Tabula Rasa's subscriber rewards explained

by Shawn Schuster Nov 21st 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Aion, City of Heroes, Lineage 2, MMO industry, New titles, Tabula Rasa

As we're still digesting the sad news from earlier today of Tabula Rasa's demise, some may have overlooked, or simply become confused about the special rewards that NCsoft is offering their current TR subscribers. We thought it only fair for us to explain them a bit.

First off, it's important to note that all of these goodies are only available to people who were subscribed to Tabula Rasa at the time of this announcement. That's right. There was no warning, or time to prepare. They are rewarding those who have stayed subscribed to the game, rightfully so.

3 free months of City of Heroes including digital client.
3 free months of Lineage II including digital client
Aion beta access (coming soon)
Aion pre-order access (available in 2009)
1 free month of Aion including digital client (available in 2009)

Think about all of that for a moment. That's basically three free games, three free months of play in two of the games, beta access to what may be one of the most highly-anticipated MMOs in 2009, one free month of play in that game and special pre-order access to same game. Even though I'm sure most TR lovers would gladly trade in all of that to keep the servers going, NCsoft is being quite generous with their severance package.

So for all of you out there who will be able to enjoy these rewards, you deserve it. We will mourn the loss of Tabula Rasa at the end of February, and you can certainly count on more TR news and coverage from Massively up until the last server is disconnected.

Tags: aion, city-of-heroes, destination-games, lineage-2, nc-west, ncsoft, tabula-rasa, tr

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

PeterD said on 7:12PM 11-21-2008

That's one heck of a severance package!

Since the beginning people have commented that something about Tabula Rasa strangely reminded them of Auto Assault, and I even remember theories of AA resources being leveraged for the game. Sadly the theories are right on at least three similarities -- both games had a small hardcore following, both games were run by NCSoft, and both games failed in the end.

kevin said on 10:42PM 11-21-2008

why do these idiots still make mmos?

smi04 said on 7:45PM 11-21-2008

Maybe one day those idiots will make a Cluedo MMO, so you can play it and GET A FUCKING CLUE before commenting.

2010 maybe?

tr

Alarie said on 7:38PM 11-21-2008

They should have thrown in some Dungeon Runners paid free time as well.

Jack said on 7:41PM 11-21-2008

Lol so to not loss there subscribers they try to get them into there other games.... Sorry no thanks and no beta for guildwars 2 look like the game is still a long long time out...

Sokkratez said on 9:21PM 11-21-2008

Very cool of them.

Henry said on 9:40PM 11-21-2008

Rightfully so? If you played the game since launch but let your subscription lapse yesterday, you wouldn't get the severance package. Someone who bought the game last week for a dollar on Amazon WOULD get it since the free month counts as being an active player. (http://help.plaync.com/cgi-bin/plaync.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7036)

What a much better alternative would be is giving it to veterans who have subscribed over three months - that is the first veteran milestone after all - so that people who have prepaid or have left over game cards can continue to subscribe to an NCsoft title. I don't see how giving it to people who just so happened to be active at this time helps since it was just announced suddenly. There are probably more people who just got into it recently than people who have really supported the game.

Zer078 said on 1:24AM 11-22-2008

They let all the beta testers back into the game for a month i stayed for another month quit in october cause i reran the 1-50 content twice that bought my total toon count to 10 and i left the game, i put in close to 1k hours for TR, 10toons to 50 and there was nothing for those who got to the end game, did howling Maw depths instance ever get added? I also Bought 2 CE for full price launch day payed for 2 accounts till march 1 as mule seller and my main account .

Curious George said on 12:15AM 11-22-2008

As far as the compensation package goes I think it is crap. Why would I want to subscribe to Aion when it will be another niche market game that NCSoft will close down?

It seems apparent that NCSoft is incapable at producing games that sell but even at the most basic of marketing those games. What a pathetic company.

Kamokazi said on 5:16PM 11-22-2008

Aion has mnassive appeal to the Korean market, I think it's a completely different situation there. I would be very suprised if it has the same trouble.

bak said on 12:22AM 11-22-2008

Crap. Just bought the collector's edition on Monday for 10 bucks... Haven't installed it yet. Was looking forward to trying it out - but LOTRO and Xbox keep calling my name...

Sad to see it go.

Skypp said on 5:33AM 11-22-2008

Every now and then, in a rare while, an MMO dies before its time. I really think Tabula Rasa had started to find its groove. In the end it is profit margins that make or break the game. With something like only 60,000 copies sold, there's no way this game was going to hang on.

Sometimes success isn't linked to quality, and this rule works on both ends. Some games get super sales figures and some diehard fans despite having bare bone systems and lacking content. And sometimes a good solid set of features just can't pull in the crowd.

Sadly I think the biggest footnote associated with this game is the continual failures of the pioneers of MMO's(McQuaid and Garriott) to capture the market once again as they did in their glory days despite getting massive budgets.

Wjowski said on 10:07AM 11-22-2008

3 free months of Lineage? That sounds more like a punishment...

Dirame said on 1:48PM 11-22-2008

Lol I love the package, I dont play Lineage but I do play CoV and I'm always up for beta access to any game whether anticipated or not (that's how I got into Warhammer and that wasn't so bad). I love the package and getting to play Aion for one more month when it releases even if I don't buy it is awesome.

Eryxx said on 10:10AM 11-23-2008

I have been a TR enthusiast since open beta, and am appalled at NCSoft's short-sighted decision to close down the game.

I will NOT be partaking in ANY NCSoft "rewards" (reward, yeah right, only a shameless ploy to hook me on one of their other sh1tty games), nor purchasing, playing or supporting ANY NCSoft titles or any projects even remotely having the NCSoft stamp upon them. There's no way in h3ll I'm going to give them even 1 more cent of my money for any game, EVER.

I currently own Guild Wars, Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North, but I have already deleted all these titles from my PC. Even though they are free to play, I will not even be adding to NCSoft's numbers regarding active players online.

Tabula Rasa is dead; Long Live Tabula Rasa!