Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa: The Final Transmission - Game Sunset Details

DoranM — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:58:27 GMT

Tabula Rasa has posted its Final Transmission marking the official sunset of the game. This comes after a few last invasions from the opposing forces of Earth in the game. This game originally had great potential, but they were unable to attract enough fans to justify the expense of keeping it going; you will be missed...you will be missed!

Here's what the official website had to say for their last message to the fans:

As we return to Earth, our battle comes to an end. Thank you to all the fans who have supported us for the last few years! We hope you have enjoyed your journey through the galaxy and that the next worlds you visit will be filled with excitement and fun.

We'd like to extend a special thanks to our community - fansite administrators, forum administrators, and friends - for it is your passion and commitment that drives us to keep creating new and unique games. With every ending comes a new beginning, a clean slate, and a new story to be written. Thank you from all of us on the Tabula Rasa team, past and present.

### end of transmission ###

Feedback Friday - 12th September

Zyuu — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:56:15 GMT

In today's Feedback Friday we get to find out more about Series 2 and Series 3 progressive weapons as the developers of Tabula Rasa share information and insight about this new system.

Progressive Weapons

Series 2 and 3

We’ve added several Progressive Weapons into the game, and we thought you might like to have some insight on our overall goal with this system.

Overview
Examples: Double barrel fire shotgun, triple barrel fire shotgun

Description: These weapons are more impressive looking versions of existing weapon types, introduced at mid to high levels to allow players further character differentiation. Ideally they will also have some balance tweaks from existing weaponry that may make them more ideal in particular situations, without being overpowered.

Goal: To introduce new and interesting weapons to players in a compelling way.

Design Elements:

Series 2 weapons will be considered uncommon and introduce a twist/variation on the default “Series 1” weapon equivalent including both pros and cons. (Example: Series 2 Fire Shotguns have a wider code and increased damage, but higher heat, more ammo consumptions, and slower rate of fire.)
Series 3 weapons will be considered rare and are designed to augment the specific class in question when possible and if applicable.
Series 2 weapons will require at least a tier 2 proficiency in the appropriate skill.
Series 3 weapons which are not firearms based will likely require multiple skill proficiencies.
These items will be introduced with smaller and off-synched level bands to help fill upgrade niches and mitigate players needing to use underpowered weapons prior to leveling.
Currently each series 2/series 3 weapon addition includes one single damage type. This may be subject to change.
Tier 4 weapons will receive a Series 2 version, but not a Series 3, due to its later introduction into the character’s development (level 30).
Series 2 will only drop green, blue and purple (uncommon, rare, and elite) versions.
Series 3 will only drop blue and purple (rare and elite quality) versions.

In Deployment 13, players will be introduced to the Series 3 pistol. AFS personnel are now authorized to dual wield a modified version of the Series 2 Laser pistol. Each pistol contains a clip of 30 rounds. This allows an extended firing pattern before needing to reload. These items are rare, but can be found on bosses throughout Foreas and Arieki.

Feedback Friday - 22nd August

Zyuu — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:34:18 GMT

In the very latest Feedback Friday from the Tabula Rasa team we get to find out information about what they've been working on and what's in store for the future.

We’ve finished the planning for the Deployment 13 build and while we don’t want to spoil the surprise, we can say that for D13 we would like to finish a new map, complete some new v2 and v3 weapons, and make some very important and highly requested UI tweaks. There are plenty more changes planned for D13, but that’s all we can say for now. ..Sorry we know that’s a lame answer, but we promise to share more as we get closer to putting these things in the game. Stay tuned!

Feedback Friday - 22nd August

Deployment 11 and the impact of Operation Immortality

Zyuu — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:16:51 GMT

The Producer of Tabula Rasa, Starr Long at NCsoft North America, talks about the very latest changes to TR that went live with Deployment 11. He also speaks about the impact which Operation Immortality has had.

With all these new players coming into the game, we knew we had to look at our new user experience and make sure it was the best we could possibly have. We engaged in video-taped usability sessions and other metrics to determine what new players were doing and what we could do better. Then we re-examined the course of the game, as well as the storyline, to see how we could integrate new players better into our universe. When a new player finishes watching the intro trailer to Tabula Rasa, their first moments afterwards should be a continuation of that story. The new player experience needed to convey that Tabula Rasa is a science fiction game, and you're put into the meat of the drama almost immediately. We also wanted to manage the tutorial system better, as well as the context and delivery of the gameplay tips. Our incoming players and even the veterans who have gone through the new player experience agree: it's awesome.

Speaking of the veterans, we can't just concentrate on the new players. Our community and support teams do a terrific job supporting a constant slew of activities for everyone to participate in, many of which the community creates themselves. There are plenty of fun events and feature exclusive content on the public test server (PTS), like the Friday Night Fights boxing matches—including a bout you might have heard about, featuring General British trading blows with Jesus Chavez. We have a player vs. player (PvP) wargame map and even something else that's very current to the times, a Tabula Rasa-themed Olympics created by the PlanetTR fansite staff.

Of course the players get to try out the Deployments up to three weeks before the Deployment gets to live. A lot of feedback from the community gets absorbed and fed back into our Deployments, making Tabula Rasa more fun and interesting along the way. Sometimes they can seem pretty simple, but still make a lot of sense. For instance, recently, we changed several Abilities so players can use them in a crouched state or while moving. Previously, you had to be standing up and not be moving to use most abilities. It's about keeping the pace of combat; we don't want to slow down one of the great action-oriented aspects of the game, but keep it flowing. New weapons, like the Series 2 Rocket Launcher, add even more spice to combat.

Deployment 11 also features a brand new high-level instance: Dybukkar Garrison. This instance map should only be tried for level 50 players, and specific missions can be obtained from Archeron Outpost in Torden Abyss. Dybukkar is a main reinforcement hub for the Bane forces on Arieki, where dropships transport fresh troops in on an hourly basis. The area is heavily defended, but a well-armed group of players may be able to survive long enough to accomplish the mission. We're continuing to add new instances and other places for experienced players to explore, like Magma Caverns for Deployment 8 and Velon Hollow for Deployment 10. Other instances and mission areas have been redesigned for better mission flow and ease of access.

In conjunction with Operation Immortality we've also added a lot of related content, including fictional back-story featuring Richard Garriott's October 12 flight to the International Space Station (ISS) and subsequent discovery of a wormhole. Players can take a somewhat low-level mission called "Time Capsule", as well as one of five "Soyuz Salvage" missions from a variety of areas (depending on your level).

For the unfamiliar, Operation Immortality will collect and archive the best of what humanity is and has accomplished. Richard will take digitized DNA and an archive of humanity's greatest achievements, not to mention messages from people all over the world and profiles of Tabula Rasa characters, up with him into space to the ISS in October. Many celebrities are lining up to go with Richard—that is, they're volunteering to digitize a sample of their DNA to go up into space. The Immortality Drive will ensure mankind's survival should something tragic happen to humanity, like an asteroid hitting the earth, or worse, an alien invasion by a culture such as the Bane, occurs. Those that have signed up include rock stars Eric Johnson and Patrice Pike, TNA professional wrestler Matt "Beast" Morgan, bestselling fantasy author Tracy Hickman, and Olympic gold medalist Scott Johnson. The biggest announcements however are yet to come.

Operation Immortality has been a great boon to Tabula Rasa, introducing our sci-fi MMO game to a huge audience—many of whom may not have even heard of it before. We're continuing to develop and improve Tabula Rasa for all of our great players, and look forward to seeing you in the game, taking it to the Bane and ensuring humanity's survival.

Starr Long, Producer of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, NCsoft® North America

8th August Feedback Friday

Zyuu — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:03:40 GMT

A couple of questions are answered in today's Feedback Friday, also the Adrenaline changes that went into Deployment 11 is being mentioned and you can read the details below by following the link. Finally (but absolutely not least) the development of the Deployment 12 build is going well and it might make it to the PTS next week – likely a bit longer though. Oh and there's a short Deployment 12 build patch notes preview to be seen as well.

Feedback Friday – 8th August 2008

Operation Immortality, New User Experience, LFS

Zyuu — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:51:37 GMT

There's been a couple of fairly big news for Tabula Rasa lately. First out is the big news about Operation Immortality, which you most likely already have heard about – if you haven’t, fear not and read all about it below.

Secondly, Deployment 11 is on the Public Test Servers and the main changes are focused on "New User Experience" which in a nutshell means a smoother and interesting experience if you're a brand new Tabula Rasa Player, sounds good!

Last (and least) is a reminder about the new Looking for Squad System which went live in Deployment 10.

Operation Immortality

Unless you’ve been living under a large, lava covered rock in Arieki, you have probably heard by now that Tabula Rasa’s Executive Producer, Richard Garriott, is going to the International Space Station on October 12th. We’ve launched a new site in this honor called Operation Immortality. What is Operation Immortality? Glad you asked!

Operation Immortality is a way that you can take part in Richard’s flight, even if you aren’t quite small enough to smuggle your way in his backpack. Just go to OperationImmortality.com and take a look! You can send a message, upload your character, or vote on mankind’s greatest achievements. All information will be collected and downloaded on an Immortality Drive that Richard will be taking with him to space. Also, 40 lucky winners that log in during a special time during the promotion will get their DNA sequenced and put on the Immortality Drive - saving mankind just in case the Bane decide to come after all. For more information, check out the Operation Immortality Overview video with Richard and OperationImmortality.com.

In addition, to commemorate Richard’s space flight, we’ve added some new missions and unique, space-themed rewards in Deployment 11. We won’t say too much more about this, just read the story behind it all, here.

New User Experience

Now that Deployment 11 is on the Public Test Servers, we would love to hear your feedback and bug reports. Our overall goal was to get our “new user experience” as clean and smooth as possible, and we felt that the current iteration of Boot Camp gave players too much extraneous information and tended to be more difficult than necessary. To reflect our new goal of a clean and simple new user experience, we revamped the tutorial, help menus, and log in screen. We also made balance passes on Wilderness and a complete overhaul of Caves of Donn.

This doesn’t mean we haven’t paid attention to other parts of the game! We’ve also made some major changes that affect game mechanics such as the way adrenaline is gained and the ability to cast and use consumables while crouching. Let’s also not forget about Omega Labs, a new level 50 instance! You can find a lengthy list of what was changed in the Deployment 11 Patch Notes.

If you don’t have the Public Test Server installed, just follow the installation instructions here. To submit feedback or bugs, use our Feedback Form or type /bug when you are in game.

Looking For Squad

In Deployment 10, we designed a new Looking For Squad system, to better assist players with grouping together in squads during their gameplay. We wanted to do a quick recap on this feature for those of you that were not aware that it exists on our Live servers. This system is meant to be fairly easy to get started, but allows for more complex adjustment of the settings. In other words, you can narrow down your requirements for your searches to more detail.

To activate this tool, simply type /LFS or /LFG (either will work). Once a search is initiated, it can run minimized on the right side of your screen as you continue to hunt. It will refresh automatically, keeping your search ad alive for you. The ad can be changed or closed, by clicking the minimized icon and making the adjustments.

We look forward to any comments or suggestions on this new tool.

Feedback Friday 7/11/2008

Zyuu — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:45:05 GMT

This Feedback Friday of Tabula Rasa contains a lot of different teaser screenshots. You can find the revamped version of the Thrax soldiers which should be populating the Wilderness and different other newbie areas of the game. Furthermore, there are several upcoming special weapons which the Weapons Development is showing off. There’s certain bad-ass rocket launcher coming up, which the development team is all over and can’t wait till they see players using it.

Feedback Friday 7/11/2008

Dev Diary of the new instance Velon Hollow

Zyuu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:49:13 GMT

Brian Hudson, a Tabula Rasa developer, goes into details about a new instance which will go live in a couple of weeks. The name of the instance is Velon Hollow and it is on the public test server right now.

Imagine that an evil alien race has developed a serum capable of suppressing your personality and trapping you in your own mind.

The chemicals make you stronger and more aggressive, and the sight of human flesh makes you hungry. As the last of your sanity

slips away, you are only slightly aware that your friends and family have become your latest meal!

-- Brian Hudson, Designer, Tabula Rasa

So, what will this instance bring to Tabula Rasa? Well.. how about item sets and zombies? Find out more below.

Velon Hollow Dev Diary

Hi, I’m Brian Hudson and I am a designer on Tabula Rasa. I wanted to talk about a new instance, Velon Hollow, slated for release in Deployment 10. This Deployment will be going live in the next couple weeks, and I’m extremely excited to share my insights.

First, a little background:

Imagine that an evil alien race has developed a serum capable of suppressing your personality and trapping you in your own mind. The chemicals make you stronger and more aggressive, and the sight of human flesh makes you hungry. As the last of your sanity slips away, you are only slightly aware that your friends and family have become your latest meal!

To the inhabitants of Velon Hollow, this nightmare has become a frightening reality. For centuries, the Order of Velon prided itself on its purity of thought and deed; now they have been reduced to mindless thralls, unable to stop the inevitable decay caused by an unknown toxin. In the heart of the mountain, in one of the spiritual centers of the Foreans, death has come.

This was the feeling I wanted to convey in Velon Hollow, a new replayable instance on the Plateau map for players between level 30 and 33. From the art and environments to the dialogue and scripting, we wanted to provide our players with an immersive, unforgettable experience that reaches into the mystery of the Eloh, illustrates the strength of the Forean people, and shows one of the darkest sides of the Bane’s campaign of terror.

That, and I think zombies are awesome. I love zombies. Zombies are an intensely psychological enemy; they feed on our fear of mortality and corruption. I only hope that I managed to do them justice in this instance.

Now, onto the vision:

One of our primary goals was to make sure that the environments told the story as effectively as the missions did. The Order of Velon spent centuries carving their temples out of the mountain, and we wanted players to recognize this when they discover the first of the Forean’s main living areas. Our world builders painstakingly sculpted the terrain and worked closely with our environment artists to integrate the Forean architecture.

Side by side with the breathtaking beauty of Forean architecture, infected Foreans huddle in the shadows around run-down, dilapidated tents. Our art team worked hard to create the new, diseased meshes you see on the Foreans and the broken tents that litter the cavern like a refugee camp. We felt this added a level of dark realism, and hopefully it will evoke sympathy for the Foreans.

I’ve often felt that there are too few places in the game where you truly feel a connection with the Foreans. Their tribal, naturalistic ways are so different from the high technology that fills the rest of the game, it is sometimes difficult to relate to them as more than simple caricatures. In Velon Hollow, I wanted to change that. Through the sheer scale of the tragedy, I hoped to evoke sympathy and compassion for the Forean people, but I wanted to do it in a powerful way. The AFS is always helping the Foreans, so what makes this different?

All throughout Velon Hollow, players will find surviving Foreans, most of who immediately lay down their lives to help you take out the Bane. Despite the tragedy that has befallen them, they have no concept of self-preservation, and seek only to destroy the Bane and reclaim their home. This warrior spirit, which is integral to the ethos of the Foreans, has never been illustrated so perfectly as when you enter the Bane outpost deep in Velon Hollow with an army of Foreans behind you. By the end of the instance, the feeling of pity and sympathy should be replaced with respect and camaraderie for your tragic allies.

The idea and vision behind this instance sounds pretty awesome. Are you looking forward to check it out -- or perhaps you already have visited Velon Hollow on the test server? If you did, what's your thoughts thus far?

Weekend Wrapup 7th July

Zyuu — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:20:17 GMT

Several things happened the last weekend, as everyone knows, Friday was July 4th and in Tabula Rasa they celebrated it with fireworks. On Pegasus Friday Night Fights was happening, the field was slightly smaller than usual due to the holiday, but the competition was quite fierce regardless.

CuppaJo (the previous Associate Producer) got his very own farewell dance party as well :

New Assistant Producer

Zyuu — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:28:22 GMT

The new Assistant Producer of Tabula Rasa introduced himself today. His name is Dane Caruthers and he's been working on TR since 2007 as the Quality Assurance Lead.

A bit of background on me – After spending the previous decade in supervisory roles in retail and with the regional MHMR children’s program, I jumped at the chance in 2000 to work for a video game company. I had always been passionate about gaming, and this was a welcome opportunity.

I started with Ion Storm Austin in 2000 working as a temp on Deus Ex. I became a lead within about 6 months, and stuck with Ion through Thief 3 and a number of other Eidos games until the studio shut down. I then spent a year doing QA on educational software and corporate training stuff, which is exactly as boring as it sounds. I landed at NCsoft in 2006 and worked on City of Heroes/Villains and on the PlayNC and QA teams until the Lead position opened up on TR.

I’m really looking forward to my new job duties, and also to more interaction with the Community. I’ll be at some of the upcoming events, and will be posting on the boards. One word of warning though - I will be fighting my tendency to lurk on the forums, by nature I am not a constant poster, but I am going to give it a shot! ;^)

-Entropic

Dev Diary #2 (Missions): Changes to Magma Caverns

Zyuu — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:26:32 GMT

Jason Ford, Mission Designer of Tabula Rasa have made a developer diary about his views on the changes made to Magma Caverns, mission-wise, that is.

Design Changes to Magma Caverns in Tabula Rasa -- May 2008

We’re working hard to add brand new maps and missions to Tabula Rasa, but we are also taking the time to polish and add exciting new content to our existing maps and missions as well. The re-work we’ve done for Magma Caverns is a little bit of both of these things combined, so we thought it might be interesting to talk about the revamping of Magma Caverns.

For several reasons, we decided to completely re-do the level design and create brand new missions for Magma Caverns. The current live version will be replaced in the Deployment 8 update with this newly redesigned version. While the ideas in the original were good, we felt that the implementation was not realizing its own potential.

First, a little bit of background. Magma Caverns is currently built for players around level 45, and the level of the instance will remain the same in the reworked version (level 44 – 46). You can access the instance by traveling to the Western edge of Torden Abyss on Planet Arieki. Both the original instance and the new version are based on an ethical parable where the players are given a choice that affects the mission line and story progression for the rest of the map. Initially, the players were instructed to enter Magma Caverns to find a renegade science team and bring them back for court martial, or execute them if they resist. The player was then given the choice to either fight or help them. When we redesigned the map, we ripped out all of the old missions and designed entirely new missions from scratch, including a brand new type of choice mission for groups. As a result, the new storyline is differs slightly from the original. Magma Caverns was originally designed in such a way that players were unable to play through a large portion of the instance, because only certain areas of the map were available depending on the choice players made near the beginning of the map. For example, the spawning of creatures in the map was dependent upon the choice players made in the choice mission previously mentioned. If a player skipped this part of the mission for any reason, there wouldn’t be anything for players to fight against. Also, since the choice mission wasn’t repeatable players couldn’t try the other choice, and there would be nothing left for players to do if they chose to revisit the map after completing it the first time. Lastly, if a group of players went into Magma Caverns together, the choice in this mission would be decided by the first player to make a decision, regardless of the opinions of his/her group. All in all, we felt that there were fundamental issues in both the mission and level design that needed to be addressed. Our solution to this problem involved keeping a lot of the original ideas behind the design of Magma Caverns. For instance, we really liked the idea of having a choice mission at the beginning of the map that resulted in playing the map in one of two different ways. In rethinking Magma Caverns and choice missions, one of our designers, Berenger Fish, came up with a brand new way to script together a choice mission in Tabula Rasa. It allows members of a group to vote for a choice in this mission and reach a decision for the group based on the majority vote (solo play is also available). The result was a choice mission appropriately titled “Consensus.” Like the original choice mission, “Consensus” gives players a choice to side with either the Rebels or the Penumbra , the two warring factions in this map. We also added two new factions created specifically for the missions in Magma Caverns. With the redesign, players can join either the Rebel or the Penumbra faction. Rather than spawning the map with either Rebel or Penumbra as a result of players’ choices, we spawned the map with both, and players’ factions are changed according to their choice or their group’s choice during the “Consensus” mission. With the new faction system in play on Magma Caverns, the Rebels and Penumbra are either hostile or friendly to players, and always against each other. This way we could create a real battle that players could choose which side to support.

If players choose to side with the imbedded Rebels, they will defend against Penumbra assaults and eventually take part in an attack on the Penumbra’s landing zone. On the other hand, if they side with Penumbra, players will participate in the assaults against the Rebels, eventually attempting to take over the Rebel Camp and run the Rebels out of Magma Caverns.

Regardless of which side of the battle players are on, they will have the option to call in reinforcements to help them in the battle if it gets tough. Also, special Penumbra or Rebel waypoints and hospitals will become available to players depending on which side they choose. There are even bonus objectives in the missions for both Rebels and Penumbra. Players will have the opportunity to earn extra experience points and credits depending upon how well they defend certain key points in the map for both factions. Since “Consensus” is a repeatable mission, players will be able to re-visit Magma Caverns any time they please. They can return at a later time to side with the faction they didn’t go with before and experience the other half of the missions for this map. There is also a side mission to defeat a giant Magmonix that’s hostile to both factions known as “Ember.” Players can experience this mission regardless of the side they choose.

We hope players enjoy the brand new look and feel in Magma Caverns, and we’re working hard every day to bring them exciting and new experiences in Tabula Rasa. Hopefully the work we’ve done in Magma Caverns will be seen as a good example of what players can expect to see as we continue to grow and enhance Tabula Rasa altogether.

Dev Diary #1 (POI): Changes to Magma Caverns

Zyuu — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:57:00 GMT

Michael Hutchison, Lead World Designer of Tabula Rasa share with us about the changes done to Magma Caverns in their latest update. Michael's perspective is mainly about POI (point of interest) to redesigning the area.

Design Changes to Magma Caverns in Tabula Rasa -- May 2008

The rework of Magma Caverns was undertaken as part of our team’s efforts to make each area of the game as consistent as possible with the other areas of the game. We’re always looking at ways to make the players’ entire experience in Tabula Rasa feel as polished as possible, and to improve upon areas that might not hold up as well as others. With Magma Caverns, we felt we had a really great opportunity to make dramatic improvements to map flow, mission design, visual interest, and overall quality of presentation. I am here to talk about my perspective on what Magma Caverns was and what it will be, with Deployment 8, coming up soon.

As we considered the area more, we got excited by some new ideas, and the prospects of making some notable improvements to the map and its missions for the players. We were motivated by a few main concerns, which guided our criteria for the re-work. Among them: that the instance should offer more level-appropriate content, that it should have a tone in keeping with the storyline, that its conclusion should be more satisfying, and that the visual points of interest should be highlighted in more dramatic ways. The layout of the previous version of Magma Caverns didn’t allow for a direct flow through the space, in keeping with the sequence of events in the missions. In fact, it was even possible to miss entire sections of the map depending on the path you took within the instance. So, the map just wasn’t being fully utilized. Of course, changing this was important so that no player would feel cheated out of content and visuals. Plus, as developers, we just want to make sure players get to see all of the things that we spend so much time creating! All of this prompted us to look at how the map was built from the ground up, and identify ways to drive players to each area of the map regardless of the choices they made, while also eliminating any backtracking. Essentially, we ended up giving Magma Caverns a complete overhaul. In looking at the world design of the previous map, there were areas that I thought were very well done, some areas that I felt had greater potential, and some locations we felt needed to be added in order to support the story and backdrop of Torden Abyss. We added a new location called the “Arkhara Research Station,” which is an abandoned Brann research station that monitored the seismic and volcanic forces at the nearby “Agni’s Cauldron” caldera. We placed this new location at the entrance to the map, and it is there that the player will make the choice of whether to align himself with Penumbra or the Rebels. This choice will lead to one of two locations beyond: via teleporter to the Rebel Camp, or through an adjacent cavern to the Agni’s Cauldron point of interest. Either choice will send the player on a mission chain which will lead them on a path through the entirety of the Magma Caverns instance. Agni’s Cauldron is one area that was left virtually unchanged from the previous version of Magma Caverns, although players will now enter it from a new location which makes a stronger first impression. Agni’s Cauldron was a cool and unique area already; I simply added additional polish through some new visual effects and lighting, and tuned the sky a bit to make it feel like it is part of a much bigger environment above.

In a remote corner of the previous map, there was a small, but well done location where some raintree seeds had been able to take root via some small holes in the cavern ceiling. This small grotto provided a contrasting glimpse of life in an otherwise hostile underground. I really liked this concept and wanted to expand it into a full blown point of interest and make it into one of the signature locations of Magma Caverns. And so was born the “Sakra Oasis,” where a caved-in cavern ceiling has allowed a grove of raintrees to enter from above. This creates a parallel to the Ruins of Tampeii area on the Torden Abyss shared map, where the same thing can be seen happening; so this was a nice way to tie the instance in with what the player already knows about the environment surrounding Abyss. Another place where I took a previous idea and expanded on it is at the Magmonix Grounds, where a Magmonix graveyard is caught in the middle of the struggle between the Rebels and Penumbra. The original map had a small cave, somewhat off the main path, which had some Magmonix remains tucked away inside. Again, I liked this concept and wanted to expand it into a larger, more unique, and fully realized location. So, I created a cave section off of the Magmonix Grounds to create the graveyard. Adding this location served a few purposes. First, it provided an area with more level ground, which, due to their size, works better for these creatures’ movements. It also makes engaging in combat with them easier, since the player has more space in which to move around. Having Magmonix in the map is important because they add more indigenous life to the Magma Caverns, therefore helping to present a more complete ecosystem. Lastly, just having the location there tells a story about Magmonix, how and where they live, and what they do when they die. It’s a small way to enrich the fictional backdrop of the game and its settings.

All in all, we’re very satisfied by the work we did to improve this instance, and hope that those players who have seen the previous version will agree. For those who have not yet seen the Magma Caverns, I hope they’ll find its visuals unique, and its replay-ability exciting.

Enight new screenshots

Zyuu — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:09:34 GMT

Eight new Tabula Rasa screenshots can be viewed below, courtesy of NCsoft.

Sniper Guide

Zyuu — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:47:01 GMT

Many concerns have been raised about the Sniper class in Tabula Rasa by players. Ncsoft have replied to said concerns and also published a guide.

I actively read the forums and often find great information there. I have seen the posts over and over about how ineffective Snipers have become… But then I log in to my live Sniper (I play the game as an ordinary player and have many T4 characters including a sniper) and when I play it, I have no issues with sniping or close quarters combat. Granted the Torqueshell Rifle (TSR) doesn’t work well in close quarters, but that is the con to the TSR and I do have other tools available to both help me survive and effectively kill my opponents. I know the Shredder Ammo-Chaingun combination is overpowered on Live right now allowing me to target and destroy armies of Bane with little to no risk.

Called Shot 5 (CS5) was unbalanced since the game went live. It was supposed to give 50% bonus, but was instead giving 150% bonus. Snipers invested 15 skill points into this and used it as their bread and butter skill. It was never intended to be used that way. One shot kills were supposed to be attained through maxing out the TSR skill and Target Painting (TP). CS5 was supposed to deliver that added oomph when it was needed. I mean, 50% damage that stacks with Rage is nothing to sneeze at. I remember when it was on Live watching Snipers walk up to a target 5m away, debuff them with CS5 and then annihilate the target. It was pretty funny to watch, but not very ‘Sniper’ like ;-).

Anyway… I think that if given the ability to respec and experiment with builds, Snipers would find that their class has many great templates to work from. We have already made some opportunities for respecs available to the player, and I hope they become easier to attain with the new prestige system. It might also help if I gave you some tips and tricks that could help Snipers adjust to the dramatic skill changes they have endured over the past few patches.

One more point before I start working on getting you those templates. We are currently doing a lot of play-testing in PvP. Currently in those PvP tests, Snipers control the pace of the fights. They absolutely dominate the battlefield. When TP hits you, it’s all about popping a health pack and finding a hole to hide in.”

Read the rest here

Invite a friend back and split 30 days

Zyuu — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:57:40 GMT

Tabula Rasa Reactivation Referral Program

What’s it all about?

Here’s another great reason to get your friends back into the game! Invite a friend to come back* to Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa and split a FREE 30 days of credit** to your Tabula Rasa accounts! Read on for all of the details.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Go to the PlayNC Account Management Page
2. Log into your PlayNC master account

3. Once logged in, click the Game Accounts link.
4. Click on an active Tabula Rasa game account.
5. Click the INVITE A FRIEND BACK link.
7. Click the INVITE A FRIEND button.
8. Return to the Invite a Friend Back page to view the status of your outstanding invitations.

Your friend's account must be inactive for at least 90 days in order to be eligible. An indication that their account has been inactive for 90+ days will be displayed on their game account management screen.