Tabula Rasa

PTR is one of the biggest TR fansites around. They have a podcast but of technical difficulties, they have been reduced to a blog...for now. I had the chance to read this in depth and often humorous (in the bad way) blog. Sit back and enjoy the blog and my comments. I was outraged by this blog (which is suppose to represent PTR, a website with over 5000 members).

By: Grier (the second hoster of the Podcast; first being Sahnik who quit TR)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

As 1.7 looms ominously in the horizon, there have been a lot of questions brought up in the community. Are the Engineer nerfs for real? Is the aggro adjustment going to smother not just Snipers, but all of us? Will there be endgame content, ever?

Some of these questions have led to more. From outright declarations of subscription cancellation to "let's wait and see" logic from the more patient of forum denizens, there have been a wide array of opinions, statements, and out-and-out ultimatums declared on our little corner of the internets. "Give me endgame or I quit!" "Nerf my class or I'll quit!" Some of these statements, while certainly sensationalist, have shreds of truth behind them.

What's startling is that positivity on these (or any) forums is scant when compared to the negativity. This is a natural phenomenon: typically happy players will have less reason to frequent forums, because approval of a game is as simple as handing your money over to the company who provides it for you. Forums would be a very dull place if all the discussions were filled with fluff, sunshine, and carebears.

More often than not, game forums more or less become a free-for-all feedback form where people can discuss what distresses them. This is natural, as the feedback form in any game doesn't specifically ask you what the problem is. It's non-interactive interaction with the gaming company about what your problems are. Forums provide someone with feedback on their feedback, which is something a canned response in your e-mail inbox doesn't.

What does this all mean, anyways?

What it means is that despite the fact that negativity has climbed recently, Tabula Rasa is still a fine game with a promising future. I can say without a doubt that this is the best developer team I have ever witnessed, both in community interaction (despite the lack of an official forum!) and overall responsiveness. While there are speedbumps (incomplete patch notes, the tendency for new bugs to pop up frequently), sometimes that just happens. Just because these guys (and gals!) are paid to make a game doesn't make them cyborgs incapable of mistakes.

As an example, I play a Demolitionist. My class is going to receive a nerf that is currently on the Test Server. It was not in the patch notes. Specifically, Controlled Fission's central target damage is being halved, and the way it works is making it harder to combo with Explosive Nanites on hard targets. A class that already has a tough time with Striders is going to have an even tougher time.

A part of me wants to flip out, especially considering that neither the skill nor the class it's a part of are considered overpowered by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's quite apparent that sweeping class changes are on the horizon, so I'm willing to hold any judgement I have until 1.8/9 previews being.

Why?

Because the way I see it, right now there's a ton of things on the horizon. To name a few: PAUs, pet system, "sweeping class changes," PvP options, Clan CPs. We've heard about them all for a while now, and it wouldn't surprise me if they all got rolled out within weeks of each other, hitting us like a freight train of awesomeness pulling a payload of win.

Call me optimistic, call me a fanboi if you like, but despite the fact that this game offers frequent patching, large changes still have a tendency of happening all at once. Chances are different sects of the dev team were all assigned these tasks months ago at a centralized meeting. Chances are they're all going to come to fruition all at once. That's why you typically see large patches every six months or so in other games. We just happen to be lucky to have more frequent, incremental patches in between.

Now if you're bored with the game, and you've decided to unsubscribe, don't think I'm scolding you. By all means, if you've gotten your enjoyment out of what's provided already, I can't tell you to enjoy it and demand you fork your money over to NCSoft while waiting for changes. I happen to be having fun rolling alts, and I understand that's not everyone's thing. But I do encourage those who are "hanging it up" to stick around and see what happens. I'm rather confident that big changes are afoot, and I'm sure there are those that will doubt or outright refute my logic. That's fine; but at least keep yourself informed, because this game has monstrous potential; the combat alone keeps me coming back.

Originally posted by PlanetTR

What it means is that despite the fact that negativity has climbed recently, Tabula Rasa is still a fine game with a promising future. At the rate it`s going now, i highly doubt it. It does have great combat and the components to be an excellent game, but it`s no use when the dev team is full of mangos.

I can say without a doubt that this is the best developer team I have ever witnessed, both in community interaction (despite the lack of an official forum!) and overall responsiveness. While there are speedbumps (incomplete patch notes, the tendency for new bugs to pop up frequently), sometimes that just happens. Just because these guys (and gals!) are paid to make a game doesn't make them cyborgs incapable of mistakes. Now I found this paragraph completely idiotic. I can admit I`ve seen the odd dev posting their feedback to our feedback. BUT, the lack of official forums is just a complete idiotic choice by Destination Games and NCSoft. Lately, the devs seem to be purposely aggravating the players; constant tweaks to spy and snipers when other classes need them much more. TONS of players complaining about end-game content and something other to do then get to 50. I think Grier here is complimenting the devs on their involvement in the PTR forums (again, OFFICIAL FORUMS WANTED) but that is no use when they have the planning power of a chimp. I can admit the game is new and it needs more time to bake (much more) but games like Age of Conan are promising (and I`ve played it in beta) 10x as much stuff as the TR devs did + the content is not just empty promises.

A part of me wants to flip out, especially considering that neither the skill nor the class it's a part of are considered overpowered by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's quite apparent that sweeping class changes are on the horizon, so I'm willing to hold any judgement I have until 1.8/9 previews being. I know you want them so bad Mr. Grier but I highly doubt the devs have enough brain power to realize not just spies and snipers need revamps. I would guess for a 2.0+ patch before anything noticable starts happening.

Why?

Because the way I see it, right now there's a ton of things on the horizon. To name a few: PAUs (promised over 5 months ago and still not even in coding), pet system (the AI in Pong was better. Fix that too devs), "sweeping class changes`` (ala snipers and spy changes or useless nerfs to already  crapped-out classes),PvP options, Clan CPs (one aspect of promised content I actuallt see being finished in the following months. Still, one thing in a big list of vapourware). We've heard about them all for a while now, and it wouldn't surprise me if they all got rolled out within weeks of each other, hitting us like a freight train of awesomeness pulling a payload of win. No. No they will not. Not even close. I can see Clan CPs hitting by the beginning of July or even August. PAU`s maybe by September. Everything else will be... actually I don`t even want to think about it.

Call me optimistic, call me a fanboi if you like, but despite the fact that this game offers frequent patching, large changes still have a tendency of happening all at once. Chances are different sects of the dev team were all assigned these tasks months ago at a centralized meeting. Chances are they're all going to come to fruition all at once. That's why you typically see large patches every six months or so in other games. We just happen to be lucky to have more frequent, incremental patches in between. In reality these patches usually fix bugs while bringing along more annoying bugs. 5 months and there is still game-crashing poop and all this vapourware (some of which promised before release) is still not in-game. Sorry, but this game is still in early beta imo (and many other peopl`s opinions too).

Now if you're bored with the game, and you've decided to unsubscribe, don't think I'm scolding you. By all means, if you've gotten your enjoyment out of what's provided already, I can't tell you to enjoy it and demand you fork your money over to NCSoft while waiting for changes. I happen to be having fun rolling alts, and I understand that's not everyone's thing. But I do encourage those who are "hanging it up" to stick around and see what happens. I'm rather confident that big changes are afoot, and I'm sure there are those that will doubt or outright refute my logic. That's fine; but at least keep yourself informed, because this game has monstrous potential; the combat alone keeps me coming back.

 Grier (or anyone who knows him), we`ve met (you can probably guess who this is) and I respect your opinions. Yet to publically post them as `Behind The Front Lines` blog was foolish. People like myself may misinterpret this into a statement on how PTR feels in general. Far from it; I`ve seen your Rants and Flames forum and it is not pretty. Again, have all the fun you want, but to type up the opposite of reality (good dev team..no) and stick it up there for the world to see was foolish.

Ah I have gotten that off my chest. Sorry to all offended by this lengthy troll or flame against TR. Just felt a really strong urge to reply to this blog but if i did it on PTR I would be banned. Alright I am off. If i was a nuiscane to those trying to enjoy these forums, just ignore this little TR troll. I`ll be taking a trolling break for now.

That's a very strange thing to come from Grier considering he privately applauded me for this post:

I just don't know what to think at this point. I had reckoned PAUs had to be getting sort of close to being finished since they were first mentioned back in early November but they haven't even been entirely created yet (artwork assets) and the coding hasn't even begun.

Group content went out the window with flashpoints getting the axe. The pet system is being mothballed to work on AI. Absolutely no mention of crafting at all.

And some strange prestige system for grinding CPs? I'm a little burnt out on just grinding CPs. It's the fact that there is literally nothing to do which doesn't involve just murdering hordes of Bane that makes me bored. Lack of variety I guess.

And I just don't really understand the purpose of any of this constant skill and balance turn over that's going on. Or the female avatar beautification. Or even the AI changes.

They could have easily had all of the professions worked out by now if they would have just looked at player feedback and used that. I know the Alpha Wolves have told them many times what needs work and I'm pretty sure it was based on individual skills and not a wholesale readjustment of entire classes. I cringe to think how much of the current grenadier they might gut to make way for some new vision of it when we have like one crap ability and two "meh" ones.

I just don't understand how such an enormous disconnect between the players and dev team came into being especially when their communication with us has been... like the best of any MMO I've ever played. It's vexing.

At any rate, he's way too optimistic.  TR is DOA at this point.  They have been releasing a major patch once per month.  COCPs were promised to be included in 1.10.  We just got 1.7.  Let's do the math.  Assuming COCPs actually roll out on time we have one month until 1.8, another until 1.9, and then a third until 1.10.

So realistically COCPs are still three months off.  Can you imagine how far off the rest of the vaporware content must be?  Six months?  A year?

This dev team has had awesome feedback on the game since day one and they've ignored nearly all of it to do these random things that no one asked them to change or gave a damn about (AI, attributes, multiple class revamps [of the same classes no less]).

They're very poorly managed and with their subscription base dropping from 125k to 75k over the past few months (a loss of 40% of their entire player base) they're still sitting around with their thumbs up their asses.

I gave up.  Canceled last month.  Last night was my last night I could login.  Gave all of my stuff away.  I'll be in Guild Wars until Earthrise comes out.

Originally posted by lkavadas

I gave up.  Canceled last month.  Last night was my last night I could login.  Gave all of my stuff away.  I'll be in Guild Wars until Earthrise comes out.

You idiot! Why would you give away a lovely green beret and brass knuckles from the Vet reward?

The fact that the game had no official forums was a bad sign to begin with.  Maybe they didnt want a central place for players to come to complain about the game?  Maybe having the naysayers spread out amoungst different fansites would take the heat off?  Well it's neither here nor there any longer.  I visited PlanetTR recently and what a change in attitude from the militant fanboism ("Get out if you don't like the game!") of only a month or two ago!  People are finally realizing that the game lacks content and leveling alts and lame PVP is the best it can offer for the sub fee every month.  As far as Planettr is concerned I'm not surprised that the op feels the need to post here instead of there.  Any dissenting opinion is squashed and the form poster banned if they make any argument.  Also the Mods at the site are very obnoxious.  Instead of letting a free flow of conversation and ideas take place they stick their noses into any thread they wish to and join in the bashing of persons with differing opinions.  Overall a poor site for a poor game. 

OFFICIAL FORUMS are a must for any game that seeks to garner any credibility. 

I played this in January and quit by Feb, great combat system but bugger all else! No real PvP, no community tools, in fact there wasn't a community as you could barely communicate with people. What was the point anyway? There was bugger all to do accept fight NPCs, I quit with people saying "What about the new stuff that's just over the horizon?". Well seems I didn't miss it as it's still well over the horizon today, I'm off to AoC and to be honest TR can rot in silicon hell along with SWG!

End game, end game, end game what drove me  off tr  which is  a total lack off, while waiting for end game i  help out players in Clan  (natural born killers)  until around march were the clan started to break up  due to DEV not finishing the dam  content.  Hell we are still listed on the RGTR site still even tho  no plays. Plus the PVP players ruin it too at least on pegasus server at launch with the clan UT.