Tabula Rasa, now with no FUN!

[Ghambit]

Just get the damned end-game in place dangit!  And with that end-game should come all the frilly stuff we love like interactable taverns, housing, yada yada.

End games have always been disappointing to me, and the mediocraty of Tabula Rasa leads me to believe that it's end game will be more of the same. And so not worth it.

If endgames are always disappointing, then you prefer an endless level grind? 

Personally, I'm a hater of the whole skill-lvl system entirely... so any ENDgame is a welcomed respite.

[Ratman_tf]

Just get the damned end-game in place dangit!  And with that end-game should come all the frilly stuff we love like interactable taverns, housing, yada yada.

End games have always been disappointing to me, and the mediocraty of Tabula Rasa leads me to believe that it's end game will be more of the same. And so not worth it.

If endgames are always disappointing, then you prefer an endless level grind? 

Personally, I'm a hater of the whole skill-lvl system entirely... so any ENDgame is a welcomed respite.

I like to just do shit.

 Levels and grinding and crap bother the fuck out of me. If (for example) WoW is about raiding, then let us raid at level 1, or start at level 70. It doesn't take months for someone to learn their class, and they certainly won't be learning how to raid by soloing content.

 I like subgames. Like treasure hunting in old UO, or making shit up like hunting rare spawns with my Hunter in WoW. Taming creatures in SWG or exploring in Eve. More stuff like that plz.

[Kageru]

At the moment they're busy monkey'ing with the mechanics. They're pretty much re-designing the bio line, in a particularly haphazard way, and adding a lot of expensive consumables which suggests they have a desperate need for a money sink. They've added higher value to rare items and some level 50 content, which are probably connected.

It's about average for a MMORPG, half-baked and no new answers to the question of how to keep people engaged. Just like CoH I'll play it till the grind sets in and then move on.

[Rendakor]

Free trials are up on MMORPG.com if anyone wants to torture themselves a bit:
http://www.mmorpg.com/freetrials/tabularasa_trial.cfm?bhcp=1

[SnakeCharmer]

At the moment they're busy monkey'ing with the mechanics.

Do you mean mechanics across the board (gameplay, UI, etc) or just what you followed up with:

They're pretty much re-designing the bio line, in a particularly haphazard way, and adding a lot of expensive consumables which suggests they have a desperate need for a money sink. They've added higher value to rare items and some level 50 content, which are probably connected.

Fixed. 

[Ratman_tf]

Free trials are up on MMORPG.com if anyone wants to torture themselves a bit:
http://www.mmorpg.com/freetrials/tabularasa_trial.cfm?bhcp=1

I did. I also picked up Guitar Hero III this weekend. Guess which game is winning so far? 

[geldonyetich2]

Hey now, that's not fair, it's hard to find another game that can beat Guitar Hero. 

[Kageru]

The lure of guitar hero will escape me forever I think.

I must say the developers are having an amazing run of pissing off their user base. I don't think I've seen such a half-arsed presentation of broken patches and random nerfing in any other MMORPG. Each class only has a handful of actually useful abilities (+ firearms) but they still can't balance it. They could probably also write an essay on why multi-stage quests must be tolerant of the players not doing what you expect them too given how many of their quests can wedge the players.

It's still somewhat fun, because shooting stuff in a sci-fi setting is something a little new, but the game remains shallow and I doubt they're getting impressive / sufficient sub numbers.

[BigBlack]

Desperation alert: Topless pics of the red-haired Tabula Rasa main girl (forget her name) in the December playboy.

[tmp]

Desperation alert: Topless pics of the red-haired Tabula Rasa main girl (forget her name) in the December playboy.

Desperation or not, this kind of advertising i could get behind... 

[Ratman_tf]

Desperation alert: Topless pics of the red-haired Tabula Rasa main girl (forget her name) in the December playboy.

Seen it.  She's about as hot as a realdoll. (Which could be good, if a person was into that stuff...)

[tmp]

Seen it.  She's about as hot as a realdoll. (Which could be good, if a person was into that stuff...)

Wtf. First they take MMOFPS and make it no fun, now they manage to take the sex-appeal out of naked redhead?

[Tannhauser]

Is there nothing Tabula Rasa can't suck the life out of? 

[BigBlack]

Agreed. Talking more generally, the playboy girls of gaming issue is an anachronism in the age of Rule 34 anyhow. Either way, i'm sure the women on Garriot's dev team are ecstatic.

[Ratman_tf]

At least Fironia Vie was jerf-offable, when KP painted her.

[caladein]

In a completely different vein... I just noticed that Amazon has TR for $25. The CE is also at $30, which is a little crazy to be honest.

[Tannhauser]

I tried to download the 3 day free trial and my computer barfed.  No dice.  Apparently my computer has more sense than I.

[Surlyboi]

I tried to download the 3 day free trial and my computer barfed.  No dice.  Apparently my computer has more sense than I.

It won't let you play because it's seen the C-Beams glitter by your gate.

All those… moments will be lost… in time… like… tears… in rain.

[Morfiend]

I downloaded the 3 day trial. I am enjoying myself so far. I seem to die a lot, and I'm only level 10 or so. So I might consider buying this. If there is anyone playing that wants to group up, that would be cool, I need some friends. I am currently playing on Orion as Vaunt.

[Tale]

I downloaded the 3 day trial. I am enjoying myself so far. I seem to die a lot, and I'm only level 10 or so. So I might consider buying this. If there is anyone playing that wants to group up, that would be cool, I need some friends. I am currently playing on Orion as Vaunt.

The noob areas have gotten significantly tougher than they were in beta. I like the way they did it. I've restarted on Orion as "Tale", low level so far but playing Aussie hours so might be hard to find.

(edit - edited my in-game name as I'm actually called Tale now)

[Tale]

It's bound to wear off sometime, but I'm still playing this (casually) and having fun. I would like to see this game do an Eve and develop more depth and a bigger following over time.

They have just released a huge list of changes/fixes being tested on the Test server: clicky link

[Morfiend]

I'm still playing. I really like it. Name is Vaunt on Orion server if anyone cares.

[Lt.Dan]

I'm playing.  It's ok but I can see the end in sight.  And no, that's not the end game.

Oh, with the array of MMOs around they choose to steal the friend and /who system from London Hellgate.  Dicks.

[Tale]

The expansion pack (Operation 1) has been cancelled. The official spin is that they have decided on a new approach to content, where they expand the game all the time instead of releasing an expansion ... cough.

New Approach for New Content

A common practice that many game developers use when releasing new content is to schedule fairly large expansions spread out every 3+ months. After these expansions are released, developers spend the next several weeks fixing any issues found or making the final tweaks with the release build, and then start working on the next expansion schedule to be released months down the line. For many game developers this may mean sitting on finished content for months before it is compiled with an expansion and released to players. For the players, it means getting a lot of new content at once, experiencing this content, and anxiously awaiting the next expansion.

The Destination Games Staff has decided that the best plan of action is to not have large expansions, but instead, smaller builds with new content that would be given to players on a more frequent basis. The ultimate goal would be to have a feeling that the game is ever evolving and allow us to give new content and improvements on existing content when it is done, and not make you wait several months. As a result of this change, there will be no giant "Operations". All of the "Operation" content plans are still there and those features will be released when they are finished instead of waiting for expansion opportunities.

What does this mean for you? Regular content updates on a regular schedule.

[Venkman]

Regular content updates on a regular schedule.

With this approach, they get to tell you what is content

Give it 18 months though. There'll be some site somewhere that lists all of the content and stacks it up against all of the other content from other games (like the EQ2 vs WoW comparisons that crop up... EQ2 wins hands down).

[Ghambit]

hmmph... i've been playing this on the PTS and all it really amounts to is Hybrid Races and no PAUs... i.e. they arent ready yet.  PAUs were supposed to be in the 1st Operation, but I guess they have more work to do.

[tmp]

Regular content updates on a regular schedule.

Regularly.

[Tale]

The spin seems to have worked flawlessly. Nobody else seems to have noticed that they're saying Tabula Rasa will never have an expansion pack because not enough people bought the game. From various forums:

I'm really loving the frequent content idea.

One of the best Feedback Fridays I've seen. All good news IMO.

The current patch is just a bit too big to be a normal patch.  Thinking it would be more reasonable to call it half an operation.

I haven't the energy to register on forums and throw a spanner in.

[Modern Angel]

I have this inexplicable urge to try this out...

[Ragnoros]

MMORPGFGTWTFBBQ.COM is out of trials, but TR has a refer-a-friend similar to WOW.

So if anyone here is willing (and actually still playing) they could refer some peoples here. Like me. HINT. 

(Yeah I'm bored)

[UnSub]

The spin seems to have worked flawlessly. Nobody else seems to have noticed that they're saying Tabula Rasa will never have an expansion pack because not enough people bought the game. From various forums:

I'm really loving the frequent content idea.

One of the best Feedback Fridays I've seen. All good news IMO.

The current patch is just a bit too big to be a normal patch.  Thinking it would be more reasonable to call it half an operation.

I haven't the energy to register on forums and throw a spanner in.

The lack of a centralised forums appears to work wonders. If you have to be extra motivated to join a separate forums, then only those who really want to be part of the TR community will take that route. Genius (until they turn on you...).

[Venkman]

Exactly. They get to choose their sources of info. They get to choose who gets what messages (or an LCD message mirrored to all). And they get to claim whatever they want about whatever they want because they've got no centralized hub people can make claims about.

Win win for them.

[tmp]

I find it more interesting there's exactly zero comments (be it positive or negative) attached directly to that piece of news on the official game page. Even though it seems you don't need to register anywhere in order to post.

[Surlyboi]

I'll refer anyone that wants to be referred. Just let me know.

[Modern Angel]

Sure. Let me give this thing a referral spin if you could. Just PM me a code or can send to modrnangel AT gmailDOTcom