Tribes: Ascend Catch All

Sorry for the late post but Tribes is close to my heart.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

What happen?

Game's too hard. Unlike Redwing said the problem isn't that the skill ceiling is too high - games like Dota2 and Sc2 are doing well enough - its that the skill-floor is too high and with the basic and unrepresentative tutorial system and Hirez's insistence on throwing lvl6's into the same matchmaking pool as lvl 50's its no wonder that new players didn't stick around. Hirez themselves have said as much.

I have long since uninstalled Tribes for probably the last time, the defensive stacks and the lack of co-ordination needed to break them in normal pub games is what frustrated the beejezus out of me, and I could never commit the time to remain competitive and play pugs. However Tribes has definitely ruined other popular FPS games for me; every time i see a hill i instinctively press my shift(ski) button and i am always dissapointed in the fact that other games wont let me cross the map at mac-6000. Every time i have re-installed Tribes i have found that re-experiencing that perfect freedom of movement is absolutely sublime for like 30 seconds and then I run out of energy and get ground-pounded or sniped from across the map and I begin to remember why i left in the first place; but then i see a new Iago montage or one of Shad's jaw-dropping dueling montages on youtube and i just desperatly want to reinstall again.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

That makes me :(. Too bad I'm not terribly interested in MOBAs.

Moba's are blowing up and PC Fps's seem to be going out of fashion; if like me you have never played a Moba before then Smite is probably as good an initiation as you can find as it seems to blend the Moba and FPS genre. But that might be my bias speaking, ever since Global Agenda Hirez have been the gaming company that i have followed religiously.

I will point out that my comments above were entirely from my personal opinions, and don't really reflect on the quality of the game at all.

I can imagine, for some people, Tribes: Ascend is gaming Nirvana. I did enjoy it for a while before most of the transitionary community left and the pros started getting really good. I'd probably still enjoy it if I fired it up today, but I've realised it was never going to be a long term thing for me like Battlefield or even Planetside, simply because it requires a higher time investment to be good than I'm willing to put into it.

The skill ceiling was the issue for me, but I think the concept of a skill floor is actually a good one, I probably sat above that floor for a while (still well below that ceiling though) and that's why I got some enjoyment out of the game, but for some people it's just not going to be possible to get up to that level without frustration setting in long before hand.

cyrax wrote:

Competitively, that's what the game is stripped down. Sounds like you just got on the bad end of one too many lopsided matches.

I played with random people, I was on the good end of many lopsided matches too, didn't make the experience better, well, okay, a little, but the point is that I had nothing to do with the outcome either way.

Tamren wrote:

That's not true, there are dozens and dozens of things you can do to block a capture.

No doubt there are many things, when I quit no one was using them (I never unlocked mines, but they looked fun, mostly I just blew them up).

Me and my friend just started playing this again.

Have not really played with any GWJ guys before, but would love to try and get a coordinated group together to play public games if people are still playing. For fun.

Disclaimer: I played a ton of Tribes and even more Tribes 2, but am not by any means very good at Ascend and will probably be terrible getting back into it until I adjust and find a niche. Friend as well.

As someone who tends to set up camp on the skill floor, I can understand how the game isn't fun if you're doing one-on-one duels with people who are way better than you. I don't enjoy that at all... so I don't do it. In CTF, there are tons of things to do even if you don't have the twitch skills to be a front-line combatant. My favorite activities include breaking things and fixing things. Not at the same time, of course.

Friend me up, I'm StylezXP in game. I haven't played in a while so I'll be rusty but hopefully it'll come back to me

Stylez wrote:

Friend me up, I'm StylezXP in game. I haven't played in a while so I'll be rusty but hopefully it'll come back to me

Added you. My tag is eightbitmud.

Was on for a bit tonight. Was doing base-keeping a lot and doing well, but not really getting a ton of points.

Going to try some more offensive builds tomorrow.

I got an itch to play again. Checked store page, 109 players. That's so sad. This was a super fun game.

According to one of the recent podcasts it's been abandoned for so long that it's now impossible to install and play the game even if you wanted to. Honestly Hirez have treated the game like sh*t. Horrible business practices, never listened to players (especially the competitive scene), overpowered weapons for sale that get nerfed soon after, you name it. As I put it at one point less than a dozen people worked on the game and none of them did QA, it shows.

I wish they would just put the game up for sale because they clearly don't care about it and have no plans to work on it again.

Yeah, if you want to kill a game, stop supporting it.

It looks like I had a similar realization two years ago. I made a very similar post in 2013.

Is there any other FPS that is as fast as Tribes? I haven't played a FPS in a long while. I think it may be time.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Is there any other FPS that is as fast as Tribes?

I highly doubt it. It would have to allow players to exceed 400km/h.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Yeah, if you want to kill a game, stop supporting it.

It looks like I had a similar realization two years ago. I made a very similar post in 2013.

Is there any other FPS that is as fast as Tribes? I haven't played a FPS in a long while. I think it may be time.

I am a Tribes addict. I love, love, LOVE Tribes Ascend. Or did, before Hirez let it die on the vine. I really enjoyed the high speed play. Pretty sure it's all just hackers playing it now.

The only game that's been able to satisfy the need for speed, and I've tried several FPSs, is Titanfall.

I didn't play Tribes: Ascend that much, but it felt like a game that should have been better than it was. Like there was a high quality game trapped inside, trying to get out.

*Legion* wrote:

I didn't play Tribes: Ascend that much, but it felt like a game that should have been better than it was. Like there was a high quality game trapped inside, trying to get out.

The competitive tribes 2 community wanted SO BADLY to move over to the new game. But they just couldn't make it work because Hirez flat out refused to implement any kind of tournament system or features that would make one possible. No mass spectator mode, no replay system (so that they could examine matches and find cheaters), nothing!

*Legion* wrote:

I didn't play Tribes: Ascend that much, but it felt like a game that should have been better than it was. Like there was a high quality game trapped inside, trying to get out.

I really loved Tribes: Ascend but the story, balance, and physics changes it needed just never arrived. It was a real shame.

They even tried catching the esports train and failed. Overall HiRez dropped the ball so hard.

I loved some Tribes: Ascend when it came out, the original tribes was one of my first PC games I fell in love with. I refuse to even try SMITE because of how Hi-Rez flat out abandoned this game in order to tap into the higher-profit genre of MOBAs.

silentsod wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

I didn't play Tribes: Ascend that much, but it felt like a game that should have been better than it was. Like there was a high quality game trapped inside, trying to get out.

I really loved Tribes: Ascend but the story, balance, and physics changes it needed just never arrived. It was a real shame.

They even tried catching the esports train and failed. Overall HiRez dropped the ball so hard.

Is HiRez supporting any games right now, aside from Smite? I remember really liking Global Agenda, but I stopped playing shortly before that went F2P.

Also, is Smite actually competing with DOTA and LOL?

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Also, is Smite actually competing with DOTA and LOL?

There are basically three categories for MOBA games right now. DOTA, LOL and Not Dead Yet. SMITE is one of the more successful of the latter category, but that honestly doesn't mean very much.

HiRez only has a forum for Smite. I guess that shows their dedication to their games. I'll never play another HiRez game.

EverythingsTentative wrote:
silentsod wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

I didn't play Tribes: Ascend that much, but it felt like a game that should have been better than it was. Like there was a high quality game trapped inside, trying to get out.

I really loved Tribes: Ascend but the story, balance, and physics changes it needed just never arrived. It was a real shame.

They even tried catching the esports train and failed. Overall HiRez dropped the ball so hard.

Is HiRez supporting any games right now, aside from Smite? I remember really liking Global Agenda, but I stopped playing shortly before that went F2P.

Also, is Smite actually competing with DOTA and LOL?

I doubt riot or valve take Smite as serious competition.

HiRez seem to be in the business of trying to make cash grabs so I don't see long term happening with Smite.

Also I didn't mean to write story, that makes no sense.

Whatever, they took a beloved franchise and screwed it up. Failed after two or three attempts at badly monetizing it and then just abandoned it. They can keep Smite.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

HiRez only has a forum for Smite. I guess that shows their dedication to their games. I'll never play another HiRez game.

This.

maverickz wrote:

Whatever, they took a beloved franchise and screwed it up. Failed after two or three attempts at badly monetizing it and then just abandoned it. They can keep Smite.

And this.

They had the beginnings of a great thing in Tribes Ascend, but burned me so hard I'll never trust them with my money again.

I don't know if I've got another high-speed FPS in me. I might be OK with that.

Arise from the grave..

Tribes Game Universe is 21 and now legal to..... download them all!

Well almost all.

WTF? Hi Rez Still cares about Tribes? They just pushed out a patch on the 10th adding new maps. Really? After three years of neglect?

With the new "Out of the Blue" patch, we wanted to bring back classic elements from older Tribes games, while not alienating Tribes: Ascend fans. This patch is a return to form that will better spiritually align Tribes:Ascend with the series in addition to fixing many longstanding quality of life issues in the game.

HAHAHA, bit late for that.

We have removed Classes in favor of the classic 3 armor types. Light, Medium, and Heavy. That, by popular request, may carry additional weapons for the classic Spinfusor, Chaingun, Grenade launcher gameplay. With the removal of classes and the addition of extra weapon slots Tribes:Ascend now allows more flexibility than ever in both outfitting your character and playing a role that you enjoy.

TLDR they gutted the class system and implemented loadouts based on armour class, like the original games.

The community reaction to this change is mixed to say the least.

I couldn't find this thread when I looked, so I had posted my thoughts in another one. I'll repost them here if you all don't mind.

Alright, so. It's still Tribes Ascend. If you didn't like the core game play, you still won't. If, like me, you loved the core game play, you'll still love it. They've removed pretty much all of the speed bumps to the game play at this point. All the weapons are unlocked. You can customize up to 9 loadouts. It's pretty great, it's really how the game should have been. I haven't played enough to really make a statement about the nitty gritty, but overall it's great. They kept some of the custom skins locked behind some kind of paywall, but I don't really care personally. There are three "classes" (light, medium, and heavy), and they have grouped the previous classes into those as skins. So you can dress up however you like. Which is great as far as I'm concerned, because I found having to sort through like 15 different and separate classes a pain. Additionally, the ability to have two main weapons is great, it gives you a lot of options during a match without having to switch classes. Overall, great improvements.

Looks like they took out all the base upgrade stuff. The turrets, generator, and radar still all can be destroyed and need to be repaired, but you can no longer upgrade them. And anyone in Medium can build mobile turrets and equip a repair tool. Interesting. Still need to explore the sniping.

Generally, I think they've made improvements. Enough to get me to play again, at least for now.

Interesting. Sounds like I should probably reinstall over this holiday vacation -- if only to see how all my refunded gold can be used to purchase fabulous cosmetics.

Tribes Ascend is no more (again)

The brilliantly weird, and largely unintuitive, Tribes: Ascend has endured a chequered past. It’s on-off-on again legacy mirrors that of an afternoon soap opera romance—having been brought back from the edge of extinction in late December last year via its first update in two years—however its latest update, named Parting Gifts, marks its curtain call.

We caught up with developer Hi-Rez following last year’s rejuvenating patch 1.1, where the studio told us its mismanagement of Tribes: Ascend was “like death by a thousand cuts”. The latest appropriately-named update brings the game to version 1.4 and signals the end of the line.

This is what happens when you don't listen to your community and their needs, abandon your game without paying child support and go chase MOBA money. What did they think was going to happen.

Disappointing to hear its dead again. I really do wish they had made some smarter decisions about it as the game was technical, skillful, and a blast to play even in its early states.

I'll fondly remember T:A in its heyday.

100% inheritance will never be.