Grievances: Tribes: Ascend

I have been playing a lot of Tribes: Ascend lately.  It allows me to go quickly into and out of matches, without losing a whole lot of momentum.  I can miss out on part of a game and pick up pretty quickly.  With a new baby and a lifestyle change this is very helpful.  I didn't feel like the BG grind in WoW was built for this, nor did I feel like the pacing of BF3 allowed as much flexibility.

In the last couple of months Tribes has changed considerably.  The game got a sexy little overhaul in the terms of classes and UI and it got some balance and further UI improvements.  A lot of what has happened with the game has been positive and I'm pretty excited, however, I still have a list of things that need to GTFO.

Experience.  Today I sat in a game that was 4-0 for almost 20 minutes.  It wasn't hard to get their flag and there wasn't a whole bunch of D.  We didn't get the flag because the experience would be greater if we simply let the game end at 4-0, but made it last forever.  There wasn't a reason to cap out because the experience is based so heavily on the amount of time that the map is played.  What this means is that while I wanted to set up turrets and defend a base, everyone else was racing vehicles.  While I was hoping to get some competition and have some fun, the entire other team abandoned their base and raided ours in heavies.  We could have probably played 2 or 3 games in the time it took for that one, but we got somewhere around 25-40% more experience for just waiting it out.  That sucks and should be addressed immediately.

Hitscan weapons.  The automatic rifles in this game not only take away from some of the feel, but they pretty much blow.  Take a great deal of the immersion away from the Tribes universe.  Bring back the old Chaingun and get rid of this mess.  Several classes are able to easily exploit the gun, due to the nature of their class.  It's really very annoying.  A lot of people claim that it is ruining the game.  While I am not happy with it, it far from ruins the game.

Team-based cohesion.  The game needs to motivate people to do things.  Showing up and getting points is cool, but people want to be motivated.  A HoF and an Tech running D make a great duo.  Allow them to sync up their efforts to make it more beneficial.  Let the Tech heal the heavy, let the heavy provide a shield for turrets.  Allow teams to make sense.  Providing a bonus to the team based on who is going where and what class or loadout they have should provide something.  A Pathfinder certainly makes a good capper, while a well played Raider can make getting to the flag much easier.  Make people want to participate with each other to win the game.  One-man-army syndrome could easily take over a game like Tribes: Ascend.

And finally... community.  We need to lay the groundwork for a GOOD community.  The fucktards at TribalWar should not represent the best that we have to offer.  There should be a strong community that wants to participate together, instead of troll and hate on each other.  I'd much rather get my ass whipped in a game where the best players mad sure that they evened out.  I got to participate in a TDM that was 92-0.  NINETY-TWO.  That's retarded.  That wasn't fun for anyone involved.  If that was your first experience in a game... would you play it again?  I doubt that I would.

The game needs work.  As the game stays in beta longer and longer I almost wonder what is pushing back a release date.  I appreciate getting a complete game, but I am also a little uneasy about how long we have talking about this game.  I am also concerned with how it will play out in the long run.  I really hope it's for the best, I'd love to see another great Tribes game.