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Why I hope this game revolutionizes mmo's.
troydavid
Member Posts: 150
It is brilliantly concieved, internally consistant, and easily immersive for the sake of roleplaying.
Of course I like the game and I understand that it probably is not for everyone. I even understand that after awhile I will probably find it repetitive and move on to another game like I always do.
However, as a role-playing type of player, I like the fact that it has a beginning and a future. I Never liked the fact that if my character grew up in X (Thunder Bluff, Qeynos, etc) why does my character not know where the armor shop is? Why, if it is so easy to kill the random noobie spawns (rats, skeletons, razorbacks) do the citizens of the community not go out and do it themselves? Why if the guards are so overpowered is this a problem anyway? TR answers these questions. I am in a war, I am in an army, the NPC's do go out and fight. Most of the time I am surrounded by both players and NPC's all fighting for a common goal. My character is learning at the same rate that I, the player, am learning. Why do the mobs outside of starter City X (ogrimmar, Freeport etc) just "pop" into existance? In TR the enemy is Deployed, either by actual ships that fly through the air and deploy them, or through teleportation. And I know that this is just another form of spawning, but the "why's?" are explained and consistant with the gaming world. You are in a War and when bombs drop out of the sky, your get hurt by them, and so does the enemy-so what I thought was just pleasant visual flavor is even consistant.
The game is built from the ground up with a (in-game) universal goal.
Things that the developers could have put in to appease a larger crowd of players:
Player housing. First of all you do get a footlocker to store stuff in just like a soldier would. Player housing would not make since in this game, at the moment, because you are in an army on a planet that your fighting a war. The first "city" is a conglomeration of army tents and the local's small village. Where would you as a soldier build a house, out on the contested battle field. Now, as the game progresses, and per chance the army fortifies the current newbie area, and the battle moves a bit more distant, than yes a housing area would then make sense.
PVP: We are all humans united under a common goal and enemy. And of course I understand that it is human nature to always have internal strife. But, we are in an army, exhiled from our home world, if PVP (FFA) was implemented now, it would only go to reason that there would be court marshals in due order. On a related side note, I am not a fan of PVP. From a internally consistant stance, if a Player wants to run around and kill other players (especially in TR) then why should they continue to enjoy the benefits of a structered and civil society. In my opinion (and extropolating from the "realism" argument of FFAPVP) if you want to engage in that activity, fine, but you should suffer dire consequences (again realism) like not being able to trade, or buy merchandise via legit avenues. You should be activily hunted down by the powers that be and removed from society. But I digress. At any rate, as the game word progresses, I think that it would be nice and make sense if power struggles did erupt and entire planets were FFA PVP. That is of course after we as humans have reached a point in the war that we become more settled.
The worse thing that the game developers could do in this game would be to let it stay static. If this game remains as is ad nauseum it will, at best, go down in MMO history as a "could have been" game. But, if this is just a starting point-a beginning-to eventually bring forth the first MMO ever, where the history of the game was actually played, where "veterans" can actually tell stories to newbies like, "yeah, the wilderness used to be a contested battle zone, now look at it filled with player owned housing, a criminal element (PVP) and we created this new earth by constantly battling the crusties when the game first came out.", than this game will go down in history as the MMO that revolutionized the genre.
And to top it all off, I can log in for as little a one half hour and go blow the f!ck out of masses amounts of aliens. And that is fun.
T
Comments
I agree that the game does have a ton of potential.
I think that Richard Garriott is the perfect man for the job, and if anyone is capable of taking the game forward and being a little risky, taking chances with it, I think it's him.
The idea that current low level zones could be turned into "safe" ish zones later on, and new battlefronts for new players would open is the best MMO idea have heard in a very long time.
It also makes a lot of sense for the lore for Tabula Rasa.
Release new planets for players to wage new wars in, new planets under Bane assault the AFS has decided to help... some low level zones and some high level zones. That way, you could make old planets like Concordia more "safe" zones for things like player housing.
Also like you said, through in a bit of rebellion and you can really expand the PvP options.
That'd be so cool...
First - there is nothing 'revolutionary' about TR. The Logos system *might* have been revolutionary, but it got watered down and became nothing more than a 'find-the-easter-egg' hunt in order to enable abilities
Second - what '(in-game) universal goal'? There isn't one beyond hitting level cap, rolling another toon, and starting over again.
Sorry, while TR did hold promise of ground-breaking revolution, it delivered WoW with guns
nothing new here at all
I believe new MMO's that are in development now will probably take a page or two from TR and you'll start seeing this type of combat commonly in the future. I like how the enemy is deployed from ships and EVERYONE in the town must fight them to hold the fort. This type of gameplay is revolutionary to most MMO's now because no other MMO ever did this, but I do remember UO's towns would have attacks from trolls, orcs, etc every now and then, but TR just happens to be much more better and realistic. U have the laser canons trying to hold the bane back, every npc in town fights for the cause, then you have every person who happens to be in the area helping out to hold the bane back. It's alot fo fun and can become a bit challenging, especially If only a few people are around against a hundred or more bane, including named bane.
While I love the game now, I'm curious and maybe a bit worried about it's future. I'm a long time vet of MMO's, "been playing them for 10 years" and To me TR is just to easy right now. At level 11 I soloed all 3 instances in Wilderness. Yea, it took a little while but I basically went in there by myself and annhilated everything in my path, with some strategy tactics of course. Now, dungeons shouldn't be this easy. It SHOULD require at least a trio to complete the dungeon. Mobs should be a bit tougher than regular solo outside mobs. And there needs to be a bit more named bosses inside these instances. Out of the 3 I soloed, only one "Caves of Donn" actually had a boss inside it. He was cake, but thats besides the point.
I hope they were just your typical starter noob dungeons because If you can solo every dungeon in the game, then why is this an MMORPG and not just an FPS/RPG console game? I understand that most of the intense main storyline combat comes from holding down the bane's attacks in towns, but the Devs do need to make the dungeons a bit tougher If they plan on having people stay after the first 3 months.
Also, I looked at my skill tree for my character, and there definitely needs to be more skills and abilities added. As of now, theres only a few skills you can get from each class specialization with 5 levels of those skills.. (Definitely not enough goodies to play around with)
Now, I'm not bashing the game cause its alot of fun right now, but hopefully the devs are working diligently to make this game intersting longer than 2-3 months.. I guess only time will tell.
Rallithon Oakthornn
(Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
All the fun stuff happens level 20+
No more easy instances. I spent 3 days at level 29-30 Most just exploring what was out there. How about getting killed more often too.
Get to DIVIDE ASAP I liked it there
The in-game universal goal is winning the war. Now, I know that if the war were to end, the game would be "over" and MMOs are suppose to "never end." Hence- why the OP was talking about how cool it'd be to have some of the current planets be "won" and turn into more safe zones, while adding new planets the AFS is combatting the Bane on.
That'd be a GREAT way to continue the war, but still allow for the achievement of some of the universal goals.
And I'd say the cloning system is fairly a "ground-breaking revolution" from the current MMO scheme.
The bane should become a playable race, and have high level planets be PvP war zones. It'd be amazing.
Sadly, abhaigh, your voice is among the minority on these forums. But you speak the plain truth about TR. I give everyone enamored with TR right now 2 months of play time before they start to see TR for what it really is.
The only revolutionary thing about TR is that the producers decided to release it with about as much content as a 30 hour standalone game and call it a MMORPG and charge a monthly fee for it.
The wow factor (wow as in exciting) of TR draws people in so that initially most folks love it. But the game is so very shallow. I fully expect the devs to start making all kinds of announces soon promising all kinds of new features and content to be released at some point in the future in an attempt to keep people from cancelling their subs when the 'new shiny' of TR quickly wears off.
Sadly, abhaigh, your voice is among the minority on these forums. But you speak the plain truth about TR. I give everyone enamored with TR right now 2 months of play time before they start to see TR for what it really is.
The only revolutionary thing about TR is that the producers decided to release it with about as much content as a 30 hour standalone game and call it a MMORPG and charge a monthly fee for it.
The wow factor (wow as in exciting) of TR draws people in so that initially most folks love it. But the game is so very shallow. I fully expect the devs to start making all kinds of announces soon promising all kinds of new features and content to be released at some point in the future in an attempt to keep people from cancelling their subs when the 'new shiny' of TR quickly wears off.
Amazing! This kind of posts still appear! What about cloning?Isnt revolutionary enough? But I kinda agree with you. The game isnt revolutionary...its an evolution with some parts revolutionary (like cloning)
cloning would be the same as saving your character in certain offline games...oooh. except you can change appearance before you choose skills/paths.
i think you all have great imaginations or you wouldnt be percieving this as some kind of revolution, and the optimism level of TR players is through the roof!
sadly reality crushes thousands of optimists every day.
Internal consistency? The OP needs to take a look at both the story and the game.
TR characters are soldiers in an army that are the last surviving humans in the universe. They are supposedly fighting for the very survival of own race.
And you have to PAY FOR YOUR OWN AMMO?? You have to pay for upgrades to you gear?
Excuse me, but if I were in charge of an army fighting for the survival of my species I would be equipping my soldiers with the best gear possible rather than making them pay for it. I certainly wouldn't be charging them to shoot their freaking weapons.
And EARTH IS DESTROYED. There is no economy! The Auction House system was tacked onto TR because it's a popular game mechanic like crafting.
Now I have no problem with a game that puts gameplay before logic or reality. If TR wants to have an economy even though there's absolutely NO logical basis for it, then more power to them. Not enough games take that step IMO.
But don't try to make any claims about amazing internal consistency or immersiveness for role-playing when the game clearly decides to ignore them.
Tabula Rasa pays nice attention to details where other MMOs don't seem to. A favorite that many keep mentioning is how enemies "spawn" on the battlefield. While I agree that these features are cool, novel and add to the immersion, they're not quite revolutionary. However, at the same time it is unnecessary and unfair to call TR a rehash of other MMOs (e.g. WoW) with guns added in. TR is different in a variety of ways and most of the time, the way that it is different is good.
On another point, I agree that the novelty of TR is affecting some people's disposition towards the game. However, the game's "freshness" can only do so much. Perhaps in a month or two players will be complaining about the game, but I doubt it will be about the core mechanics or the setting. Rather, it will probably be about the lack of content (if there is any). In that case, a lack of content is a lack of content - so when the time comes and advanced players have nothing to do, that complaint will be proven to be a legitimate one. But a shortage of high end content is not, in my opinion, a fatal flaw of the game. It can be addressed and fixed. And in fact, if players see that there isn't enough content, but want more, well that seems to be an indication that the "core" aspects of the game are enjoyable enough such that players want to experience more of it.
As far as TR having shallow gameplay - I have to say, "maybe". I am not entirely sure what people are referring to when they claim that it is shallow. Does it not have a deep enough combat system? Little exploration? insufficiently complicated and rewarding crafting system? What? Indeed, if by what people mean by shallow is that there isn't much to do in the world of TR (other than kill Bane, or make stuff to help you kill Bane, that is), then perhaps I'd agree. However, this is an unsatisfying take on what "shallowness" is because in a way it refers to the same set of basic tasks that you can do in most other MMORPGs. If shallowness refers to the combat system, I'd have to defer this question to others who have played the game more extensively. Indeed, prima facie it does seem that you can just stand around and shoot the enemy until they die - I know this myself, I've done it with a lower level charcter and a shotgun (I won, by the way). Yet, from picking up on what other people have been saying, there may be tactics that you have to employ to handle enemies later the in the game - i.e. using special damage types for guns, immobilizing melee heavy enemies, distracting imposing foes from one direction (but this is all speculation of course). Finally, if shallowness refers to the social aspect of the game, then I may agree. Because there are seem to be no obvious social hubs in the game, players cannot efficiently congregate and share their experiences with one another. However, I do not see this as a crippling problem; perhaps the developers of TR will one day implement a social center of sorts - the resistance pushes the Bane back, builds a central base where civilians can reside, etc., etc.
I guess I am unclear as to why people refer to this game as inferior. As some supporters of TR have mentioned, they do not see it as the a "next generation MMO", but something really fun. Yes, some people have gone a little overboard in expressing their enthusiasm for the game, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that. And if in the end, TR disappoints, I'm sure we'll all get over it - we're all (mostly) grown-ups here and we've invested only a bit of our money and interest in this particular game.
the game screams for a complete and total in-game respec mechanic, not the half-assed 'get your skill points back when you clone' nonsense
If for no other points, removing time sinks , running everywhere vs teleport, no huge markets for players to stand around looking uber, no grinds for uber gear, jumping right into combat at an early lv vs killing upteen rats , cloning, The actual pace of the game vs most mmo's out now is worth an honorable mention.
It may grow boring, that is up to how the devs decide to mature the game, but it is a step foward . A bold move in this day of devs adding time sinks to keep players on the hook. TR uses action, simple action. no big crafting grinds , no standing around with your thumb stuck up the old hinney waiting for the perfect group. The enemys in the wire, grab your shit and get out there. Not in a group? no biggie, you will learn to fight with those around you or die A bold move in a static mmo world, depending only on action to keep the players hooked. like it or not, give the devil his due. new ground was broke with this game.
My same feeling as well and i agree 100% nothing new except a masked level grind behind an FPS engine.
I didn't realize that TR was an FPS engine. Man it could be the next UT.
/sarcasm
Come on man. It's not an FPS, it never claimed to be. It's a RPG through and through, just you shoot instead of hack-and-slash (depending on class).
I will agree though, TR is a grind. I enjoy this one more than most, but I do see it for what it is.
Now had/if they take more elements from FPS (ask me what I mean and I'll give you a list) then they'll have something different. Basically TR is teetering on 'just another MMORPG' and 'something different'.
This thread is proving to be very insightful.
Coming from a neutral stand-point, from someone who hasn't yet played the game (But would like to) i can say what attracts me to TR, is its Science Fictional setting, the narrative, the whole 'i'm in a war' feeling it seems to depict and the general overall concept of the game.
Do you all know how often this 'no content' argument rears its ugly head? It's getting a bit boring now. ''I'm nearly maxed out, WHAT DO I DO!?!?!?!'', it's like a panic attack ensues. It has occurred in nearly all MMO's i have ever played. Even the glorious World of Warcraft was being penalized for having no content when players began reaching the last high-level instances.
A big problem with this 'no content' argument, is the people generating it. The people who just buy an MMO to rush through it to the end, as if they're fitting as much play-time into their monthly-fee before it runs out so they can start demanding extra-content to justify them paying for another month. Such is the crux of MMORPG's.
More people need to start respecting these games, settling down and taking the time to enjoy it for what it is, rather than simply beating it into pulp then standing round saying ''ZOMG NOW WHAT!?''. I recommend those sort of people stick to single-player games.
D_TOX.
Have to disagree with you here.
I most certainly will not be hitting level cap anytime soon. In order for me to do so, I would actually have to think that the game in its current state is worthy of my monetary support. it isn't.
And the reason it isn't is because it is so screamingly shallow in depth with *just* enough content to keep the fanbois happy as they dip in and out of it at the few hours a week thedevs are hoping they constrain themselves to.
It's really too bad tha a game so full of potential managed to redefine 'the suck' so beautifully.
And, given the ETA on any major additions of content, this isn't likely to change dramatically within the first year (and I was hoping it would only take them 6 months to get out of the pay-to-beta stage)
Cloning.... *cough*Matrix Online*cough* same concept different execution.
Nothing new in TR Im sorry.... and believe me when I tell you Im 20 times more dissapointed about that fact than you are..... Im just prepared to admit it.
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"MMOs, for people that like think chatting is like a skill or something, rotflol"
http://purepwnage.com
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"Far away across the field, the tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees. To hear the softly spoken magic spell" Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
Cloning.... *cough*Matrix Online*cough* same concept different execution.
Nothing new in TR Im sorry.... and believe me when I tell you Im 20 times more dissapointed about that fact than you are..... Im just prepared to admit it.
Until i'm physically walking around inside a game, controlling every move physically, smelling, touching and feeling everything i come into contact with - then ill tell you its revolutionary. Until that day, a game is a game, and your always going to find a resemblance between them. The 'revolutionary' argument is beat to death, simply because there's no such thing.