Hello!
Please bear with me; I will try to go through the basics of where we are currently and where I see Tribes: Ascend as a competitive game moving over the next months. First, a word:
There is a lot of interest and appreciation for what you, the eSports community, does for our game nightly, at Hi-Rez. It is a distinct pleasure to provide a product and a service that so many people enjoy consuming as a competitive game, both on streams and in-game.
I look forward to meeting many of you at LAN events in the near future. I am excited about being able to include as many players as are interested, even as "Free Agents" in competitive play as we move into a private/customer server system.
I hope that we are able to live up to both your and our very high expectations for Tribes: Ascend, especially as an eSport. I have loved this game for my entire gaming life, it is a dream come true to have nearly half-a-million Tribes players to talk with. Getting to interface with legends from my favorite PC game ever made is incredibly fulfilling and humbling.
Getting to read a stray post on a random forum about how much a kid loves this game is better than all of it. This game, literally, is eSports. The grandaddy of them all, just reborn. A bizarre hyper-wise fumbling baby - a terrible analogy but probably threw you for a loop.
Without further adieu - The State of the Shazbot :
Current - The Business of eSports
++ Great growth of players, interest and concurrent viewers of competitive T:A play
++ Growth currently stifled only by over-encumbered whitelist system
++ Transitioning from BG to gameshrine, scrim.co and other community organization for organizing competitive play
++ Bart Engaging with ESL, ESEA, CSN and other reputable eSports organization to be ready to move quickly when private servers are available
++ Continued and growing internal development for competitive features ie) Custom Servers, Tournament Rules, Spectator, API, Demos/Replays etc - many already partially implemented
Future - The Business of eSports
++ Tribes: Ascend spread on no less than two "top-tier" eSports organizations from the list above
++ Path from enthusiast > competitive > professional flattened and made understandable - moving away from a whitelist
++ Commitment from Hi-Rez for semi-regular "official" tournaments with prizing (cash, swag, shazbucks, etc)
++ Continued engagement with LAN finals with eSports leagues
++ Continued support of TribesCast, LevelupTV and future streaming organizations with participation from Bart
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Current Balance/Gameplay - Expressed Community Concerns
++ Chasing - Rage perk not enough to compensate for lack of disc-jumping power and/or ability to get to speed from a stand still post flag pick up. Possibly exacerbated by efficacy of B2F routes on most maps.
++ Shrikes - After significant reworks, Shrikes are still considered either too low in cost or too powerful overall. Most pointed to issue is AoE on fire and to a lesser extent a non-unified power system. Better anti-shrike measures
++ Snipers - Outside of perceived map design issues, most common issue is that Snipers are nearly impossible to suppress given re spawn positions in many maps and spawn in loadout system, some concern for relative class balance (ie. great pathfinder !> decent sniper)
++ Strikes - Negate HoF, Defense can contribute to offense in a meaningful yet "not-fun" way. Well timed use is nearly impossible to defend against, especially with ineffective chasing.
++ Gunplay - Appropriate skill ceilings for rapid-fire weapons. Outliers like Sabre Launcher ultimately not used. Double reload/Dry-fire should be cleaned up in the next two patches (3/19). Main complaint is overall weapon switch time/retrieval is too long and is discouraging appropriate use of AoE explosive weapons (discs, etc).
++Stand Offs – Impact nitron effect radius very large, flag bounce unpredictable
Future Balance/Gameplay - Under Consideration
++ Chasing – Tightening of the LAR spread is likely. Flag carriers no longer able to use impact nitrons on self to continue acceleration at a favorable dam/impulse ratio. Evaluating changes to allow LD to get to speed faster: potential changes to thrust pack and/or disc jump effectiveness. Potential addition of perks that help defenders get to speed.
++ Shrikes - Optional increase in shrike cost on private servers. Per Vehicle price modifier, Per Vehicle enable/disable. Shrike “strength” still being considered internally. Many proposed changes under consideration including unified energy.
++ Snipers - Re-evaluate when spawning naked or in base loadout for armor type (PTH, SLD, JUG) is used in game. Hypothesis: sniper suppression too difficult. Balance evaluated.
++ Strikes – Custom servers to support optional increase in cost (call-in specific). And/or disable call-ins in total. Continued addition of maps with more overhead occlusion from strikes like Temple
++GunPlay – Buffed quick hands perk to be a more effective side-grade to other perks in that slot. Will continue to evaluate reducing weapons switch times and giving better in-game feedback for when a non-equipped weapon is reloaded. Took a pass at relieving/removing the “dry-fire” issues.
++Stand Offs - Remove Flubber™ from flag (less bounces, longer slide, higher predicatbility), consider AoE reduction on Impact nitron under consideration but not specifically addressed at this point.
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