MMORPG.com Community Manager Laura Genender gives us her first impressions of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, the upcoming MMORPG that melds an FPS feel with RPG mechanics.

Since my last look at Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa, the Studio Visit and Hands On in June, I've been playing Tabula Rasa and watching the changes as we get closer to release. This Sci-fi MMO by NCSoft displays a ton of innovation, from premise to gameplay - but does it have the "addiction" factor to keep players involved?

Classes and Crafting

In Tabula Rasa, all players start as "recruits." At level 5 you choose whether to follow the Soldier or the Specialist branch - Soldiers are damage dealers and tanks, while Specialists stick to support roles. From there you can further specialize as a Commando, Ranger, Sapper, Biotechnician, and more - see the full list here.

Sticking with my long standing tradition of playing the healer-role, I went with a Specialist class. While I never actually grouped with other players, having healing and armor repair tools at my disposal was priceless - not to mention the use of Cipher Tools, to unlock crates in the field for free loot. In fact, I'd say that the specialist perks far outweigh the soldier in day to day solo play. I could run just about anywhere by spamming myself with the heal tool - unbalanced, much?

Read the whole preview here.