Tabula Rasa - More MMO Playing

So, after several months of tinkering with Sword of the New World, I decided to finally take the plunge into Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa. I don't really like to write full-on reviews of MMOs, so I'll just do my usual list of likes and dislikes. After having spent almost 30 hours in the game, I'm actually feeling very positive about the experience, so here goes....



Likes:

1. Combat that is actually a little more than target-lock, hit number keys, rinse and repeat. I like the fact that cover, range and direction are implemented into the combat system. This provides a very action-like experience. Some of the larger battles I faced in instances such as Devil's Den or Torcastra Prison were actually exciting.

2. Solo play seems like a viable option in this game, at least at this point for my level 25 Ranger. While it's fun to run some instances with a squad, sometime I just want to jump in, play for a bit and be out and not have to deal with managing people or looking for a group. With most of the other MMORPG's that I've played, I felt pushed into grouping with others if I wanted to continue to see new content which doesn't seem to be the case with Tabula Rasa.

3. Theme. Sci-Fi trumps Fantasy any day of the week in my book. That's part of the reason I was so attracted to EVE Online. Hopefully Tabula Rasa's gameplay won't betray me in the same way.

4. Character Tree, rather than a set class. I'm not sure why I like this so much, but it really feels like a good incentive to continue to level my character if I know an entirely new class expereience is waiting for me in a few levels. However, the stretch from level 15 to 30 is a long one indeed.

Dislikes:

1. Bland World. While the setting and story seem to depend on this, the world seems to be very bland with a lot of the same structures popping up around the place and the world looking very similar all-around. This seems to be an issue in the instances as well.

2. Low variety of enemies. This is actually a problem inherent to the RPG genre (electronic variety at least), but I must mention it. I don't know how many times I've fought a member of the Thrax Infantry that was only different in the last area by name and stats.

3. Finding a squad is not that easy. Locating a squad seems to be a little iffy at times. It seems most people don't use the advertising system, but rather just advertise in the General chat window. Not a big deal, but still something that could be better.

So, there are my current impressions of Tabula Rasa. Hopefully this will be the MMO that can maintain my interest for a longer period of time than the others, either due to gameplay or time issues.