Free-To-Play Scheme Doubles TERA's Playerbase

[Earnest Cavalli]

Free-To-Play Scheme Doubles TERA's Playerbase

People love free stuff, and for proof of that you need look no further than the current subscription rates for newly free-to-play MMO TERA.

On January 9 we brought you word [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121417-TERA-Goes-Free-To-Play] that TERA, a relatively little-known MMORPG published by Germany's Gameforge AG, would be switching to a free-to-play subscription model. That change went into effect in February. How's the game doing under its new subscription model? Words like "phenomenally well" spring to mind.

In an announcement issued this morning in its native Deutsche [http://press.gameforge.com/release.asp?i=589], Gameforge revealed that the number of players enjoying TERA has more than doubled in the month since the free-to-play scheme went into effect. Granted, this only brings the total playerbase for TERA to a little over a million people, but that's still an impressive leap no matter how you do the math.

As an immediate result of the game's newfound popularity, Gameforge was forced to immediately expand TERA's server capacity with an additional six servers opening up mere days after the free-to-play switch went into effect. According to the publisher, it's likely that the game will require further expansion in the near future, but Gameforge seems unsure of how quickly and in what numbers it will need to bring new TERA servers online. A 100-plus percent population increase over the course of a single month would have caught any publisher by surprise, but we've yet to hear of massive outages, so propers to Gameforge for weathering this happy storm with aplomb while bigger publishers like EA draw fire for their inability to keep SimCity's servers online.

If all of this has piqued your interest about TERA joining the game is exceedingly easy. Assuming you have a PC that meets the game's system specs (sign up for a gratis account [https://tera-support.enmasse.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/175/~/can-i-run-tera%3F---system-requirements] and you're on your way. I spent a bit of time with TERA shortly after it launched, and while I wouldn't necessarily recommend the game to anyone, I would say it's an interesting take on the MMORPG genre that should be experienced by anyone who's played all of the big names in that space. It may not be your cup of tea, and there are many who will be turned off by TERA's anime-inspired, overtly sexual art style, but it is undeniably different. In a world where publishers seem convinced that the only way to create a viable MMO is to blatantly swipe design cues from World of Warcraft, developer En Masse Enertainment earns a lot of points simply for being willing to try something new.

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[Korten12]

Not surprised, the game is very well made and it has one of the best f2p schemes I have seen thus far.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I played for about 3 hours before I realized I hated it. Every quest was the same fetch quest for the first 10 levels and the combat was faux-action oriented. All it did was map auto-attack to the left mouse button instead of making it a one hit button. Which then made the UI a complete mess.

And just the Elin. Eugh...

 

[kajinking]

Been meaning to try out this game and for free why not?

 

[Charli]

I was hijacked by a friend to try it out.

Not bad at all. I still think the art direction is pretty bad. It's weeaboo tastic if you need to know, but there is a way to carve an almost normal looking male character, but if you want a female character that isn't created purely for male visual enjoyment I suggest looking elsewhere. But the melee combat is something quite interesting compared to usual MMO fare.

I don't recommend the ranged classes. It's the usual boring stoge.

That said I still haven't reached anywhere near endgame and it's really hard going to find groups, since going at it alone in this game is frankly suicidal for anyone with a less than perfect internet connection.

 

[mattaui]

I played for about 3 hours before I realized I hated it. Every quest was the same fetch quest for the first 10 levels and the combat was faux-action oriented. All it did was map auto-attack to the left mouse button instead of making it a one hit button. Which then made the UI a complete mess.

And just the Elin. Eugh...

Yeah, I jumped in and got to questing, and while it was new and different, it soon became an exercise in tedium as I felt I was doing the same quest over and over again. It's nearly impossible for me to get into the lore, and the typically bizarre Asian mishmash of childish things (races and critters that look like stuffed animals) and hypersexualized things, with the Elin combining both of them, just really leaves me feeling disconnected from it all.

Yes, for the $5 I paid back during a sale, the f2p founder tier is very generous, but I just wish it was for a game that I could get into.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Yeah, I jumped in and got to questing, and while it was new and different, it soon became an exercise in tedium as I felt I was doing the same quest over and over again. It's nearly impossible for me to get into the lore, and the typically bizarre Asian mishmash of childish things (races and critters that look like stuffed animals) and hypersexualized things, with the Elin combining both of them, just really leaves me feeling disconnected from it all.

Yes, for the $5 I paid back during a sale, the f2p founder tier is very generous, but I just wish it was for a game that I could get into.

To be perfectly honest, GW2 ruined most MMOs for me. From no mob tagging, to the questing system, to being able to do so many different things to level up...in Tera having to do the same fetch quest for 10 levels was so boring and grindy, I hated it. Free or not, that's a time sink.

It's your typical super grindfest Korean MMO with higher production values.

 

[Saviordd1]

Me and my friends were hyped for this for like a week.


We managed 30 minutes before we got bored out of our skulls.

 

[Weaver]

I really liked Tera. I actually subbed to it for awhile.
The dungeons are really fun and get very difficult at level 60. The combat was satisfying and I just liked the game in general. The over sexualization of all characters didn't bother me at all.

I'd say you should check it out.

 

[cidbahamut]

Too bad it's still a terrible game.

 

[Lunar Templar]

it helps its got a pretty good F2P model, and it plays different enough to stand out, shame there's nothing in the shop worth paying for....

To be perfectly honest, GW2 ruined most MMOs for me. From no mob tagging, to the questing system, to being able to do so many different things to level up...in Tera having to do the same fetch quest for 10 levels was so boring and grindy, I hated it. Free or not, that's a time sink.

It's your typical super grindfest Korean MMO with higher production values.

I don't remember these fetch quests, the kill X# of Y, those I remember but fetch quests? Not so much.
Course, if I have to pick between GW2 and Tera, I'll pick Tera, I am a person of simple demands, give me a good combat system. People complain about 'grind' and then hold up GW2 like some genera redefining game, and it might be, but I found it to boring to play past level 5 or so, where as Vindictus, which has a super heavy grind for crafting gear (Nexon can go fuck them selves for that) I found far more enjoyable because while the actual grind to get gear is unreasonable, killing stuff is fun, lots of fun, unlike in GW2, which felt pretty dull (yes is switched weapons)

course I'm not playing ether (or anything, computer isn't connecting to the Net :/) I've pretty much moved over to Warframe

Space Ninja killing robots/generic space marines > 'fairly standard fantasy setting'

 

[Ghonzor]

I'd been interested in Tera for a while, I'll probably start playing now that it's free.

 

[Weaver]

it helps its got a pretty good F2P model, and it plays different enough to stand out, shame there's nothing in the shop worth paying for....

To be perfectly honest, GW2 ruined most MMOs for me. From no mob tagging, to the questing system, to being able to do so many different things to level up...in Tera having to do the same fetch quest for 10 levels was so boring and grindy, I hated it. Free or not, that's a time sink.

It's your typical super grindfest Korean MMO with higher production values.

I don't remember these fetch quests, the kill X# of Y, those I remember but fetch quests? Not so much.
Course, if I have to pick between GW2 and Tera, I'll pick Tera, I am a person of simple demands, give me a good combat system. People complain about 'grind' and then hold up GW2 like some genera redefining game, and it might be, but I found it to boring to play past level 5 or so, where as Vindictus, which has a super heavy grind for crafting gear (Nexon can go fuck them selves for that) I found far more enjoyable because while the actual grind to get gear is unreasonable, killing stuff is fun, lots of fun, unlike in GW2, which felt pretty dull (yes is switched weapons)

course I'm not playing ether (or anything, computer isn't connecting to the Net :/) I've pretty much moved over to Warframe

Space Ninja killing robots/generic space marines > 'fairly standard fantasy setting'

I kind of agree. I just got GW2 and I'm really tired of it. I got to level 38 and I just have no interest in playing the game. The quests bore me and the combat isn't very good.

I guess what I liked about Tera is that, to me, the combat was fun enough the grind didn't feel like a grind. I also felt like Tera was a much prettier game, which helps. I really had no desire at all to explore GW2's world. I also don't see why Tera gets so much flak for uninteresting quests when GW2's quests were the same thing.

You find a zone with someone who needs help, and you either kill a bunch of monsters, collect a bunch of shit they need or revive a bunch of fallen allies. That's basically the entire game. At least Tera had interesting enemy design.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I kind of agree. I just got GW2 and I'm really tired of it. I got to level 38 and I just have no interest in playing the game. The quests bore me and the combat isn't very good.

I guess what I liked about Tera is that, to me, the combat was fun enough the grind didn't feel like a grind. I also felt like Tera was a much prettier game, which helps. I really had no desire at all to explore GW2's world. I also don't see why Tera gets so much flak for uninteresting quests when GW2's quests were the same thing.

You find a zone with someone who needs help, and you either kill a bunch of monsters, collect a bunch of shit they need or revive a bunch of fallen allies. That's basically the entire game. At least Tera had interesting enemy design.

Yeah, that's the trick, making the grind fun, cause no MMO will ever lack grind of some kind, a good combat system goes a long way for that, good drop rates to, there's a fine line between farming and grinding for drops after all. Plus, any time the game gives me a realistic chance to kill something solo that 'needs a party', and I almost did that in Tera, sure it was a low level 'world boss' but I still beat it down to like 20% or so, so I COULD have killed it if I was a little better.

I'll take an 'eh' quest lay out and an engaging combat system any time, what I'm doing doesn't matter half as much as how fun it is to do.

 

[VanQ]

En Masse Entertainment had nothing to do with designing and developing the game, they just translated and released it in English.

Anyway, TERA has by far the best combat system I've played in an MMO to date. Playing a Warrior dodge tank was unbelievable exciting and tense because there is no RNG involved. You have to actively dodge every hit a boss throws at you because you aren't gonna survive more than one hit and chances are your Priest is too busy DPSing because he doesn't have a tank that needed healing for the first 5 minutes of the fight.

I see that people are still blue in the balls over the Elin. I really don't get this unless they're looking at them out of context or just majorly tight-assed about it. The Elin are the cute race, it's the Elves that are the hyper-sexualized race in TERA. Seriously, grow a thick skin and give the game a try, it's a worthwhile experience and if TERA proves to be successful we might not have to deal with RNG WoW style combat in MMOs for much longer.

I've never got that genre re-defining quest praise it received. It was still kill/fetch/fix except you could kill x 6 + fetch x 4 + fix 5 or just kill 15... It was still the same and with even less plot involved.

They put a progress bar in the place of numbers, dude. This is more than enough to fool most people. Most GW2 players just parrot what the GW2 marketing team told them before release, anyway.

 

[Weaver]

You find a zone with someone who needs help, and you either kill a bunch of monsters, collect a bunch of shit they need or revive a bunch of fallen allies. That's basically the entire game. At least Tera had interesting enemy design.

I've never got that genre re-defining quest praise it received. It was still kill/fetch/fix except you could kill x 6 + fetch x 4 + fix 5 or just kill 15... It was still the same and with even less plot involved.

I like the idea that everyone can just kill whatever without having to worry about drops and XP. I also like the zone scaling, it's a neat idea; but it's pretty messed up mechanically.

If you're a higher level you can still basically roll through a downscaled zone, and furthermore, there's literally no reason for a level 40 to be in a level 15 zone when they've completed all the map events, as it's simply more beneficial to be in a zone your level.

I dunno, leveling in GW2 was just boring. You get almost all your skills so early on, and the zone scaling throws out of whack a sense of progression. I put +100 power into my theif, but it never felt like I was hitting all that much harder than I was before.

I also feel you level REALLY fast in GW2. There's absolutely no point in getting rare gear, IMO, at a level that isn't max, because you'll out-level it incredibly quickly. I actually think I could max a GW2 character in 7 days of hardcore play. In Tera the same is KIND of true, but when I was leveling I sprung for a really good level 11 bow on my archer to make the last levels go faster and it felt like money well spent.

 

[mattaui]

Yeah, I jumped in and got to questing, and while it was new and different, it soon became an exercise in tedium as I felt I was doing the same quest over and over again. It's nearly impossible for me to get into the lore, and the typically bizarre Asian mishmash of childish things (races and critters that look like stuffed animals) and hypersexualized things, with the Elin combining both of them, just really leaves me feeling disconnected from it all.

Yes, for the $5 I paid back during a sale, the f2p founder tier is very generous, but I just wish it was for a game that I could get into.

To be perfectly honest, GW2 ruined most MMOs for me. From no mob tagging, to the questing system, to being able to do so many different things to level up...in Tera having to do the same fetch quest for 10 levels was so boring and grindy, I hated it. Free or not, that's a time sink.

It's your typical super grindfest Korean MMO with higher production values.

Yes, I'm exactly the same way with GW2. I love that I can drop in and immediately do a bunch of different things, even on different toons, and either just do my daily or plot out something more substantial like a zone event or dungeon. Makes it hard to get into other games that are more restricted.