At last some great responses.  Regarding all the 'reasons I left TR' comments I have to agree with almost all the 'wish list' wanted.

Even though I enjoy TR there is always a part of me thinking it is so close to being great, as some of you have suggested it really needs:

* Crafting - Its adequate for what it is intended for but its not a full time trade for the crafters out there and usually I enjoy this role and right now it needs overhauling...something they have already acknowledge needs it.  I think a neocrom like 'hacking' mini game would be great for crafting.

* Housing, Officer ranks...basically more in-depth role playing elements so you don't feel like you are fighting 99% of the time.  The new arena with a bar area may help with alternative activities but clan / player owned structures are a must.  Hate to mention Neocrom again but having various apartments at different quality levels is a great idea.  At least something you can save up for and brag about.

* Messaging - they need in game mail

* Maybe have an end goal to combat.  I have jumped into PotBS a bit and seeing a game that has an end goal for the winner is interesting.  Imagine if the Bane came in larger hordes, held on to bases so it took a mini invasion to reclaim and players could join (traitors etc).  Have a victory bar showing AFS vs Bane.  The more bases the side owns the more bonus, weapons, NPC's are available. 

TR is at a cross road right now.  I don't think AoC will damage it that much because players like me who are Sci-Fi fans will prefer lasers over bows.  However Stargate, Earthrise, Jumpgate Evolution are all going to take big chunks of TR's player base so for me they have until then to really beef it up.  

In the meantime I want to complete every instance and check out each map as I do love the graghics and most of the storylines... 

do you mean neocron or was there another game called neocrom?

Originally posted by pixeldogmeat

do you mean neocron or was there another game called neocrom?

Sorry it was a long long time ago in a world far far away...Neocron!

I like the apartments in the game and how you could save up for a penthouse.  Plus the mini hacking game was very cool and I would like to see something similar for TR.  Make it skillful at least and have blueprints drop with weapon parts so once you collect all parts you can make a nice uber weapon. 

Good community? It's been a while since I played but I found TR's community a little on the brutal side. Very... opportunistic. Like doing instances, frequently you go in and different people have done different parts of the instance already. It really amazed me how often group members would just bail once they got what they needed. Yeah, that happens a bit in any game, but it was oddly common in TR, especially since the instances were pretty quick to complete even doing every part.

NPCs interacting with surroundings - it's pretty basic AI and common to many mmos.

Combat fun? Depends on your class. I hated it playing a support class at launch, and while I can see they've changed a few things, they still look pretty gimped. Admittedly the fps was fine and I liked running around shooting stuff. But there wasn't much more to it than that.

And seriously - the title of this thread says it all. You may as well have entitled it: "Ignore the overwhelming consumer feedback and empty your wallet here."

Support classes are cool.

I have an exo-biologist.

Injector guns are great, clones are cool, and you can really annoy people by doing a mass res on dead bane and having rhem run around in a base.

You can loot locked crates, pick your soldier buddies up after they die and dust them off. Whats not to like?

I never found TR to be immersive out of the 2 months I played.  It just felt like a game to me, if that makes any logical sense.  I felt like a quest slave running from point a to point b and then back to point a and it was always the same thing, nothing memorable. Also, exceedingly minimal character development when you leveled.  Those were the two big issues for me. 

The game in my opinion was particularly made for short periods of gaming for an hour or two tops.  Any more time than that and I just get antsy because it really is the same thing over and over again.   Point, click, shoot, run, jump, special ability, point, click...etc. 

TR always had and still does have a lot of potential though.

I loved TR for its run-and-gun action, (no rooting necessary) and its wild, desperate fights at control points.  I also found other innovations like the footlockers and cloning to be wonderful.

I played in beta, bought the game, contributed most of the initial articles about Pools zone to the wiki, and left at 40.  I left after an extended period of time of frustration where things weren't fixed, even though claims were made that they were, like frequent disconnects by the game that totally wasted all my work in instances, and the whole lag issue with the appropriately named Mires zone, which returned to its problems quickly after the announcement.  I got the distinct impression that problems in TR were like the hydra: lop one head off, two more grew back.  By the time they also made several character changes, including the body/mind/spirit point changes (admittedly much needed), I felt like I no longer knew my beloved guardian and could no longer use him effectively anyway, so I reluctantly moved back to an old MMO.  I believe someone else in the thread mentioned moving away from the game for 6 months or so, and that's how I have felt: like the game was potentially awesome, but half baked.  Put it in the oven for another 6 months.

But I appreciate the positive statements in this thread and would really like to know:  How, if at all, have they progressed?  There was a lot of hype about Personal Armor Units, crafting changes, personal squads, flashpoints, and beefed up PvP action including control points.  There was also talk of an expansion pack with another planet, which I gathered would be released around the 1 year mark.  I see from statements here that crafting still lacks, but what of the others?  And what has changed in, say, the last two months that you would pitch to convince a former player to return?

Btw, I agree with the OP about a mailbox need.  I also feel there is a real need for resource gathering to be added to crafting.  The lore shows a ragtag clone army trying to survive.  The Pools Snakepit has you scavaging for spare parts, as an example.  Wouldn't surface mining and medical herbology make sense in context? And it would be one more thing that isn't  the "go there, kill that" pattern that eventually creates boredom.

Originally posted by Thunderous

 

Originally posted by pixeldogmeat

 

Originally posted by Thunderous

Viral Marketing.  The OP's post reads almost exactly like an advertisement...

Viral Marketin.

 

 

How could someone possibly stand up for a game that offers NOTHING?

 

No.

AOC is not worth trying. Playing the beta almost forced me to start playing TR again. If AoC is supposed to be the end all be all of MMO gaming, then there will be a lot of dissapointed players.

The true innovation came from TR, and while the nay sayers will always troll the forums, the players will be playing the game.

AoC isn't offering anything that elder scrolls doesn't offer. Instead it's Elder Scrolls multiplayer, without all the cool elder scrolls crap.

 

No way that AoC is as good as Elder Scrolls.  If there were an Elder Scrolls MMO up and running right now it would more than likely be the best MMO on the market.  I was so addicted to that game for 2 months that it nearly cost me my marriage.

I pray to God at night that they never make ES into an MMORPG.  It's perfect they way it has been since the first of the series.  Single-player.

Tabula Rasa is a dying game, even if all five of the people who still play it say it's great.

I give it until October.

I agree whole-heartedly with the OP.   If you dont agree then

A.  You really havent played this game

B. Your gaming Rig sucks, the system you got for WoW isnt going to cut it for this one.

C. Your a troll and had a bitter experience.  I only say this because I actually read everyword of the OP and was thinking "he nailed it on the head".  I have been playing the past 2 weeks (Re-subbed) best desicion I have made. 

Oh and playing AOC made me want to play this game as AOC has a very similar combat system. 

    Well I just started playing the game but from my first and early experience it seems very fun. I was in a base just turning in a quest then all the sudden a alarm goes off and massive amounts of aliens start attacking the base we got swarmed and lost but was very cool. Very starship troopers like. I know I havnt played long enough but from what I seen it could be pretty addictive.

    What issues with this game make people hate it so much? Is there no endgame or is it just no content? I want to know.