone]

I was really hoping there would just be micro transactions for further customization, not a subscription/play time model. $7 for 20 h rs gets pricey fast. If you play two hours a day, that's 14 hours a week. That's 58 hrs a month which is $21/mo. If you plan on playing an hour a day or more, you might as well cough up the $10/mo plan, which feels like a lot for a game that plays more like an FPS than an MMO. I hate having limits on my time, always having to manage everything.

What do you guys think? Plan on preordering? Gonna buy an unlimited package or pay as you go?

[Tecknik]

From the time I've spent in the beta, I'd say the game needs some work.  Granted, that's why it's still in beta.

If gameplay gets smoother for me, and more than a handful of us are going to get into, I'll probably pre-order.  Pay the $50 for the game and 50 play hours, and then go from there as needed.

[Manic Velocity]

Once your game time is up, you have flexibility to top up your action game time from as little as $6.99 (£5.59, €6.29) for an additional 20 hours, while more frequent players can switch to a 30-day unlimited package for only $9.99 (£7.99, €8.99) with discounts available for 90 and 180 days.

The retail package also contains a bonus 100 RTW points towards your next purchases.

An additional benefit to this evolutionary model is the ability for you to convert your own customisations and rewards to tradable products to give to friends or clan-mates or to place on the Marketplace to earn more RTW points (convertible to game time) or in-game cash. Check back later for more details

I would think this payment model would be a perfect fit for you, T, since you travel around so much and don't always have time to play.

I've noticed that under the standard MMO subscription model, I begin to feel guilty if I don't play for a week or more.  I feel like that subscription fee is wasted.  In this model, there's no real "buyer's remorse" if I begin to feel burnout.

With APB, I can purchase game-time a la carte based around my schedule.  And the 30 day unlimited play option is actually cheaper than a standard MMO.  By pre-ordering, you're getting 50 hours of "action time" from the start, plus an additional 100 RTW points that can be converted into extra game time.  50 hours by itself goes a long way in this game as everything is so fast-paced.

Plus, with unlimited access to the social district, you can spend time designing and selling things to other players for RTW points to convert to game time.  Buying game time is not required.  You can essentially earn your game time by playing the game.  

I love the model.  I will definitely be pre-ordering.  I'll buy 20 hours after the initial 50 is up and see how that fits with my schedule.  If I need more, I'll just shell out the $10 for the month-to-month unlimited option.

[Anamodiel]

The pricing model is definitely different. However, it feels like they're punishing the people who want to play this game hardcore. I remember when Crimecraft was in beta; I played that game for HOURS upon hours. Tbone and Jeyk will remember that.

And the I don't know if I can justify paying $10 a month for a game that's basically an FPS, but doesn't even have hit detection (among other things).

I'm reserving judgment until we get closer to release to see how well they do in addressing issues. I'm currently having a ton of fun in Battlefield. I'll see how I'm doing in early June.

[Lithium]

I find it funny most people have no issues paying $10-$20 a month for a bunch of lousy 200-byte text messages yet you have issues justifying $10 for a game or for some of you even purchasing a game legally.

[Tbone]

More information:

http://na.beta.apb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16855

There's a whole sub forum now on their business model. Trading items in game costs money. Depending on the item, it will either cost in-game currency or RTW points (points bought with cash). It sounds like a lot of money management.

So to pay for anything (game time, monthly subscriptions, etc.), you have to buy RTW points. If you want to purchase or trade pretty much any customized item in the game, you will need to purchase additional RTW points to do that. I'm a little worried, but maybe I'm looking at it incorrectly. Here are the numbers:

"Can I create items and sell them to other players?

Yes. However, selling your creations to other players incurs a small RTW Points fee. This process is called Manufacturing a customized item.

The following Manufacturing costs will be present at release:

Item Type (MFG cost in RTW points)

All vehicles (10)

Clothing - Major (head, torso, legs) (5)

Clothing - Minor (accessories, underwear, and footwear) (2)

Theme / Song (2)

Symbol (2)"

So let's say I make an FA symbol and want to give it to our guild of 30 people. Apparently I have to pay 60 RTW points to do that. If I make an adjustment to the symbol and want to send everyone a new copy, that's going to be a new 60 RTW points. You see how it adds up very quickly.

What I'm hoping is that there is a difference between selling an item and mailing an item, however they call the process "Manufacturing". Manufacturing an item, right now anyway, is required in order to trade or make copies to trade any item. This is BEFORE putting it on the marketplace, which would imply that it includes mailing items directly as well.

I'm just worried about the game's currency being based on cash and not the stuff you get for playing the game. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong...

[Tbone]

Well, it's official: http://na.beta.apb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16857

If you have a decent-size clan and want everyone to have the same custom uniform, it could potentially cost you hundreds of dollars. Ouch...

For instance, if you actually have 150 people in your guild and have a custom uniform, that's about 25 RTW points per person. To get just one copy of your uniform out to everybody, it would cost $93.75. Each time you make a new theme song you wanna share or an edited decal/symbol, that's another 300 RTW points (about $8) to send that out.

Manufacturing costs should totally be in-game currency unless the item was purchased with RTW points.

[Manic Velocity]

I think it works like this, but I could be wrong.  It's hard to tell based on the mod's vague responses:

- You make a symbol to be placed on clothing.  This symbol costs nothing to create, except your own personal time.

- The manufacturing cost of that symbol is 2 RTWP, but you can trade/email (not sell) as many copies as you want once it's manufactured.  (Not exactly sure about this.  I can't imagine it costing 2 points for every... single... copy. That is unreasonable.)

- Selling the symbol on the marketplace will cost an additional RTWP fee on top of the manufacturing fee, but these costs can be recouped by your selling price.

I wasn't aware of these "manufacturing costs", which does irk me a bit.  With the extreme emphasis they've placed on customization, it's unsporting of them to charge extra for it on top of the cost of the game + cost of game time.  Sure, access to the social district is free, but taking advantage of what the social district offers could end up costing you.

Now I'm torn, goddamnit.  :\

[Anamodiel]

You realize that a custom clan outfit, like the one of the Nightstalkers is 11 items, right? Not only do we not have enough locker space, but it costs 220 RTW points per uniform. Each clothing item is around 20 points... The customization is the main thing this game has going for it, but in order to use it, you're forcing players to pay extra? That just boggles my mind.

220x15 clan members means that you would need about $85 to create a uniform for every member of the faction, on top of the $50 initial charge for the game and the $10 a month for unlimited playtime.

No, thank you.

Furthermore, I recall many promises by RTW that there would be NO SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175575
http://www.incgamers.com/Games/1926/News/18021/no-monthly-fee-for-apb

I don't feel the need to support a company that flat-out lies like this.

[Jeyk]

Ehhh....heh.  I hope they tweak that.  

So how about that Star Wars?

[Tbone]

Ehhh....heh.  I hope they tweak that.  

So how about that Star Wars?

Still a year away...

Each item of clothing isn't 20 points. A vehicle is 10. Main clothing is 5. Accessory type stuff is 2. So a basic uniform would be about 25 points total for the whole thing. Still, though, it adds up fast.

Jeyk sent me 5 different versions of our FA logo just as an example. So it would have cost him 25 cents just to show ME the logos.

I don't mind paying a little bit per month, but they need to make up their mind. Either charge to play the game or do micro-transactions, but to do BOTH is highway robbery. You're basically paying twice over for the same game. I pay $10/mo to play in the action district and then pay at least that much in micro transactions to do social district stuff.

And it irks me that they were weasels about the subscription price. TECHNICALLY there is no subscription or pay-for-time needed to play "the game", if you consider "the game" to be getting into the social district. So they can say they didn't lie as you can run around and look at trophies and change the color of your shirt all you want at no additional cost past the cost of the game.

There seem to be a lot of people upset at this pricing model, especially the manufacturing costs, so we'll see how it works out.

[Ragnarok]

I don't know if this has been posted yet if so oh well.http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView/videos/gameID/358/videoId/1703

[Balance]

Considering that most games are wanting $15 per month now, the $10 per month unlimited subscription sounds pretty good.  Im curious though as to exactly how much I'd be stuck using those additional services and stuff that'd cost extra.

[Tbone]

I think it's the fact that even if I spend the money on 180 days unlimited, I still get no RTW points and will continue to have to purchase RTW to trade/sell/breathe, most likely.

So for 3 months of playing the game, I'll have to pay $50 for the game, $30 for game time, and $20 for enough RTW to buy things off the marketplace, probably more if I'm trading around clan items. I'm not saying I can't be persuaded to do it if everyone is onboard, but I just really really hate trying to manage RL money in a fucking game. In-game currency should be used on the marketplace and for manufacturing.