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Topic: TERA Online from Bluehole Studio (Read 433951 times)
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Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
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That video may have killed any desire I ever had to play this game. That looks terrible.
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"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
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disKret
Terracotta Army
Posts: 244
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That video may have killed any desire I ever had to play this game. That looks terrible.
This game is a mix of TPP with MMO What did You expect?
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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This game has a lot of cool GVG mechanics. It's pretty fucking neat. There's a scoreboard between guilds and you have to get points to win.
Also, when you hit level 30 all of the sudden there are link 5 different places to go and do stuff. The game is pretty expansive surprisingly.
I played a Lancer up to level 34 and then started a Sorc (level 22). I don't know which class I like the most. Lancer is a bit dull but tanking really fun and instance queues are INSTANT. With a sorc, it's a bit more entertaining to place, but instance queues are god awful long.
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Rokal
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1652
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I'm enjoying the game: the combat is a ton of fun, the game runs as smooth as silk, and it looks great. I just can't get over how bland the quests are. I usually read quest text the first time through on an MMO, but I just can't do it in TERA. Even the 1-20 quests in Rift had more character (and eventually, imo, Rift told some pretty cool stories). The localization team clearly tried to make the quests interesting, but either they failed or just didn't have much to work with.
At this point I would have preferred if they had gone the full-blown Monster Hunter route and cut out almost all of the quests. Make the game about killing, crafting, and exploring: not about handing in 5 throw-away quests at every hub. Save the quests for important moments, enemies, and characters, and give players other things to do the rest of the time.
What I want after playing the recent crop of MMOs is SWTOR with TERA's combat and engine (UE3), but that $200M+ ship has sailed.
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taolurker
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1460
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SWTOR NGE
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I used to write for extinct gaming sites details available here (unused blog about page)
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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I'm enjoying the game: the combat is a ton of fun, the game runs as smooth as silk, and it looks great. I just can't get over how bland the quests are. I usually read quest text the first time through on an MMO, but I just can't do it in TERA. Even the 1-20 quests in Rift had more character (and eventually, imo, Rift told some pretty cool stories). The localization team clearly tried to make the quests interesting, but either they failed or just didn't have much to work with.
At this point I would have preferred if they had gone the full-blown Monster Hunter route and cut out almost all of the quests. Make the game about killing, crafting, and exploring: not about handing in 5 throw-away quests at every hub. Save the quests for important moments, enemies, and characters, and give players other things to do the rest of the time.
What I want after playing the recent crop of MMOs is SWTOR with TERA's combat and engine (UE3), but that $200M+ ship has sailed.
Yeah, the quests are retarded in this game. They only way to make them better is if I didn't have to click 5 NPCs to accept them. All the quests are just kill quests in some fashion. I'm still getting angsty about whether or not play my sorc or my lancer. Can't decide what my play session tonight will entail!
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jakonovski
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4388
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So I went to the EU page because someone said the game had been released, and then got slapped in the face by a giant trout in the form of a 50€ price tag.
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tmp
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4257
POW! Right in the Kisser!
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You can buy the US version for $50 and play that instead from most of Europe. The ping is likely to be slightly worse, but perfectly playable in my experience.
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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Play the US version, Frogster is apparently shitted up the EU version.
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Shitted up how?
Ping is important, probably not worth to save a few euros and get the shit end of the latency stick in PvP.
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Rokal
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1652
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The biggest complaint about frogster was the removal of a blood effects slider, which is either already back in or is being patched back in soon. It sounds like the blood effects have still been toned-down, compared to NA/Korea, for ratings. You can read their response to the complaints here, which addresses what the complaints were. The other thing to consider is that, apparently, the Frogster beta tests weren't initially as stable as the En Masse beta tests.
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« Last Edit: May 03, 2012, 05:20:45 PM by Rokal »
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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Yes, the appearance of the Elins has been changed in both northern American and European version of the game. Not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of our responsibility to protect our younger audiences from them. All partners involved in the project decided to ask Bluehole Studios for a solution, so they created new textures and designs for Elin wear. We are sure you all agree that this effort for child protection was the right thing to do. We all did, here, at Frogster.
Wow.
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Rokal
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1652
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After seeing comparison screenshots for the NA/Korean version of Elin characters, I don't blame them. The Elin are already creepy enough without revealing shirts and dresses.
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koro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2307
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Not to mention that the base model skins for all of the female races (including Elin) were found to be, let's just say, anatomically correct when people extracted them into viewers and editors. And still are, in Korea.
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Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298
Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.
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Yes, the appearance of the Elins has been changed in both northern American and European version of the game. Not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of our responsibility to protect our younger audiences from them. All partners involved in the project decided to ask Bluehole Studios for a solution, so they created new textures and designs for Elin wear. We are sure you all agree that this effort for child protection was the right thing to do. We all did, here, at Frogster.
Wow. "Wow" as in "I agree with their statement" or "wow that's lame"? Because I tend to agree with the removal of teh creepy, in this case (and I don't consider myself a bigot). MMOG population is generally awful and childish.
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" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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As my grief title clearly states I am at the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to bigotry. But I am not OK with games society sexualizing everything. I am really not even OK with metal bikinis, boob-sliders and other usual bullshit women are used for in the games we play, and let alone kids. So yeah I am kind of happy they toned it down a bit, and the "wow" is because I wasn't expecting it.
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tmp
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4257
POW! Right in the Kisser!
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Not to mention that the base model skins for all of the female races (including Elin) were found to be, let's just say, anatomically correct when people extracted them into viewers and editors. And still are, in Korea.
Afraid that's partially either bs or something that's been since then addressed -- even in korean version the Elins have the 'anatomically correct' part of their meshes removed/absent.
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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Shitted up how?
Ping is important, probably not worth to save a few euros and get the shit end of the latency stick in PvP.
US is offering free server transfers right now as the game expands. Frogster is closing servers to new characters. Frogster removed blood and other shit from the game. There are some other things that I forget.
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jakonovski
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4388
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A friend forced my hand by buying an EU copy for himself, so I settled for a standard edition for 40€. I'm getting off work in a couple of hours, then it's time to see how badly I wasted my money this time.
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Rokal
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1652
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I'm having a surprisingly great time playing this. Leveling hasn't slowed down and as of 36 the game is still throwing interesting enemies, areas, and models at me almost constantly. A world boss fight with 3 other players and no tank in what was essentially a public dungeon has to be one of the most exciting/entertaining things I've experienced in an MMO in recent memory.
I'm curious how it'll hold up at level cap, but I'm enjoying the ride there. Given the alternate leveling paths and how fun the game actually is to play, I'll probably level up at least one more character before bailing even if end-game isn't much fun.
I really wish this didn't launch so close to Diablo 3 though. I already had plans to play that with friends so my time with TERA may be cut shorter than I'd like.
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koro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2307
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I wonder if I'm the only person who thinks that the melee combat in this game is absolutely mind-numbingly boring, at least for a Warrior. I end up doing largely the same stuff every fight in the mid-20s. It's just the same sequences of chained skills over and over again, and I'm kinda tired of it. Even my old Mutilate Rogue in WoW felt more dynamic and interesting than this while soloing, and I only had two main attacks on him! I don't have much else to do except use a litany of increasingly situational attacks, and other stuff like the little shadow clone I can make to take aggro in my place isn't good to use for solo leveling due to enemies generally not being hard enough to warrant the use of it, combined with the fact that it costs health to summon, leading to downtime in a game with too much of it as it is.
The enemies are also really annoying too, the only challenge many of them posing is learning which subtle animation change is the difference between receiving a light love tap and sending me sprawling onto my ass instead so I can dodge at the appropriate time.
I've also tried the Lancer and Slayer, but they're both so infuriatingly slow that I don't think I could stomach them.
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tmp
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4257
POW! Right in the Kisser!
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I find the fun for melee to be in the maneuvering rather than pressing skill buttons -- weaving in and out and skirting through and around groups of enemies in such ways there's no damage taken, and as such none of that "to much downtime as it is".
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koro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2307
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My experience has been that the controls are sluggish enough that maneuvering around in the midst of combat, especially against multiple enemies, feels like a crap shoot at times when it comes to actually avoiding damage.
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Kageru
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4549
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I just assumed that's the sort of experience a high ping connection would give you.
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Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf? - Simond
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Falconeer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11124
a polyamorous pansexual genderqueer born and living in the wrong country
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I end up doing largely the same stuff every fight in the mid-20s. It's just the same sequences of chained skills over and over again
While I agree that the combat is, in a way, less dynamic than it feels at first, and that the novelty of the actiony style starts to wear off pretty soon, isn't ""Same sequence of chained skills over and over again" what all MMORPGs are like when you get familiar with your character and are tackling even-con solo content? PvP is a different story, due to unpredictability of enemy movements and actions, but PvE, really? Any massively online game that isn't like that? I can't think of a single one.
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koro
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2307
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I end up doing largely the same stuff every fight in the mid-20s. It's just the same sequences of chained skills over and over again
While I agree that the combat is, in a way, less dynamic than it feels at first, and that the novelty of the actiony style starts to wear off pretty soon, isn't ""Same sequence of chained skills over and over again" what all MMORPGs are like when you get familiar with your character and are tackling even-con solo content? PvP is a different story, due to unpredictability of enemy movements and actions, but PvE, really? Any massively online game that isn't like that? I can't think of a single one. Most MMOs may indeed be largely the same sequence of skills over and over, but I feel it more in Tera, while other stuff tends to mask it. The big difference between Tera and, say, WoW, is that aside from two toggle stances (one offense, one tanking), the level one right-click dodge, an AoE taunt, and a short-duration decoy summon, literally every skill my Warrior has is something that deals damage. There are no other utility skills, no cooldowns to hit in combat, nothing that can be used to speed up or change the pace of combat - or even really act in response of something unanticipated, should that happen. The best I can do is use something like Combative Strike to reduce something's defense and do a bit more damage to it, but that requires an HP sacrifice to do. If it were more like CoH, where you tend to have only a small number of attacks you use a lot, but a larger number of defensive and utility abilities you can use as needed, I'd probably like it more. As it stands, I tend to log out quicker and quicker after getting tired of collecting bear asses.
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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I wonder if I'm the only person who thinks that the melee combat in this game is absolutely mind-numbingly boring, at least for a Warrior. I end up doing largely the same stuff every fight in the mid-20s. It's just the same sequences of chained skills over and over again, and I'm kinda tired of it. Even my old Mutilate Rogue in WoW felt more dynamic and interesting than this while soloing, and I only had two main attacks on him! I don't have much else to do except use a litany of increasingly situational attacks, and other stuff like the little shadow clone I can make to take aggro in my place isn't good to use for solo leveling due to enemies generally not being hard enough to warrant the use of it, combined with the fact that it costs health to summon, leading to downtime in a game with too much of it as it is.
The enemies are also really annoying too, the only challenge many of them posing is learning which subtle animation change is the difference between receiving a light love tap and sending me sprawling onto my ass instead so I can dodge at the appropriate time.
I've also tried the Lancer and Slayer, but they're both so infuriatingly slow that I don't think I could stomach them.
I have a level 22 Sorc and a level 38 Lancer. I find my Lancer pretty fun. I typically react with blocking, and shooting off chains of attacks when I have gathered 5-10 mobs at the same time. Each fight a little different and challenging. My Sorc which I gave up, is a lot of kiting, but things are a different since you have to aim and stuff. My next class might be a warrior or slayer.
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tmp
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4257
POW! Right in the Kisser!
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There are no other utility skills, no cooldowns to hit in combat, nothing that can be used to speed up or change the pace of combat - or even really act in response of something unanticipated, should that happen. certain skills execute faster and/or different when preceded by others. (there's also option to customize some of your skills for chance to trigger speedup buff when used) some are situational, like stuns you might want to use to interrupt windup of a powerful move, or whatnot. Or attention-grabbing skills useful mostly in group content, to protect weaker companions from mob attention. but that said, i'm not sure what is your idea of "something unanticipated" in a fight against computer-controlled enemy. In literally any combat-based game the NPC will have certain set of moves which you'll know and react to (or act in advance), generally following patterns which tend to work the best. It's not even "what all MMO are like", it's what games against computer-controlled opponent are like. Since you mention preference for utility skills, if i understand it right you might want to try mystic rather than warrior -- it's a class heavily oriented towards those, with small number of attacks you use repeatedly.
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« Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 10:07:26 AM by tmp »
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Rokal
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1652
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The big difference between Tera and, say, WoW, is that aside from two toggle stances (one offense, one tanking), the level one right-click dodge, an AoE taunt, and a short-duration decoy summon, literally every skill my Warrior has is something that deals damage. There are no other utility skills, no cooldowns to hit in combat, nothing that can be used to speed up or change the pace of combat - or even really act in response of something unanticipated, should that happen. The best I can do is use something like Combative Strike to reduce something's defense and do a bit more damage to it, but that requires an HP sacrifice to do.
Check the third post in this thread for a list of warrior skills : http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/classes/topics/GUIDE-Nalfens-Warrior-GuideFrom my experience with my Berserker so far, the utility spells are the ones you get later.
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Draegan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10043
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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3:40 WHAR IS TEH NEKKID DANCING BOUNTY HUNTER, MANNEUS?
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Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298
Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.
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Playing (Euro version) it as a Human Berserker, currently lv 12 (currently questing in the lumberjacking village). I like the level of polish of this game and the little sub-systems it offers, especially related to crafting (enchanting, remodeling etc.) and socializing (in-game guild application and listing is VERY nice) ; also, I appreciated the fact that, once you arrive in the capital city for the first time, you aren't immediately overwhelmed by dozens of quests given by various NPCs around the city. Velik itself is big but easy to navigate, unlike it happened in Aion. Combat keep things interesting enough while performing the monotonous diku questing.
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" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
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disKret
Terracotta Army
Posts: 244
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Cross-server instance finder
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jakonovski
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4388
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I rolled a Mystic, fun mechanics a couple hours in. Two AOE abilities that apparently combo somehow (the tooltips say nothing, but a spacebar thing for one pops up when you use the other), and a tank pet that makes annoying noises. Also, balls of healing.
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