Tabula Rasa Blog

Where am I?

I am currently stating a new job in Boston... this is taking all my time... and I am here without a computer that can run TR... so for now things are on hold. I do hope to get a new machine with some MMO power so I can at least tool around on my lunch break... stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have been following the online ramblings... tracking the title the best I can... and longing to load up my chaingun(s) for another go at the Bane and their shenanigans.

So I will be back... don't kill all the Bane without me...

Can't wait to check out the new 1.6 Patch

There are a few cool things I am looking forward to in the 1.6 Tabula Rasa patch. Tabula Rasa Vault has the details:

• Control Points have been revamped to have their Assault and Defence tokens be global instead of CP specific. You will find your tokens converted into this new global form.
• Missions associated with the assault and defence tokens at CP’s have been removed. In place of the mission NPC’s, you will find Assault and Defence vendors that take these tokens in exchange for items you will not find elsewhere.
• Two of these special items are Respec tokens; one for skills and another for attributes. Schematics are being added to these vendors as well. This is also where you can get XP bonus tokens.

Read all the changes

I am really excited about the possibility of respecing... I definitely made some experimental choices on my lower levels and would like to get some of those mistakes back. My main issue is that an ability or weapon class might sound good, but then it turns out to be outside your play style... and there is no way to go back on that... I am hoping respec allows for that to become a reality.

I also felt that the defense/assualt token missions, being specific to the CP, was a bad idea... so I am really happy for that change as well.

Tabula Rasa, now more than ever...

I saw that you can get Tabula Rasa for $10 over at Amazon... get down on it!

I have managed to get a few people at 360voice to jump into the fray. NC Soft should hand out some commissions!:)

I still can't really put my finger on what keeps making me come back to this title. Is it the leveling? The social aspects of playing with the 360voice peeps? The drive to get that next Logos, that next weapons... that next piece of buffed armor, that next awesome paint color?

Just the other day I tried crafting for the first time to make some paint colors... my Gravitron armor is now this sweet blood red color all over... I admit, I am one of those people that will wear less powerful armor if it looks more cool than the more protective stuff...

It has been a few days since I played though... times are busy... maybe I can squeak some late night sessions in soon.

Getting official

I suppose that once you create a custom header for your blog you are getting official. I happen to be in the Divide so I walked around a bit... tried a few screen shots... and ultimately settled on one of my character chilling by the drop ship pad... I like using angles in backgrounds so Cole, silhouetted against the drop ship beam seemed fitting. The Divide isn't a visually appealing location in general... so I didn't have much to work with scenery wise... I didn't want to turn it into an all day project.

For the record I now have exactly ONE reader according to my Feedburner stats... w00t!

The server came back!

After about 20 minutes of waiting, the Pegasus server came back from the dead. Fatty Chubs, Squid Punch and I (Cole Markelz) went out and did the Torcastra Prison instance in the Divide. It took about an hour to do... the tedious part was just figuring out the doors to go through in the prison. At the end of it I managed to climb up a level (to 17) so that was nice. I rounded out the night in the Palisades picking up a few missions... I still have to finish quite a bit in the Divide... and I found myself dying while soloing in Palisades...

I used some cash to build out my Gravitron armor... so my dude has an all new look. Screen shot posted.

My biggest character complaint at this point is that my chain gun weapons (Physical and Laser) don't seem to be quite powerful enough. I feel like I should be cutting through things faster. I really haven't looks at the damage per second of that weapon compared to others at my level (like the shotgun)... but it seems like I should be a little more powerful than I am currently. I will have to play with it a bit.

Oh and for the record the Rocket Launcher seems WAY too slow to be effective. At least at my current level.

Pegasus NO!!!!

So I finally set aside some time to play for MANY hours... and what happens? Pegasus server is OFFLINE. I was right in the middle of a new Gravitron Armor load out... was painting it all up pretty (Red and Grey) and wouldn't you know it...

So here I sit... hitting the refresh button... waiting for my fix... I just got to level 16 and spent the points on Launcher and Gravitron. I haven't enjoyed either in battle yet.

Tabula Rasa wins best Sci-fi MMO?

With all the doom and gloom that is tossed around about Tabula Rasa these days, I was surprised to see it picking up the Beckett Massive Online Gamer Magazine 2007 Reader choice award for Best Sci-Fi MMO.

Last year, EVE Online and Star Wars Galaxies were neck and neck with EVE squeezing by with a victory over SWG. This year these two titles are just as close as ever, EVE with 30% of the votes and SWG with 27%. But it will be the newcomer, Tabula Rasa, who will take home the gold and squeak by with 32% of the votes! It'll be interesting to see what all three of these great sci-fi MMOs will unveil in 2008.

Subscribe to Beckett MOG

In fact, every mention of TR in the magazine is extremely positive, even claiming its release as one of the highlights of the 2007-2008 MMO year. I can't help but feel that TR's largest problem is hype. It seems to be a really solid experience... and appeals to gamers that fall on the sci-fi side of the fence as opposed to fantasy. I personally have never been into fantasy... never played D&D... never read the LOTR books... but I did play Battletech... and have seen all the Star Trek tv episodes in order for TOS, TNG, and DS9... and claim Accelerando as my favorite book... so it makes since why Tabula Rasa falls in my "cool" zone.

Zero Punctuation: Tabula Rasa

This is from back in Oct 2007, but I only recently started playing so it was fun to find this and watch it. If you have already seen it, I am sure it is still funny. :)

This week, Richard Garriott's Magnum Opus gets a little love. A long distance dedication, from Yahtzee to General British.

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The New Patch... 1.6

Lots of people are talking about it... I had a few small thoughts. Meanwhile check out WarCry's coverage:

With 1.6 in the works right now, we thought we'd give you a sneak peek of what you will able to experience for yourself once 1.6 goes live. These are but a couple of those handy little features that were requested at some point or another and we would be happy to get your feedback on some of the changes outlined below by using our Feedback Form.

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My favorite? Really the interruptible reload sounds like a good time. I do get frustrated when I am in an extended chain-laser reload and I just want to bring myself back from the brink.

What does the end of Tabula Rasa look like?

Trullz went to the end of the world... and gazed upon oblivion...