TR guilds say game over to the endgame
Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, Events, in-game, Forums, Guilds, PvP, Endgame, Tabula Rasa
It's this latter point that has caused a crisis of sorts on the Pegasus server. Both Defiance and Tranquility, two of the larger endgame guilds on the server (or so we're told), have decided to call it quits because of the barren state of the end-game. All there is to do once you've hit the level gap is PvP. Problem is, the PvP in Tabula Rasa is pretty broken, and the development team hasn't shown much interest in fixing it in the near future. Or if they have, they haven't done a terribly good job of communicating that.
Tabula Rasa is a terrific game, to a certain point. The combat, even with the changes made in patch 1.4, is extremely fun and a lot more intuitive than a lot of the more passive systems we've played in the past. Most of the early areas extremely polished, and when the community was still young right around the time of launch, it was a good deal of fun just running around the zones doing missions. But it's clear as you play further that this game is still in development. And while it might be OK for a game like World of Warcraft to ship without much of an endgame, for a small market title like Tabula Rasa, that's like signing your life away.
So we look at the flight of these guilds with some mixed feelings. On the one hand, we completely agree with their assessment of the state of the game. When you start looking at the next billing cycle with unease or dread, it's time to cancel your subscription. But in the same breath, the last thing we'd want to see is an exodus away from the game before it's had time to develop into something special. It's a fine line.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
NekoAli said on 8:11PM 2-16-2008
So... a couple of guilds rushed to the level cap knowing there wasn't anything much to do at the end game yet, and now want to quit after three months?
While I agree that if you are not happy and not having fun with the game then it's time to leave, but the game is still new. It was also pushed out the door faster than was probably a good idea, but there is a lot of progress that has been made, and being made on the game.
I don't see this as being a problem with the game, just impatient players.
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Vort said on 9:32PM 2-16-2008
You forgot that todays MMO players want instant gratification. Look at WoW next patch (2.4).
They are making it easier than ever to get gear, taking away attunments, PvP gear for rep... ect..
These are not bad things, it just shows Blizzard knows there customers well.
Rich said on 9:43PM 2-16-2008
Unfortunately, its a flaw with alot of games that coming are coming out. They don't have any or very little end game content. The majority of the players aren't going to rush to max level but others will. Of those that don't rush straight to max level, most of them try to do it as fast as possible. Its not unreasonable to have 10-15% of your player base at end game level inside of 3 months of release. There needs to be content waiting for them because by the time everyone else gets to that level, they will have run through and helped the developers polish the encounters.
Games need to ship with polished game play and a fair amount of endgame content. Those that don't won't make it. TR is an ok game but its ultimately fatal weakness is it was shipped too soon.
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NekoAli said on 9:58PM 2-16-2008
TR was definetly shipped to soon. When the firm release date was announced, it was a shock to a lot of beta testers, who knew the game was no where near ready for release. Class balance and endgame content was badly lacking then. The crew did a great job getting the game out the door, and are still doing a great job improving the game... but given the choice of fixing Specialists (50% of the player base) or end game (maybe 10-20%), I'm glad they are going for the larger share.
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Andrew Ian Dodge said on 5:58AM 2-17-2008
Alas, they didn't learn the lesson of Shadowbane which was also shipped way too soon and never lived up to potential. At its best SB was so much better than WoW. Unfortunately there was so much stuff that didn't really work that these times were rare indeed.
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Bobby said on 6:20AM 2-17-2008
It dont help when this game doesnt have a forum to talk to devs.
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Adele Machka said on 11:40AM 2-17-2008
Actually this isn't as big a deal as some elements within defiance would like people to believe. They started in drama, they ended in drama. It is the way with mmos and in particular the power gamer set whom blows past all content in a successful effort to reach level cap within a week of release. In reality the total you are talking leaving is maybe in the ballpark of 30 individual accounts despite the laughable claims of 30-50% of the level 50s on that particular server (and really now, is the loss of gems like "Teabagginu" and "doingpushupsonyourface" that great a lose in due consideration?).
The devs have admitted the pvp section needs work and are doing so, but really I imagine even if all fixes were in place some section of the pvp community would still have their noses bent out of shape about some drama du jour; i.e. clan A doing B to end run system C. As long as systems exist people will find ways to game them, as long as pvp exists there will be 13 year olds having verbal sissy slap fights in general chat cumulating in one group taking their ball and going home. Nature of the universe, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Tempest meet teacup.
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Adele Machka said on 11:42AM 2-17-2008
As to forums, PLanetTR.com does have a forums for the player base (amoungst the largest/most active) and more than a fair few of the dev teams read, respond, and interact there.
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Earnest Dodge said on 3:00PM 4-01-2008
I don't want to play a game where my monthly subscription is paying for a part of the game that should already be there. Why should I? Way to throw away what could have been a great game.
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