During this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), WarCry spoke to Tabula Rasa Community Manager April "Cuppa Jo" Burba about what's new in NCSoft and Richard Garriott's upcoming MMORPG title. Here's a rundown of some of the changes and new stuff mentioned by Cuppa Jo:

• More customization options such as facial hair, eye patches, goggles, clothes and coloring options
• Changes to the XP curve make it easier to level up so that players can go through the content faster. Cuppa Jo noted that this was done in order to stick to the game's "Stable, Fast and Fun" credo.
• Changes have also been made to the tutorial and the chat function. The UI has also been given a new control option. "It was much more like a FPS style, and now it's more of a cross over."
• The "kill 20 of this mob" quest has been discarded.

More info on the remaining tier 4 classes will also be coming soon. It also looks like players may be able to get badges and ranks for completing certain quests and objectives in the game. Cuppa Jo declined to talk further about it, but she did say that it wouldn't surprise her if it gets implemented before the game goes live.

You can read the full interview via the Read link below.

Here's a convention-goer advisory: If you're headed to Comic Con in San Diego (July 25-29), to Gen Con in Indianapolis (August 16-19) or to PAX in Seattle (August 24-26), then you're definitely in for a treat: you may just be able to see NCsoft make a formidable appearance right in the thick of things with a prime selection of their online product lineup for everyone to try out! Catch the Tabula Rasa fever that'll make the summer burn ever hotter!

And that's not all NCsoft has in store for the common convention-goer! There's also giveaways and a few unannounced surprises in the pipeline for those blessed enough to see NCsoft in their favorite conventions - so watch out!