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PAX - A Look at Tabula Rasa
At Penny Arcade Expo, MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh spoke with Neal Johnson, Lead QA Tester of Tabula Rasa to talk about the game and how the developers have been working to improve it since launch.
Despite recent layoffs at NCSoft Austin and rumors that it would be handed over to ArenaNet, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa was one of the games showcased by NCSoft at PAX 2008 and highlighted in the presentation of their games. Development seems to be continuing as "business as usual" for Tabula Rasa, without anyone confirming or debunking the rumor.
The release of Deployment #11 (Tabula Rasa's version of game updates) which included a free 7-day trial and the launch of Operation Immortality has brought in new players to the game. Operation Immortality is Richard Garriott's effort to collect and archive the best of what humanity is and has accomplished. He will do this by taking digitized DNA, an archive of humanity's greatest achievements, messages from people all over the world and character profiles of Tabula Rasa characters with him on his trip to the International Space Station in October of this year.
;)
In conjunction with this project, Tabula Rasa has added a lot of related content; including fictional back-story featuring Richard Garriott's space flight and subsequent discovery of a wormhole and a new mission named "Time Capsule." Fans attending PAX were invited to leave their own messages on the Operation Immortality website and submit lucky draw coupons to join celebrities such as Olympic Gold medalist Scott Johnson, Author Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance fame and American Gladiator Matt Morgan in sending their digitized DNA into space with Garriott.
Also highlighted during the presentation was the new content that had recently been deployed into Tabula Rasa; the new Boot Camp (new player tutorial), Hybrids (new playable characters) and Military Surplus (the marketplace). To find out more, I spoke to Neal Johnson, Lead QA Tester for a deeper look into today's Tabula Rasa.
"We didn't have the best launch," admitted Neal, "but we're working hard to make Tabula Rasa into a great game."
That was the entire tone of the interview, the message was, "Come back and take a second look at Tabula Rasa." I have to agree that Tabula Rasa was the first in a different kind of MMOG. It is an FPS-MMOG with two different UI modes to accommodate the FPS player and the MMOG player who were familiar with different keyboard / mouse setups.
Since launch, monthly updates have provided new instances, new PvP maps, end game content and set gear - many improvements and new content that the player base has asked for. Apart from that, the game itself has been improved and made more user friendly.
;)
So what has been changed or enhanced? Neal had a full laundry list to impart, the most important being the new tutorial:
"We've redone the entire front end of the game," he said. The new player tutorial wasn't doing its job to impart to new players all the skills they needed or teach players to play the game adequately. For this hybrid FPS-MMO game, a good tutorial is critical. That is also where the hook lies for any game, the new player experience.
"Our metrics showed that the game was just too hard," said Neal. "Many players were leaving before level 5."
Quite an admission from any developer, and what resulted is the new Boot Camp and a 7-day free trial. During this trial, players are not restricted in any way. No trading, level or area restrictions. With no artificial constraints, players get a taste of what the game is like just like they were a subscriber.
The UI has been enhanced and visual cues strengthened and made more intuitive, making the game friendlier. Tooltips have been improved. They've even taken a look at all of the abilities in the game and have examined the unpopular abilities to find out why they were not being used. These were then tweaked to make them more useful to players.
"We've performed many player usability tests and continue to do so in-house with internal testers as well as pulling in family, friends and friends of friends, many who do not play MMOGs," said Neal. "We've added a lot of voice work into the game to make the experience more immersive, and we've used the voice actors to help us in the usability tests."
Tabula Rasa does have a community of hard-core players, gamers who love the game and the re-playability available because of the cloning process. For those unfamiliar with this game feature, players can "clone" their characters at various points in their development so that they can go back and play those characters at that particular point, and take on different abilities and skills. If cloned at key stages, there's no need to replay, say... levels 1 - 10 or 1 - 20, etc. Just go back to that particular clone and play it from there.
;)
"We have not raised level caps," said Neal, "but we have provided more end game content for those players and many of them continue replaying their clones to enjoy new lower level content as well." One of these features is the Prestiege system which rewards players with points that are then used to purchase Prestige gear. Launched in April, it will feature strongly in how Clan owned control points will function. A feature that many players look forward to and which is still being worked on.
To illustrate the strength of their community, Neal described a recent event that players put on in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games, the TR Olympics, "It was set up and totally run by the players."
The Tabula Rasa team thought it was such a great idea that they supported the players through publicity of the event and gave out prizes to the winners. Held on the public test server, what started as a small event with three competitions eventually evolved to a full Olympics that lasted as long as the 2008 Summer Olympics themselves and included PvE and PvP events such as Shooting, King of the Hill, Soccer and Swimming.
For a rumored dead property, Tabula Rasa seems to be pretty much alive and kicking from what I saw at PAX, and with a 7-day free trial boasting no credit card required, this might be the time to give this game a second play.
I beta tested and left pretty early... now with the trial they got me again... I have to say, with all its flaws, it currently achieves to keep me thinking during work what I want to do this evening. Not much games did that to me, so I will give it a try now (as my trial is over).
"Our metrics showed that the game was just too hard," said Neal. "Many players were leaving before level 5."
Seriously tho, this I just cannot believe! I am far from a hardcore gamer and really had no troubles whatsoever with the first 5 levels.
The original bootcamp was far better and a lot more immersive then the new one.
When I retried the game with the new trial I've found the new bootcamp really dissapointing compared to the original one, that drew you directly into battle.
I more get the feeling that people got so drawn into the tutorial (yes it was that good), that they got so dissapointed when they entered Wilderness and felt the immersion fading away real quick , thought that was it and quit.
As that same immersion you won't get back in some way till you get into Divide or further or the better mission instances. That's pass level10.
What's even worse now, is that they dumbed the game down so much, that the Bane are just way too easy now (they already were, but now when they decreased their number that attack CP's it's just not fun anymore).
Cheers
Started 3 weeks ago I guess with the 7 day free trial...lovin' it. I like the fact that when I only have a few minutes to play I can log in at a control point and just mow down some Bane and occasionally get run over by them. It supports my alt'itis like no other and as much as folks say it has no depth...it has just the right amount for me, a casual player, as I really don't want to be a part of a raiding time sink again. WoW has perfected that and I'm glad to finally have cut that cord. Anyways...not for the hardcore raiders or someone looking for a "second-life" kind of effect. Its a basic shoot'em up MMO with a fresh look from what is quickly becoming a stale fantasy genre. The customer support and interaction between the devs and the communtiy is second to none! They are putting stuff out almost monthly to improve the game, without having to make it into an "expansion". They just do it with your $15/month, which is nice. I pay some peanuts a month and they add content and what not...albeit a tad slower, but I'm not looking at having to drop another $40-50 on some expansion plus the monthly peanuts.
Bottom Line: Great for a casual gamer who isn't in a rush.
Yeah, I agree... something is wonky with that claim. I actually found the game to be very easy up until atleast level 35 or so. Around 30 the leveling process seems to grind to a halt and missions become much more rare, which is the first hearld of the lack of end-game content.
The only difficult level five content I can think of... maybe that cave with the floating transparent squid things? Everyone in my guild hated that mission. We always had to help each other through that. Pretty much the only part of the game where grouping actually mattered.
Agreed. This was an absolutely RIDICULOUS statement in that interview.
I played TR and I didn't quite because it was 'too hard', I quit because it was BAD with a poor UI and boring missions and bugs all over the place.
This is just another attempt to blame the players for the failures of this game. Just like Richard Garriott was blaming the open beta for people not buying the game.
TR's developers need to face the truth and realize it's not the players fault if they don't play a bad game, it's the DEVELOPER'S fault.
They didn't stop to think that maybe people were leaving before level 5 for other reasons?
I was a beta tester and did not enjoy the game at all during beta. I got an email to try the 7 day trial, enjoyed it very much, boutht a key from NCSoft and my first month will be over in two days. I just got my first toon to level 50 today. The clan I am in, Invictus, on the Pegasis server, was the one that ran/created the TR Olympics. I can honestly say that I am really enjoying my time in the game. I ran through the old boot camp upon my return, I wasn't too happy that it was still the same, but the new bot camp is great, and is more new player friendly.
The new COCP's on the test server will be coming out in the futire and also a new crafting revamp, so the developers are making changes that the players are asking for. If you didn't enjoy the beta and are thinking of trying the trial I suggest that you, you will be pleasantly surprised. I look forward to the future of the game and also using all 20 character slots! The simple fact in the MMO world is that not everyone likes everything, but I am glad I tried this again.
Despite testing the game early on, I'm one of the folks that left before level 10 on that 14 day trial they had. I don't care what or how people say that they weren't overwhelmed after the tutorial, because I certainly was. Alot of things ha changed outside of the first bootcamp, and these changes felt designed for a niche playerbase, not the majority of mmo'ers.
The tutorial didn't teach me about the game well enough, despite being awesome at dragging me into the story. The Bane and normal spawns were too plentiful in some areas for a solo'ing casual player, and not enough in others. I kept reading how people were getting zerged and (insert cussword here) in chat. Not to mention all the gold chat spam, with a GM IN THE CHANNEL doing nothing about it.
TR looks fun. I think the bootcamp will serve the purpose a tutorial needs to... now, but with a hefty 15 buck price tag, and no "non-scene" promotion, I can't see people leaving their current p2p mmo for TR, nor TR bringing in new MMO players the way WoW and LoTRO do. If TR was cheaper, or even F2P with a $50 price tag, I know more folks would play it. Look at Guild Wars. Another NCSoft game that's found it's groove in the F2P (and pay to have missions, expansions, etc.) design. One of their titles Nightfall still sells for $40.
But I bought another copy of the Tabula Rasa this week (the collectors box) for $10 off Amazon, and see them regularly for $13 on eBay. That's not a good sign of success on a game.
I don't know what you are talking about here. I had no issue with the spawns at all and I soloed the entire game except for a few instances that I did with members of my guild who were playing at the time.
This I can agree with you on... the GMs in TR were terrible. I've forgotten his name now, but there was a GM on the server I played on who spent all his time chatting with the spammers in the general chat about OOC stuff. He spammed more than most of the players did. He never helped anyone and in the event he did try to stop other people from spamming he only tried by spamming messages telling people to stop spamming, which was just as bad as the spamming itself. I remember that guy got fired or moved to another server or something, because one day I logged in and everyone was talking/fighting about how sad/glad they were that he was gone.
I had a blast with this game when it came out. Me and a couple friends however leveled to 40 and decided to call it quits.
The fun factor just wore out on us and felt like the game became long grind, but definetly will check this game out again in the future.
By nature I am a sci-fi junkie and tire of the fantasy setting mmorpgs. The game just did'nt hold my interest long enough.
Max level in less than a month? What do you do at max level? I enjoyed the gameplay in the trial, and it has a ton of potential. If there is no endgame though, why pay $15/month?
Max level in less than a month? What do you do at max level? I enjoyed the gameplay in the trial, and it has a ton of potential. If there is no endgame though, why pay $15/month?
Max level in 6 weeks, I had the free 7 day trial and bought the Cd key two days after my time was up, there were 31 days in August so let's say 39 days to get to level 50, in a great clan with fun people that know the game well and taught me a lot about TR.
If you worry about the so called "endgame" then why play anything? We have organized clan events a few nights a week. I haven't done all the instances yet and I am leveling up other classes, my hybrids (Brann, Forean, and Bane) too. I got to 50 in LotRO in less than a month. If you work with a good group of people that you enjoy spending time with then you can accomplish a lot. I also used experience boosters. I also got a lot of experience doing Control Point take overs and defences on our CP night. I don't worry about end game content, never have never will. To me that would be like worrying about what I will do when I am 90 years old and unable to hold my thing when I pee.
People crack me up, they will pay for all these console games, or single player games, some times 50 dollars or more, sometimes less, finish it in a few weeks and it's no big deal. I paid 20 dollars for a cd key, 7 free days, plus my free month and I am satisified with paying 15 dollars a month. Why should people care about what I do when I hit level 50, I don't care if people get to 50 and are bored. I don;t beleive in this so called "endgame". Once you don't like something you are free to move on to something different. I don'g go to LotRO, SWG, AC1, WoW, DDO, CoH, or DAoC forums and complain about any of them because I got bored with them. Why is so hard for people move on to other things. Now if you talk about DnL then yes, I think that there is good reason to go and slam that game and the people that created that. I don;t even go slam games that I have beta tested or tried a free trial. I like brussel sprouts, but my daughter doesn't, should I belittle her for that?
Game creators aren't perfect, but they have the right to fix what is wrong with their product and you have the right not to play it, but games also grow and change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. There are no gold spammers in TR so that is also a plus for me.
AH, I see whats happening here. You are still in the honeymoon peroid with TR. Let me quote you something from my favorite post about TR:
"You've been playing 6 weeks, which is a mere blip in the life-span of a genre where people can play the same game for years and years at a time, and longevity is TR's main failing.
I won't list all of the problems again; the same points have been raised ad nauseum on this forum already, but I would counsel any TR player who is currently still in the 'honeymoon' period not to set their hopes too high for the game."
I played TR for a few months as well. I had some fun with my guild as well. But eventually we ALL got bored of it. I would be truly shocked if two months from now if you or any of your guild members were still subscribed to TR. When that happens, try talking down to all the rest of us about how you don't care about "endgame" content.
AH, I see whats happening here. You are still in the honeymoon peroid with TR. Let me quote you something from my favorite post about TR:
"You've been playing 6 weeks, which is a mere blip in the life-span of a genre where people can play the same game for years and years at a time, and longevity is TR's main failing.
I won't list all of the problems again; the same points have been raised ad nauseum on this forum already, but I would counsel any TR player who is currently still in the 'honeymoon' period not to set their hopes too high for the game."
I played TR for a few months as well. I had some fun with my guild as well. But eventually we ALL got bored of it. I would be truly shocked if two months from now if you or any of your guild members were still subscribed to TR. When that happens, try talking down to all the rest of us about how you don't care about "endgame" content.
Well, as for his clan/guild they have been there since beta so they aren't going anywhere soon. If someone doesn't want the raid content so what? Why bash him for it? I've done years of that and I'm plain tired of it. I think he is old enough to appreciate a "honeymoon" period for what it is. After what the gaming industry at large has produced in the past 4 years I would not set any hopes high on anything. I don't want to play the same game for years....as fast as technology develops these days game developers should be cranking things out with shorter life spans. Keep things fresh instead of adding content to obsolete coding and engines. Why do that when these virtual skinner boxes take advantage of the masses like leeches on a wallet. **end soapbox**
There are two problems I have with that question.
First, the assumption that endgame content is raiding. Thats a WoW concept. I don't like WoW and I don't like raids. I also don't like the assumption that WoW players have that all endgame content is raids. If you think all end game content is raids then I can easily see why you have such a negative opinion of endgame content.
When I talk about "endgame content" I'm talking about any and every activity that you do after your character has reached the maximum level. What exactly that content happens to be can vary from game to game. In WoW its raids for epic gear and I fully understand why that gets boring very quickly. Who wants to repeat the same super hard dungeons over and over just for a minor random chance of getting equipment that is only slightly better than what they already have? But a better example of endgame content that is actually fun is Guild Wars. In that game the level cap is very low (20) and you reach it very quickly. However the game is far from over when you reach the max level. For this reason, the majority of content in Guild Wars can be considered endgame content and I suggest you look to that game for an example of endgame content done properly. They had a lot of things to do even after you reached the maximum level, they released new expansions on a regular basis and kept the game interesting for years. On top of it all you didn't even have to pay a monthly fee.
Tabula Rasa is a perferct example of how NOT to do end game content because there isn't any. Once you reach the maximum level thats it, the game is just over. You either roll a new character or you cancel your subscription. I, along with many others, choose to cancel.
Which brings me to my second issue with your question: I'm not the one doing the "bashing" here. For almost every game on this site there are two kinds of people using the forums for that game: The people who want to talk about the game and the people who don't want to talk about the game. Amazingly enough, both types of people end up talking about the game.
With Tabula Rasa we have the people who don't like the game and quit, which make up the majority of the folks who want to talk about the game. Then we have the folks who, for whatever reason, haven't quit yet and don't want to talk about the game. The thing about the folks who don't want to talk about the game is that they don't want anyone else to talk about the game either. So they come to these forums and take an attitude of "if you don't like the game then you aren't allowed to talk about it!"
Quite honestly, I'm tired of being told that I'm not allowed to talk about Tabula Rasa. This is a forum. The point of a forum is to talk about things. If YOU don't want to talk about things, fine, you can leave. But don't assume that just because you don't want to talk that I have to follow your lead. I didn't like Tabula Rasa and I'm going to continue to say so.
There are two problems I have with that question.
First, the assumption that endgame content is raiding. Thats a WoW concept. I don't like WoW and I don't like raids. I also don't like the assumption that WoW players have that all endgame content is raids. If you think all end game content is raids then I can easily see why you have such a negative opinion of endgame content.
When I talk about "endgame content" I'm talking about any and every activity that you do after your character has reached the maximum level. What exactly that content happens to be can vary from game to game. In WoW its raids for epic gear and I fully understand why that gets boring very quickly. Who wants to repeat the same super hard dungeons over and over just for a minor random chance of getting equipment that is only slightly better than what they already have? But a better example of endgame content that is actually fun is Guild Wars. In that game the level cap is very low (20) and you reach it very quickly. However the game is far from over when you reach the max level. For this reason, the majority of content in Guild Wars can be considered endgame content and I suggest you look to that game for an example of endgame content done properly. They had a lot of things to do even after you reached the maximum level, they released new expansions on a regular basis and kept the game interesting for years. On top of it all you didn't even have to pay a monthly fee.
Tabula Rasa is a perferct example of how NOT to do end game content because there isn't any. Once you reach the maximum level thats it, the game is just over. You either roll a new character or you cancel your subscription. I, along with many others, choose to cancel.
Which brings me to my second issue with your question: I'm not the one doing the "bashing" here. For almost every game on this site there are two kinds of people using the forums for that game: The people who want to talk about the game and the people who don't want to talk about the game. Amazingly enough, both types of people end up talking about the game.
With Tabula Rasa we have the people who don't like the game and quit, which make up the majority of the folks who want to talk about the game. Then we have the folks who, for whatever reason, haven't quit yet and don't want to talk about the game. The thing about the folks who don't want to talk about the game is that they don't want anyone else to talk about the game either. So they come to these forums and take an attitude of "if you don't like the game then you aren't allowed to talk about it!"
Quite honestly, I'm tired of being told that I'm not allowed to talk about Tabula Rasa. This is a forum. The point of a forum is to talk about things. If YOU don't want to talk about things, fine, you can leave. But don't assume that just because you don't want to talk that I have to follow your lead. I didn't like Tabula Rasa and I'm going to continue to say so.
I have never really played GW so I am unfamiliar with how that game operates. I also understand that WoW offers more to do PvP wise with the BG's and Arenas for folks. I've also played most everything outside of WoW for some period of time as well, so WoW is not my measuring stick. I apologize, maybe bashing was a bad use of terminology, but I fail to see any where in my post where I implied that you were not to discuss the game? I have not once in any of my posts in this forum told anyone that their opinion was wrong or what they should feel. I've stated this game isn't for everyone that it fills a casual need for me thats it. In general and not just here...in general...I hate having to see people having to defend why they enjoy something, which is where my bashing comment came from. I didn't ask you to defend what you felt about the game. I accepted it. I went on with a general comment on gaming industry in general.
Although Raltar said exactly what I would have said, I just wanted to add that my questions weren't meant to denounce TR. They were and still are honest questions. Raltar answered them too though heh..thanks man.
My impression of TR was that it is the spiritual successor to AO. It's just missing that hook that was AO's implant system, and some endgame progression. AO had some raiding, but territory control and player cities were the real endgame there IMO. Add those 3 features to TR, and I'd already be subscribed.
You didn't imply that, nor did I mean to suggest that you did. My speech about about that subject wasn't so much directed at you as it was at guys like Thornton who come here to these forums and say things like "I got bored with SWG and WoW but you don't see me going around talking about how much I hated those games" as if he thinks that if you don't like the game we just shouldn't talk about it. It isn't even just Thornton either, nor is it just a TR thing. Almost every forum on this site seems to be full of poeople with this attitude and I get similar comments when I discuss Age of Conan, Dark and Light, Shadowbane, SWG and quite a few other games. I'm getting tired of it.
And as Redavni just pointed out the problem with TR was never that it wasn't a good game. It was that it didn't leave you any reason to stay subscribed to the game after level 50. There is no level 50 content, no raids, PvP is a joke and no real impact the player can have on the world after they have done all the instances and followed the storyline to its conclusion. If they added player constructed/owned cities and territory control, then I too would probably consider returning to the game. But considering that they have spent the last year rebuilding the Ranger class, I have to wonder if they will ever get around to adding any form new content at all.
I followed the development of TR for years, but when it finally came out it didn't seem interesting enough. Now because of the free trail I decided to give it a chance and my first impression is....Awesome!
The combat system is great, it feels a bit like Jedi Academy with force powers and weapons in a third person action/RPG game. I don't know how well it will turn out in the long run, but so far it's exactly the kind of fresh approach to MMO's that I hoped it would be when I first read about it.
I found a place that still has the Collector's Edition for only €10 ^^