In this week's screenshot, a new AFS recruit heads out on his first mission after a training in the new bootcamp. As he leaves to retake the AFS base from the Bane, he passes an Eloh hologram which tells him of his destiny as a receptive.]]>
In this week's screenshot, a new AFS recruit heads out on his first mission after a training in the new bootcamp. As he leaves to retake the AFS base from the Bane, he passes an Eloh hologram which tells him of his destiny as a receptive.]]>
The Olympics have come to a close and in the wake of this years events we have a distinguished list of competitors, all of whom walked away with medals from this years events. They are the very best of the best and deserving of the accolades they have earned. Below are the overall medal counts as well as a couple TRO Records.
TRO Record: Most Medals Won in an Olympic Games.
Currently Held by: Talonus with 9 Medals in the First Olympiad.
TRO Record: Most Gold Medals Won in an Olympic Games.
Currently Held by: Talonus and Rokanov - Tied at 4 Golds each.
In culmination of the events, Talonus (aka Darkspark) created a wonderful Tabula Rasa Olympics Retrospective. This is a must read!
Friday Night Fights
It was another good night for FnF as we landed on the Orion server! After last weeks Olympic blowout, the field was a bit lighter but there was no lack of action or competition.
Round One: Machka beat Mordahel, Bethel defeated Morse, Badger (Cyxult) took out Glycol, Koolaid overcame Chandler and Deadra beat Rokanov.
Round Two: Machka beat Desmo, Badger (Cyxult) defeated Bethel, Matron took out Koolaid and Deadra overcame Andriss.
Semi-Finals: Badger (Cyxult) beat Machka and Matron defeated Deadra.
Finals: Badger (Cyxult) beat Matron.
Final Challenge: Being an FnF Veteran, Badger (Cyxult) opted for the Pride and Trust match which saw him partnered up with Rokanov to take on Mordahel and Deadra. It was a short and decisive match as the Champion and his partner made short work of their opponents.
FnF is back on Pegasus next week so be sure to join us. Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support. We'll see you next week!
]]>August 29, 2008 7:00 PM-9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
Location
Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.
600 Pine Street Suite 401
Seattle, WA 98101 Map It!
Come out and join the Tabula Rasa development team including Producer Starr Long, Associate Producer Dane Caruthers, Community Coordinator Critters, and QA Lead Neal Johnson for a night of fun and community building at this player sponsored meet & greet.
Other NCsoft games and representatives will also be on site, those games include: Dungeon Runners, Exteel, Lineage I & II, City of Heroes, and AION.
Sign up here! The cost for attending the event is $15.00, this cost covers food, tax, & gratuity. Beverages can be purchased at will at the event. This event is open to all that are interested in attending that have registered for the event. Walk-in arrangements will need to be made directly with COH Community Coordinator, Ex Libris, by emailing exlibris@ncsoft.com.
** This event was planned and organized by a member of the City of Heroes Community, this is not an officially sponsored event, although there will be members of the team in attendance.**
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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!
COCP Prototype Map
With Deployment 12 you will see the first iteration of the Clan Owned Control Point Prototype Map on the Public Test Server. We thought we'd clarify the information given a previous Feedback Friday about COCP's and answer some of the questions about how the COCP prototype differs from the intended COCP design.
So how exactly is the COCP Prototype going to function and what is its purpose? The COCP Prototype is just that, a prototype. It's a way to test the team factions, clan buffs, and other COCP specific features. Most importantly, we'd like your feedback on whether or not it is fun to play! Designer Chris "Ssendam" Strasz gives some more details on the COCP Prototype design in this PlanetTR Thread.
The main question we've seen is, "Are the COCP's going to be instanced or on persistent maps?" The answer to that question is still being investigated. While we originally intended the clan battles to be on persistent maps, we are still reviewing other alternatives. We have considered many options including instanced battles on a copy of the persistent map. Currently we are focusing on the main COCP functions and preparing the back end development such as team colors, factions, and leader boards. If you have any feedback, one way or the other, we'd love to hear it!
The Epic Gauntlet Test Map v1
This prototype is the first step towards creating epic group content for level 50 players. We took existing creatures and changed their health, armor and damage significantly to increase the challenge. Our basic goal was to create simple trash encounters using existing mechanics that require group coordination while remaining fast paced and fun.
Once Deployment 12 is on PTS, level 50 players should speak with Outpost Commander Rogers in Alia Das to obtain the mission "The Epic Gauntlet", which gives you access to the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet itself consists of 10 rooms, each with a different assortment of Bane creatures. Things ramp up in difficulty for 3 rooms, then reset with a different group of creatures. The last room is insane, with 19 of these epic creatures to deal with.
Internally, we've completed the Gauntlet many times with a 'traditional' squad make-up: Guardian Tank, Medic Healer, Spy Main Assist, with a Demo/Eng and 3 other classes. We went in using blues and purples, and most of us focused on modules that enhanced our role. Enemy damage types also played a role in our tactics and gear choices.
Now we want your feedback. Did you complete the Gauntlet? What was your squad composition? How many players did you need to get through it? Was it hard? Was it fun? Can you complete this with non-traditional squad compositions? Can you complete this without purples? Can you complete this with only greens? What were your most exciting experiences on this map? What were your worst experiences on this map? How do you feel the existing mechanics in Tabula Rasa work with this type of game play?
Please submit this feedback using the Feedback Form or by posting on the forums. Your feedback is important. The more information you can give us, the better we can make this new content. We want to create a difficult, fun, and polished experience for a 6-player team. And remember, this test is only the beginning: we hope to update this map again as we finish developing new mechanics and encounters.
Together they look back at the past 30 episodes and discuss all the great times and content covered.
Look out for their new podcast that will focus on games, movies and comics!
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Are you a glutton for punishment? If so, then this is the event for you.
On Friday, August 22, 2008 Dev/QA Tester Kagasumi will be conducting an event on the Public Test Server at 2:00PM to approximately 4:00PM Central Time (-6 GMT).
Kagasumi says:
This test will consist of very hard monsters. This will be the "Pain Train", so if you are up to the challenge and feel you can avoid the hospital then please come join us!Remember, these Bane will be very serious about wanting to kill you. They will not die easily. This will be pretty tough.
This test will be conducted at Palisades, because we must protect the corn.
Questions or comments? View the original PlanetTR thread. And if you want a little taste of what to expect, check out this footage by Lurking Lomez of the PTS Invasion last week (make sure to watch in high quality).
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This week's screenshot is taken deep within the Omega Labs research facility, where an AFS Forean Hybrid soldier takes a closer look at a Thrax under glass. ]]>
Today, NCsoft announced that Joe Ely, Grammy Award winning American singer, songwriter and guitarist, Scott Johnson, has agreed to include his DNA and key Nobel laureate insights from The Nobelity Project (www.nobelity.org), on Garriott's Immortality Drive. This addition will carry excerpts from the film Nobelity into space on a Soyuz rocket and in orbit around earth where Garriott will be observing global environmental changes and conducting science lab work of his own.
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.]]>
Let's take a look at the event winners:
Round One: Ozzadnar defeated Yolegion by forfeit, Talonus defeated Grahamgraham, Rokanov beat Disarray, Deadra overcame Matron, Saberwraith beat Cavallari, Steward earned a bye, Dralnu defeated Youngbloodd and Glasses beat Cyxult.
Round Two: Bethel defeated Ozzadnar, Talonus beat Machka, Truebrujah beat Saberwraith, Andriss overcame Steward, Dralnu took out Tyrannus and Glasses defeated Kaczmanchoy.
Quarter-Finals: Bethel beat Talonus, Deadra defeated Rokanov, Andriss took out Truebrujah and Glasses overcame Dralnu.
Semi-Finals: Deadra defeated Bethel and Glasses beat Andriss.
Bronze Medal Match: Andriss beat Bethel
Gold Medal Match: Deadra defeated Glasses to claim the Gold Medal. Glasses walked away with the Silver Medal.
It was a wonderful night at FnF with so many turning out to spectate as well as compete. Congratulations to our three Medalists!
-DR
View the thread and watch the video!
Preliminary Matches: Cyxult defeated Grahamgraham and Youngbloodd beat Valashar.
Round One: Cyxult beat Disarray, Rokanov defeated Kaczmanchoy, Glasses took out Saberwraith, Deadra overcame Machka, Talonus defeated Catalina by forfeit, Bethel beat Steward, Ozzadnar took down Cavallari and Youngblood rolled over Truebrujah.
Quarter-Finals: Cyxult beat Rokanov, Deadra defeated Glasses, Bethel took down Talonus and Youngblood overcame Ozzadnar.
Semi-Finals: Cyxult beat Deadra and Bethel defeated Youngblood.
Bronze Medal Match: Youngblood beat Deadra.
Gold Medal Match: Bethel defeated Cyxult for the Gold Medal. Cyxult walks away with the Silver.
Thanks to everyone who came out to watch and participate in this event and congratulations to our medalists.
-DR
View the thread and watch the video!
First up was Glasses (aka Glass), Deadra, and Rokanov! They performed a spectacular event that consisted of dancing, self destructing, and throwing rocks at the judges. In the end they won with the Gold with a combined score of 25!
Next up Deadringer, Wellman, and Truebrujah (aka Brujah) breakdanced their way into our hearts topping it off with hamster balls! Congratulations on the silver medal after earning a score of 22!
Finally Disarray (aka Chandler) and Machka paired up and gave a wonderful performance. They used the entire space and showed off their talents in dance and ended the night with a fireworks show! They earned their bronze medal with a score of 20!
Congratulations to all of the medalists, and thank you for coming out!
View the thread and watch the video!
Heat 1 runners moving on to the finals: Valashar, Talonus, Rokanov
Heat 2 runners moving on to the finals: Morrse, Disarray, Matron
Gold Medal: Valashar
Silver Medal: Morrse
Bronze Medal: Talonus
Sign up for the next events at PlanetTR.com.
Today, NCsoft announced that Scott Johnson, Olympic gold medalist, three time National Champion, and 2006 Olympic Hall of Fame inductee, has agreed to send his DNA into space as part of NCsoft's Operation Immortality.
"Participating in Operation Immortality is an incredible privilege," says Johnson. "Knowing that my DNA will be immortalized for all time and that I have been chosen as one of mankind's most "accomplished athletes" is truly an honor."]]>
Today marks the end of content additions for Deployment 12 and we'd like to share a taste of what you'll see once it hits the Public Test Server.
Meet the Series 2 Physical Chaingun. This newly developed fully automatic weapon has the ability to punch through enemy combatants, cutting down anything in its direct line of fire. This comes at a cost however, when using this weapon you will be at a reduced accuracy and no have the ability to lock a specific target.
Pew Pew Pew! This Series 2 Laser Pistol has the ability to fire 3 shots per rapid fire burst. This new pistol is ideal for eliminating individual targets at close range without drawing too much attention.
The first installment of pet improvements are in Deployment 12. All Bots/Clones/Spotters will now act more consistently and reliably. Each Bot/Clone/Spotter is automatically set to follow and guard the player and each will always assist the player above all else. Each rank is now a toggle as well so you may cast the same rank of Bot Construction, Spotter, or Create Clone to dismiss your pet. A few pets have also been changed slightly so that they are more useful to their master:
Who says UI can't be sexy?!?! Check out our new training menu in Deployment 12. This new menu was created to give more information about you class options before you choose them. It also has a "compare" button that allows you to view a side by side comparison of each class. And one of the best things about the new training menu? How about having only 1 training NPC, and not one for each class?
The auction can be accessed at the Operation Immortality auction site. There are two items up for bid in the auction. The first is a DNA swab kit, in which the results will be added to the Immortality Drive and stored on the International Space Station. The second item in the auction package is having a character in Tabula Rasa named after the winner.
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Hickman is best known for his work on the Dragonlance novels and the innovative Ravenloft module of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game system. As part of Operation Immortality's mission to preserve the most talented and influential people of our time, Tracy Hickman will be sending his digitized DNA into space!
Read the entire Press Release.