Tribes:Ascend Forums

FAQ • Login • Register

New Player Assist System
Author	Message
HiRezMick Hi-Rez Team Member Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:21 pm Posts: 431 Location: Atlanta, GA	New Player Assist System As we are all working relentlessly to finalize the next patch for Tribes: Ascend, I wanted to take a minute to address some questions around speculation if Tribes has a system that treats new players damage numbers differently. It is true. Ever since the summer of 2011 Tribes: Ascend, which was in alpha testing at that time, has had a system called New Player Assist. The system was written for one goal: to help newcomers experience the awesome gameplay of Tribes. One of the defining features of Tribes is its radically different movement mechanics. The jetpack, skiing, and projectile-based gameplay can be quite a challenge for a newcomer to handle. While the speed and intensity of Tribes isn't for everyone, we wanted to do anything possible to show newcomers how awesome the experience could be. The New Player Assist system awards new accounts with "assist points" under the hood. These points do two things: make shots more lethal and give more protection. Just as one of the default perks is determination in order to help ease discouragement, this system is designed to help out new players as they get used to the radically different Tribes experience. As players do important things in the matches, like killing other players, grabbing flags, etc. these points, which are account-based, begin to wear off. The idea is that if a player is good enough to not need the assist, the assist will rapidly drop off. There are many new players that simply need to be able to stay alive long enough, get a few kills, and make it through a few matches in order to really understand the mechanics of Tribes. This feature has largely gone unnoticed for the lifetime of the game's existence (I imagine it has been uncovered a few times, but I haven't heard of this happening), which tells me that it at least has not harmed the integrity of matches.... And if it has retained people who would have otherwise left the game after one match of being completely owned, then it has done its job and brought more population and love to this wonderful game. _________________ Programmer, Tribes Ascend Hi-Rez Studios
Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:35 pm

Display posts from previous: Sort by

New Player Assist System

Author

Message

HiRezMick

Hi-Rez Team Member

Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:21 pm
Posts: 431
Location: Atlanta, GA

New Player Assist System

As we are all working relentlessly to finalize the next patch for Tribes: Ascend, I wanted to take a minute to address some questions around speculation if Tribes has a system that treats new players damage numbers differently.

It is true. Ever since the summer of 2011 Tribes: Ascend, which was in alpha testing at that time, has had a system called New Player Assist. The system was written for one goal: to help newcomers experience the awesome gameplay of Tribes.

One of the defining features of Tribes is its radically different movement mechanics. The jetpack, skiing, and projectile-based gameplay can be quite a challenge for a newcomer to handle. While the speed and intensity of Tribes isn't for everyone, we wanted to do anything possible to show newcomers how awesome the experience could be.

The New Player Assist system awards new accounts with "assist points" under the hood. These points do two things: make shots more lethal and give more protection. Just as one of the default perks is determination in order to help ease discouragement, this system is designed to help out new players as they get used to the radically different Tribes experience.

As players do important things in the matches, like killing other players, grabbing flags, etc. these points, which are account-based, begin to wear off. The idea is that if a player is good enough to not need the assist, the assist will rapidly drop off.

There are many new players that simply need to be able to stay alive long enough, get a few kills, and make it through a few matches in order to really understand the mechanics of Tribes. This feature has largely gone unnoticed for the lifetime of the game's existence (I imagine it has been uncovered a few times, but I haven't heard of this happening), which tells me that it at least has not harmed the integrity of matches.... And if it has retained people who would have otherwise left the game after one match of being completely owned, then it has done its job and brought more population and love to this wonderful game.

_________________
Programmer, Tribes Ascend
Hi-Rez Studios

Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:35 pm

Forum rules

New Player Assist System