Tribes: Ascend Message Board

Oh Tribes Ascend, say it ain’t so. Sure, we had our ups and downs, but you know you were loved, right? Right?! Just hold on a little bit longer and then– oh, you’re not dying. Just ceasing updates for the foreseeable future, maybe forever. Well, that’s still a shame, but I guess I can stop frantically shaking you and screaming spittle into your face. But you know you’ve left quite a few loose ends, don’t you? What about balance concerns, your decision to prioritize buyable items over game-changing updates, the lack of a strong tutorial, support for player-made maps, and the possibility of Tribes Ascend 2? Oh right, I asked Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris about all of that stuff. Handy!

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Tribes: Ascend hasn't had its spacewings clipped yet, despite developer Hi-Rez Studios claiming no major updates would drop for at least the next six months while it finishes SMITE. CEO Todd Harris said Hi-Rez has plans to add custom map support to the free-to-play shooter.

"The one thing we're going to be working on next is a path for users to basically add their own maps," Hi-Rez CEO Todd Harris told RPS. "We just feel like it's at a good point to have users maintain it. We feel that it's a complete experience, and we want to give users the tools to add their own maps - versus, say, us adding more guns that wouldn't benefit [the experience]."

Unfortunately, Harris didn't say when these custom maps would land on the verdant slopes of Tribes: Ascend. "There's actually some community work toward an SDK that's been started, and I expect more details from us in the next month. It's not anything that has a date yet or a full feature set, but that's the only real feature that we have in the works - aside from some small bug fixes."

Tribes: Ascend made its debut back in April 2012 and amassed 1.2 million downloads in little over its first month of availability. A GOTY version, which includes all unlocks, was introduced earlier this year for $30.

Tribes Ascend isn’t quite riding its sound-barrier-breaking coffin to Jetpack Valhalla just yet, but its future is looking rather desolate. Last week, Hi-Rez announced that major updates are out of the question for at least the next six months – and probably long after that due to SMITE’s company-devouring need for attention. However, in an interview with RPS, CEO Todd Harris explained that the high-flying shooter isn’t entirely six feet under. Oft-requested map-making tools are finally on the way, and they could mean the difference between cement shoes and a second lease on life.

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OK, I usually hate misleading question mark headlines, but look at that one. It rhymes!

That is probably the most positive thing you’re going to read in this entire post.

It sounds like Tribes Ascend is – for all intents and purposes – a done deal. Its servers will continue to run (and jump and jetpack) of course, but there hasn’t been a major update since March, and Hi-Rez is making no bones about the reason why. Games like SMITE and inferior high-flying manshoot Global Agenda 2 have taken priority, and that won’t be changing any time soon.

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Developer Hi-Rez Studios has confirmed no major updates are inbound for Tribes: Ascend, for at least the next six months. Responding to a complaint on Reddit about a lack of developer updates on the game, Hi-Rez head honcho Todd Harris said on Reddit and in the Hi-Rez forums that the studio is currently hard at work on its upcoming MOBA, Smite. And even after that, it's unlikely the developer will come back to Tribes: Ascend. Harris elaborated that beyond Smite, the goal is to finish Global Agenda 2, a sequel to Hi-Rez's Unreal Engine 3-powered MMORPG.

One team member has been working on new maps for Tribes: Ascend, Harris revealed, and these maps could be released eventually alongside some bug fixes - but it's not something the studio can place a timetable on right now. In fact, Harris concluded that it'd be more likely for Hi-Rez to pursue development on a sequel to Tribes: Ascend than to initiate work on a substantial update.

Huh. Wow. I’ll be honest: I’m a bit surprised. Hi-Rez has tied information about Tribes Ascend‘s single-purchase option to a searing ball of plasma and hurled it through our window, and it comes out to a measly $29.99/£20.99. For everything. VIPs, meanwhile, can instantly unlock all weapons, perks, and classes for $19.99/£13.99. That’s… um. I mean, I still had a wonderful time for roughly the same amount Back In The Day, but I certainly wouldn’t have minded an arsenal large enough to blot out the sun for the same price. Hm. Well, I suppose there’s no better time than the present. But, believe it or not, that’s far from all there is to this update. After a fairly worrisome dormant period, Tribes appears to be back with a vengeance. But not, er, Tribes Vengeance, because that wouldn’t be very good news.

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You might be wondering how a free-to-play game like Tribes: Ascend could even have a Game of the Year Edition. The answer, it turns out, is quite simple: Just unlock every class, weapon and perk for one price. Come February 15, players will be able to plunk down $30 to unlock everything Tribes: Ascend has to offer. Alternatively, current Tribes: Ascend VIPs will be able to pick up the package for $20. Even more alternatively, you can still play the game for free, choosing to purchase bits and pieces or simply unlocking things the old-fashioned way.

Finally, a patch will be released alongside the GOTY Edition, featuring six maps, a new Shocklance weapon and some new skins.

For being the developer of a game all about lightning-quick reaction times, Hi-Rez could be accused of reacting rather, um, glacially. More or less since day one, Tribes Ascend‘s free-to-play pricing model’s taken flack for making new items prohibitively hard to come by, but recent months have finally seen the reigning king of Jetpack Mountain come down and deal with it. First, Hi-Rez halved XP costs for all unlocks last month, and now it’s focusing its Fixification Beam on the other side of the fence. The one that pays for things. In short, those people will soon be able to pay less for the same amount of things – and all at once, no less. Which is much appreciated, but I can’t imagine long-time players are enjoying the stinging red outline of a hand that’s now plastered across their faces.

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The Tribes: Ascend updates keep on rolling out, and so too does evidence of Hi-Rez’s continued commitment to filling this game with strange stuff. Sure, they’ve already added disco, but now there are costumes. And elaborate backdrops. And German. But anyway, as long as the game keeps being good, we should not question the nature of these updates. And there are some pretty intriguing new toys in this update, so here we are.

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This month's update to Tribes: Ascend lavishes the Tech class with a new weapon, a new (super neat) belt item, an additional skin, an extra turret, while everyone gets a new game mode: "Blitz." In Blitz, flag objectives move around the map based on captures, becoming progressively more difficult as the match goes on.

LIke always, the update is free. And if you're already playing Tribes: Ascend, we commend you.

I have something to confess to you all: I’ve been living a withered up husk of an existence. I honestly haven’t played Tribes in weeks, and every other aspect of my life has suffered immeasurably for it. I’m a mess. A devastatingly attractive mess. But no more. Hi-Rez has revealed Ascend’s latest giant update, and I have turned the most vibrant of all colors: interested. See, in Blitz mode, the flag moves.

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Excellent free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend gets extra content (also for free) in its most recent update. Players gain access to new maps, new voice packs and, most importantly, a deadly double disc launcher. [Disclosure: Since we work under AOL, we are extra proficient at launching discs at people. - Ed.]

Can you remember when the last Tribes: Ascend update came out? I can’t – at least, not well. I mean, I recall a few hazy images of youthful innocence, but it’s as though they’re being beamed in from another lifetime or a place with an overabundance of haze. In reality, however, I just have vaguely worrisome memory problems probably stemming from the fact that I fell out of many trees as a child. Even so, it has been a while in Tribes time, but Hi-Rez has definitely made the Twinfusor update worth the (relatively) lengthy wait. In addition to the titular double-firing death-dealer, you’re also looking at two new CTF maps, a party system (finally!), improved matchmaking, and a billowing list of largely great balance tweaks.

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I was asked to write about why Tribes: Ascend is great. I want to tell you why Tribes: Ascend is beautiful.(more…)

At least 1.2 million people have been enjoying Tribes: Ascend directly from Hi-Rez Studios (including us), but now it's available to Steam's audience of more than 40 million, still for free. Tribes: Ascend is a sci-fi, fast-paced, free-to-play PC shooter featuring jetpacks, skiing and multiple classes. It's almost like the Winter Olympics' biathlon competition, but with more guns and flying.

The game itself is free, but it does have weapons and upgrades for sale, of course. Steam is offering a 50 percent discount on the Starter Pack, which includes a lifetime 50 percent XP boost, two special classes and 12 weapon unlocks, four perk unlocks and 800 Tribes Gold, all for $10 through July 4 at 10 a.m. PT.

Continuing its promise of monthly new content, Hi-Rez Studios unveiled its latest Tribes: Ascend update video this morning. The update is a biggun for both new players and vets, as two new maps are set to be deployed: a remake of Tribes 1's "Stonehenge" map, and the brand new "Miasma." Now all we need is something borrowed and something blue, and we'll be all set to wed this game.

New maps, including the original Stonehenge map, and the new "perspective locking" feature are added to Tribes: Ascend with the Stonehenge update.

Earn weapon unlocks quicker, play with 27 new weapons and explore a few new maps with the Accelerate Update of Tribes: Ascend.

Tribes: Ascend's June update adds more than a couple new Capture-and-Hold maps, a whole variety of weapon variants, and "significant balance adjustments." Beyond all that free stuff, Hi-Rez is doling out a speed boost to the game's weapon upgrade system, and has thusly dubbed its latest update "Accelerate." Fitting!

Rather than solely upgrading weapons via XP earned in-game, each weapon will accordingly level up through use. In so many words, the system seems like an interesting workaround to adding tons of weapons and players feeling unable to master any particular one. Hi-Rez demonstrates the system in the video above.

THe ultimate free-to-play multiplayer game arrives with Tribes: Paperkraft.

It seems like only yesterday that Nathan wrote these words in regards to unlocking gear in Tribes: Ascend: “item unlocks still present a rather intimidating series of (often literally) uphill battles.” The Accelerate Update flattens out those hills, or perhaps raises players to the top and allows them to roll down the other side. Well, sort of. The update addresses some frustrations by having gear upgrades unlock through use, although new weapons themselves will still cost XP or gold. There are 27 weapon variants coming as well, providing a place to spend all that surplus XP. The video below explains all.

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By most accounts, Tribes: Ascend‘s existence is quantifiably a Good Thing. It is, after all, a PC-exclusive (!) high-quality free-to-play first-person shooter (!!) that’s in no way spit-shining Call of Duty’s combat boots or leaping just high enough when it barks an order (!!!). Almost paradoxically, it’s managed to be both slavishly devoted to the series’ jetpack-jousting legacy while also paving the way for a new breed of F2P FPS. So much gloriously gleaming new, however, makes any lingering flecks of dust and mold stand out all the more. So sure, Tribes may be better than ever, but try telling that to a spinfusor-less Soldier whose already glacial XP gain has basically flatlined because the teams he joins keep refusing to work together. That in mind, I spoke with Hi-Rez about how – if at all – it plans to fix its capture-the-flag flagship’s most fundamental flaws.

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You may have noticed something amiss in the above image. No? Are you sure? Then you might have Synesthesia: Disco Edition. And though that image and its accompanying video seem silly, they’re actually quite touching – given recent incredibly unfortunate events. It is, then, extremely awkward for me to now transition into discussing Cool Guns in a Rad Videogame, but, uh, here I go. Tribes: Ascend‘s “Staying Alive” update – whose name is all at once right and wrong in so very many ways – focuses on the Brute with two guns, a new pack, and more (!).

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Tribes: Ascend's upcoming "Staying Alive" update adds more than just a smattering of new weapons for you disco dancing disc launchers. The update also brings live streams and training videos into the game's main menu, allowing you to spend even more time wrapped up in Ascend.

Hi-Rez' free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend is doing quite well—it has been downloaded 1.2 million times in its first month, with 110,000 people joining through the game's friend-referral system. More »

Free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend has been downloaded 1.2 million times, a significant boost from the debatably framed 800K registered accounts from a month ago.

"It is truly the player support of the title that has driven the population growth and fuels our team to deliver updates," said Hi-Rez Studio COO Todd Harris. "We see the community expanding primarily thru positive word of mouth."

Hi-Rez Studios also noted over 110,000 people have joined Tribes: Ascend through the company's referral system. Our experience with the game since launch has been chronicled by our "Murderous Skier."

Hmmm. Hrrrm. Ahhhh. Mmhmm. Huh? Oh, didn’t notice you there. I was busy pondering Tribes Ascend’s new Tartarus update, you see – because it’s caused my brain to pulsate and fire lightning down my spine, as is its custom. First, though, let’s get the basics out of the way: for zero of your pitiful gravity-obeying, jetpack-less dollars, you now have access to two new maps: the hilly, heavily forested Tartarus for CTF and the flatter, more enclosed Hinterlands for arena. You can also customize up to four loadouts that you can switch between on respawn mid-match.

Quick switch, meanwhile, allows you to map classes and loadouts to your keyboard’s number pad, so choosing what you’ll spawn as is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3 – unless you’re prone to mapping things in incredibly arbitrary fashions and then immediately forgetting, like me. Oh, and there’s a trailer. I’ve mapped it to the “read the rest of this entry” link… I think. Or maybe I put it in a single pixel on the image. Or, wait. Does RPS have any sacrificial podiums that summon spectral wolves? Actually, that one sounds most likely, now that I think about it.

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Tribes: Ascend continues to be both free and excellent, which is to say we were pretty excited this morning when we heard that a content update is in the works. Two crazy-looking new maps, custom loadouts, and a variety of requested player tweaks are planned for the Tartarus update, which is said to be "coming soon."

We've more or less known that Tribes: Ascend wouldn't be heading to consoles - as initially pitched - for a year or more now. That whole "free-to-play" thing is kinda the kiss of death for devs hoping to port to consoles (unless you're CCP, that is). So it's not a huge surprise that Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris confirmed as much in a recent interview.

"We do not have any plans for Tribes on console at this time," Harris said. Apparently that decision sprang from Hi-Rez's business model of choice, rather than technical limitations. "The way it went is that we wanted to do the free-to-play model, and there wasn't a clear path to that on consoles early on." Unlike CCP, the Tribes team is just 15 people, so negotiating with the big boys (Sony, Microsoft) wasn't really an option.

Harris isn't counting out console makers playing nice with free-to-play devs in the future (even the near future), but Tribes: Ascend likely won't bridge that gap. "We're still interested in free-to-play on consoles, but at this point, we have nothing specific to Tribes on console," Harris added.

Tribes: Ascend is currently available - for free - on Windows PC.

#techspot Most of our game performance reviews feature triple-A blockbusters, but we're changing pace for this write-up as we examine Tribes: Ascend, a free-to-play shooter released by Hi-Rez Studios on April 12. The Tribes franchise has deep roots in multiplayer shooter history, with Starsiege: Tribes making huge waves in the late 90s and two other PC entries following in 2001 and 2004. The series has lain dormant since, but Hi-Rez hopes to revive the classic shooter with a 21st century monetization scheme. More »