Tabula Rasa - Interview @ MPOGD

MPOGD talks to April Burba from the Tabula Rasa team about what players can expect from this upcoming MMO.

Jason: Tabula Rasa is departing from the usual fighting mechanics, in that it isn't so much the auto combat of a World of Warcraft, and is instead much more action oriented and involving. Some players are taking to the new control scheme without issue, but others are having difficulties using the mouse in a more FPS reticule type way. Why, ultimately, was the more action system decided upon, and do you think that the gamers more weaned on traditional MMOs will be able to casually jump in and enjoy the game, having to conform tradition in a way to adopt a more FPS control scheme.

April: I think so – we actually added a more MMO-style control scheme as an option, however you have to aim and control your camera with your mouse with either control scheme and some people really don’t like that. It seems that people who play a ton of games, not just MMOs, get it much easier than people who mainly play MMOs. I think that is because if you play a wide variety of games you don’t come into TR with as much of an expectation of how the controls are ‘supposed’ to work than a heavy MMO player. Instead, you just learn the controls and the rules to the game and you go play. It’s about a 15 minute learning curve for some, but once you learn it suddenly you are much more immersed in the action than any other MMO I have ever played. My least favorite MMOs are the ones where you click on a target and then wait for the computer to finish the combat for you. TR is the opposite of that type of gaming.