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World of Warcraft patch 3.0 hits the PTR!

Michael Zenke — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Patches

In what could be considered another move intended to counter this week's upcoming Warhammer Online launch, the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm has been updated with the much-anticipated 3.0 patch. This is the last major patch slated for the game prior to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and includes many elements of the expansion that were previously considered 'back of the box' features for that content update. Massively's sister site WoW Insider has an exhaustive recap of everything you need to know about the patch.

Here are some thousand-foot-view highlights:

Big class and raid ablity revamps, including the expansion of many abilities to a raid-wide level.
The addition of the Inscription profession, with numerous tweaks and changes to the way current abilities work.
An all-new addition to the city of Stormwind: the Harbor!
Barbershops in the capital cities, which will allow players to change their hairstyles at will!

There's a ton more, of course, but WI has you covered. Go check em' out.

One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

World of Warcraft patch 3.0 hits the PTR! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More Tabula Rasa tidbits to string you along

Chris Chester — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

You really have to admire the work that MMO community management teams do. Not only are they the front line of defense against player angst and rage in moments of crisis, but they're also the spin-doctors and craftsmen who take tiny tidbits of information and turn them into news. Take the Tabula Rasa community team for instance. It's pretty clear that Destination Games is plunking away at the 1.4 patch, trying to ready it up for public consumption on the PTR sometime in the next two weeks. They've already dropped the big news about Sanctus Grotto on Friday, and we figured that was all we'd get to preview of 1.4 before the patch notes came out. But oh no! On a slow news day, they've revealed two new nuggets of information to keep us coming back.

They've announced that they're changing the way ammo works for Machine Guns, Leech Guns, Polarity Guns, and Propellant Guns so that they can now take lower quality ammunition. This is going to mean big monetary savings for players that have, until now, been largely left to bankruptcy by their boom-sticks. Spies and Guardians, the game's two melee classes, have enjoyed an unfair advantage in this respect, as their weapons don't have prohibitive maintenance costs comparable to ammo. It's nothing as big as an end-game instance, but it's still worth noting.

And in a completely unrelated note, they're also putting in /sit and /laydown emotes. Cool, I guess?

More Tabula Rasa tidbits to string you along originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TR attribute changes unveiled, coming in 1.4

Chris Chester — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, Tabula Rasa

The indispensable Paul Sage has released another Feedback Friday update over on the official site, and we're pleased to report that they're ushering in another big change that will change the way people play Tabula Rasa. As most people well know, the big ability changes that came with patch 1.3 were not accompanied by the tweak to attributes as originally planned. Instead, they were bumped to the next patch, 1.4. The only snag was, they never really expounded on what these changes were going to be. That is, of course, until today.

The basic rundown is that attributes have been given new utility, to allow people to tweak their builds for their own personal goals. Points in Body will add addition armor for those concerned with survivability, points in Mind will bump up the damage of Logos abilities, and points in Spirit will increase the likelihood of delivering a critical hit. In addition, the health levels for all characters is being bumped up to better emphasize the role of healing in combat. The way it works currently, if your armor is stripped away, you're basically dead in the water -- it only takes a few good hits to deplete all of your health. By making the health bar bigger, healers actually have a chance to apply their skills before their buddies wipe.

1.4 isn't on the PTR just yet, but Sage is encouraging people to try it out while it's still being tweaked so they can get some good feedback on it.

TR attribute changes unveiled, coming in 1.4 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TR 1.3 patch heralds in big changes on PTR

Chris Chester — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:27:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, Patches, Tabula Rasa

It seems like it's been a long time coming, but many hotly-anticipated changes to Tabula Rasa are finally making their way onto the build currently running on the PTRs. Exactly which changes, you ask? Well, honestly, just about all of them. According to the patch notes they released today, Rage is getting its big nerf, Military Surpluses will be implemented to give the game's economy a serious kick in the butt, itemization has been changed to make item rarity factor into damage, players all get a free respec, and of course, there are tons of bug fixes, skill tweaks, and even a few new missions.

There's no ETA on this patch going live, but the preface to the patch fixes seems to indicate that it might be another few weeks. According to the notes, "We are giving players patches earlier in the development process now - so this patch will NOT be going to the live servers. We will have another patch going on the test server in the near future that will be closer to a 'live' version." Giving it a bigger lead time seems like a good idea, but the sooner they can get these fixes live, the sooner general chat will stop being a non-stop Rageathon.

TR 1.3 patch heralds in big changes on PTR originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa patch lands, underwhelms

Chris Chester — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

I suppose it was a bit naive to assume that any of the proposed changes to Tabula Rasa that hadn't appeared on the public test realm would actually make their way into the 48.9mb patch that was officially put live this morning. You can probably attribute the community-wide high hopes to the fact that Destination Games hasn't even given an ETA on the Rage nerf, let alone when they're actually planning to implement the Military Surplus (TR's version of an AH) or the huge change to weapon itemization. I think the hope was that, not unlike Santa Claus, the devs were going to slip down our intertubes at night and leave us a whole bunch of in-game goodies while we stay asleep, none the wiser. Alas, that was not to be.

Most of the changes in the patch are fairly routine, including the new integrated screenshot utility and UI toggle we mentioned not long ago (used to snap the shot of my character's sweet porno 'stach above). Hopping into the game for the first time post-patch, the first thing I noticed was that (unless I'm mistaken) the number of tokens required for the CP defense quests in Divide had been nerfed big time from 100 to 25. Considering I was at 97 at Hydro Plant last night, I can say that this is definitely personally disappointing, but I think it's also a shame because it gives less incentive for people to engage in the free-form base attack and defense that is so unique to Tabula Rasa. They also seemed to have created a glitch where you can't switch weapons during combat. Oh well, such is life with patches...

Since for some reason they don't like to post patch notes on their site, I've gone ahead and copied them for your perusal after the jump. You're welcome.

Continue reading Tabula Rasa patch lands, underwhelms

Tabula Rasa patch lands, underwhelms originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TR devs further clarify respec

Chris Chester — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, Patches, Tabula Rasa

Never let it be said that developers have it easy. Every word they say in the public forum is carefully analyzed, scrutinized, and questioned at great length. With all those eyes on that relatively small volume of communication, sometimes things get confused and people need clarification. We can scarcely imagine the flood of emails Destination Games has gotten questioning the details of the impending skills changes in Tabula Rasa, including the respec that is to go along with it. For the second time in under a week, they've addressed the issue on their official website.

Straight from the horse's mouth, the respec (which is NOT included in the build currently on the PTR) will not only be available to everybody, including those not even in the Soldier tree, but will also be mandatory. Upon logging on to a character for the first time after the Rage change goes live, players will find all their attribute and skill choices wiped, and they'll be able to put all the points they've earned back into their builds as they see fit. This isn't the kind of respec you can save for a later date. They've also specified some of the details of the new Rage ability, including the definition of fast cast (a much quicker cast time) and the logic behind the abilities granted at the different levels.

Did you notice what's still missing? Yeah, an ETA. Make with the patching already!

TR devs further clarify respec originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa Rage nerf, free respec for all

Chris Chester — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:31:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

After Tabula Rasa forums and general chat have been flooded with rumors of an impending nerf to the Soldier's Rage ability. The discrepancy between the buff to damage Rage gives in practice, what it says in the tooltip, and what the designers originally intended has been the cause of a lot of speculation and debate. As it exists, you get a 105% buff to damage on the first pump alone, an extraordinary boost to damage for one paltry ability point. Destination Games' lead designer Paul Sage has finally put the conversation to rest today, announcing that an impending patch will be put on the PTR soon that will nerf Rage back into the realm of reality.

The fix will make Rage a fast cast ability (it currently has a two second casting time) and has modified the buffs as follows:

Rage 1: 30% damage self buff
Rage 2: 30% damage buff w/squad members
Rage 3: 40% damage self buff - 10% resist bonuses
Rage 4: 40% damage buff w/squad members
Rage 5: 50% damage buff w/squad members - 10% resist bonuses

Players will all receive a free respec in accordance with the change. Needless to say, we're quit excited to see how this change will work out when it goes live. Maybe we'll see more specialists!

Tabula Rasa Rage nerf, free respec for all originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa players ask: where's the rage?

Chris Chester — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:01:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Patches, Tabula Rasa

One of the biggest questions that Tabula Rasa players have had since the new patch went out on the public test realm has been: what happened to the nerf to Rage that the devs had been rumored to be talking about? Rage is an attack enhancement for those in the Soldier tree that, when fully pumped, offers a temporary 100% buff to damage output. Outside of maybe Training: Weapons, Rage is probably the most ubiquitous skill choice people take, and is almost directly responsible for the huge imbalance between the Soldier and Specialist trees. Destination Games had been proposing a reduction of the damage buff down to 25%, but it was conspicuously absent from the patch notes.

We still haven't heard anything official from the developers themselves, but the rumor so far has been pervasive. We weren't able to track down the original source of the rumor, though threads discussing it can be found on most RGTR forums. It's something that makes sense from a balance standpoint and that is the topic du jour in general chat, so we'll see if we can't get any official word. In the meantime, keep an eye on the patch note pages to see if any incremental updates pop up on the PTR.

Tabula Rasa players ask: where's the rage? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Tabula Rasa build on PTR, includes screenshot feature

Chris Chester — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, Tabula Rasa

As part of their "Feedback Friday" feature (which in honor of the holiday this week, was written on Wednesday), Tabula Rasa developer Destination Games revealed that a new build is officially live on the Public Test Server, and includes a number of changes and bug fixes. Among the added goodies is the inclusion of a Military Surplus store, which promises to be the primary venue for selling your old weapons, armor, and other bag-cloggers. There are military surpluses available in all the major zones, alongside the normal vendors. They've also added the ability to toggle the UI and added an integrated screenshot taking utility -- which was really long overdue.

I've only just started in Wilderness myself, but my impression is that there are lots of prominent bugs that still need to be stamped out. It seems like every few minutes somebody in general chat asks why a quest turn-in doesn't work or why they can't enter a cave to access one quest without triggering another. Further complicating the frustrations is that fact that players can't copy their characters to PTRs manually. They're populated with copies of a given server, so advanced players who might otherwise be able to provide valuable feedback are barred from contributing by this arbitrary limitation. These are the sort of things that can keep people from resubscribing, and moving to other, newer offerings.

New Tabula Rasa build on PTR, includes screenshot feature originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard clarifies concerns over guild banks

Chris Chester — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:55:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Forums, Game mechanics, Guilds, Patches, Making money

Gnome bankers still look shifty to me. As excited as most WoW players are about about trying out the new guild bank system in patch 2.3, the prospect of having rogue guild leaders cut and run with the guild's loot, or worse yet delete their characters, is on the minds of many players. (It makes you wonder why people join a guild at all if they suspect the leader is going to rob them of the fruits of their collective efforts, but I digress.)

Salthem, a moderator on the European PTR forums, has tried to ease player fields by offering some clarifications about the way guild banks work. First of all, players are not allowed to delete or transfer characters with guild leader status. When a new player is given the role of guild leader, they gain complete access to the stores of the bank. If a guild leader character is banned (which I can't imagine happens a lot, but it's possible), a GM can give leadership to somebody with the guild. If a guild is disbanded, the guild leader receives all the items in the mail.

So in the end, the guild leader is still quite capable of just dissolving the guild and taking all the loot, which isn't much of a change from the status quo. Still, it's nice that they finally provided clarification, because it's a problem that was generating a lot of unnecessary commentary.

Blizzard clarifies concerns over guild banks originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 07:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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