Please name one MMO that ever was completely ready at launch? Tell me one MMO that had "end game" at launch? Tell me one MMO that hasn't changed something in the game too fix bugs, or enhance gamming experience? I even dare you to say WoW, because fact is not even WoW was ready or had end game at launch.
Games rarely are, but that wasn't what ultimately let TR down; what let it down was simple math.
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
They have released an outline of what high level content is planned or currently in the works. This information has been out for a while, and they have been giving us occasional updates on the progress and direction of at least some of these things.
They have released an outline of what high level content is planned or currently in the works. This information has been out for a while, and they have been giving us occasional updates on the progress and direction of at least some of these things.
Yes, I looked over those nuggets back in January when they were posted. But let's look at them in terms of a level 50 player.
PAU's. Aimed at level 40+ they are explained as basically a "buff". Faster movement, more firepower, but not "high level content" as it'll likely just be a single purchase.
Command Opportunities. Aimed at level 50, they are explained as a method squad of NPCs, essentially becoming a squad commander, which sounds great in concept but I have to wonder how it'll play out when a squad of 6 players each with 5 or so "grunt" followers attack a room full of 30 Thrax. Even the best computers in the world might have a problem with displaying all that firepower at once. Then of course, we've zero information about this feature aside from this one paragraph. No timescales, no screenshots, no in-depth tactical information.
Flashpoints. The little information we have on this feature is confusing at best.
And finally Clan Warfare, a.k.a "biggest class wins". The whole concept just sounds a bit naff and weighted in favour of the ganksquads.
Actually the game is very much a success much like RG's predecessor UO
Apparently, losing millions of dollars is now the definition of "success"?
I sincerelt doubt that ANYMMO recoups their production cost in the first few months... I doubt that any of them even plan to do so.
Very few successful MMOs go from full price box game (~$40) to basement bargain firesale (<$10 on ebay) in the first few months.
Very few successful MMOs recoup so little of their production costs in the first few months (~$5M by NCsoft own financial statement). Oh .. and that $5M is total revenue before the incremental costs (support, servers, ...) are taken out.
Please name one MMO that ever was completely ready at launch? Tell me one MMO that had "end game" at launch? Tell me one MMO that hasn't changed something in the game too fix bugs, or enhance gamming experience? I even dare you to say WoW, because fact is not even WoW was ready or had end game at launch.
Games rarely are, but that wasn't what ultimately let TR down; what let it down was simple math.
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
They have released an outline of what high level content is planned or currently in the works. This information has been out for a while, and they have been giving us occasional updates on the progress and direction of at least some of these things.
LOL .. an outline that may or may not be realized is the best they can do?
While all MMORPGs see some updates, most decent ones usually ship with some, if not a majority, of high level content. EQ has high level content already available. WOW has many high level dungeons on day one.
TR is the only one trying to get by with an OUTLINE .... LOL.
Who cares? I don't get paid to look at their financial numbers. I took advantage of the deal, found out I enjoy the game and that is it. If they are in trouble with subs, money etc that is their job not mine.
As long as I find the game fun and enjoy it then they will continue to get my money. The time when I start to lose interest then I will unsub, simple as that.
So my point is, for 9.99 you can basically get one month for a lower price than the subscription rate to see if you enjoy the game. 9.99 is almost as cheap as going to movies and buying drinks.
Originally posted by Mistick Please name one MMO that ever was completely ready at launch? Tell me one MMO that had "end game" at launch? Tell me one MMO that hasn't changed something in the game too fix bugs, or enhance gamming experience? I even dare you to say WoW, because fact is not even WoW was ready or had end game at launch.
Mmm. Funny, I played WoW at launch, and this incredibly successful game was definitely ready at launch. You can rightly criticise it on a lot of grounds (and I really do), but this isn't one of them.
The only major screw-up they made was underestimating the game's popularity, with the result of sometimes severe server instability in the first couple of months. Less problematic, a few classes were a bit gimped in pvp, which they later fixed.
But a new player starting a character in WoW today will have the same experience a new player would have had at launch - barring the addition of the two new races. The only difference I have starting a new character now is the is the shift-click quest-tracking.
And... is it possible that one of the reasons for their incredible success might be that they were actually ready for launch when they launched?
As for showing an mmo that never changes anything - congratulations on deliberately missing my point.
Which is that the game should be playable and enjoyable at launch, and sticking with the biological metaphor, a complete organism as opposed to a half-developed foetus. Yes that organism will grow once it's out in the world. It will change with experience. But by defition, a foetus isn't sufficiently developed to survive in the world.... much like mmos that are launched prematurely.
I've said before in this thread that TR isn't the worst example of a premature launch. I think the OP has gone off the deep-end a bit. But TR does rightly deserve criticism on this score and the game will never be as successful as it might have been because of it.
Originally posted by Mistick Please name one MMO that ever was completely ready at launch? Tell me one MMO that had "end game" at launch? Tell me one MMO that hasn't changed something in the game too fix bugs, or enhance gamming experience? I even dare you to say WoW, because fact is not even WoW was ready or had end game at launch.
Mmm. Funny, I played WoW at launch, and this incredibly successful game was definitely ready at launch. You can rightly criticise it on a lot of grounds (and I really do), but this isn't one of them.
The only major screw-up they made was underestimating the game's popularity, with the result of sometimes severe server instability in the first couple of months. Less problematic, a few classes were a bit gimped in pvp, which they later fixed.
But a new player starting a character in WoW today will have the same experience a new player would have had at launch - barring the addition of the two new races. The only difference I have starting a new character now is the is the shift-click quest-tracking.
And... is it possible that one of the reasons for their incredible success might be that they were actually ready for launch when they launched?
As for showing an mmo that never changes anything - congratulations on deliberately missing my point.
Which is that the game should be playable and enjoyable at launch, and sticking with the biological metaphor, a complete organism as opposed to a half-developed foetus. Yes that organism will grow once it's out in the world. It will change with experience. But by defition, a foetus isn't sufficiently developed to survive in the world.... much like mmos that are launched prematurely.
I've said before in this thread that TR isn't the worst example of a premature launch. I think the OP has gone off the deep-end a bit. But TR does rightly deserve criticism on this score and the game will never be as successful as it might have been because of it.
That's a market reality.
You are wrong my friend. MC, and BWL wasn't finished at launch. Proves how much you thought you knew.
I don't think Tabula Rasa is garbage, but I do think it was released way to early (IE: SWG, Vanguard, etc..etc...)
I enjoyed it the 3 months I played it, but after that it got boring fast, its basically just a 3rd person shooter where you shoot the bad guys who keep spawning, not much of a story to follow or anything else to do, no guild halls or player cities....
Don't know if this stuff has been added but when I played there were no vehicles, crafting was a joke, there was no good grouping tools, and if you wanted to sell something you had to spam the chat channels as there were no auction houses....
If all I wanted to do was just shoot things I would go play a single player game that has better graphics and a story to follow... .
IMO I would give Tabula Rasa 6/10, that's based on my 3 month experience, maybe its gotten better since I played <shrug>
I think a lot of people were expecting this game to be more open ended with a lot more content in it being it was from Richard Garriott but instead we got a microwave burrito that was still frozen in the middle.. kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth...
First a bit of History, (I know you don't care.... ) I'm Deep Shadow, fourth official TR beta contest winner from CJ's first Stratics beta contest, and member of the TR's "oldest" clan The Rank and File (u haz been pwn'd).
I'm gonna say that I truly don't want TR to fail, I want it to clean up it's act. Most testers did their part from dayone submitting constant buglist, and I suggested features like Target Rangefinders and Grenades! No one wanted TR to release as a buggy, balanceless, run & gun borefest, with utterly broken classes and useless abilites, but it did. I put the blame on the Devs and the Suits who pushed them, but that's a different topic.
I left TR in Dec 07, popped back in MAR 08, and found the game expanded but still fundementally flawed, things like PAU's are still missing, DG keeps balancing and rebalancing the classes, crafting is a joke, teaming up is still as pointless as ever in most zones, and PvP is a non-option due to so many other balance and lack of content options.
My main point I guess, is that TR isn't what it was purposed as, shifting dynamic battlefields, completing missions that would aid future missions for both yourself and others are major concept points for TR, and they aren't in the game. Maybe just maybe, if they would balance the classes, add the truly dynamic and shifting battlefield, and reveal where they intend to take TR, the game would have a assured and clearly visible future.
My 2 and a half centz.
[RaF -4- EVER]
Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Some people wonder what happened.
You are wrong my friend. MC, and BWL wasn't finished at launch. Proves how much you thought you knew.
This is all you have to say?
Well, I'm sure everyone else reading my post understood what I was saying, but to make it a little clearer for you...
How many new players go into those instances?
Does the addition of late-game instances affect the new player experience?
My original point stands that WoW was ready for launch when it launched. Your "They added a few instances later, therefore they launched too soon" argument is entertaining but absurd.
TR is something I was in since Closed beta started on the sucker up until a couple months ago when I let my account lapse just to wait for it to update to where it had those PAUs lol
TR broke the SciFi mold though, it's about the only game I know of that's any good and has instant gratification rather than some OTHER gameVe that takes a year to do anything significant.
TR has in no way shape or form failed otherwise it'd be a withering dieing limb like AutoAssault was, However to the contrary I checked out rgtr.com JUST yesterday and looked at Server status for the servers and oh gee to my surprise unlike a couple months ago ALL the servers were at Medium.
Now just to inform you these aren't WoW servers that hold only 8 to 10k ppl Max no no these badboys can handle quite a bit more from what I was told when I asked the man himself. The TR servers are only 4 because they can contain around 400k on each server. So medium would equate to around 200k subs on the servers.
TR is also great in the fact the GMs are quite attentive to situations and handle them with grace albeit there were some in training a while back that were clueless and thought they were WoW GMs lol
TR also has no RAIDS of any sort so anything you want to accomplish can be done outside by yourself as there's really nothing to prevent you from soloing around ALOT, Or grab up some squadmates and hit an instance.
[snip]TR has in no way shape or form failed otherwise it'd be a withering dieing limb like AutoAssault was, However to the contrary I checked out rgtr.com JUST yesterday and looked at Server status for the servers and oh gee to my surprise unlike a couple months ago ALL the servers were at Medium. Now just to inform you these aren't WoW servers that hold only 8 to 10k ppl Max no no these badboys can handle quite a bit more from what I was told when I asked the man himself. The TR servers are only 4 because they can contain around 400k on each server. So medium would equate to around 200k subs on the servers.[/snip]
If I understand you correctly, you're saying that each server has 200k players - which means TR has 800k active players. While I'd like to think that's true, it's not. The game has around 175k total, which you can make out from their quarterly reports. I'm pretty sure even Auto Assault had that six months after release.
And while no one will be able to prove this, many people believe that the servers were rejiggered to receive a lower amount of players, so that they don't always read as "low". If you listen to their latest conference meeting, they say that they've only attracted 1/3 of the subscribers they expected... so if the servers are medium now, a lot players would be shit out of luck if they did hit their projections, huh?
The projections were also initially to add in a couple servers by now which as anyone can see is unnecessary
Again though I reinterate TR is not dieing nor is it on its last legs
Auto Assault died because it was a plant that was never watered and had a storyline that even a rogue scholar couldn't follow.
TR is not this way it receives constant updates and bug fixes and content comes when it works, you have to remember this is a SMALL team of developers not a huge corporation like those building WAR
Now if TR does somehow bite the dust before the end of the year feel free to flame me until I'm but a burnt shadow of a poster.
But for now let's not jump to conclusions about an NCSoft game, I mean face it NCSoft isn't exactly 100% Mainstream. Guild Wars wasn't overtly popular when it launched, I highly doubt many people gave Dungeon Runners a second look when it hit, and I'm sure the rest of their titles were sleeper hits.
Besides THIS TR is 100x better than the ORIGINAL concept TR which was rather freakish in its Sci-Fantasy themeing
Originally posted by GamerAeon TR broke the SciFi mold though, it's about the only game I know of that's any good and has instant gratification rather than some OTHER gameVe that takes a year to do anything significant.
I'd have to agree with the instant gratification. My impression from my first 15 minutes in the game was that I was really going to like it.
Wasn't until my mid-teens when I started to realise that most of the abilities for my class were essentially useless and certain other game mechanics were badly screwed up.
I agree... great 'out of the box' experience when I started my first character. But once I got through the early levels, I simply didn't like what I was playing. The game became less and less about delivering what the early levels seemed to promise.
Originally posted by Winterfresh And while no one will be able to prove this, many people believe that the servers were rejiggered to receive a lower amount of players, so that they don't always read as "low".
lol - those many people would be the ones who hate the game and cant understand why anyone else would play it.
I have been seeing more people running around in game, so I beleive the medium loads are true.
Totally disagree on the servers holding more than 10k people though.
The TR servers are 4 because there arent enough people playing to require more than 4 servers. When TR came out - the EU server was consistenly on HIGH and there was talk of a second server being setup for EU but that didnt happen.
Well, people who don't like TR probably think that it will set a bad example for future games or some other such nonsense. Some people just don't realize that developers aren't children and do their best to avoid bad situations and outcomes (even though it's not always possible, as is evident with TR's shaky launch).
To be honest, we trolls don't really have any valid ammunition to chuck at those who enjoy this game... I try my best to make it seem valid, but I know very well that my argument has no real point.
Really, we just expect you, those who enjoy TR, to take our opinions with a grain of salt, love it, and praise us as your saviors! Not too much to ask for...
To OP:
Posting opinions is fine and good and the occasional "personal attack" might be fun for a jolly chuckle or two if done correctly (which both you and I evidently fail at), but seriously calling somebody stupid or delusional for liking a work of art is not right, as it is a subjective matter. That's like saying all who listen to NIN are douche-bags and fuck-tards and should start listening to Mozart because you hate Trent Reznor. Pure arrogance.
Do it for laughs or not at all. Forum trolling is serious business, but cyber bullying is not acceptable.
Please name one MMO that ever was completely ready at launch? Tell me one MMO that had "end game" at launch? Tell me one MMO that hasn't changed something in the game too fix bugs, or enhance gamming experience? I even dare you to say WoW, because fact is not even WoW was ready or had end game at launch.
Games rarely are, but that wasn't what ultimately let TR down; what let it down was simple math.
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
I dont wish for any game to fail and i dont understand why anyone does. I may not wish to play a game, like TR, but i certainly dont want it to fail, failures are bad for the whole genre, not just the game that fails.
But anyway. The post above his the nail right on the head. A major problem with MMOs now is that it only takes a few weeks to get to max level in a game. MMOs are rarely (if ever) released with end game content in already, and that was not a problem when it took months if not a full year or more to reach max level. EQ, DAOC and FFXI were not released with end game material, but the Devs had plenty of time to build it and put it in before anyone reached end game. That is not the case today. Now you have games that take you a couple weeks to max out then you have nothing to do but reroll if you want to continue playing.
I wish we would get back to the days where the game was actually levels 1-50. It didnt matter how long it took to get to 50 because you were having fun and really doing something on the way there. Now it seems like 1-50 is just a quick learning area until you get to 50 and the real game starts.
But back to topic. I really hope TR does not fail. We need more niche type games coming out that break the mold of WoW. For everyone that fails it makes for another Dev to scared to try.
It took me a while to figure out what ti was exactly I didn't like about TR. When I played it, everything was there that should be there, but it was still missing something. I finally figured out what it was though, but it has different points to it.
Firstly, the Skill/Class progression was horrendous. Even the whole clonign idea didn't reslove this issue. Basically, the whole thing boiled down to every few levels, you have to decide what kind of equipment you want to use. When you break it down like this, you can plainly see the complete lack of depth. The kind of equipment you used, came hand in hand with what kind of skills you would have. Sure, you could opt between those available skillsets, but at the end of the day, they were so few, it didn't leave much room for diversity.
Now, for my second point, the first point wouldn't be so bad if you had other things to do besides blow crap up. This has to be my biggest gripe with ALL NCSoft games. They are completely lacking in the "things to do" department. There is nothing to do in TR but kill some crap, buy ammo, repair, and go kill some more. That's it. This lack of complexity (to me) is what killed TR. Coming from RG, I expected a lot more, straight out of the box. When will developers learn that when someone buys an MMO, and pays a monthly subscription, they want more than what they can find in any number of free to play, privately owned server based FPS's with the standard Capture the Flag and Search and Destroy gameplay? They want multiplayer involvement - which is what this game lacked BIG TIME!
People WANT to do things for other players. They WANT to be a part of their friends quest for glory, whether it be by becoming a Jedi, collecting loot/resources, seeking revenge for a lame PK, create guns and armor for their guild, have a place to commune with their friends, be involved with some sort of overarching struggle with another guild - they WANT this stuff, and that's what they expect from MMO's these days.
Your MMO has great combat? Cool! Can I do even half of the other things I mentioned right out of the box? No? Your MMO will fail at launch, no matter how polished it is, and no matter how many names you stamp on the box. Your MMO has FPS style combat? Cool! Do I get to play with my friends and have all out guild battles to show off my mad skillz? No? Your MMO will fail at launch.
On the flip side.... the whole "gather phat lewt" doesn't work anymore either. Yet one more aspect of MMO's WoW botched for the rest of the genre.
I dont wish for any game to fail and i dont understand why anyone does. I may not wish to play a game, like TR, but i certainly dont want it to fail, failures are bad for the whole genre, not just the game that fails.
I think this is an excellent point. Choice is a great thing, and the more mmos we have to choose from the better off we all are. It's good for the industry too to have lots of mmos doing different things - it contributes to refinement of each succession 'generation' of mmos.
The OP's hate filled, trash comments are a ripe example of the worst aspect of what the modern video game crowd is made of. It really makes me sick to think people can harbor such hate for something that does not effect them.
How the **** doesnt it affect YOU when you paid money for something that simply doesnt deliver ??!
Comments
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
They have released an outline of what high level content is planned or currently in the works. This information has been out for a while, and they have been giving us occasional updates on the progress and direction of at least some of these things.
-----Zero Punctuation Eve Online Review-----
PAU's. Aimed at level 40+ they are explained as basically a "buff". Faster movement, more firepower, but not "high level content" as it'll likely just be a single purchase.
Command Opportunities. Aimed at level 50, they are explained as a method squad of NPCs, essentially becoming a squad commander, which sounds great in concept but I have to wonder how it'll play out when a squad of 6 players each with 5 or so "grunt" followers attack a room full of 30 Thrax. Even the best computers in the world might have a problem with displaying all that firepower at once. Then of course, we've zero information about this feature aside from this one paragraph. No timescales, no screenshots, no in-depth tactical information.
Flashpoints. The little information we have on this feature is confusing at best.
And finally Clan Warfare, a.k.a "biggest class wins". The whole concept just sounds a bit naff and weighted in favour of the ganksquads.
Apparently, losing millions of dollars is now the definition of "success"?
I sincerelt doubt that ANYMMO recoups their production cost in the first few months... I doubt that any of them even plan to do so.
Very few successful MMOs go from full price box game (~$40) to basement bargain firesale (<$10 on ebay) in the first few months.
Very few successful MMOs recoup so little of their production costs in the first few months (~$5M by NCsoft own financial statement). Oh .. and that $5M is total revenue before the incremental costs (support, servers, ...) are taken out.
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
They have released an outline of what high level content is planned or currently in the works. This information has been out for a while, and they have been giving us occasional updates on the progress and direction of at least some of these things.
LOL .. an outline that may or may not be realized is the best they can do?
While all MMORPGs see some updates, most decent ones usually ship with some, if not a majority, of high level content. EQ has high level content already available. WOW has many high level dungeons on day one.
TR is the only one trying to get by with an OUTLINE .... LOL.
Who cares? I don't get paid to look at their financial numbers. I took advantage of the deal, found out I enjoy the game and that is it. If they are in trouble with subs, money etc that is their job not mine.
As long as I find the game fun and enjoy it then they will continue to get my money. The time when I start to lose interest then I will unsub, simple as that.
So my point is, for 9.99 you can basically get one month for a lower price than the subscription rate to see if you enjoy the game. 9.99 is almost as cheap as going to movies and buying drinks.
.. .... .- - . - .-. --- .-.. .-.. ... .-- .... --- .-. . .--. --- .-. - .-.-.-
--------------------------------------------------------
Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
Mmm. Funny, I played WoW at launch, and this incredibly successful game was definitely ready at launch. You can rightly criticise it on a lot of grounds (and I really do), but this isn't one of them.
The only major screw-up they made was underestimating the game's popularity, with the result of sometimes severe server instability in the first couple of months. Less problematic, a few classes were a bit gimped in pvp, which they later fixed.
But a new player starting a character in WoW today will have the same experience a new player would have had at launch - barring the addition of the two new races. The only difference I have starting a new character now is the is the shift-click quest-tracking.
And... is it possible that one of the reasons for their incredible success might be that they were actually ready for launch when they launched?
As for showing an mmo that never changes anything - congratulations on deliberately missing my point.
Which is that the game should be playable and enjoyable at launch, and sticking with the biological metaphor, a complete organism as opposed to a half-developed foetus. Yes that organism will grow once it's out in the world. It will change with experience. But by defition, a foetus isn't sufficiently developed to survive in the world.... much like mmos that are launched prematurely.
I've said before in this thread that TR isn't the worst example of a premature launch. I think the OP has gone off the deep-end a bit. But TR does rightly deserve criticism on this score and the game will never be as successful as it might have been because of it.
That's a market reality.
Too many testers being let in or Destination Games not being able to produce a finished product on time ?
Mmm. Funny, I played WoW at launch, and this incredibly successful game was definitely ready at launch. You can rightly criticise it on a lot of grounds (and I really do), but this isn't one of them.
The only major screw-up they made was underestimating the game's popularity, with the result of sometimes severe server instability in the first couple of months. Less problematic, a few classes were a bit gimped in pvp, which they later fixed.
But a new player starting a character in WoW today will have the same experience a new player would have had at launch - barring the addition of the two new races. The only difference I have starting a new character now is the is the shift-click quest-tracking.
And... is it possible that one of the reasons for their incredible success might be that they were actually ready for launch when they launched?
As for showing an mmo that never changes anything - congratulations on deliberately missing my point.
Which is that the game should be playable and enjoyable at launch, and sticking with the biological metaphor, a complete organism as opposed to a half-developed foetus. Yes that organism will grow once it's out in the world. It will change with experience. But by defition, a foetus isn't sufficiently developed to survive in the world.... much like mmos that are launched prematurely.
I've said before in this thread that TR isn't the worst example of a premature launch. I think the OP has gone off the deep-end a bit. But TR does rightly deserve criticism on this score and the game will never be as successful as it might have been because of it.
That's a market reality.
You are wrong my friend. MC, and BWL wasn't finished at launch. Proves how much you thought you knew.
I don't think Tabula Rasa is garbage, but I do think it was released way to early (IE: SWG, Vanguard, etc..etc...)
I enjoyed it the 3 months I played it, but after that it got boring fast, its basically just a 3rd person shooter where you shoot the bad guys who keep spawning, not much of a story to follow or anything else to do, no guild halls or player cities....
Don't know if this stuff has been added but when I played there were no vehicles, crafting was a joke, there was no good grouping tools, and if you wanted to sell something you had to spam the chat channels as there were no auction houses....
If all I wanted to do was just shoot things I would go play a single player game that has better graphics and a story to follow... .
IMO I would give Tabula Rasa 6/10, that's based on my 3 month experience, maybe its gotten better since I played <shrug>
I think a lot of people were expecting this game to be more open ended with a lot more content in it being it was from Richard Garriott but instead we got a microwave burrito that was still frozen in the middle.. kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth...
The game throws something new to the mix. It was fun while i played. It is much better then many mmorpgs out there and i hope it does well.
First a bit of History, (I know you don't care.... )
I'm Deep Shadow, fourth official TR beta contest winner from CJ's first Stratics beta contest, and member of the TR's "oldest" clan The Rank and File (u haz been pwn'd).
I'm gonna say that I truly don't want TR to fail, I want it to clean up it's act.
Most testers did their part from dayone submitting constant buglist, and I suggested features like Target Rangefinders and Grenades!
No one wanted TR to release as a buggy, balanceless, run & gun borefest, with utterly broken classes and useless abilites, but it did.
I put the blame on the Devs and the Suits who pushed them, but that's a different topic.
I left TR in Dec 07, popped back in MAR 08, and found the game expanded but still fundementally flawed, things like PAU's are still missing, DG keeps balancing and rebalancing the classes, crafting is a joke, teaming up is still as pointless as ever in most zones, and PvP is a non-option due to so many other balance and lack of content options.
My main point I guess, is that TR isn't what it was purposed as, shifting dynamic battlefields, completing missions that would aid future missions for both yourself and others are major concept points for TR, and they aren't in the game.
Maybe just maybe, if they would balance the classes, add the truly dynamic and shifting battlefield, and reveal where they intend to take TR, the game would have a assured and clearly visible future.
My 2 and a half centz.
[RaF -4- EVER]
Some people make things happen.
Some people watch things happen.
Some people wonder what happened.
This is all you have to say?
Well, I'm sure everyone else reading my post understood what I was saying, but to make it a little clearer for you...
How many new players go into those instances?
Does the addition of late-game instances affect the new player experience?
My original point stands that WoW was ready for launch when it launched. Your "They added a few instances later, therefore they launched too soon" argument is entertaining but absurd.
I used to be a big supporter of this game but now I couldn't care less.
1. There wasn't a single piece of repeatable high end content at release.
2. Six months later and.... there still isn't a single piece of repeatable high end content.
I've been a level 50 for four months. Wow, boring. If I wasn't a guild leader I would have unsubbed from this game back January.
Now I pay fifteen dollars a month to login once a week, tell everyone who got promoted, welcome new unit members, admin stuff, et cetera. Fun.
Hey dont hold back - tell us what you really think
Translation: stop playing so my prophecy of doom will come true.
TR is something I was in since Closed beta started on the sucker up until a couple months ago when I let my account lapse just to wait for it to update to where it had those PAUs lol
TR broke the SciFi mold though, it's about the only game I know of that's any good and has instant gratification rather than some OTHER gameVe that takes a year to do anything significant.
TR has in no way shape or form failed otherwise it'd be a withering dieing limb like AutoAssault was, However to the contrary I checked out rgtr.com JUST yesterday and looked at Server status for the servers and oh gee to my surprise unlike a couple months ago ALL the servers were at Medium.
Now just to inform you these aren't WoW servers that hold only 8 to 10k ppl Max no no these badboys can handle quite a bit more from what I was told when I asked the man himself. The TR servers are only 4 because they can contain around 400k on each server. So medium would equate to around 200k subs on the servers.
TR is also great in the fact the GMs are quite attentive to situations and handle them with grace albeit there were some in training a while back that were clueless and thought they were WoW GMs lol
TR also has no RAIDS of any sort so anything you want to accomplish can be done outside by yourself as there's really nothing to prevent you from soloing around ALOT, Or grab up some squadmates and hit an instance.
If I understand you correctly, you're saying that each server has 200k players - which means TR has 800k active players. While I'd like to think that's true, it's not. The game has around 175k total, which you can make out from their quarterly reports. I'm pretty sure even Auto Assault had that six months after release.
And while no one will be able to prove this, many people believe that the servers were rejiggered to receive a lower amount of players, so that they don't always read as "low". If you listen to their latest conference meeting, they say that they've only attracted 1/3 of the subscribers they expected... so if the servers are medium now, a lot players would be shit out of luck if they did hit their projections, huh?
The projections were also initially to add in a couple servers by now which as anyone can see is unnecessary
Again though I reinterate TR is not dieing nor is it on its last legs
Auto Assault died because it was a plant that was never watered and had a storyline that even a rogue scholar couldn't follow.
TR is not this way it receives constant updates and bug fixes and content comes when it works, you have to remember this is a SMALL team of developers not a huge corporation like those building WAR
Now if TR does somehow bite the dust before the end of the year feel free to flame me until I'm but a burnt shadow of a poster.
But for now let's not jump to conclusions about an NCSoft game, I mean face it NCSoft isn't exactly 100% Mainstream. Guild Wars wasn't overtly popular when it launched, I highly doubt many people gave Dungeon Runners a second look when it hit, and I'm sure the rest of their titles were sleeper hits.
Besides THIS TR is 100x better than the ORIGINAL concept TR which was rather freakish in its Sci-Fantasy themeing
Wasn't until my mid-teens when I started to realise that most of the abilities for my class were essentially useless and certain other game mechanics were badly screwed up.
I agree... great 'out of the box' experience when I started my first character. But once I got through the early levels, I simply didn't like what I was playing. The game became less and less about delivering what the early levels seemed to promise.
lol - those many people would be the ones who hate the game and cant understand why anyone else would play it.
I have been seeing more people running around in game, so I beleive the medium loads are true.
Totally disagree on the servers holding more than 10k people though.
The TR servers are 4 because there arent enough people playing to require more than 4 servers. When TR came out - the EU server was consistenly on HIGH and there was talk of a second server being setup for EU but that didnt happen.
To _Shadowmage:
Well, people who don't like TR probably think that it will set a bad example for future games or some other such nonsense. Some people just don't realize that developers aren't children and do their best to avoid bad situations and outcomes (even though it's not always possible, as is evident with TR's shaky launch).
To be honest, we trolls don't really have any valid ammunition to chuck at those who enjoy this game... I try my best to make it seem valid, but I know very well that my argument has no real point.
Really, we just expect you, those who enjoy TR, to take our opinions with a grain of salt, love it, and praise us as your saviors! Not too much to ask for...
To OP:
Posting opinions is fine and good and the occasional "personal attack" might be fun for a jolly chuckle or two if done correctly (which both you and I evidently fail at), but seriously calling somebody stupid or delusional for liking a work of art is not right, as it is a subjective matter. That's like saying all who listen to NIN are douche-bags and fuck-tards and should start listening to Mozart because you hate Trent Reznor. Pure arrogance.
Do it for laughs or not at all. Forum trolling is serious business, but cyber bullying is not acceptable.
It takes ~2-3 weeks of hardcore gaming or 4-6 weeks of casual gaming to reach max level.
The game has been running for about 22 weeks and there is still no sign of ANY meaningful level 50 PVE or PVP content. I'm not asking for a 100% polished and functional system; but as far as I know, they haven't even released an outline of what the level 50 content is going to be.
I dont wish for any game to fail and i dont understand why anyone does. I may not wish to play a game, like TR, but i certainly dont want it to fail, failures are bad for the whole genre, not just the game that fails.But anyway. The post above his the nail right on the head. A major problem with MMOs now is that it only takes a few weeks to get to max level in a game. MMOs are rarely (if ever) released with end game content in already, and that was not a problem when it took months if not a full year or more to reach max level. EQ, DAOC and FFXI were not released with end game material, but the Devs had plenty of time to build it and put it in before anyone reached end game. That is not the case today. Now you have games that take you a couple weeks to max out then you have nothing to do but reroll if you want to continue playing.
I wish we would get back to the days where the game was actually levels 1-50. It didnt matter how long it took to get to 50 because you were having fun and really doing something on the way there. Now it seems like 1-50 is just a quick learning area until you get to 50 and the real game starts.
But back to topic. I really hope TR does not fail. We need more niche type games coming out that break the mold of WoW. For everyone that fails it makes for another Dev to scared to try.
It took me a while to figure out what ti was exactly I didn't like about TR. When I played it, everything was there that should be there, but it was still missing something. I finally figured out what it was though, but it has different points to it.
Firstly, the Skill/Class progression was horrendous. Even the whole clonign idea didn't reslove this issue. Basically, the whole thing boiled down to every few levels, you have to decide what kind of equipment you want to use. When you break it down like this, you can plainly see the complete lack of depth. The kind of equipment you used, came hand in hand with what kind of skills you would have. Sure, you could opt between those available skillsets, but at the end of the day, they were so few, it didn't leave much room for diversity.
Now, for my second point, the first point wouldn't be so bad if you had other things to do besides blow crap up. This has to be my biggest gripe with ALL NCSoft games. They are completely lacking in the "things to do" department. There is nothing to do in TR but kill some crap, buy ammo, repair, and go kill some more. That's it. This lack of complexity (to me) is what killed TR. Coming from RG, I expected a lot more, straight out of the box. When will developers learn that when someone buys an MMO, and pays a monthly subscription, they want more than what they can find in any number of free to play, privately owned server based FPS's with the standard Capture the Flag and Search and Destroy gameplay? They want multiplayer involvement - which is what this game lacked BIG TIME!
People WANT to do things for other players. They WANT to be a part of their friends quest for glory, whether it be by becoming a Jedi, collecting loot/resources, seeking revenge for a lame PK, create guns and armor for their guild, have a place to commune with their friends, be involved with some sort of overarching struggle with another guild - they WANT this stuff, and that's what they expect from MMO's these days.
Your MMO has great combat? Cool! Can I do even half of the other things I mentioned right out of the box? No? Your MMO will fail at launch, no matter how polished it is, and no matter how many names you stamp on the box. Your MMO has FPS style combat? Cool! Do I get to play with my friends and have all out guild battles to show off my mad skillz? No? Your MMO will fail at launch.
On the flip side.... the whole "gather phat lewt" doesn't work anymore either. Yet one more aspect of MMO's WoW botched for the rest of the genre.
How the **** doesnt it affect YOU when you paid money for something that simply doesnt deliver ??!
FUNCOM - putting the FUN in disFUNctional !