Pumping Irony

After several hours of the AFS players furiously and frantically battling the Bane and the nefarious Neph, Earth and all Allied territories fell to the alien invaders. All we once knew is now but a memory. Nothing exists but darkness.

Tabula Rasa’s Live team made one final post this morning giving their appreciation for the players that stuck by them and the game:

As we return to Earth, our battle comes to an end. Thank you to all the fans who have supported us for the last few years! We hope you have enjoyed your journey through the galaxy and that the next worlds you visit will be filled with excitement and fun.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to our community – fansite administrators, forum administrators, and friends – for it is your passion and commitment that drives us to keep creating new and unique games. With every ending comes a new beginning, a clean slate, and a new story to be written. Thank you from all of us on the Tabula Rasa team, past and present.

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I’ve said before that the TR Live team deserves admiration and applause for doing the best they could with the confused mess of a game the Development team dumped in their laps post-launch, and I stand by that statement now. I’ve been under the impression that the Live team was pretty small while the obstacles lying before them were many. Too many, as it turned out.

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This weekend, DDO reaches the 3 year mark, while over in Tabula Rasa the Allied Free Sentients are making their final stand against the Bane before the servers shut off later tonight. The festivities for each game began yesterday.

First, DDO’s Birthday Bonus XP:

DDO is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! As part of the celebration, we’re giving out bonus XP and Loot!

Starting this Friday, February 27th, and running through March 1st, DDO Players will gain a 50% XP bonus and +1 tier bonus to loot quality! But the fun doesn’t stop there! Once 50% XP and +1 loot are over with on Sunday March 1st, starting Monday March 2nd, enjoy 10% bonus XP for 2 weeks!

Be on the look out for more fun and previews as we celebrate DDO’s 3rd Anniversary together! Happy Birthday DDO!

Sounds great! My MMO Burnout isn’t quite over yet but I have been getting interested in checking back with DDO. Maybe I’ll put in some time next week with the +10% XP? DDO players were really hoping Turbine would have Module 9 ready for the birthday but they didn’t quite make it. Senior Producer Kate Paiz posted a Letter to the Players today saying that Turbine is close to announcing the release date for Module 9 as well as spelling out five of the changes or improvements it will bring:

• A shared bank tab. From the description, this sounds like the bank system Hellgate: London had where each character had its own bank space but a shared tab existed where all characters on that server can share items contained within.
• Combined chat channels. Rather than each public hub having its own channel, a single global public chat will be used, and will also be available while inside quest instances.
• A new soft targeting system, which sounds interesting and will probably be helpful to the way I usually play the game, and improved combat feedback on the UI.
• Level cap increases to 20!
• Continuation of the Shavarath storyline. Players will take the fight to Shavarath, the Plane of Battle to fight for Xen’drik in a new multi-part raid. Kate put up a few sneak-peek screenshots.

Meanwhile out in space, the AFS Special Intel issued some dire news Friday: the Neph, a cousin race to the beneficent Eloh, have re-emerged with newly mastered wormhole technology! All bases were ordered to fortify their bases in anticipation of full-scale Bane attacks, which began yesterday. To quote the final paragraph of the AFS missive:

We request that all military personnel begin fortifying defenses at every AFS base in preparation for a massive Bane assault. If enemy troop movements are as large as we fear, and the Neph are truly prepared to lead all out war against us, this may be our last stand. Penumbra has been informed of the situation and is standing by on the use of their last resort weapon. We can not afford to be complacent or uncertain, but if it is truly our destiny to be destroyed, we are taking them all with us.

It sounds like the TR Live team is giving us one final live event where the Bane will overwhelm the AFS and rather than being enslaved Penumbra Division is going to nuke everyone? Guess I’ll find out, I plan on putting some time into the game today and I’ll be there when the server goes offline.

The shutdown event schedule was posted as well, and short enough I’ll just quote the whole thing:

### Incoming Transmission ###

The final Bane assault on Foreas, Arieki, and parts unknown will commence on Saturday, February 28th. Please join us to help battle back the Bane armies one last time!

The attack is slated to commence at approximately 8 PM GMT on Centarus and then later at 8 PM CST on Hydra. Servers will shut down at approximately midnight GMT and CST respectively.

Get out your best gear, load up on ammo, and raise a final cheer for the troops of the Allied Free Sentients!

### End Transmission ###