Not every MMOG starts strong. EVE is a perfect example.

The class system was atrocious in my opinion, yes they have that interesting option to ‘clone’ a backup and try a different path later, trouble is you only have one class to start with, and then a branching into one of two other classes, and so on. Sounds complex, but here’s how it boils down : the game has two classes, and you unlock about 3 abilities every (lots of levels) by further specializing in a given arc.

It’s necessary to make a clone at each branch so you don’t have to replay the same goddamn class with the same grind later to try another branch. It’s a decent workaround for bad design but it still feels minimal.

The spawn system was interesting, seeing enemies beamed down by (hostile) dropships instead of just appearing. Taking out enemy concentrations was kind of fun, but I thought AutoAssault did it better. Tabula Rasa isn’t anymore of a shooter than AA was, aiming and reflexes are pretty minimal. They can’t really be blamed for that, there’s only so much a full-scale MMO can do without latency becoming a problem when it’s handling potentially hundreds of players. WAY less variety when it comes to weapons and all that, however.

To put it shortly, I think TR is what happens when you mesh RPG-lite with FPS-lite and millions of dollars-worth of anemic content. A bunch of pretty fluff.

Tabula Rasa’s on Target store shelves new for $12.50 already. The last MMO I bought that went into the $10 range before an expansion was Auto Assault. We all remember how that turned out, right?

Not that I care especially. I’ll play my free month and maybe another month on top of that, then I’ll do something else, because that’s how I interact with MMOs that aren’t WoW. (WoW got about four months, and would have claimed more with Burning Crusade if my account hadn’t been hacked and subsequently banned.)

This article has an interview with NCSoft where they say that, no, it didn’t cost 100mil, and it wasn’t ‘restarted 2-3 times’: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9184&Itemid=2

And for the guy a few posts up — the most populated unofficial forums for the game are actually here: http://www.planettr.com/forums/index.php

I still maintain it’s a great game and sufficiently different from WoW. The latest patch was huge, game-changing and mostly successful, and the devs are highly-involved with the community.

Some people here need to find a better punching bag…

“I hate grinding, I hate grinding, I hate grinding and I hate to grind”

“Nice combat system. Shame about the bland world, slow levelling and lack of character customisation and endgame.”

Build something that turns a profit with 15,000 subscribers and is relatively inexpensive to scale, and while other people are scoffing at your 50,000 subscribers, you’re laughing all the way to the bank.

Fact is, General British hasn’t got a clue about these things we call “MMOs” and is merely riding the fact that he was part of the original Ultima Online, which has proved fatal for many of the former UO greats and the venture capitalists that have funded their products.

It’ll be nice to see how WAR/AOC do, though.

ONE GARRIOT LEAVES