With the week beginning and ending in a flurry of updates it seemed only right we at the Buzz cover the potential impact, possible flaws and general populations’ opinions on these recent changes. The updates seen this week range in size and impact on the game but it can do nothing but please the users of Bootleggers to see the game moving forward and improving in this positive manner. Some of the key updates that we will focus on in this article will be; Suicide, Countdown Timers, Redesign of several in-game pages, Top Busters and also the Points to cash changes.
We start our coverage with the re-introduction of the Suicide feature. Earlier rounds of mod-kills and asking your friends a favour seem far behind now with this shiny new feature meeting our Kill page. Requiring only the user to be in possession of a gun and a single bullet to fire at themselves, it’s a quick fix for anyone wanting an easy way out. We stole a word with Sky to see what he had to say about this update, with some questioning the need for one bullet and a gun when previously this feature only required the use of five hundred dollars. When asked, he said, “Mostly it's realism. The prevailing idea was that it shouldn't be a separate feature, it should be the same as killing someone else. That's why you need (at least) 1 bullet and a gun.” Going on to say, “I understand that for some it seems counter-intuitive to ask players to spend effort trying to throw away their account but the 57 points of strength needed to get the first gun isn't that unreasonable in my eyes.” This response coming after some comments were made questioning the need for a gun and at least one bullet, when the feature previously only required five hundred dollars.
The second feature we focus our attention upon is the new Countdown Timers. With everyone being given the luxury of using this new feature for the first seven days following release, the feedback has been nothing but positive so far. Following this freebie period the feature will be available for purchase from the points page allowing two options for both short and long term usage. This feature has been met with open arms by most users. We spoke to PerthV2, an active jail buster and forum user, who said, “I really like the timers and the fact it's not free is also good. Because then you have the ability to actually chose if you want them there or not. I really don't find one hundred points to have it for ever on your account that much. Plus the fact you can click on them makes it even better. Also a reason to like it, is that clicks will be saved, therefore less captcha.” This reaction seems to sum up the majority of feedback heard on the timers, with most users finding it both useful and priced reasonably.
The recent band of updates also saw the aesthetic reconstruction of the Statistics and Travel pages. The condensing and remodelling of the Statistics page can bring no harm as users now find it easier to navigate to Crew pages as well as it being easier to decipher and obtain statistical based information from the page. It includes no new facts and figures but does however improve the increasing user-friendly nature being run throughout the game. The updates to the travel page see a much larger change, with a scale map being introduced in order to travel, which if nothing else will help the average user with their knowledge of state locations through the US. Further to the map, we see statistical information available to users about the State they are visiting, including how many times you have visited and a count on all campaign based actions in the past twenty-four hours. The only criticism has been the extremely small size of the New Jersey state on the Train Station map, which appears to only be available to the sober player!
The next and potentially most controversial update that took our interest was the overhaul of the Jail page. Busting and forum parties associated with this are seen as one of the most social and interactive parts of the game with users able to put their skills to the test of battles of busting while socializing through forums and bootmails. The decision therefore to update the page, continuing with the user-friendly theme that we have seen set of late is one that cannot be faulted. However this page overhaul also came with the introduction of the 'Top Busters' lists, which allow users to view the top ten current busters both alive and of all time. This list raised concerns within the busting community, as lists within the game have a tendency to result in the shooting of those who appear on them. With this feature only just being released it will be a case of only time will tell if this proves to be the case. We took the time to have a chat with current number one alive buster on the list, Westfalia, to see what he made of the update. He left us in no doubt as to his opinion of the update saying, “I definitely think that being on the list is not a good thing when I first saw it I was outraged as it is like putting a target on my head.” Going on to say, “A lot have people have said they don't like the new update and if I was to get killed in the next few days then rest assured I will be filling a complaint!” It remains to be seen whether the list of top ten busters will prove to be more of a hindrance than an achievement, however it is clear not all are in favour of it. General reaction to the revamp of the jail page has been positive, however some areas may of disclosed to much information in the opinion of many. We did steal a word with Sky on this feedback to which he responded, “If it's shown that the table is being used to pick off users for reasons other than busting superiority, then it's something we'll consider removing.” Perhaps this can calm the nerves of some of Bootleggers finest busters!
The final addition this week is the change to the cash exchange option in the Points section. This exchange has varied throughout time, from ten thousand dollars for your ten points and rising from that in recent rounds. It has now been set in a way that the exchange rate for ten points will be seventy percent of the current price per point. Therefore if points were for example ten thousand per point the value offered for an exchange on ten points would be seventy thousand. This is seen as more of a convenience update for use when a user has recently died or just needs a quick cash injection without the hassle of creating topics and achieving a full selling price. It also increasing the allure of buying a small amounts of points and then exchanging them instantly which can be appealing to newer players. So all in all, an update which attracts no bad press and would generally be considered a crowd pleaser.
So as another week draws to a close, the Bootleggers users are left pleased with updates that have come. Expectations have been met and in some cases exceeded when it comes to staff commitment in this area, and it leaves a sweet taste in the mouth for the future forecast updates and what they could bring. It is yet to be seen whether updates such as these will have users returning to the game and the average users online increasing, but with a revamped statistics page, at least the information is easy to find!
