I spent a bit more time in Tabula Rasa tonight, running the various errand quests near the starting village and exploring the area a bit. The zones are pretty big, so it’s easy to wander into unfamiliar territory and get in over your head, but fortunately the destination spots for quests are marked on the map so you know exactly where you need to go, which quests will lead you into dangerous territory, etc.

I reached halfway through level 6 and picked the Specialist path as my level 5 career choice, and my eventual goal will probably be an Engineer. I’d been saving up my skill points, since I’m naturally reluctant to spend irreversible things, but I’ve started spending some of them now that I both need some of the new skills for the new armour and weapons I’m finding, and after learning that I’ll be able to reset my skills once I create a clone at the higher levels, so any choices I make now aren’t permanent after all.

One other difference from WoW is that not all enemies are static spawns or just roaming around. Quite often, enemy dropships will swoop in and offload enemies in certain areas, making it feel more like an actual war. They’re also supposed to fight for certain control points, which can be defended by NPCs and players nearby, and if the control point falls the players will no longer be able to use the facilities there and will have to fight to take it back. It’s kind of like PvP against a not-all-that-smart opposing team.