Tabula Rasa, now with no FUN!

[Venkman]

LoS is overblown in TR. You see and can hit or you can't see and can't hit.

Actually that's not true. See above.

Good point. And I had thought mobs did try and use cover to their advantage. Some definitely were at some point in beta, at least in Divide, or maybe it was them just accidentally taking cover by sidestepping out of the way (their rudimentary avoidance). But that was long ago and it was far away and it was so much better than it is today.

Wake me up when merely competent games deserve funding and marketing like this one got.

"Deserve" and "got" unfortunately rarely align ;)

[Ghambit]

LoS is overblown in TR. You see and can hit or you can't see and can't hit.

Actually that's not true. See above.

Good point. And I had thought mobs did try and use cover to their advantage. Some definitely were at some point in beta, at least in Divide, or maybe it was them just accidentally taking cover by sidestepping out of the way (their rudimentary avoidance). But that was long ago and it was far away and it was so much better than it is today.

Wake me up when merely competent games deserve funding and marketing like this one got.

"Deserve" and "got" unfortunately rarely align ;)

I recall mobs using cover as well as flanking.  These were elements supposedly coded into the AI .  It's doesnt happen as often as it should, but it does happen.

And I renig my "revolutionary" statement...  but I'm not renigging the "unique" statement. 

[schild]

but I'm not renigging the "unique" statement.

You're still wrong and fucking crazy.

[shiznitz]

R-e-n-e-g-e, not renigg.

[Oban]

Renigg ::   To replace an employee, or to rehire.

Tycoon done quit de Chicken Shack . Looks like you gone have to renigg . Need one mo mofo das fo sho .

[shiznitz]

No results found for renigg. - dictionary.com

[Salamok]

No results found for renigg. - dictionary.com

Thats okay Oban has made up his own not quite politically correct definition.

[Ghambit]

<sniffle>
you guys are MEANIES!   

[Kaa]

The Nigg Stone is an incomplete Class II Pictish cross-slab

So I am guessing that to renigg means to make someone an incomplete cross-slab once again.

Kaa

[Oban]

No results found for renigg. - dictionary.com

Thats okay Oban has made up his own not quite politically correct definition.

Actually...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=renigg

[Salamok]

And I renig my "revolutionary" statement...  but I'm not renigging the "unique" statement. 

hmm using the Oban definition:

Renigg ::   To replace an employee, or to rehire.

It seems to say that Ghambit is not going to back up the Unique statement with any additional resources.  So in essence he isn't going to back it up, in which case he is really agreeing with Schild, making the following statement the one that makes no sense:

but I'm not renigging the "unique" statement.

You're still wrong and fucking crazy.

you dig?

edit: damn this is hard to follow.  Schild's statement does actually still make some sense in light of the fact that Ghambit is renigging his revolutionary statement, so he will stand by it and back it up with further reinforcements in the form of additional personnel.  It just isn't valid in the way Schild intended.

[Oban]

[Salamok]

Oh yes isn't it about time for TR to be moved to the games that don't matter section?

[Ghambit]

hmmm... i might as well go along with this:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=renig

Most of these are pretty racial in orientation.  Yes, I am african-american (at least partly)... and, I used to play a lot of Spades 

[Salamok]

I was actually suspicious that Oban might have slipped this one into the dictionary so I went and checked.  Date Added: Aug 25th of 2007, man that is cutting it close this logic of this entire argument would have had an entirely different outcome 2 months ago.

[Signe]

I was actually suspicious that Oban might have slipped this one into the dictionary so I went and checked.  Date Added: Aug 25th of 2007, man that is cutting it close this logic of this entire argument would have had an entirely different outcome 2 months ago.

Oban wouldn't do that!  He's not dishonest devious that clever.

[cmlancas]

Just so we're clear:

renege: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=renege

No racial connotations there when you spell it right, for Christ's sake.

Fucking illiterates make my eyes spew blood.

[Signe]

Anyone who plays pinochle would know this.

[Hoax]

For the thousandth time, the thread about a MMO on f13.net is twice as fun to play in as the MMO itself.

Fucking worthless medium.

[d4rkj3di]

This thing is going to make a nice Auto-Assault sized crater when it launches. The only thing it has going for it is the "clone my character so I don't have to re-grind hours of mind numbing content" system. Other than that, it is just another NCsoft game that has a hellish fucking eye-bleeding Korean grind driving it.

"But, but, it's fun up to around Level 25". So is City of Herillains. Just like fucking a Korean whore is fun until the burning pee starts. That's a different kind of eye-bleeding Korean grind.

[Trippy]

This thing is going to make a nice Auto-Assault sized crater when it launches. The only thing it has going for it is the "clone my character so I don't have to re-grind hours of mind numbing content" system. Other than that, it is just another NCsoft game that has a hellish fucking eye-bleeding Korean grind driving it.

If you play multiple characters to the level cap the cloning system saves you very little time percentage-wise if you do the math. It's another of the hyped features of TR that's incredibly poorly implemented. They also radically nerfed it during beta because they couldn't figure out how to fix their quest flagging system. It used to be you could clone whenever you wanted but they changed it so you only earn a clone credit at every "branch" point.

[Count Nerfedalot]

Range is also very important. Different weapons and effects have different effective ranges which also modify results on-the-fly. Rifles don’t do much dmg. close up. Shotguns don’t do much dmg. far away. All weapons have a MAX range where beyond they won’t work at all. Weapons also fire at different rates and their DOTs are NOT listed like in other games (you must figure this out by yourself). You may have a pistol that does less damage, but fires faster then that rifle. At effective range you might do more harm with that pistol. What this mechanic does is very subtle. It adds another layer of tactics in that it’s best to switch attacks based on range as the enemy advances. As a group you will want to set up your attack/defense based on where each person’s strengths lie. Put your snipers in the back, pistoleers in the front, etc.

Anybody else notice that little gem and have sudden flashbacks of attempts to rationalize things in SWG - like that rifles hurt peoples minds becuse, um, they do.

I'm not picking on you here, I'll even admit that in glancing through what you wrote it appears to be a reasonably detailed combat system. But it just grates on me when the come up with absolutely silly mechanic ideas in the name of balance. Are they magic bullets coming out of the rifles that get faster the farther they go? Maybe they're heatseeking bullets that need time to zero in on the enemy's ass?

wait, what? 

If I shoot you with an AK-47 while you are in the same room I do less damage than if I back up a ways and try it??  Or it's easier to hit you the farther away you are?  Or you have a prayer of keeping a machine-pistol in full-auto on target?  wtf?  If you are within arms' reach AND moving or actively trying to grab or deflect my weapon, then I'll grant that a pistol (or knife!) is better than a rifle at that range.  Beyond 3 feet not bloody likely, and beyond 10' no way.  Pistols are popular for one reason, and one reason only.  They're small.  Small enough to holster out of your way, small enough to not burden you, small enough to conceal, small enough to not do more damage to you than your target if you fire it while your body is contorted into some strange configuration, etc.  For anything else beyond point blank range, if you didn't have to carry the blasted thing everywhere a long-arm would always be better.

And please don't tell me that the combat is balanced such that the guy with a vibro-knife or whatever has an even chance against the guy with an assault rifle starting from normal encounter range, unless normal encounter range is less than 10 feet.

Gah, visions of yet another MMOG's ranged combat totally crapified in the name of balance.

*edited to include quote of ancient post about what the hell I was ranting at

[Trippy]

Use the Quote button.

[Ratman_tf]

And please don't tell me that the combat is balanced such that the guy with a vibro-knife or whatever has an even chance against the guy with an assault rifle starting from normal encounter range, unless normal encounter range is less than 10 feet.

Gah, visions of yet another MMOG's ranged combat totally crapified in the name of balance.

*edited to include quote of ancient post about what the hell I was ranting at

Dude. If you stab someone with a sharp hunk of steel, you rip tissues and puncture organs. You don't do X amount of some imaginary "Hit Points".

ALL video games have abstract combat mechanics.

[Miasma]

A question I thought I'd ask here instead of the HGL thread, how is the crafting coming along?  I logged in recently and saw a bunch of tradeskill slots in the skill system but there was no indication of how they worked.  Is there some way to level up doing crafting or do you have to level a character up to fifty in combat, gimping him the whole time by using the points for tradeskills?

Also is there any point in crafting in tabula rasa or is it just a poorly tacked on afterthought.  Is there an auction house somewhere?

[Der Helm]

  Or you have a prayer of keeping a machine-pistol in full-auto on target? 

Nitpicking here.

Actually, (good) MPs are very accurate, even on full auto. For the whole 3-4 seconds (if that) it might take to empty the clip.

[Mrbloodworth]

A letter from Richard “General British” Garriott:

Attention All AFS Recruits,

General British here. It’s a very exciting time for everyone here on the Tabula Rasa Dev Team as we approach launch, and I wanted to extend a personal thank you for playing in the Tabula Rasa beta. Your feedback has been essential in molding Tabula Rasa into the game it is today. Many changes have been made to the game over the past weeks, so those of you who haven’t played in a while might want to dust off your AFS issue rifle and head into the field for the last few days of beta testing. We will be having our End of Beta Event on Friday, October 26, 2007 starting at 10 pm CST and I challenge each and every one of you to get in game and try to “Kill General British”. The event will end at midnight CST and our servers will be brought down to prepare for release. Everyone who participates in the End of Beta event will receive a special emote in November to thank you for all you have done to make Tabula Rasa great.

For those of you who have already purchased the preorder bonus pack for Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, we look forward to seeing you back in game on October 30, 2007 for your three day head start. During this time, all players who log in with their preorder account will be able to participate in our Halloween event on October 31st. At that time, you will be able to run special Halloween missions and receive exclusive Halloween masks and a “Trick or Treat” Emote as a treat from the Dev Team. If you haven’t purchased your Tabula Rasa Pre-order, you can still get one at your local game store or via the PlayNC.com store.

The development team is happy to announce some exciting ongoing improvements are on the horizon for Tabula Rasa. In the upcoming months, new content will be released in updates that we are calling “Operations”. Some of the things players can look forward to in these Operations are the addition of Military Surplus (Tabula Rasa’s Auction House), Personal Armor Units (vehicles of a sort), enhancements to Tabula Rasa’s PvP system, and the results of top secret AFS genetic engineering efforts with the addition of playable hybrid races to the game.

I hope to see all of you in game in the days leading up the End of Beta Event and look forward to fighting alongside you on the 30th, when the servers come back up for the Pre-order head start. And on November 2, 2007 when Tabula Rasa goes live, we will have a clean slate, and a chance to battle the Bane together and re-write the future of mankind.

*Salutes*

Richard “General British” Garriott

I have highlighted the parts i find interesting.

[Ratman_tf]

A question I thought I'd ask here instead of the HGL thread, how is the crafting coming along?  I logged in recently and saw a bunch of tradeskill slots in the skill system but there was no indication of how they worked.  Is there some way to level up doing crafting or do you have to level a character up to fifty in combat, gimping him the whole time by using the points for tradeskills?

Also is there any point in crafting in tabula rasa or is it just a poorly tacked on afterthought.  Is there an auction house somewhere?

As of the last time I played, most of crafting involves stripping the powers from your weapons and attaching them to other weapons.

You don't have to gimp your character to do trades, but you do have to invest in the tradeskills. This could take points from your combat abilities, I guess.

There is a building they added called the "Military Surplus" store. When I checked it out, it was the standard crafting station setup. No sign of vendors or aucton anything.

[Rendakor]

So vehicles, other races and the AH are coming Soon(tm)? I wonder which "Operation" will include the fun?

[WindupAtheist]

Oh yes isn't it about time for TR to be moved to the games that don't matter section?

Yeah.  This is one of those games that's neither awesome, nor a trainwreck.  It's just depressingly mediocre and boring to read about.

[raydeen]

So vehicles, other races and the AH are coming Soon(tm)? I wonder which "Operation" will include the fun?

The Uninstaller is loads of fun. It was the highlight of my beta experience.

[shiznitz]

Races? How much can a dev house not get it? Infinitely.

[BigBlack]

So, let me get this straight.  Each 'race' will most likely be geared towards being the best at a certain 'class', and all the people currently playing that class with the generic race will essentially be inferior forever unless they reroll?

Isn't that usually how this plays out?

[Rendakor]

So, let me get this straight.  Each 'race' will most likely be geared towards being the best at a certain 'class', and all the people currently playing that class with the generic race will essentially be inferior forever unless they reroll?

Isn't that usually how this plays out?

Maybe they'll let you change race in game, as an extention of the cloning system...

[Sky]

f13: we love to hate.

I was pushing for playable races when I actually cared to give input back in alpha. In particular, the Foreans are a cool race and I really wanted to play as one.