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Tabula Rasa's subscriber rewards explained
As we're still digesting the sad news from earlier today of Tabula Rasa's demise, some may have overlooked, or simply become confused about the special rewards that NCsoft is offering their current TR subscribers. We thought it only fair for us to explain them a bit.First off, it's important to note that all of these goodies are only available to people who were subscribed to Tabula Rasa at the time of this announcement. That's right. There was no warning, or time to prepare. They are rewarding those who have stayed subscribed to the game, rightfully so.
Massively's ArenaNet interview: The past, present and future of Guild Wars PvP
Since the game's launch in April of 2005, ArenaNet's Guild Wars has set the bar a bit higher for future MMOs in relation to gameplay, their unique business model and skill balance. Their constant attention to detail when balancing literally hundreds of game skills between PvP and PvE has been an ongoing progression for everyone on the ArenaNet team. Often seen by hardcore players as the name behind this constant balance is Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright, Game Designer at ArenaNet. We were able to catch up with Cartwright for a brief interview regarding the past, present and future state of PvP in Guild Wars. Follow along after the cut for the full interview and some exclusive PvP screenshots supplied to us by ArenaNet.
Tabula Rasa introduces new Epic Bane
In the worlds of Tabula Rasa, the Bane have been relentless in their attacks against the remaining humans who threaten their plans of complete domination. In response to this, they have developed a new type of super-troop to turn the tide in their favor a bit. These new Bane are called E.P.I.C., or Enhanced Primary Invasion Conscripts. They have shown up in small groups sporadically throughout Foreas and Arieki, killing all AFS they encounter.According to the most recent Feedback Friday, these Epics will need a full squad of high-ranking soldiers to take them down. Among the Epics spotted so far, there have been reports of Caretakers, Technicians, Grenadiers, Pistol and Rifle Soldiers wreaking havoc across the two planets. Is this a last-ditch effort by the Bane, or a simply a distraction used while they focus their true power elsewhere? Hop in game and find out as the interesting elements of TR's lore continue to unfold.
Richard Garriott announces his departure from NCsoft
Some say they knew this day would come, while others swore it never would. In an official announcement on the Tabula Rasa website, Richard Garriott announced to the world today that he is leaving NCsoft to pursue other interests.According to the announcement, Garriott's experience pursuing his lifelong dream of spaceflight has sparked some new interests in him, and he aims to devote his time and resources into these, instead of the MMO he worked to build for so many years. This still leaves us with many unanswered questions. Does this mean the end of Tabula Rasa as we know it? That part has not been mentioned at all, but we imagine there will at least be some upcoming changes, like, to the logo. You can read Garriott's departing letter just after the cut below, and let us know what you think of his resignation in the comments.
Tabula Rasa hosts another server war
The Server vs. Server War in Tabula Rasa is ready for this month's installment, as the PlanetTR folks get ready for what has quickly become one of their largest events. As with last month's server war, this one will follow the same rules, although this time Pegasus will join forces with Cassiopeia to battle those in Orion and Centaurus.Join the fun on Saturday, December 6th from 3pm-5:30pm CTS. This will be held on the Public Test Server, on the Divide and Wilderness maps. Over 14 clans from all four servers will be involved, as this fourth installment of this event should prove to be their largest yet. Check out more information on the main site, as well as the sign-up threads for both sides at the PlanetTR forums.
Tabula Rasa to hold back-to-basics Q&A event
Even though Tabula Rasa has just reached its one-year anniversary, there are certainly new players coming into the game constantly. Whether people have heard about the newest crafting changes, the return to Earth or are simply coming back into the game after a long hiatus, they may need a bit of a brushing up on their skills. Luckily, there's an upcoming event to explain the basics of the game to us.This Tabula Rasa 101 Q&A session will be held in-game at Alia Das in Wilderness 1 during the following times: Monday, November 10th, 2:00 PM CT - Centaurus Monday, November 10th, 8:00 PM CT - Orion Tuesday, November 11th, 8:00 PM CT - Cassiopeia Wednesday, November 12th, 8:00 PM CT - Pegasus Once there, new recruits can meet up with GM_Vagabond to fire away any basic mechanics or gameplay questions you may have. Good luck, soldiers!
Fan video spotlights CoH character creation
We think it's probably common knowledge by now that City of Heroes and City of Villains both have arguably the best character creation process of any MMO out there. This is interesting if you consider the fact that the game has been out for four years now. Over at the Limited Edition blog, John Nicholson has taken an in-depth look at CoH character creation in a video he just posted today. This 17-minute visual aid walks us through the process from start to finish, yet explains that it could literally take hours to refine your character exactly to your likings. If 17 minutes seems long, you haven't experienced this character creator first hand! Take a look at the full video linked below the cut, or fly on over to the LE blog for more information.
Tabula Rasa finally gets an FPS camera view
Have you ever wondered why a game like Tabula Rasa never utilized that classic first-person view, considering the fact that it's billed as an FPS-style MMO? The over-the-shoulder view never really did it for most players who were looking for more of a shooter aspect in their game. Rest easy in knowing that the FPS view is finally coming to this NCsoft sci-fi MMO, according to the latest Feedback Friday.If that's not enough, there will also be a scope view, allowing players to use their Torqueshell Rifles more authentically and adding to the immersion of playing an actual Sniper class. But wait, there's more! This Feedback Friday also describes a new mech cockpit view and increased camera distance from the character, which will be great news for the support classes who tend to hang back a bit from the front lines. Although there's no date mentioned for the implementation of these improvements, you can check out the entire news story for some impressive screenshots showcasing these new views.
Richard Garriott returns safely from space
Richard Garriott's space flight has certainly caught the attention of more than just the fans of his MMO development career. He's been all over the mainstream networks for several months as preparations were made and he was eventually launched into orbit earlier this month. Now Garriott has returned safely to Earth in what was said to be a highly-successful mission with Russian Cosmonauts.Not only has the father of the modern MMO concluded the Tabula Rasa: Operation Immortality project with his trip to the International Space Station, but he has also become the second person to ever follow in their father's footsteps into space. Garriott's father Owen Garriott is a retired NASA astronaut who flew on the U.S. space station Skylap in 1973. Ironically, Garriott's return to Earth perfectly coincides with Tabula Rasa's own news of the game making a return to the home planet.You can see more information, videos and interviews with Garriott upon his return at his website richardinspace.com.
Tabula Rasa announces a return to Earth
After an alien attack led the Logos-receptive humans to find safety in other planets, the fate of the home planet was grim. It was rumored that Earth had been completely destroyed by the Bane, and that's what they came to accept after all this time. Yet, new research has discovered that those rumors were wrong. Not only is Earth still alive, but there are humans there left to save.The return to Earth is a prospect in Tabula Rasa that probably every single player -- past and present -- have longed to see. With the upcoming Deployment 15, those dreams will come true. This exciting new content will include: Epic instanced control point gameplay for level 48 to 50 players All new setting and art design New monsters, including new Epic creatures and mini-bosses. These new Epic creatures are designed to be a greater challenge, requiring the efforts of coordinated squads with excellent weapons and gear to be defeated. PvE Mech gameplay opportunities New armor sets available only on Earth
TR's Feedback Friday explains upcoming changes to Raksha
Tabula Rasa Designer Jason Ford takes the Feedback Friday controls this week to explain a bit about the changes to the Raksha Robotic Facility coming soon with Deployment 14. As he describes, "The Bane have blown a hole through the roof of the C.D.U. (Central Dispatch Unit) in Raksha Robotic Facility on Torden Incline. They've seized control of the C.D.U. system allowing them to start reprogramming the Wardenbots to fight on their behalf."So now it's time for you to do something about it. A new group encounter has been added, entitled Central Dispatch Unit. This is a Wardenbot Control Point recommended for players between levels 25-32, and it is repeatable. This also spawns a new corresponding mission entitled War Machine, but is not required for participation on the Control Point encounter.Read more about the details of this addition to the game, coming soon with Deployment 14.
Tabula Rasa's Deployment 13.4 hits live servers
We've been talking about it since our interview with Dane Caruthers during PAX08 in August, but it's finally here! Tabula Rasa's megapatch, Deployment 13.4, has hit the live servers today, and with it comes some enormous gameplay changes, a new crafting system and more!Plus, the new Command System is now set into place, which we've discussed briefly when it first went to the Public Test Server. This has been highly-anticipated among TR players as it gives a whole new dynamic to the existing pets. Instead of simply linking to the patch notes as we'd normally do, we've included everything for you just below the cut. Enjoy!
Fallout's Tim Cain promoted for unnamed Carbine MMO
NCsoft's Carbine Studios has just announced the promotion of Tim Cain from programming director to design director for an unannounced project that is in the works. Tim Cain, for anyone keeping score at home, is the former producer and designer for Fallout and Fallout 2, and has been with Carbine Studios since its inception in 2005. Before you get too excited about Carbine's MMO project being a Fallout-themed MMO, that has already been claimed by Interplay.So what does this promotion really mean for Cain? Our friends at Joystiq pondered this very question and asked Cain to clarify: "As the programming director, I was responsible for trying to realize the ideas of the design director. I would take his requests for features and system specifications and coordinate my team of programmers to create those features and systems. If game development was a train, I was shoveling the coal into the engine to keep it chugging along. Now as the design director, I am the conductor of the train. I get to decide where we go and where we stop."We wish Cain the best of luck in his new position as we anxiously await more information on this new project.
Tabula Rasa Server vs. Server War
If you follow Tabula Rasa news, you may have seen a recent announcement concerning the Server vs. Server war coming up this Saturday, October 11th, 2008. This war is the third one of its kind, and aims to be the largest and most popular to date. If you're new to the Server vs. Server war, you may be interested in a brief explanation as told to us by PlanetTR's Adele Machka. The war works by combining clans from Pegasus-Centaurus and Orion-Cassiopeia to join two "super" clans which then declare war upon each other. Each of these wars last 4 hours. The victor is the clan which has the least amount of deaths at the end. It's an extremely well-organized event, and the organizers want to make sure that everyone just has fun, first and foremost. If you'd like more details or information on signing up for this event, check out this thread. Let's all do our part to make this the largest SvS event ever![Thanks Adele and Andriss!]
Guild Wars Halloween art contest announced
It's that time once again for players and fans of ArenaNet's Guild Wars to break out the creativity for the Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest 2008. Last year's contest conjured some amazing images of costumes, sculptures, paintings and more from the dedicated GW community. This year, the concept is the same: Dream up your own way to bring a Halloween twist to Guild Wars.The prizes this year include a Guild Wars-themed Razer Death Adder Mouse, a VisionTek Radeon HD3650 video card, signed copies of the Nightfall Collector's Edition, GW Series 2 skill pins, skill and character slot unlock keys and much more! Get your entry in by 12:00 Noon PST on Monday, October 27th, 2008. From there, the winners will be announced on or before November 3rd, 2008 and will be posted on the Guild Wars main site. Check out the complete rules for more details. Good luck!
Playboy model to join TR's Operation Immortality
The list of celebrities donating their digitized DNA for Tabula Rasa's Operation Immortality is becoming a bit staggering, but this latest one should help perk your interest. Jo Garcia, Playboy Magazine's Cyber Girl of the Year for 2008 will be the latest to store her digitized DNA on the International Space Station along with others like Stephen Hawking, Stephen Colbert, Tim Draper and more.Although the title of Cyber Girl of the Year has nothing to do with gaming, Garcia considers herself an avid gamer. "People don't understand that that the whole gaming world is not just for geeks, and assume that every person who plays video games is a geek that wears glasses," Garcia said in a recent interview with Kotaku. "It's a misnomer that needs to be put to rest."
TR's Deployment 13 introduces new Command System
Tabula Rasa's Deployment 13 has just hit the Public Test Server, and we think you might be excited to hear about the new Command System being implemented with it. Previously referred to as the Minion System, this enhancement gives better control over AI pets and controllable NPCs, also called subordinates, in the game.Subordinates now have better control features where you can set their aggressiveness or defensiveness, assign an anchor point, order them to attack or heal a particular target or set them to simply follow you. All of these commands are done through a set of easy commands and hotkeys. To find out more info on the complete Command System, check out today's Feedback Friday.
Super Boosters and beyond in City of Heroes
Massively recently had the chance to talk with City of Heroes executive producer Brian Clayton and Lead Designer Matt Miller about a multitude of CoX topics. One of the points we covered was the downloadable optional content, such as the recent Cyborg Pack.Massively: The recent changes in the studio, the additional bandwidth you were talking about: would you connect those to the changes you've made in pricing, with the additional purchaseable content? Or is that more a direct result of NC NorCal coming into its own? Brian Clayton: It's a little bit of both, to be perfectly honest. We certainly have huge plans, plans that go over the next five to ten years, for the City of Heroes franchise. So we certainly need to ramp up for that. But we also feel that by providing the Super Booster packs and things like that, it's a win-win in that it helps grow the studio internally to provide more things for our community, but it also helps us to justify those costs and build for the future. I think that's certainly a part of it, but there are larger initiatives again that we can't fully go into detail about, for the future of the franchise.
A new era for PvP in City of Heroes
Massively recently had the chance to talk with City of Heroes executive producer Brian Clayton and Lead Designer Matt Miller about a multitude of CoX topics. It was clear to us that some major PvP changes were afoot, so we picked up the topic and ran with it.Massively: So the 'multi build' feature sounds incredible for PvP, and it sounds like you're going to be doing some PvP rebalancing, which I know can get into fiddly details, but can you talk generally about what sort of rebalancing you guys are doing for PvP combat? Matt Miller: We're basically trying to balance it out and make it a lot more fun, not make it so one-sided where certain archetypes and certain powersets completely dominate the PvP game.
Brian Clayton and Matt Miller on Power and Responsibility in City of Heroes
Right now the news is breaking about a major change to the City of Heroes issue release schedule. The Mission Architect feature is being moved to Issue 14, because overwhelming player response convinced the developers not to release the feature until it contained a key element the players wanted: the ability to include customized allies and opponents. Issue 13, now titled Power and Responsibility, will include a whole lot more cool content and reach the player base that much sooner. City of Heroes executive producer Brian Clayton and lead designer Matt Miller were extremely generous with their time yesterday and gave us a lengthy interview, in which they covered a whole host of details about the improvements coming in Issue 13, the changes to the studio, and the future of the City of Heroes franchise.Matt Miller: So the title for Issue 13, Power and Responsibility, that has a lot of meanings. We picked it very specifically to make sure that not only were we conveying the fact that we're adding more powersets and giving players more power in what they're able to choose for rewards and things like that, but then the responsibility nature takes on the day jobs, that offline character advancement system, the responsibilities your character has when you're not playing.
