Tribes: Ascend is (basically) dead

UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA:Redwood City, CA Icrontian
Woke up to unfortunate gaming news this morning. Hirez have basically abandoned Tribes: Ascend in favor of SMITE, another crummy MOBA game.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/07/12/tribes-ascend-will-not-receive-a-major-update-for-at-least-six-months/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=emp

T:A hasn't been the game it once was for a long time now. There have been a lot of issues introduced by the developers that broke the game continuously. It's the kind of stuff that eventually led all of us to stop playing and discussing Tribes: Ascend on Icrontic.

Hirez started introducing weapon packs that severely unbalanced the game, and some class changes (such as those to the infiltrator and technition) made the classes so OP that those players dominated every single match. If you didn't keep up with the weapon additions and changes, you were simply outclassed in every match.

On top of all of this, Hirez's free-to-play model was terribly broken. It is, unfortunately, one of the best actual examples of "pay to win" in the F2P space. The costs of unlocking anything without cold cash became so high that you'd be playing for weeks just to unlock a single weapon - and in many cases, you'd finally get said weapon and realize that it was complete garbage.

The social issues were never fixed, either. Another detriment to us playing together, it was almost impossible for us to group up on the same server without someone having issues. The level requirements to do so were rubbish, and the social interface was straight up broken.

All of these things are major issues with the game, a siren song declaring the game's incomplete state. So many unfinished promises, so much lost potential. Though Hirez hasn't explicitly declared they've abandoned the game (they said six months with no updates), they've further alienated their abused community and clearly communicated that they don't care about the game. This is, without a question, the final blow to Tribes: Ascend.

When T:A hit beta and I tried it for the first time, I played the game for EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT with @thrax @UPSKingpin @Tiberiuslazarus and others. It was so good. The modern Tribes game I was looking for. It's been a downhill ride ever since then, with every new update adding more garbage that detracted from the experience. It's a damn shame to see it end up like this. And now I wonder if I'll ever get the Tribes game I've dreamed of since the 90s.
Lincprimesuspect

Comments

  • CantiCanti =/= smalltime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9K18CGEeiI&feature=related Icrontian
    VGS...
    UPSLynx
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    long live VGS. Long live VGTG.
  • colacola part legend, part devil... all man Balls deep Icrontian
    VGN VGTG VGS
  • IlriyasIlriyas The Syrupy Canadian Toronto, Ontario Icrontian
    edited July 2013
    VGTB @HirRez?
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited July 2013
    The butchers have our flag!

    VGTA



    UPSLynx
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    The end of that video gets me EVERY TIME! All the voice spamming is so hilarious. That's the Tribes Ascend I miss so much.
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    edited August 2013
    And more crap from HiRez. They stopped supporting their entire community forums on their site and gave only 24 hour notice before taking them down. Three years of forum content completely erased in the blink of an eye. Worse yet, they declared (officially) that their new community support and discussions is, wait for it... Reddit. The /r/tribes community is LIVID, and the official HiRez esports manager and COMMUNITY MANAGER have been dicks in light of this news on the subreddit and are actually talking shit to people 'in jest'. It's bad enough /r/tribes is considering just banning HiRez employees. Here's the details (mostly in the top comment)"

    http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1jtr0d/rtribes_now_considering_banning_hirez_employees/

    Everything about this is disgusting. I'll never play another HiRez game again.
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    Ugh. And then this.

  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    If I didn't hate HiRez so badly right now, I'd be applying for a job to do the deed!
    midga
  • TheRedburnTheRedburn Spaceman K Detroit, MI Icrontian

    I don't know if y'all heard, but HiRez dedicated a team to try and fix Tribes and make it great again

  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited April 2016


    They hired Trump!?!?

    drasnorEMT
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian

    RIP.... for real this time :(

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/54uwvq/hirez_puts_out_parting_gifts_patch_for_tribes/

    Hi-Rez has issued "parting gifts", the final patch for the game. They're not immediately dropping servers or anything, but the company is officially no longer supporting the title and putting it out to pasture.

    A couple months ago, in a surprise announcement, Hi-Rez dropped a patch for Tribes - the first one in about three years since the decision to focus on SMITE - and actually made the game playable again. It removed a lot of the awful grinding and pay to win stuff, and the game felt the best it ever had felt. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, and players moved on. It never was able to bounce back to levels anywhere close to the pre-SMITE days.

    With this patch, Hi-Rez is done. They're putting their entire focus on Paladins (aka their Overwatch ripoff). If I were a betting man, I'd put money on the servers for Tribes Ascend being sunsetted some time in the next year.

    VGS.

  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian

    This is where someone should strongly encourage Hi-Rez to open-source, or at least release their server and net code. If they're sunsetting the product, there's no reason they can't hand it over to the community to play with.

    Granted, I'm sure they want to make sure they maintain control over the Tribes IP, but then the community ends up suffering.

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