TERA Review

[Noxogz]

And i'm fine with the sub fee as far as TERA vs. GW2 goes because I dislike microtransactions immensely, at lest with the sub fee it feels like i'm getting the whole game.(seriously, $10 for extra character slots? fuck you NCsoft)

Then you also won't like TERA that on top of having a sub fee it also has a cash shop! [http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/premium-services-novelty-items-now-available]

And before you tell me that WoW also has a cash shop alongside a sub fee, they sure as shit didn't implement it when it's not even been a month since release and the stuff you buy in WoW's cash shop is account wide. That's right, those pretty weapons you see there, they're soulbound to a SINGLE character, they can not be sold nor traded, they can't even be stashed in your bank, they have a time limit of 5 years (and let's face it, this is not WoW nor EVE and much less EQ1, very few people will still be playing this game long enough for them to expire) and best of all they're $10 each.

That's 10 bucks for an item that can't be obtained by any means in-game and is only for ONE SINGLE TOON, but that's not all, this is only the first batch of items to come, all of these can only be purchased until June or July (I forgot when exactly) and then they'll be replaced by a new batch of items that can ONLY be obtained in the cash shop and will also cost $10 each.

Now before you tell me it doesn't matter if it's for only one toon, you only need it for one after all how many lancers are you gonna have, well aren't you the one complaining about having to pay for extra character slots?

Now I won't dispute your other comments, I disagree with you but it pretty much boils down to personal preference. I like GW2, you like TERA, I can respect that.

But if you're gonna say you don't like GW2 because it has microtransactions, you might want to take a closer look at what En Masse is doing with TERA before you do.

 

[major_chaos]

And i'm fine with the sub fee as far as TERA vs. GW2 goes because I dislike microtransactions immensely, at lest with the sub fee it feels like i'm getting the whole game.(seriously, $10 for extra character slots? fuck you NCsoft)

Then you also won't like TERA that on top of having a sub fee it also has a cash shop! [http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/premium-services-novelty-items-now-available]

And before you tell me that WoW also has a cash shop alongside a sub fee, they sure as shit didn't implement it when it's not even been a month since release and the stuff you buy in WoW's cash shop is account wide. That's right, those pretty weapons you see there, they're soulbound to a SINGLE character, they can not be sold nor traded, they can't even be stashed in your bank, they have a time limit of 5 years (and let's face it, this is not WoW nor EVE and much less EQ1, very few people will still be playing this game long enough for them to expire) and best of all they're $10 each.

That's 10 bucks for an item that can't be obtained by any means in-game and is only for ONE SINGLE TOON, but that's not all, this is only the first batch of items to come, all of these can only be purchased until June or July (I forgot when exactly) and then they'll be replaced by a new batch of items that can ONLY be obtained in the cash shop and will also cost $10 each.

Now before you tell me it doesn't matter if it's for only one toon, you only need it for one after all how many lancers are you gonna have, well aren't you the one complaining about having to pay for extra character slots?

Now I won't dispute your other comments, I disagree with you but it pretty much boils down to personal preference. I like GW2, you like TERA, I can respect that.

But if you're gonna say you don't like GW2 because it has microtransactions, you might want to take a closer look at what En Masse is doing with TERA before you do.

for what its worth I was unaware of the cash shop when I bought the game and I think it was added post release. Second while I dislike cash shops all the time the one in TERA doesn't sell anything as significant as character slots, and I don't care about the one in WoW because I loath WoW for so many other reasons that the cash shop isn't even in the top five. Also I feel the need to say that I don't hate GW2 as I haven't played it, I just haven't been impressed by what I have heard about it, so I'm hoping for a D3 style open beta weekend so I can try it myself and form my own opinion based on experience not speculation.

 

[VanQ]

I think you may be ignoring the Castanics and most female High Elf outfits.....

Nope, I play a High Elf female and I can confidently say that my character is pretty much covered up. Probably showing less skin than most of the girls at my university most of the time. Castanic females are almost as rare as Elin on my server, most of them that I've seen look pretty decent.
I wasn't aware the Escapist was such a horribly conservative place... Oh wait...

 

[Shjade]

The idea of playing a badger man intrigues me. But a $60 box + sub fee is too much to invest in any game right now. When it goes F2P (and it will) I'm sure I'll take a look at it.

That's pretty much my take on it: I'd probably play it if F2P (as it looks more fun than Vindictus, and with more options), but I'm done with subscription games.

Guild Wars 2 has my attention for that reason.

 

[John Funk]

Not exactly. It's not like a cooldown thing you just pop like Divine Plea, it's an active charge thing, where the longer you charge it the more you get back. So sometimes you only get to charge for a second or two and get a little back, enough for only one spell. sometimes you get to let the whole thing go through.

Isn't that exactly how you use Divine Plea in progression raiding and PvP? With a cancel aura macro obv.

I see how it is different though, albeit marginally. To have a perfect translation you would need plea to reduce your healing by 100% or to silence you

Wait, this confuses me, GW2 does combat better than Tera because there is no tank? It is the design of Tera to include DPS, Tank and healers. It is the design of GW2 to supposedly get rid of those 3 subsets of classes. Just because of the design of the classes doesn't make GW2's combat better than Teras, because that is how it was designed to be originally. If they both had tanks, healers and DPS then you could make that argument.

I think he said more movible without a tank. And while i see why he would say that... well, i dunno, did you ever did progression raids in WoW Cata? Mobility is a must in more than half of them, you can only do a more movible fight than progression Omnitron if your toons ran all the time.

Eh. I raid as prot. What do I know about Divine Plea?

It does feel a lot more dynamic and active than, say, healing on my druid though.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Game contains the sexualised images of prepubescent children and should be ignored to death.

That's all the review you need.

 

[Tanakh]

Eh. I raid as prot. What do I know about Divine Plea?

It does feel a lot more dynamic and active than, say, healing on my druid though.

Yeah, i would def give it a try if i didn't had a thesis to present, and then GW 2 to PvP. It does seem like a good option to play, atm though isn't it kinda lacking endgame content? I didn't found anything but casual PvE and a couple of very standard battlegrounds.

I think i saw devs saying it will improve in the future.

 

[Risingblade]

I would be interest, if not for the female armour sets. Seriously, if you want to have skimpy armour, fine, BUT DON'T MAKE IT BE THE BETTER ARMOUR. I'm pretty sure EC talked about it.

All of the armor is skimpy for females with the exception of the Amani, even the starting armor. It just turns into different kinds of skimpy.

-_- That just pisses me off, why the hell can't female avatars in these sorts of games ever dress sensibly?!

To be fair the men also look like sluts at least the elves do

 

[Rainboq]

I would be interest, if not for the female armour sets. Seriously, if you want to have skimpy armour, fine, BUT DON'T MAKE IT BE THE BETTER ARMOUR. I'm pretty sure EC talked about it.

All of the armor is skimpy for females with the exception of the Amani, even the starting armor. It just turns into different kinds of skimpy.

-_- That just pisses me off, why the hell can't female avatars in these sorts of games ever dress sensibly?!

To be fair the men also look like sluts at least the elves do

Yeah, but at least some of them dress sensibly in a tunic. What do females get? Nighties, corsets and barely there bras.

captcha: Be Nice

Oh all right...

 

[Rainboq]

I would be interest, if not for the female armour sets. Seriously, if you want to have skimpy armour, fine, BUT DON'T MAKE IT BE THE BETTER ARMOUR. I'm pretty sure EC talked about it.

All of the armor is skimpy for females with the exception of the Amani, even the starting armor. It just turns into different kinds of skimpy.

-_- That just pisses me off, why the hell can't female avatars in these sorts of games ever dress sensibly?!

Now, this is just simply not true. My warrior is always completely covered with at worst a low cut top. It is true that some of the caster classes, Sorcerers in particular, wear pretty risque outfits but it's not true to say all of them are. It should also be noted that certain set of armor actually change your character's hair style when worn, which is a pretty cool little feature in my opinion.

Sweet! Some evidence to prove me wrong, I loves me some empirical evidence! Care to show this?

 

[zefiris]

Now, this is just simply not true. My warrior is always completely covered with at worst a low cut top. It is true that some of the caster classes, Sorcerers in particular, wear pretty risque outfits but it's not true to say all of them are. It should also be noted that certain set of armor actually change your character's hair style when worn, which is a pretty cool little feature in my opinion.

The problem when playing Tera was this:

How do I find armor that doesn't look horrendous and is obviously designed only for male nerds that only see one woman in their life: Their mom, in whose basement these nerds dwell.

Seriously. I don't want to wait 10 hours until my character looks respectable. This right there killed most enjoyment I could have had in the game. If my character keeps flashing her panties every 10 seconds, I'm not interested. I'm not a bottom-feeding nerd. I'm turned of since outfits like this are pretty much mandatory for most classes.


The combat also is...eh. The skills rooting just makes the entire effort feel extremely stale, like the designers having a good idea, and then quitting halfway. Other action-y games do FAR better there.

I don't want to mention names (since I'll be called a fangirl) but...seriously. There are games where you hit things based on, well, actually hitting (and consequently allow you to dodge the shots of other players) that do not root you in place for most attacks. And these are so much more fun. Several of those allow you to smash objects too - it's a LOT of fun to enter a PVP objective through the window, smashing through the glass, and then kicking your opponent out of that very same window, for them to fall to their doom.


Tera just feels incomplete. The quests are really, really bad, and offer me little incentive to continue playing, the exploration is a mess, and the outfits kill it.

I'm glad I only tried it at a friend, and never bought it myself.


And before the usual whiny guy comes and whines about me hating sexuality: I don't. I've been to a couple gay pride parades, which tend to sport VERY risque outfits.
Thing is: I could go dressed in an average dress. Liking sexuality doesn't mean that I'm forced to strip for disgusting nerds to watch me. It just means that I support people having a right to live their sexuality on their own terms - which means that if they don't want to reveal things, they have a right to avoid doing so, too.

 

[freaper]

So it's Vindictus except with character customization and anyone can be anything.

V is more like an online RPG with not-so-flashy Devil May Cry elements. TERA is a proper MMO, and because of that, falls short on a lot of points. Every class can only use 1 weapon type for example.

I have one of every class on one sever and one other on a PvP server and the game hasn't given me any trouble so if there are limits they are very high, while I assume the the defualt limit in GW2 is going to be two or three, otherwise no one would feel the need to pay ten buck for more.

You'll start off with 5 slots, one for each race. You'd need to buy 3 more to get one for each profession. Don't quote me on this, but you might even be able to buy them with ingame gold.

OT: I enjoyed my time in the beta, and I wanted to say that I too walked the path of the Popori Lancer. Still, I'll give this game only another go once it goes f2p.

 

[Zagzag]

And i'm fine with the sub fee as far as TERA vs. GW2 goes because I dislike microtransactions immensely, at lest with the sub fee it feels like i'm getting the whole game.(seriously, $10 for extra character slots? fuck you NCsoft)

Then you also won't like TERA that on top of having a sub fee it also has a cash shop! [http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/premium-services-novelty-items-now-available]

And before you tell me that WoW also has a cash shop alongside a sub fee, they sure as shit didn't implement it when it's not even been a month since release and the stuff you buy in WoW's cash shop is account wide. That's right, those pretty weapons you see there, they're soulbound to a SINGLE character, they can not be sold nor traded, they can't even be stashed in your bank, they have a time limit of 5 years (and let's face it, this is not WoW nor EVE and much less EQ1, very few people will still be playing this game long enough for them to expire) and best of all they're $10 each.

That's 10 bucks for an item that can't be obtained by any means in-game and is only for ONE SINGLE TOON, but that's not all, this is only the first batch of items to come, all of these can only be purchased until June or July (I forgot when exactly) and then they'll be replaced by a new batch of items that can ONLY be obtained in the cash shop and will also cost $10 each.

Now before you tell me it doesn't matter if it's for only one toon, you only need it for one after all how many lancers are you gonna have, well aren't you the one complaining about having to pay for extra character slots?

Now I won't dispute your other comments, I disagree with you but it pretty much boils down to personal preference. I like GW2, you like TERA, I can respect that.

But if you're gonna say you don't like GW2 because it has microtransactions, you might want to take a closer look at what En Masse is doing with TERA before you do.

Interesting point here. The American version of TERA (EnMasse) and the European version (Frogster) are actually slightly different in this respect. The cosmetic items and paid services do not exist in the European version that I play, and this is the first I have heard of them being in the US (not that I'm disputing their existance or anything.)

 

[VanQ]

Sweet! Some evidence to prove me wrong, I loves me some empirical evidence! Care to show this?

Here, a small album of images I took of my character at around level 30-35.
http://imgur.com/a/l7zXg
As you can see, it is hardly scandalous.
The Elin are in there because I made this album to show a friend the game and am just making multi use of it.

Spoiler

And fuck the police, I don't play an Elin but they're cute as fuck and fuck anybody who sexualizes them.

 

[Noxogz]

for what its worth I was unaware of the cash shop when I bought the game and I think it was added post release. Second while I dislike cash shops all the time the one in TERA doesn't sell anything as significant as character slots, and I don't care about the one in WoW because I loath WoW for so many other reasons that the cash shop isn't even in the top five. Also I feel the need to say that I don't hate GW2 as I haven't played it, I just haven't been impressed by what I have heard about it, so I'm hoping for a D3 style open beta weekend so I can try it myself and form my own opinion based on experience not speculation.

I figured as much as the cash shop was implemented earlier this week. I used the WoW cash shop as an example because it's the one most people bring up when discussing subscription based games that also have a cash shop and because all the stuff in the WoW cash shop is account wide so even if it can get a bit pricey at least you're paying for every character you have and for every character you make after.

That's my main problem with TERA's cash shop, I feel $10 for an item only one character can have is way too expensive plus I'm concerned they'll start prioritising the cash shop so whenever new content comes all the good looking items will be cash shop exclusives to force people to buy them or have their character walking around with the most boring ass weapons or just re-skins of old weapons, but only time will tell.

And I wasn't implying you hate GW2, you were saying one of the reasons you like TERA over GW2 is the fact that TERA didn't have microtransactions, I was proving TERA does indeed have microtransactions too, that's all. And for the record I don't hate TERA, I've played both and I'll grant you TERA does have better combat than GW2 but aside from that I like everything else more in GW2, (which doesn't mean GW2 combat is bad, far form it), but that's my personal opinion, as I said if you prefer TERA I can respect that.

as compared to GW2's $60 for the game $30-$60 depending on how many you start with for enough character slots to try all the classes, and on top of that IIRC armor is purely cosmetic and bought from the cash shop, with stats being determined by dropped items that don't make any visual difference, and while I don't care what other people think its going to start bothering me when I hit 30 and still look like I just waltzed off the starting platform, so that's another $20 to not look retarded, and suddenly I realize that at least the sub fee spreads it out over time. (the part about the armor is based off something I heard from a friend and may be total bullshit so feel free to correct me on that one)

On a side note, that's not how armor works on GW2, armor does change the look of your character in-game, in fact the best looking armor can all be obtained either through crafting, by doing activities (mini games), by killing the world bosses like the one in CriticKitten's post, by completing the various jumping puzzles scattered around the world (there's even some in the WvW area) or beating the various dungeons explorable modes. Sure there are some sets that are exclusive to the cash shop (just like TERA) but they are account wide so if I buy a set of armor, every character I make will have it (unlike TERA).

Interesting point here. The American version of TERA (EnMasse) and the European version (Frogster) are actually slightly different in this respect. The cosmetic items and paid services do not exist in the European version that I play, and this is the first I have heard of them being in the US (not that I'm disputing their existance or anything.)

I know the American version and the European version are handled by different publishers, as I play the American version I can't really tell you if the European version has or will have a cash shop, the one in the American version was implemented earlier this week so it's fairly new.

 

[Ringwraith]

Sweet! Some evidence to prove me wrong, I loves me some empirical evidence! Care to show this?

Here, a small album of images I took of my character at around level 30-35.
http://imgur.com/a/l7zXg
As you can see, it is hardly scandalous.

The thing you won't realise unless you go looking for it is that there are a lot of armour designs in this game. Tons and tons. Thus they range all over the place from barely existing to being massive chunks of metal. With each race having their own unique armour designs it means they each have a consistent style, like how castanics generally having the most revealing armour of them all, although this applies to both genders (half the male ones look like they're doing Dante cosplay), and they have still have some modest armour, you just have to look a bit harder for it.
You can also modify any armour you have to look like something else if you're willing to sink a little money and time into it, so you're not really locked into wearing specific things either.

 

[VanQ]

Sweet! Some evidence to prove me wrong, I loves me some empirical evidence! Care to show this?

Here, a small album of images I took of my character at around level 30-35.
http://imgur.com/a/l7zXg
As you can see, it is hardly scandalous.

The thing you won't realise unless you go looking for it is that there are a lot of armour designs in this game. Tons and tons. Thus they range all over the place from barely existing to being massive chunks of metal. With each race having their own unique armour designs it means they each have a consistent style, like how castanics generally having the most revealing armour of them all, although this applies to both genders (half the male ones look like they're doing Dante cosplay), and they have still have some modest armour, you just have to look a bit harder for it.
You can also modify any armour you have to look like something else if you're willing to sink a little money and time into it, so you're not really locked into wearing specific things either.

I'm well aware of that and greatly look forward to mixing and matching a nice looking outfit when I'm a higher level and won't have to replace it quickly. No need to sink gold into reskinning multiple pieces of armor.
I'm just trying to make a point that you are not forced to wear a skimpy outfit if you don't want to. Even Castanics have some non revealing outfits. I've considered rolling a female Amani lately though, they looks absolutely badass at mid-high levels.

 

[Ringwraith]

I'm well aware of that and greatly look forward to mixing and matching a nice looking outfit when I'm a higher level and won't have to replace it quickly. No need to sink gold into reskinning multiple pieces of armor.
I'm just trying to make a point that you are not forced to wear a skimpy outfit if you don't want to. Even Castanics have some non revealing outfits. I've considered rolling a female Amani lately though, they looks absolutely badass at mid-high levels.

I was more making a general statement, not specifically directed towards you, as you obviously know what I'm talking about.
Although this is making me want to play it again even though I can't. Additionally, no-one I know is playing it anyway.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Sweet! Some evidence to prove me wrong, I loves me some empirical evidence! Care to show this?

Here, a small album of images I took of my character at around level 30-35.
http://imgur.com/a/l7zXg
As you can see, it is hardly scandalous.
The Elin are in there because I made this album to show a friend the game and am just making multi use of it.

Spoiler

And fuck the police, I don't play an Elin but they're cute as fuck and fuck anybody who sexualizes them.

Dem thighs are what sexualizes them. I mean, damn.

But they're still weaponized cuteness.

 

[Zeriah]

What this guy says is absolutely correct, Tera is really REALLY fun to play. I made a sorcerer and was able to solo many 5 man group quests because most everything is avoidable with skillful play. Doing damage, especially casts while avoiding damage when soloing the BAM's was really difficult and I have to say defeating these things alone (which can take ~15 minutes) gave me some of the most satisfying and rewarding feelings I've had in gaming. It really felt like tackling Havel the Rock or something in Dark Souls the first time you move past his door at an absurdly low level (you can only do it with the master key this early).

Even with a group it still feels really rewarding as there will be several times during a fight where you will have to use quick twitch based reactions utilizing dodges/backsteps etc to avoid damage while utilizing action based FPS (for ranged) or Dark Souls (for melee) styled combat, unlike in WoW or something where you know things are coming decades in advance and you just move out or use a damage reduction cooldown and hit tab 1,2,3 with your eyes closed to do damage. I haven't even done more than the regular dungeons, the raids are going to be quite exciting from what I've seen so far.

Tanking also looks really fun and my buddy is having a great time with it.

One thing he doesn't mention though is how amazing the game looks - it really is stunning. It simply blows every other MMO out of the water including Aion (which uses the Crytek engine). It was breathtaking.

One issue for me are the hilariously revealing outfits. At one point I was wearing a chest piece that was apparently a 'robe' (had robe in the item name) but what it looked like in game was literally a bikini, with lingerie mesh covering it complete with pantyhose and high heels (no joke). This was the most extreme thing I've come across but basically every item I've gotten so far has made my character quite sexualized. It isn't one sided though as the outfits for the Castanic and High Elf males (and humans to a lesser extent) wear next to nothing as well. It can be difficult to take things seriously though, with Castanics and High Elves of both genders running around fighting huge monsters looking like models in a Victoria's Secret catalog but if it bothers you, you can always be a Baraka, Aman, Popori or a plate wearing class (less so for the latter as there are some completely impractical items that are more or less metal lingerie) which dress like you would expect in a fantasy MMO.

The biggest draw back for me though, is that you cannot move while casting (not even your basic attack). I believe they did this to retain some of the, and I say this with the biggest of quotation marks, 'strategy' of the slow passed MMO's like WoW, as knowing when you will be able to cast or not is incredibly important. In that respect it succeeded as many of the things that are difficult in this game would become trivial with the kind of freedom one has in the many other Korean action MMO's. You would need a small army of BAM's to take you down, as finding time to cast while soloing a BAM as a sorcerer is the hardest part. However in the end it makes the combat feel somewhat clunky and sluggish. I really wish they would have gone all the way with a combat system like the many other action based Korean MMO's like Dragon's Nest (funnest MMO I've played with the most poorly implemented gearing system I've ever seen), while differing from them with a breathtaking triple A funded MMO, without pretty much mandatory micro-transactions. If the combat was like Dragon Nest I could have seen myself playing this game for years. In the end I can see myself having a lot of fun with this for a few months and with GW2 on the horizon I may finally be able to say goodbye to WoW styled MMO's forever.

The Elin controversy is overblown though. I was very dubious about the situation at first before I started playing but in reality they look just like adorable children. I don't understand why they have wide hips, that is the one issue I have with them as that does generally signify some sort of sexuality. Luckily it doesn't turn out that way - they just dress in ridiculously cutesy clothes and end up looking like adorable children, running around with weapons and shields twice their height.

-Made a few edits-