The VIP Starter Pack costs $29.99 and will include the following items.
- VIP Status (Value: $20 USD)
- 800 Tribes Gold (Value: $10 USD)
- 30-Day Booster (Value: $15 USD)
- Admission to Beta (Value: Priceless!)

Players with "VIP" status will have priority login, access to exclusive servers, and will earn Tokens and Experience faster which will naturally lead to unlocking loadouts and items in the game faster.

The closed beta for Tribes: Ascend will include the following features at launch.
- A subset of the classes intended for the final game, with additional classes being added over the course of the beta. Note that some weapon models, Special FX and other attributes of the art around the weapons may be temporary.
- A subset of the maps intended for the final game, with additional maps being added over the course of the beta.
- The initial Closed Beta will include the CTF and Rabbit gamemodes.
- Initial system for player advancement
- â€œQuick Matches” in which players simply hit “Play Now” and are slotted into a new or already-running match based on basic match-making rules.
- A basic Friends List, that allows you to see whether or not your friends are online and to join the match they are currently playing in (if there is room in the match).

There's also the following features that will not be part of the closed beta when it launches but will be added as Hi-Rez continues to build and test out the game.
- Private Servers
- Clan Support
- Ranking/Ladder System
- Ability to view and browse your match history and detailed player stats/achievements.
- Advanced Social Features --- enhancements are planned to chat, the party system and many other aspect to make it easier for you and your friends to communicate and play with and against one another.
- Ability to customize the look of your players with Skins.
- In addition, over the course of the beta, we will add additional maps, classes, and other features.

Beta participants will need to keep in mind that this is a beta so it will be rough around the edges. Hi-Rez also like to take an iterative development approach so features will slowly be added to Tribes: Ascend and things will be continue to be polished even well after the free-to-play game is released.
Emails letting people who signed up for the beta know if they've been selected will be sent out and will include an activation key and instructions on how to download. Hi-Rez plans on a "modest-size population of testers" to start with but the number will grow.

For those wondering what kind of system the Unreal Engine 3 powered game will require. The preliminary set of minimum and recommended PC specs are as follows.

Minimum requirements
 OS: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista or Windows 7
 Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz
 RAM: 2GB (XP), 3GB (Vista, Win7)
 Graphic card: ATI or Nvidia graphics card with 512MB video ram or better and Shader Model 3.0+ support. (ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher).
 Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card
 Hard drive: 10 GB free

Recommended system requirements
 OS: Windows 7 64-bit
 Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
 RAM: 4GB
 Graphics card: ATI or Nvidia graphics card with 1GB video ram or better and Shader Model 3.0+ support (Nvidia GeForce GTX 560+ or ATI Radeon 6950+).
 Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card
 Hard drive: 10 GB free