Swoop In The Tribes: Ascend Beta This Friday
"What do we want?" "More people to get access to the upcoming free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend, new maps, gametypes, weapons, and bug-fixes!" "When do we want it?" "Sometime on Friday, maybe. It's really up to you! We're just keen to get involved!" Well, good news. Tribes: Ascend developers Hi-Rez Studios have crumbled to the pressure I exerted with my catchy protest chant and will be opening the beta of their online shooter on Friday Feb 24th, at exactly 5pm. So far over 300,0000 players have skied the slopes and spammed their spinfusors, and if you missed out then you're being welcomed with open arms. The current client will be receiving a major content drop as well, details of which are below.
Some combination of hardware and drivers is keeping me away from the Tribes: Ascend beta. It's worse to be part of a closed beta and not be able to launch it, than to not have it. I'm so close, and yet nothing I've done has lifted me aloft with the other betaneers. They're in the sky, while I'm down on the ground, looking up. Longing. What? No, I'm not crying. There's a thing in my thing. So I can't say to any authority if these updates are welcome, but I'm going to go out on a limb with a 'yes'. No-one ever complains about balance tweaks and free stuff, right?
All player progress and unlocks will be preserved with no planned character wipes.
In advance of Open Beta, a significant patch this week will include:
New gametype, Arena Deathmatch, with two initial maps
New Capture The Flag map, Temple Ruins
New Team Deathmatch map, Inferno
Two new unlockable items for the Soldier class: Proximity Grenade and Utility Pack
New default suits for Doombringer and Brute
Ability to view either Blood Eagle or Diamond Sword skins from Class menu
Service supporting Name Change
Large number of bug-fixes and balance adjustments.
If you can't wait, here's a video of all the cool things that I could be doing if the damn game worked.
No word on when it's out, but given the pre-orderers get access to the beta right away, does that really mean anything anymore?