I'm dumb and missed this post over here:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=130515
(please move/delete this post as necessary)
The people that brought you Global Agenda, then tested it on you, then told you it would be F2P forevar have decided to for-go warzones, to instead BUY TRIBES AND MAKE A NEW ONE. Ahh rich people.. We love them.
Here is Erez's update as posted on the Global Agenda forums, to apply for the Alpha of Tribes Universe, go here
http://www.tribesuniverse.com/
protip: if you have a GA account, login as THAT and don't make a new account (It's a different front-end to Hirez's current forums).
Here is a brief update on what’s been happening at HiRez Studios.
Those of you that have been playing Global Agenda know that over the last year we have been consistently adding new features/content and releasing it at no charge to the Global Agenda community. We plan to continue doing this on an on-going basis as much as possible and over the next couple of months everyone will see new maps, raids, flair, and weapons (starting with the Halloween event next week).
As most of you know, Global Agenda is an ambitious project that incorporates many different gameplay modes (PvP, PvE, AvA, Raids, Open Zone, DA). Over time we had many requests for additional game play modes, especially larger spaces and fights. Earlier this year we released the Sonoran Desert quest zone as an area that would help players ease into the game while testing our technology limits for having large areas and many players in the same zone. Our plan for a first paid expansion was to continue on that path with Warzones which were designed as large open areas where players can PvP.
As we worked on Warzones we found too many design and programming issues to make it practical. Global Agenda was designed around 10v10 team play and there was no practical path found to scale it up in a significant way (to large scale numbers like 100 players in a single area). As a result we plan to continue releasing more Global Agenda content but only in the formats players are already familiar with. (Special Ops, Raids, Merc Missions, etc)
While we know that some players will be disappointed in the lack of warzones, we also have some good news.
We can’t transform Global Agenda to a large scale battle format but since we liked this concept a lot, we decided to create a new game based on large scale fighting. In order to develop the new game many significant steps had to be taken, including: A significant rewrite to the unreal engine servers to allow for 100+ players to be fighting in the same map, a new UI system that is more efficient, a different implementation of character visuals, a new terrain system, etc. In addition the combat gameplay required many significant changes as well.
While working through the design we kept coming back to one old and loved game that represented many of the concepts we where incorporating into the new game (Jetpacks, vehicles, large open space, three armor types, futuristic weapons, etc). Many of you will know this game as Tribes, the original on-line multiplayer shooter. As of now, HiRez Studios is the proud new owner of the Tribes franchise.
We now have two groups in the studio, one working on continuing to build Global Agenda and a new group working on the Tribes Universe project. We are also moving to a new larger office space in another month that will help us accommodate our growth.
I’m sure many of you have questions, so here are a few quick highlights for Tribes Universe:
* Three Tribes (factions)
* Full clan (agency) support
* First person view (third person for some vehicles)
* Full vehicle support (ground and air)
* Full persistent world with territory control (no instances)
* PvP focused
* Huge outdoor maps (about 10x the area of sonoran desert)
* Large scale fights (100+ players)
* Jetpacks, skiing, lots of weapons, etc
Alpha testing will begin at the start of the year (about 3 months from now) and Global Agenda players with level 50 characters will have priority in entering Alpha and Beta testing
Thanks for your support
Erez.
Posts
Calling it now.
This will not end well. I'm all for a new Tribes game, but an MMO of it by this company?
No. Not happening.
Agreed.
The claim that they can't handle 100v100 zones is a load of bullshit, too. Just look at the rush to the (only) single player zone when it came out. Between the NPC's and players, there were way over 200 people there. Way, way, over that amount, in fact.
This pretty much killed any interest i'd have in GA too. Now it's just a P2P TF with no future prospects.
You can't count NPCs as players. That's stupid.
Last I heard they did. I was thinking of reinstalling and checking out that new open zone too.
Hopefully they keep loadouts and all the base gadget/building/repair stuff the same too... that hasnt been mentioned yet, only "lots of weapons".
I just really really hope these guys are big fans of Tribes itself. So many ways they could fuck this up.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I wasn't, really. There were plenty of players there too.
Even so, with a game like GA, it takes a fair amount of power to keep the NPC's synced with the client, provided all that isn't client side (And I don't believe it is.) somehow.
For them to say that they can't do warzones is a blatant load of shit. More likely, they're cutting their losses on GA, since it's potential for growth is minimal thanks to a relatively bad release.
I could see maybe 100vs100 if they get some awesome code but throwing in vehicles and turrets you can go fuck right off. I've played on 32vs32 servers all the time in tribes2 and they've stream lined the hell out of that game and it barely works when theres a melee.
I really hope i do get into alpha so i can set shit right before it becomes unchangeable--tribes 2 is a holy relic of FPS games and i shall not suffer a pretender!
Also calling it right now, "theres vehicles! look a truck, a tank, a grav cycle..... but no flying vehicles but who needed those?!".
Sheeeit.
Getting sniped from across the map by a jerk max lvl Blood Eagle with the best epic laser rifle. >.<
Your going straight to hell for even thinking of that.
Its better to simply upscale something that works then fuck with it and make something thats broken but new.
Thats the same developers though that made the first GW who are making the second.
This Tribes Universe thing is being made by developers that had NOTHING to do with the actual Tribes games. I could see the original tribes developers changing some things and not ruining the game, but totally new devlopers trying this could be terrible. They really are better off just making a copy of Tribes with new graphics, maps and servers.
I'm not sure I even like the idea of any MMO aspects they might add, at least as far as leveling and unlocking stuff, that just would ruin the game. It will just be global agenda all over again with having to grind for gear to be on an even playfield. If they only make a persistent world for the sake of controlling areas and stuff, then cool... if they add levels and unlocking equipment, then fuck off.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Correct me if I'm wrong but tribes servers aren't hosted by a company, they're hosted by an individual aren't they? Someone's super micro board with what's equivalent to the celeron in the server world wouldn't handle crap. Compare that to a company that's got money to pour into high end server architecture.
Huh? I played 128 vs 128 on tribes 2 back when it was highly played.
I think people had to mod shit to make the cap that high, but I sure as hell remember playing it and it was a blast on the huge maps.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What what what--i played for years and the largest i've ever seen was 64vs64 and it barely ran with the lowest ping being 170. The action was also insane with 64 players as it was an almost constant stream of kills and flag rushes were things of epic tales with 4 person cap teams to pick up the flag in mid air as the other guy got blow to bits. I was the awesome bomber pilot who flew above the LoD zone and carpet bombed your vehicle area.
What game types did you play? i vaguely remember something about DM being able to host more people since its maps were much more simple. What made tribes for me was CTF and i dont think i ever played anything other then CTF.
That's the crucial part. I have high hopes for this game. I never did get a chance to play Tribes 2, but holy shit was Tribes 1 amazing.
Shifter mod was the best, though.
Stupid vanilla tribes leaving that sliver of life after a sweet headshot. >.<
I love sitting on the flag as a shielded heavy and watching a capper come flying in at absurd speeds then just bounce off my chest only to watch as 3 mortars landed at my feet and bathed us in fusion goodness. I hated those guys who would spinfusor me off the goddamn flag at the perfect time though.
That is why you shot a disc at them first, and then sniped milliseconds before it hit.
Oh my god
Oh my god
You have horrible opinions.
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
No, I just mock them.
Also Rabbit... But that ended up being a regular game mode.