>More Tribes: Ascend details revealed, closed beta begins November 4
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Last month, we were teased with an announcement that the closed beta for Tribes: Ascend was only weeks away. Today, we finally have more information, thanks to a recent interview with Todd Harris of Hi-Rez Studios.
First and most importantly, the Tribes: Ascend closed beta kicks off on Friday, November 4. While the beta was originally planned to start in September, Hi-Rez has been taking additional time to implement a character progression system and make other improvements based on alpha feedback.
There will be three ways to get into the closed beta:
- Hand selection via the beta application on the Hi-Rez website
- Promotions and contests via the official Tribes: Ascend Facebook page or the Hi-Rez Studios Twitter page
- Pre-ordering the “VIP starter pack” (see below)
Harris talked about a VIP starter pack that will be available for pre-order. This will get you guaranteed access to the closed beta, a permanent discount on store purchases, more elite status in queues, more in-game gold to buy classes, and perhaps other bonus features. Overall, Harris says the starter pack will provide players with a more compelling starting experience.
Compared to the alpha, the closed beta will have additional loadouts and a new character progression system, which will give each loadout its own set of skills/perks. The values for this progression system aren’t finalized, but currently, Harris says that each loadout has about 11 perks and that each loadout takes approximately 20 hours of gameplay to level up fully (roughly half that time for those with the VIP starter pack and even faster with other boosters). There will also be an overall character rank that is only for prestige and will have no effect on gameplay.
Hi-Rez expects the number of players in the beta to be “many thousands”. Closed beta access will ramp up to more players over time, eventually leading way to an open beta.
For the closed beta, Hi-Rez will be hosting servers in North America, Europe, and Australia. Harris describes that there is light matchmaking, but that it’s “basically just choosing a gametype and hitting join”. He did emphasize that the game will support private servers with a traditional server browser upon release, but not in the beta.
Lastly, Harris touched on the social features planned for Tribes: Ascend. At the start, there will be a simple friends list, but the development team also plans to add a party system, clan rosters, and support for e-sports features later on.
If interested, you can listen to the entire interview below:
Image courtesy WatchPlayRead
vol1tion
BrandonBrandon started his PC gaming days playing Doom II (IDDQD/IDKFA for life) and has been hooked on online gaming since the original Starsiege: Tribes. The way to his heart is through proper grammar, corn dogs, and cookie cake.
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