TR Beta News
Koal 1186467160|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
If you are a member of Fileplanet you will be able to get into the TR beta from August 9th thru August 18th.
Fileplanet TR Beta Sign-Up
TR Beta News
Koal 1186467160|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Beta Comments
Koal 1186616981|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Re: TR Beta News
Koal 1189268500|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
The NDA has been lifted. I'll post an update soon. They just did a character wipe last week and updated the game with a major patch so there is a lot of stuff to review and verify before I shoot my mouth off. My basic impression of the game as it is now is that it is incomplete. It tries to be both an FPS and an RPG and fails to deliver either. As a lightweight, online game ala dungeon runners it might do ok but as a long term, full scale MMO I don't think it measures up and it seems unlikely it ever will. Release has definitely been rushed. Many changes have been introduced at the last minute, some skills have never been seen in game outside of the skill lists much less tested and content post level 30 has never appeared. Currently testers are locked into the first few regions of the game so high level content will be completely untested when the game opens. There is no end game content at all. You have the exact same play options at level 10, 20, 40 or 50 with no variation at all other than the advancement of your own character. There was a post on the beta forums that stated that the planned end game activity is for players to play through the early game over and over again using clones they are given to save their progress when they reach a new class tier selection (level 5, 15, and 30).
In small doses the game can be quite fun. The major problem is the shallowness of the game and lack of variety. There are a lot of comparisons that could be drawn to City of Heroes as far as game play goes. CoH is actually the deeper, more versatile game. CoH gives the players thousands of options regarding powers and appearance but TR provides for very few. Both games have roughly the same level of diversity: the sole mode of play is to go out and shoot things. TR has the potential for base defense and capture but even now that has yet to materialize in any meaningful way.
Despite having Richard Gariotts name glued to it this is not a Triple A title and subscriber numbers will be weak. I doubt it will manage to acquire even as many players as CoH/CoV has and of those who do subscribe it is very likely their interest will be lost faster. Without major additions it is unlikely TR will last more than a year or two before being cancelled due to lack of interest. But hey, if Asheron's Call an still limp along maybe TR will run a decade or more itself.
Re: TR Beta News
Koal 1190846424|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Tuesday TR had it's last update before launch. Some technical issues were fixed but it introduced a ton of server instability. They nerfed a few weapons and increased the difficulty on some enemies. It looks like they are backing away from the solo oriented game play just a bit. The bane attack bases far more often now and in far greater numbers. A few people can still fight off an attack but it takes quite a bit of effort now. Crafting still isn't implemented in whatever the final state will be and there are still tons of incomplete quests and areas. The fourth and final (for launch) region of the game is still unavailable and wont be seen till the game goes live. At this point I'm sticking to my original assessment that the game can be fun if approached in a very light handed manner. It is going to be noticeably unfinished when people start playing and it will be fairly easy to reach max level and exhaust all content within the first month.
Re: TR Beta News
Cire 1190903295|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Just read your review, and am disappointed, but not really surprised. Hopefully creating a 2nd gen MMO is not as difficult as TR has made it seem. I think that developers really need to make incremental changes to current "proven" archetypes, not try to create something from the ground up :/. Just implementing some of the more rudimentary changes that you discuss in the 2 second gen articles you wrote would be a step forward. I'm hopeful that blizz will stop expanding WoW and get to work on making a second gen type of MMO. They certainly should have the capital to do it.
Re: TR Beta News
lloyd 1191026275|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Well,
Even though I was quite excited for it a few weeks ago, I have to admit I think you are more than likely very right about TR and I was pretty wrong. Truth is the game just doesnt have anything special as I was hoping it would. I had to just think that the dev's would be holding something up their sleeves, simply not true, and at this rate its just going to be generic mmo#4556. It's too bad becasue I really truly do enjoy the actual combat and setting, but so many little things keep adding up. I have changed my plans and dont think im going to buy it now, it will probably be good in 6 months to the 1st expansion but I cant wait that long.
Re: TR Beta News
Koal 1191993969|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
Wow, just when things might have been looking up a bit the developers publish a patch that completely trashes the game. As of right now difficulty has jumped up by a factor of two or three, solo play is viable only for the soldier classes and then only with extreme care. Players who once were able to deal with 5 or more enemies at a time are now destroyed by more than two or three. The signature abilities, weapons and armor of several classes has been nerfed or broken to the point of being useless and months of testing and balance thrown out the window for no obvious reason.
The ultimate effect of these changes is that the game no longer bears much resemblance to what was promised or what was presented to players in beta up till now. It shows that the developers really have no idea what they are doing with the game and are incapable of managing it or providing a clear vision for how they want it to play.
Till now I would have said the game was worth a try to see if you liked it or not but now I would label this one 'Avoid at all costs'. It is a total and complete waste of time and money.
