The Daily Grind: How can Tabula Rasa be improved?

I logged into the TR beta.. within minutes I was fighting (space) boars, how original ... within minutes the game was uninstalled... thanks come again.

See, there's a perfect argument against betas. Because that isn't how the released game starts.

That being said ..

When I played beta was about 2 weeks before the game launched. If you are making a game and you make big changes like this right up to launch day that says that your game really wasn't ready yet.

When I beta tested WoW and I played through the content until about level 20 or so, nothing much changed when it went live. Thats because they nailed it down. They fully tested it and knew it was good.

Just look at the latest TR patch that just went live. Massively has an article about it. It caused the editors game to crash. It was rushed out the door just like the whole game was.

Now, this may look on the surface to be just bashing the game. But this does in fact relate to the question that was asked. How would you make TR better?

I would fully test things before releasing them. I would make sure I had a solid game before I let in the open beta testers. Because we all know that the guys who get in on open beta are going to relate what they see to their friends. If they see space boars in the starting zone, well the game is pretty much dead right from there.

Tabula Rasa has a great foundation at its core, it just needs to grow in some places to keep me hooked for awhile. By the core, I mean the shooter-style fast-paced combat. It's just awesome. I really enjoy the minute-to-minute encounters that I get into.

I ran a mission in TR the other night that had me destroying mortars on top of a ridge above a control point (which in themselves are awesome). I tried to it myself at first, but it turns out I'm too low level since even the EMP bombs I bought weren't enough. So I tried to join up with another player for the first time. Another guy came over to where I was and started at it.

His guns were doing a good job of dropping the mortar cannons' shields, and my EMP bombs were enough to finish the job. So for each mortar, he was sitting back behind cover plugging away at the cannon, while I was bouncing between cover points to get close enough to plant my bombs. The whole time we're fending off attacks from dropshipped enemies. When we were done I told my squad mate "That was awesome" and it was. And it was so noticeably different because I'm currently playing my other MMO love, WoW, and this is how things would go over there:

1. Pull and kill mobs around each cannon.
2. Right click the cannon OR right click an item in your inventory.

I love WoW and I think it gets some unjustified hate from people who play other MMOs, but there are a lot of dull and tedious quests. This mission I did in TR was a nice change of pace.

So I'm still very new to TR but my early impressions are really good. It runs well. It has a great look, very gritty. The gameplay is a lot of fun.

To get back to the point of question thought, here's what I would like to see happen:

1. End game content: I'm not there yet but I've heard the complaints.
2. More PvP options: I know some people don't like the Warcraft battleground model, but I tend to like it and I think it would be a perfect match for TR, both in gameplay and lore. Pit groups of players against each other in designated arenas with various objectives. It would be like any of the great of multiplayer shooters, but with a character that you built and customized yourself.
3. Better crafting: I haven't dug too deep into TR's system but I usually enjoy crafting and I know a lot of people don't like it.
4. Opposing factions: This is a tough one and something I doubt they'll ever add. But to me, the difference between an MMO with 1 faction and multiple factions is very significant. I've never had any interest in Lord of the Rings Online just because you can't build a character in Sauron's forces (I know about the PvMP but it's not the same thing). It doesn't fit the lore for TR for multiple reasons so I don't they'll ever change it, but it's a pretty big pain point for me.
5. Customizable UI: I must be spoiled by WoW, but I LOVE the ability to tweak every bit of my interface. TR just doesn't cut it.

There's more to say about it but those are my major grievances. All in all I think it's a game that's currently fun to play and has a ton of potential.

TB and Hellgate London were both released at the same time. Their fortunes are very similar. Great idea, good art, but the missions and quests lack the depth and consistency of WoW.

Depth of storyline (lore) and consistency experienced in the missions and quests are the reasons WoW is so successful.

I've never actually played TR, but something that has struck me as a fatal flaw in their design approach: PvP should have been the main focus of this game if they were after the shooter market.

People don't play shooters for the single player or the story and certainly not for the role playing. People play shooters for the multiplayer, to shoot each other.

So whenever I read, "There IS PvP but..." I can't help but wonder, wtf were they thinking?

Wow. I get that you guys don't have much good to say about Tabula Rasa, frankly neither do I, but the amount of time you're spending ripping it to shreds is getting ridiculous. There are plenty of other games out there with some long lasting and nasty problems as well. (For example, The Matrix Online not playing nicely with the 8xxx series Nvidia cards, everybody's favorite whipping boys Vanguard and Star Wars Galaxies, or multiple games lack of any end game content.) Perhaps you should focus your laser beam on them for a bit so that they get their fair share of "limelight" from you.

TR is kind of a one-trick-pony (as are most MMOs). Combat, combat, combat, and throw in some poorly executed (but genre mandated!) side systems like crafting and AHs.

I agree with doubl9s first statement that TR needs to grow to make it interesting. There's a whole lot of potential in the setting, but unfortunately the devs need to spend all this critical time patching bugs and are pushing out updates (like hybrids) that mean very little to solidifying the base of the game.

I'd like to see squad based stuff. I'm not a fan of forced grouping, but even I think that in a game that's focused on a military of sorts, this is excusable, and would open the door for a lot more variety aside from "shoot whatever Bane happen to have landed nearby".

Heres the thing with the space boar reference: back in the days when even WoW was a new game it was kind of ok for there to be rats, boars, wolves, etc in the newb area.

However, today there are so many MMO games that this kind of been-done-before stuff just won't fly. You really need something completely different to grab people attention. I install a new MMO almost monthly now. If I see the same old stuff when I first try it.. bye, its gone. Thats not my problem to fix, thats the developers problem to fix.

And yes, the boars aren't actually in the tutorial part at the very beggining, but like you said they are in the very first real zone.

Also, for Almohada who said we should stop saying bad things about Tabula Rasa and say bad things about other games instead. Thats kind of silly to say since this IS a discussion about Tabula Rasa. The main topic of the discussion is how would we make it better. To bring my argument of how I would make it better I must first give things I see as faults. Hence, stating bad things about it.

Sorry I forgot one thing. To me it seems like this game is not really an A list title. Rushed out the door, rushed patches, not much end-game. If this was priced as a value title, maybe $5.95 a month, I think that would be a better place for it.

So people who complain about the space boars: What do you suggest TR (or any MMO) do to give a new players a way to get used to the interface and the way combat works? Drop you into the mean grinder and hope you can figure it out? every MMO has a field full of wolf cubs, space boars or baby rabbits for you to get used to how the game works. If this is your ONLY criteria you judge a new game by, you must not be playing anything.

My biggest complaint about TR so far is the crafting. It's still confusing, and you have to waste primary skills points to get/improve your crafting.

I haven't been playing for too long, but so far I love the core systems of the game. It has more exciting combat than any other MMO that I've played, but it definitely has its flaws.

1) Patches need to be held until they're ready. 1.5 was a disaster and caused the game to run quite a bit slower on my machine. I shouldn't have gone from a smooth (locked?) 60 fps to an inconsistant 40 with an 8800gt. I can only imagine how much worse such a frame rate drop would be for someone with a lesser video card.

2) The active combat cries out for more PvP options. I know the intention was to make a PvE-centric game, but even a WoW-style battlegrounds option would add so much. I think the idea being bandied around PlanetTR is better, though; add a second faction. The storyline has room for this, too; something like UO's factions would add a lot without much effort on the part of the coders. Open world PvP with goals > Battleground PvP.

3) More end game content. I know the devs are probably listening and that their team is smaller than it used to be, but this should be priority #1 right now (other than bug fixes). I can't go two threads down the PlanetTR forum list without a post from some level 50 who likes the game but simply has nothing left to do. Raids shouldn't be the be-all end-all of end game content, but at least they'd be something.

4) This is last on the list for a reason, as it's definitely not as important as the above, but the crafting system is...dumb. As mentioned above, there should definitely be separate skill points for crafting. WoW's system works; although something more complex and meaningful would be nice, there needs to be something better than what barely passes for a crafting system now. I expected more from you, British!

TR's definitely not an MMO revolution, but it's quite fun and it seems to be just different enough than WoW and the like to keep my interest. It just needs some time, effort, and love.

Hell, for $12.48 on clearance at Target, I've gotten my money's worth.

I love the game for the most part. I enjoy playing it for now, and love the clones to try out other classes/ abilitity setups without having to re-level. I also love the exp bonus for nonstop killing ... instead of other games bonuses for 'resting', or not playing.


But I am not emmersed in the game. It lacks the addictive quality that I once had in EQ1.

But then again, so has every other game Ive played since EQ1.

There is a lack of origionality in the quests, and most are exactly like the quests you start doing at lvl 1... go talk to this guy.. kill that guy.. kill 200 of these... At lvl 30, you are killing the same mobs you killed at lvl 10.. just the mobs are higher lvl..

I dont care about storyline. I dont care about questing. and when you throw all of those out... its simply fun to assult a base. I tend to find myself in the 3rd or 4th instances, only to have the base to myself when fighting. I get more tokens that way.. =)


Crafting... well.. sucks.
I dont want to waste my skill points on crafting. I want to be geared to fighting.. and wish to still be able to craft If I choose to do so. Crafting, like almost every other game out there, should skill up seperately. Those who craft more, should be better at crafting. Any upper lvl char, can blow a clone, and spend all their points into crafting.. Craft top tier stuff.. and NOT have to work for it.