elefunk wrote on Apr 12, 2012, 16:37:
PC Gamer's review was excellent: http://www.pcgamer.com/review/tribes-ascend-review-2/

Covers everything that makes the game great (pretty much everything), the things that need the most improvement (vehicles, team communication), and how the financial model affects everyone:

Tribes’ free-to-play model is pretty fair, as those things go. Pricing is tiered: spending more gets you proportionately more in-game currency. For $50, you get 5,500 gold, or 110 gold/dollar. For $20, you get 1,800 gold, or 90 gold/dollar. $30 (3,000 gold) is enough to try every class and specialize in two or three. The six paid classes (everyone gets the Pathfinder, Soldier, and Juggernaut free) cost between 160 and 280 gold each. All six is 1,360 gold, or about $13.

That’s reasonable—the barrier to finding your favorite class is low. Owning more classes opens more gateways to player purchasing of weapons, perks, skins and equipment, most of which cost more. The most expensive weapons are about $8, and that does include attractive guns such as the MIRV (a cluster-mortar that fires a shell that splits in mid-air) and the Infiltrator’s Jackal, the only remote detonation weapon in Tribes. The two currently-available skins are $6.75 and $9.75—high, but comparable to cosmetic equivalents in League of Legends, for example.

Paid (“VIP”) players are awarded bonus XP after each match, but skill still absolutely overrides those boons. At the time of writing, all weapons and perks can also be purchased with that freely earned XP. Most importantly, the payment model doesn’t replace the need to master Tribes’ weapons and movement. You still have to aim where enemies will be, not where they are.