TERA: Game is out! You should come play it!

Beezel

http://tera.enmasse.com/ THE OFFICIAL SITE

*SERVER INFO*
NA PVE: Dragonfall
EU PVE: Essenia
PVP: Valley of Titans (Now full. You may have to make a character on Basilisk Crag or Feral Valley if you're looking to kill fools)
Guild: We Are Nice Guys
Allied with: Bloodmoon Chosen

G&T Vent Info
vent20.gameservers.com
Port: 4384
PW: the usual

Release Dates
NA: May 1 2012
EU: May 3 2012

Head Start
EU: 4/27/12 3pm CET
NA: 4/28/12 12:00PM PDT


What Is TERA?


TERA actually stands for The Exiled Realms of Arborea. An Action MMO from Bluehole Studios

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvGTOTJ1-xA



This looks suspiciously KOREAN. Why should I give two flips about this?

It is. But don't fret. Remember what I said about Action MMO? A lot of people may not realize, but TERA is claimed to play like a combination of Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Online. What this means is aside from numbers popping up letting you know how much you hit or got hit for, there's not much in the way of auto-targeting. You have a melee attack? You better be facing the right way. You have a direct damage spell? You better hope you can aim semi-well or you may find yourself shooting airballs and before you know it you have an empty mana bar with not much to show for it!

Okay, Okay. The gameplay seems neat but this still looks VERY Korean

Oh you meant GRIND. I wish I could say I could alleviate your troubles but the Localization crew over at En Masse have assured us that they're working hard to mask that aspect of the genre, adding quests and rewriting lore to suit more western palettes. Standard mmo tropes do apply here, however. Kill X of Y, Bring me X body parts, craft this junk I could walk across the street and get but I'm a lazy sod. you get the deal.

Hmmm....tell me more, salesman

What we know so far:

• 7 races with their own racial skills
• 8 classes that any of the 7 races can become
• A political system in the works where top groups of players are voted into power and given dominion over a province. Receiving perks such as guild keeps, special mounts, vendors along with being able to set a tax over their region.

Tax? What the HELL man?! I don't wanna give my hard earned greed monies to some random dick!

Not to worry! A group of geese trying to bleed the player base dry? Vote them out! It's that simple!

So about these races/classes?


Races:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MRUO13e31Q
Dragonfolk, Burly mean and strong. Value freedom and strength above all other things. Dragon pimps representing The iron forged dome of Kaiator


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43d9sZjgcRI
Huge genderless learned golem folk. They live in libraries since their home town was snuffed out. There's no female to their race. Which makes the fact that they have one really built up arm like Left 4 Dead 2 Chargers suspicious and also makes me question that "genderless" thing. Maybe they just mean "ronery"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yva8j2F6F8
Blood Elf style done right mixed with Night Elf douchebaggery. The males are Iggy pop. And the females wear plate thongs. Their home city is The Darkdeep Underblack. In the middle of scenic New Jersey.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o73UwBl7kMo
Legolas and company. Only with slightly less "I'm better than you". Their home city is Fantasia. And no they can't talk to you because they really must be getting back to their fantastic magical oasis.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBOwCRH1xBw
Magical Flower Children made by the goddess Elinu. They're also all apparently bitchy, tsundere misanthropes. yes we know. No, we're not having that conversation.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0N8BagVq90
Elin Bioweapons gone horribly right The best damn race in the game.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hwnf_7phMY
The frontiersmen and the ground pounders. All the males look like Lou Ferrigno. The chicks all look like.....I guess some really hot human chick, pick your poison. They live in a giant wheel. Your argument is invalid.

Classes

Hunters only without the pets. I hope you like third-person shooters because that's basically what playing an Archer is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASTwO3qteCQ
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/archer



"HULK SMASH!" These guys are your heavy hitters, slow and steady before they land that one hit that leaves them crying uncle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9QKLM2LRNM
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/berserker



Your tank class. Stuns and aggro abilities. You also have to manually block things. If you like playing Balrog or Guile in SF4 you should feel right at home here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyT1BbB1MZE
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/lancer



Support Healer that relies droppable orbs and auras to support their group. You will learn to love their blue balls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWvkuO2E9sw
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/mystic



Mostly aoe heals with damage absorption shields. It's like if a Holy priest and a Disc priest stopped fucking around and had a baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZECrfAtmxp4
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/priest



Dance of blades all day erryday, AOE melee specialist. Sort of a middle ground between the power of a berserker and the mobility of a warrior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6HjeLA_QGQ
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/slayer



Every mage ever. Massive firepower but made out of wet tissue and popsicle sticks. Avoid danger accordingly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5eDf-HY8LU
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/sorcerer



A dual wielding cyclone. Their playstyle changes every 10 levels and are probably the most JOHN FUCKING MADDEN class in the game. They're marked the hardest for a reason
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LxrZ4bZTB0
http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/warrior


RESOURCES

*GRAPHICAL TWEAKS TO SQUEEZE A LITTLE MORE PERFORMANCE OUT OF THE GAME*
List of tweaks from Sinewave of the SA forums.

Sinewave wrote:

Made a Config Tweak Cheat Sheet for launch: http://pastebin.com/aZUCF9hh

---

FieldofView Bind:
Navigate to "TERA\Client\S1Game\Config"
open up the file "S1Input.ini"
underneath the line "bEnableMouseSmoothing=true"
Bindings=(Name="x",Command="fov 90")
(make sure there is no ; at the start of the line like there are with the lines underneath it)

---

Disable Mouse Smoothing:
Navigate to "TERA\Client\S1Game\Config"
open up the file "S1Input.ini"
Change "bEnableMouseSmoothing=true" to false

---

Disable In-Game Fake AA/Blur (FXAA):
Launch Tera. Go to Settings: Video: "Lighting Enhancement"
Change 2 to 1

---

Add Antialiasing with SMAA Injector:
Do above FXAA fix!
DISABLE NVIDIA/ATI AA! (it doesn't work anyways)
Download: http://depositfiles.com/files/pfhfna1hp
Extract contents of dx9 folder into:
\TERA\Client\Binaries\
Toggle with Pause/Break to see Jaggies Appear/Vanish like Magic! (default is ON)

---

S1Engine.ini Tweaks:
Change "DepthOfField=True" to False (Less Blur in distance and on trees)
Change "bSmoothFrameRate=True" to False (Disables stupid FPS cap)
Change "MaxAnisotropy=" to 16 (Better texture filtering)
Under [SystemSettings] add "bAllowLightShafts=True"
GAME OVERWRITES S1Engine.ini each patch so CHECK THESE

---

Nvidia Character Texture Tweak:
Download/Open Nvidia Inspector
Click on Wrench (duh!)
Open Tera Profile
Scroll down to Dynamic Tiling
Set Flag to: PS_DYNAMIC_TILING_ON
Save Profile

The breakdown of what this does is:

No laggy mouse.
Wider view.
Sharper visuals.
No jaggies.
Smoother character textures.
No blurry things.
Uncapped FPS.

Crystal Builds
http://atra-astrum.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13483#p13483

Glyph Calculator
http://www.teraguru.ru/glyphcalc.html#wr

Class Guides
(Thanks to Grouch for compiling these)

Lancer Eziel's Lancer guide
Warrior Nalfen's Warrior Guide

Advanced Warrior Tips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ZTX31fGtk

Slayer Xeismik's Slayer Guide Steparu's Mini Slayer Guide
Archer Sedina's Archer Guide
Sorcerer Delak's Sorcerer Guide
Mystic Karyudo's Mystic Guide
Priest Luciferia's Priest Guide


Closing this post with Amani getting their groove on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLzWBM8k8U

Adda

Any news on a western release date and has the korean version still been abandoned by everyone due to rampant botting?

Beezel

Last I heard they were shooting for "summer 2011" En Masse are holding some public event for it tomorrow so we'll most likely hear more info about it then

Toxic Pickle

Oh hey, here's the TERA thread! I was looking for it last week I believe, and noticed it had disappeared completely (due to inactivity I suppose).

Really got excited about this game after watching some of the gameplay videos many moons ago, but it kinda dropped off the radar in more recent days.

What's this about the Korean version being abandoned? Abandoned by players, or by the devs in favor of the western version? Rampant botting seems to be a problem in pretty much every Asian game I've played, but it sure would be nice if En Masse could address this before release.

Adda

A lot of players dropped out soon after launch but I haven't kept up with it since.

Delphinidaes

Adda wrote: »

A lot of players dropped out soon after launch but I haven't kept up with it since.

Pretty game. Been following it somewhat since ...wow almost a year ago now. Glad to see it is stilla round.

Beezel

couple of things
*I goofed on the community play event date. That's actually April 1st I'm told.

In the Korean version there's something of a grind going on with it past level 40 where the monsters and the repeatable quests dry up on exp. They encourage group play to tackle elite dungeons for experience after this point so I'm not sure to what extent that's being changed.

EDIT
On the subject of botting and what they're doing about it:

"Most of the people at En Masse read our forums, and the community team produces a report of things here every week for those that don't.

This has been a major point of concentration from us since day one, and we've got data now from the botters in Korea that we can use to combat botting here. So yeah, we're watching, and we certainly appreciate you guys raising this as a concern here.

We've said this before but it bears repeating: we're not going to explain every tool in our arsenal to combat botting, because we'd rather not give them time to think about how to defeat them."

SOURCE: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showpost.php?p=307918&postcount=30

Something of a non-answer but it shows they're aware of the problem.

Tre

The combat looks like a combination of PSO and Aion. I like where this is going so far... Will stay tuned for sure.

TheKoolEagle

I've been waiting patiently for this one, rift didn't really do anything for me but this looks good, popori lancer gooooooo!

Mandres

What I heard re: the Korean release is that the game mechanics are really fun and the world is dripping with style and atmosphere.

People said there there wasn't enough content to keep busy at higher lvls, that grinding sort of takes over which I guess contributed to the botting problem.

MyDcmbr

Oh.

A new TERA thread? Did the old one get sucked into the bowels of the internet?

Adda

MyDcmbr wrote: »

Oh.

A new TERA thread? Did the old one get sucked into the bowels of the internet?

Still there, just hasn't been posted on in around 2 + months so you need to push forward the date range on the mmo forum to see it.

Delphinidaes

Adda wrote: »

MyDcmbr wrote: »

Oh.

A new TERA thread? Did the old one get sucked into the bowels of the internet?

Still there, just hasn't been posted on in around 2 + months so you need to push forward the date range on the mmo forum to see it.

This one is better anyways, the focus of the last one was a bit...off.

Adda

Delphinidaes wrote: »

Adda wrote: »

MyDcmbr wrote: »

Oh.

A new TERA thread? Did the old one get sucked into the bowels of the internet?

Still there, just hasn't been posted on in around 2 + months so you need to push forward the date range on the mmo forum to see it.

This one is better anyways, the focus of the last one was a bit...off.

Indeed, hopefully this one doesn't get out of hand. I suspect that much like the rift thread, this will stay pretty dormant until very near release, when lots of people will start to show interest.

Beezel

When big info pops up I'll try my best to update the OP accordingly

MyDcmbr

I noticed a couple things in the OP...

Warriors are not "off tanks in a pinch" they are actually the second full on tank class, they are just evasion tanks.
Berserkers aren't AOE, Slayers are. Berserkers are the high DPS single target melee class of TERA. Their combat arc is up and down directly in front, where the Slayer's is a horizontal arc even on basic attacks, just like a Warrior.

Anyone who tries to play a Warrior like a Rouge will be sorely disappointed with the damage output, considering the only classes they beat are Lancer, Mystic, and Priest.

Beezel

MyDcmbr wrote: »

I noticed a couple things in the OP...

Warriors are not "off tanks in a pinch" they are actually the second full on tank class, they are just evasion tanks.
Berserkers aren't AOE, Slayers are. Berserkers are the high DPS single target melee class of TERA. Their combat arc is up and down directly in front, where the Slayer's is a horizontal arc even on basic attacks, just like a Warrior.

Anyone who tries to play a Warrior like a Rouge will be sorely disappointed with the damage output, considering the only classes they beat are Lancer, Mystic, and Priest.

Ah! Thanks for clearing that up I'll put that up in the OP now.

EDIT: Things I've heard about combat and specifically how aggro works during fights

Can anyone confirm or deny the following?

"Let me warn you, there is no aggro table. Well there IS an aggro table, but it caps.
It's like, picture a meter, but everyone is competing on it at the same time.
When a tank has full threat, only he is on the monster's radar. But you are all competing
for the same aggro table. It's not like WoW where you all have your own threat tables.
For example, in WoW as a hunter you would possibly have to feign death, and after that
never have to do it again because ideally the tank just keeps always building threat. But in
TERA, after a feign you go right back to competing for aggro. "

The last part is worded a little ambiguous but I'm taking it to mean that after a hunter in WoW feigns he won't have to again because he shouldn't be able to catch up to the tank's threat ideally? But this wouldn't be the case in TERA since it's just one singular threat situation and it just goes to whoever is at the top at the time?

Glal

Yeah, sounds like instead of building up aggro you're at all times just representing a % of total threat, so a good spike will push you into the lead even if you spent the rest of the fight faffing about.
Not sure if I like that or not, but since the combat mechanics are different it's hard to tell whether that's an issue. After all, you're physically dodging big attacks here, you're not relying on a stat to keep you alive quite as much.

MyDcmbr

Glal wrote: »

Yeah, sounds like instead of building up aggro you're at all times just representing a % of total threat, so a good spike will push you into the lead even if you spent the rest of the fight faffing about.
Not sure if I like that or not, but since the combat mechanics are different it's hard to tell whether that's an issue. After all, you're physically dodging big attacks here, you're not relying on a stat to keep you alive quite as much.

It works in Age of Conan.

It should work even better in TERA because of the dodging.

ghost_master2000

Nice! Glad someone made a new thread as my attempts at resurrecting the old one failed due to the thread title.

I'm definitely excited about this game. i always hated the RNG part of other MMOs.

Beezel

Glal wrote: »

Yeah, sounds like instead of building up aggro you're at all times just representing a % of total threat, so a good spike will push you into the lead even if you spent the rest of the fight faffing about.
Not sure if I like that or not, but since the combat mechanics are different it's hard to tell whether that's an issue. After all, you're physically dodging big attacks here, you're not relying on a stat to keep you alive quite as much.

From what I hear, the way tanks work is that lancers will actually block attacks from hitting the group with their hitbox/special block. Making it semi-safe to have a boss facing a group at times while a warrior has to rely on an invincible dodge/evade move and will want to keep the boss facing away from the group while they bunny hop around pissing the big guys off.

I saw a vid once of a dungeon fight where an archer got an aggro spike and the boss thought he looked tasty. The other ranged used their evade moves to get out of the way but the archer ended up eating a nasty looking multi hit charge that facefucked him to death. These fights look ugly and disorganized but at the same time they don't? It's hard to quantify. They look like actual FIGHTS is what I mean.

MrVyngaard

Beezel wrote: »

These fights look ugly and disorganized but at the same time they don't? It's hard to quantify. They look like actual FIGHTS is what I mean.

These words alone raise my interest in this game.

Shanadeus

Oh, anyone have that pic of the different range of each class?

Skab

I'm a little lost. Is this out or in beta or neither?

MyDcmbr

Skab wrote: »

I'm a little lost. Is this out or in beta or neither?

It's out in Korea, but we are getting a pretty different version in the US and EU.

Currently they are doing a Community Play Event this weekend, pretty much it's in "Closed Beta."

Basil

It's out in Koreastan, or some similar place.

Corehealer

Basil wrote: »

It's out in Koreastan, or some similar place.

Basil, come post in my thread more often.

Skab

MyDcmbr wrote: »

Skab wrote: »

I'm a little lost. Is this out or in beta or neither?

It's out in Korea, but we are getting a pretty different version in the US and EU.

Currently they are doing a Community Play Event this weekend, pretty much it's in "Closed Beta."

So can anyone play this weekend or did you have to get an invite? Something you have to register for? I need details!

Shorn Scrotum Man

Closed beta means it's invite only.

MyDcmbr

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Closed beta means it's invite only.

This.

I don't really know exactly what criteria they used. Some people who registered in January got selected, some people with less than 10 posts on the official forums, etc etc.

I didn't get selected though. And I have been on the forums since Dec. 09

They had a pretty good presence at PAX Prime last year. Doing some high level dungeons runs for the press and a few players (I got to do that, got a hoodie), they also did an event at that one bar that had the Post PAX Party for 30ish people (I went to that too got a lanyard and a poster).

They are rumors of a late summer release, so they may be at PAX Prime again this year.

Skab

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Closed beta means it's invite only.

Well, I know what a closed beta is, but wasn't sure what a "Community Play Weekend" entailed.

Shorn Scrotum Man

Skab wrote: »

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Closed beta means it's invite only.

Well, I know what a closed beta is, but wasn't sure what a "Community Play Weekend" entailed.

So you only read the first half of the sentence that was in then?

Beezel

Skab wrote: »

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Closed beta means it's invite only.

Well, I know what a closed beta is, but wasn't sure what a "Community Play Weekend" entailed.

The community play weekend was where they got some people from the community/forums to try out some things I think. There was some drama over it because people who were in the KCBT didn't get invited despite being told repeatedly that it wasn't a beta test

Skab

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Skab wrote: »

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

Closed beta means it's invite only.

Well, I know what a closed beta is, but wasn't sure what a "Community Play Weekend" entailed.

So you only read the first half of the sentence that was in then?

He fucking wrote it as "Closed Beta", with the quotations, while calling it something else right before. Excuse me for wanting to clarify.

No need to be a fucking asshole about it.

Beezel wrote: »

The community play weekend was where they got some people from the community/forums to try out some things I think. There was some drama over it because people who were in the KCBT didn't get invited despite being told repeatedly that it wasn't a beta test

Got it. Thank you.

MyDcmbr

I think this is absolutely my favorite screenshot of ANY I have seen from the CPE.

Talk about being able to see forever!

Just_Bri_Thanks

I wonder if all of those buildings are fully realized. It always irks me when you see a section of a city laid out in such a way that it is obvious to the observer that no thought was placed into the apparent floor plan of the city's building shaped obstacle course.

If a level designer wants to channel me around and through choke points for the sole purpose of directing me to points of interest then he can fuck right off.

A city needs to be a city and a building needs to be a building and not some kind of amusement park ride.

Beezel

It would be nice if that draw distance was legit. If they pull that off that would be pretty damn impressive.

Also Mmm, Castanic slayer

MyDcmbr

That guy has even more awesome scenery shots in his album. I will try to track it down again.

ghost_master2000

Beezel wrote: »

It would be nice if that draw distance was legit. If they pull that off that would be pretty damn impressive.

Also Mmm, Castanic slayer

I don't see why it wouldn't be legit. Those buildings int eh distance are pretty low quality. Just blocks with textures on 4 sides. Don't need much more than that at that distance though.

Beezel

Racial Skills as they stand now in the korean version:

Source: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16668

AMAN

Last Aman Standing - Instant Cast. 1 Hour Cooldown.
"Your resistance to knockdown and immobility improves for 30 seconds"

No Stranger to Pain - Passive.
"Decreases damage received by 10% when hp is below 30%"

Blood of Dragons - Passive.
"Increases resistance to damage over time effects by 10

Prospector - Passive.
" Increased ore gathering speed"


BARAKA

Ancient Wellspring - Instant Cast. 2 hour cooldown
"Replenish all your HP by tapping magic from a bygone age"

Indefatigable - Passive
"Your stamina does not fall below 20%"

Gather No Moss - Passive
"Increases resistance to immobility by 10"

Time-Lost Techniques - Passive.
Increases crafting speed for magic weapons by 10%


CASTANIC

Skirmish Running - Instant Cast. 30 minute cooldown
"Your speed increases by 30 for 3 min, but your resistance to knockdown is reduced by 20%. Effect ends when you are knocked down."

Dirty Fighting - Passive.
"Increases crit rate by 1% when you attack the target from behind."

Weapon Forger - Passive.
"Increases crafting speed for metallic weapons by 10%."

Light Landing - Passive
"Decreases falling damage by 50%"


HIGH ELF

Core Infusion - Instant Cast. 2 hour cooldown.
"Replenish 100% of your MP through the power of the Core"

Resilience of Mind - Passive.
"Restores your MP continuously after you're resurrected"

Coalescence - Passive.
"Increases gathering speed for essence"


HUMAN

Deft Footwork - Instant Cast. 1 hour cooldown
"Your chance of being knocked down or immobilized by another player decreases drastically for 3 min"

Indomitable Spirit - Passive.
"When your HP is below 30%, you take less damage from other players.

Resilience of Body - Passive.
"Heals you continuously after you're resurrected"

Nomadic Crafter - Passive.
"Increases crafting speed for light armor by 10%"


POPORI(Elin assumed)

Soothing Presence - Instant Cast. 1 hour cooldown.
"Monsters do not make pre-emptive attacks, but your movement speed decreases by 40% for 1 min. Effect immediately disappears when you use a skill or item, or when combat starts"

Horizon Run - Instant Cast. 30 minute cooldown
"Your speed increased by 20 for 3 minutes outside of combat"

Botanist - Passive.
"Increases plant gather speed"

Friendly Current - Passive.
"Your swimming speed is faster than other races"


Thoughts?
Opinions?

Probably Adding this to the OP at some point depending on what's changed or not

Glal

Not overly fond of racial abilities with loooooooong cooldowns. It just means I'll never, ever use them, saving them for that perfect moment that never comes.
Still, at least some of them look useful at least, that full self heal is nice. Even though you could quarter the cooldown and it'd be just as 'abusable'.