Tabula Rasa dev diary: Character Cloning System to be limited

Making big changes for your own character is quite a daunting task in any MMORPG. Level up this skill, or that skill? Change to this class or that class? It’s enough to drive anyone nuts. Thankfully, the guys behind NCsoft‘s upcoming MMORPG has come up with a way to give players a little more peace of mind – and that’s with the Character Cloning System of Tabula Rasa. We get a closer look at this new feature with the help of Paul Sage, NCsoft Lead Designer, in his Developer Diary update.

So what’s the Character Cloning System? It’s a feature in Tabula Rasa that enables a player to save his or her progress with a specific character before making any major changes for that character. It’s a back-up that you can return to if you feel that the changes you’ve made doesn’t necessarily fit your play style or game habits, or if you simply want to try out something new.

Of course, with clones come great responsibilities. The staff knew that there could be problems in terms of game balance if people were allowed to clone themselves freely. Hence, they decided to make it so that the player is given a cloning credit each time they reach a tier choice. This is so that players know exactly when to use the Cloning System without players abusing it.

But that’s not the only time we will be able to clone ourselves, as Paul reassured that players will also be able to earn cloning credits through various missions.

So what was the rationale behind the Character Cloning System? The man says it best with his own words, verbatim:

In my mind, while I was helping to develop this system, I was hoping that we could encourage players to not be as cautious as they might be with a typical MMO. To encourage them to take chances and try new things.

Very well said, and a very awesome feature for Tabula Rasa. Here’s to the clones!

Making big changes for your own character is quite a daunting task in any MMORPG. Level up this skill, or that skill? Change to this class or that class? It’s enough to drive anyone nuts. Thankfully, the guys behind NCsoft‘s upcoming MMORPG has come up with a way to give players a little more peace of mind – and that’s with the Character Cloning System of Tabula Rasa. We get a closer look at this new feature with the help of Paul Sage, NCsoft Lead Designer, in his Developer Diary update.

So what’s the Character Cloning System? It’s a feature in Tabula Rasa that enables a player to save his or her progress with a specific character before making any major changes for that character. It’s a back-up that you can return to if you feel that the changes you’ve made doesn’t necessarily fit your play style or game habits, or if you simply want to try out something new.

Of course, with clones come great responsibilities. The staff knew that there could be problems in terms of game balance if people were allowed to clone themselves freely. Hence, they decided to make it so that the player is given a cloning credit each time they reach a tier choice. This is so that players know exactly when to use the Cloning System without players abusing it.

But that’s not the only time we will be able to clone ourselves, as Paul reassured that players will also be able to earn cloning credits through various missions.

So what was the rationale behind the Character Cloning System? The man says it best with his own words, verbatim:

In my mind, while I was helping to develop this system, I was hoping that we could encourage players to not be as cautious as they might be with a typical MMO. To encourage them to take chances and try new things.

Very well said, and a very awesome feature for Tabula Rasa. Here’s to the clones!