Tribes Ascend

[Shrinweck]

The closed beta started a while ago and they're doing that thing where you can get in if you give them $30 (you get $45 worth of goodies out of it) to get into the closed beta. Do yourself a favor and go to tribesuniverse.com and sign up for the beta at least. I got in tonight (signed up some months ago) and I've already had enough fun that I've shot them $10 to unlock some stuff. It's more original Tribes than Tribes 2 and I'm having a blast with it.

Oh also it's a free to play game that emulates LoL, meaning you can buy different class loadouts and xp boosts but nothing that actually gives you an advantage in a match. Any progress made in the beta carries over to the release.

[Shrinweck]

I just realized I have some beta keys for this. I already gave one to Tess and there's someone else I want to give another to, but does anyone want the third?

[Flip]

me!

[Shrinweck]

PM sent. If I get more I'll post about it. Flip may have three for himself, though. Not sure how they're working that.

Tessian is already considering giving them $10 for a boost or some gold so I'm not alone in thinking it's pretty awesome.

[Flip]

Thanks for the key, i dont know where to go to look to see if i have referrals or not, but i would bet that chosen people get referrals and referred people do not. It would be a never ending cycle if every person got to invite 3 more people.

I played a little bit on Sunday and it was fun for an hour or so... and that seems to be the same problem i have with a lot of multiplayer shooters (Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Counter strike, etc). They are cool for a quick hour kill but then it feels like the same thing over and over. Tribes is neat in its scope and usable stuff laying around, though, and i want to get back in it to explore this weird token/exp/gold aspect. I like the idea of being able to upgrade your character, but i hope that doesnt make some people too uber who will then wipe the floor with a casual gamer like me.

[Shrinweck]

There are balance issues and there are certain things that haven't even begun to start getting balanced but the game is still pretty early in the development process. You earn tokens and experience in every game. Tokens are spent unlocking more classes. Experience unlock skills for the class you're playing. It's enough to give you an edge but it isn't enough of an edge to just go owning everyone in a game if you're playing with a bunch of lowbies. We're talking about carrying more ammo and ~10% boosts here. The perks that are unlockable through the skills section are just ways to specialize your character. The two default perks are just generic survivability and utility perks.

I hope they push a balancing patch soon. The latest one a few days ago gave a heavy class their unique class grenade and everyone everywhere agrees that's it is overpowered. It fires energy everywhere for way too long and instantly kills everyone within way too large an area. The thing kicking up the most storm right now are 'hitscan' weapons - the guns like the assault rifle and the SMG being way too powerful and accurate. The developers agree that they feel a "bit" overpowered and that will be looked into, as well.

I'm still putting a bunch of hours into this daily. This is exactly what I needed before SW:TOR comes out. I'll likely only be playing it while the servers are down for a good long while soon. Definitely worth keeping an eye on this as they get it ready for open beta and then release. The classes offer enough deviation that if I get bored of one role I can switch to another. Due to the chaotic nature of tribes it usually doesn't matter. There's nearly always something to do that I don't feel like I'm constantly doing the same thing. Repairing base items, defending the generator, destroying the enemy generator, flag capturing, flag chasing, rooting out and killing snipers (OH so fun to backstab them). Can basically change roles on a whim, which is what I love about Tribes. There's a great game in there, they just have to keep polishing it. And more maps. But they're coming.

[Shrinweck]

Oh, well, I got three more beta invites if anyone is interested.

[Shrinweck]

Tessian got me back into this a few days ago and I hadn't played since SW:TOR got released and was pleasantly surprised by a ton of (good) changes, including a complete rehaul of the main menu and class unlocks/class upgrade unlocks.

In any case it's still fun if any of my PC brethren want a key.