What is TERA and Why Play it?

This is just a fun thread to read about why someone should play TERA and to give you guys the fast and quick version of all the info stockpiled about TERA.

I encourage everyone to read as you might be surprised by what you see.

So in order to better direct people to or from TERA allow me to list to you a few reasons as to why I prefer TERA over every other game currently announced.

This is a 100% Kyoji review so you know it will be full of win.

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PvP Outlook in TERA
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• World PvP
  
  Obviously, the number one thing on my list would be this...world PvP. World PvP is in essence PvP that is no holds barred and allows for more realistic encounters contrary to BG's or PvP 'areas' like WAR had.

In TERA you will start off protected so you are able to relax and learn the game, however, after level eleven you are dropped off into the main world where you may be attacked by enemy players at any time outside of the main cities.

So why does this matter? Well, it allows players who enjoy a more realistic environment for PvP to thrive. If you are questing or killing a monster and someone gets dangerously close to you often times you will stop what you are doing and wait to see what they will do as you are unsure if they will attempt to PK you or not. This brings, not only a sense of realism where you can't AFK sleep grind like you can in many other games, but offers up a nice solid dish of adrenaline to keep PvE fresh and interesting.

Furthermore, it more closely resembles AoC's PvP implementation where you rely on your guild to help you out. If you are getting attacked there are few things more fun that seeing a wave of guild members rush to your rescue as you then go on the hunt and kick the crap out of the person who just ganked you. This breeds GvG PvP and massive open world battles.
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• FFA PvP

If you haven't noticed already I am kind of a PvP nut so many of my reasons will be for PvP.

FFA PvP stands for Free For All. This means that there are no factions and it's every man or guild for themselves. This allows for cutthroat gameplay like in EVE where guilds can come together to dominate or kill each other relentlessly. No longer must you suffer when some douchebag is being annoying, but you are unable to kill them because they are on 'your side'. If someone is being annoying - kill them. That's just win!

In my opinion TERA will offer the best and most diverse form of PvP available of any game.
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• Arena/Dueling
  
  It offers arena style gameplay and arena style gameplay on the fly WITH the option of betting and putting things up for stake with the game automatically handing the winner the prize at the end. This includes 1v1, 2v2, 5v5, and even 10v10 on-the-fly dueling.
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• Battlegrounds
  
  It offers classic Battlegrounds where you fight for objectives with a team of 10 or a smaller group of 5 if you wish.
  
  [FONT=&quot]Battlegrounds will use a matchmaking system based around the teams win percentage.[/FONT]
  
  TERA takes this even further and integrates a guild ranking system into the 5v5 where the rankings directly impact your ability to participate in the political system which I will talk more about later. Needless to say, it is pretty epic!
  
  
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  Currently there are a few battleground methods that I know of; the first being a 5v5 deathmatch system where the side that achieves 500 points wins or whatever side has the most points at the end of the match timer. The second match type is a 10v10 control point where your goal is to hold and defend 2 of 3 control points. While you control a point you will receive a point every second that you control that node. You may also get an enemy kill that will also give you points. Just like the first one the side with the highest points wins.
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• Dream Shard (Server vs Server)
  
  Another amazing concept brought by TERA is server invasions and server versus server content. So what does this all mean you might ask? Well, basically it works like this...
  
  There is a place called the 'Dream Shard' where 3 paired servers will fight for control over this piece of large land.The land offers bonuses to the server that captures it ranging from large world boss encounters, special dungeons, and crafting resources.
  
  The pairings change every so often and adjust themselves according to PvP ranking and playerbase on each server so it's not a complete steamroll.
  
  Did I mention it can be used as a floating fortress against other servers? I mean, it's just awesome!
  
  As you can see TERA offers a wide variety of PvP that includes persistent and non-persistent forms. No other game releasing at the same time will have this variety of PvP or the key - completely open world PvP. If World PvP is your addiction then TERA is your needle or spoon and lighter.
  
  The bad news is we are not sure if this will make it on release as there has been no confirmation about it yet.
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• Clan WARS!
  Yes, that's right! Clan versus Clan material will be added!
  
  
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  It will loosely follow the Darkfall system where you can barter treaties or declare war on enemy guilds for various gains and loses and could incorporate into the political system.
  
  When a guild declares war on an enemy guild you are free to PK the players of that guild on sight ANYWHERE in TERA, including cities.
  
  The battle will last until 500 or 1000 points are reached or until the timer resolved. Currently the timers available as choices are 4 hours and 1 day, but week options and longer are being investigated.
  
  When the battle starts it displays who is at war to all of TERA and when one guild wins the winner is displayed to all of TERA.
  
  
  Amazing Graphics and Art
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• Graphics
  
  Amazing graphics and cinematic choreography. TERA will offer cutting edge technology to provide people with amazing graphical displays such as this picture showing the view distance in the game. Rather than seeing a haze or fog in the background TERA allows players to get the full feeling of your surroundings and bring them to life.
  
  
  
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  Furthermore, you can go from this mountain and walk all the way down to the stables on the left (circular stone building) or the main city (red roof houses).
  
  
  
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• Appearance Altering FTW!
  
  Ok, so we have all seen dyes and consumables that turn you into a squirl or something for an hour. That is all nice and dandy, but lets take that a step further. Well, TERA has done just that!
  
  
  
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  Weapon altering items will allow players to add lightning, fire, frost, shadow, and a plethora of other awesome effects to weapons and perhaps even armor. This is akin to City of Heroes style of gameplay that has long since been lost and is yet another way to flair your character and offer some nice addition to make your character different from every other player.
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• Amazing location design art!
  
  TERA will offer some amazing design art for their characters and zones. I have picked a few zones to show you how varrying and different they are. No more forest and desert locations with no scenery. TERA allows for lush and vibrant environments teeming with life and color.
  
  
  
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• Monster Designs

The game also offers a solid storyline with kickbutt main characters and jaw dropping monster designs (as shown below).
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Tired of fighting Pokemon? Another key feature to TERA is the monsters. Unlike many games that offer bite sized foes TERA throws up a plethora of large and intimidating monsters that are akin to raid bosses from WoW. But, they are not raid bosses. Just monsters found out in the open world or in a dungeon!?!

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Keep in mind these are graphics from in-game. NOT cinematics. The realistic style of the game will draw even the most steadfast naysayers to their knees.

It is also worth noting that the system requirements for the game are not bad at all! They will fall in-line with the requirements for GW2 and SW:ToR easily. So just because you have an older system doesn't mean you will be hurting in the game!

Great Storyline and Lore
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• Twistedly Sadistic Storyline with Plenty of Gore and Violence
  
  Not good enough? Well, TERA also offers up a good bit of gore and violence with a bit of twisted irony rather than the magical happy-go-lucky gameplay many games offer. The storyline doesn't always have to provide a happy ending as TERA displays in one of their cinematic videos (shown below).
  
  
  
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  Your adventure in the world of TERA may not be one where you are the hero of the world and the story does not end in the same way you might think it will.
  
  The storyline to date basically revolves around two sleeping titans that make up the two main continents. The world and its inhabitants are part of the two titans dreams. A mysterious island pops up in the middle of nowhere and you have to figure out why the first search party didn't make it back (Spoiler: They died).
  
  You, depending on your race, have reluctantly entered into an alliance with the other races to which you have been at war with for many years.
  
  There are the Argons, who are metallic like creatures from another world trying to 'Teraform' the world of Arborea. As a member of the Valkyion Federation it is up to you to stop them. Will this makeshift alliance be able to fend off the invasion or will their inner conflict split the federation at the seems as the Argons 'Teraform' the planet of Arborea?
  
  
  Action Combat - TPS
  
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• Action Oriented Gameplay with Skill-based TPS elements!
  
  That's right! TERA utilizes aim-to-shoot gameplay for every class in the game including NPCs. If you dodge an attack you won't get hit. If you suck at aiming you will miss. It rewards skill and discourages terrible players. Now, keep in mind that while I say it discourages bad players the game isn't super hard to play. Anyone with a reasonable hand and mouse should be ale to perform somewhat well. It does however offer gameplay unlike that from what you may be familiar with. That gameplay means that you don't AFK sleep during the second stage of a boss fight or stand in the back spamming attacks. You need to dodge, move and aim.
  
  
  
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  The monsters will also bring a bit of challenge to the table as reading monster movements and being able to move accordingly will be important in dungeons. Furthermore, due to the core gameplay design you won't need to hotkey 40 abilities and attacks! You simply upgrade your attacks to do different things to specialize yourself from other same classes.
  
  
  
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  This form of gameplay also brings PvP to life and promotes skill. Notice I didn't say skill over gear as gear still plays an important role and someone in full epic gear will still have a higher chance of winning if your buck naked. It's a combination of skill and gear that allows TERA to cater to both crowds all the while beating every other game that only caters to the one - gear dependent games.
  
  
  Political System/Player Cities
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• Political System
  There will be Exarchs and Vanarchs which will control provinces and smaller areas to the game to add extra flair. These positions are gained through the political system.
  
  
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  The political system allows leaders of these areas to adjust tax rates on items, build structures onto the city, set spawn rate, control a few PvP options, and more. Leaders of provinces will also be able to sell special local items that can only be obtained at that province and can use the funds obtained from taxes to build more of the city up.
  
  If a leader isn't working up to snuff then the players have the ability to boot them out of office. There will be 18 total Vanarchs. 6 per continent and the reign of office is three weeks long. Campaigns can be run on twitter, facebook, or even paying NPC's in the game telling others to vote for you!
  
  Vanarchs will also be able to host special monster and PvP events to draw players to their city. Elections will be held to determine who should be the Vanarch and Exarch of a certain area and PvP plays a large role in these rankings.
  
  There is a lot more planned for the political system and it's design grows every day and will be available on release on the NA client!
  
  
  PvE Elements
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• Airborne Cities and Flying Mounts
  
  TERA promises to be one of the best if not the best game to be released due to many of the features I already listed. However, if you are still not satisfied then feast your eyes on the following content:
  
  
  
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  So it's no secret that people like mounts. Should it be a HUGE part of the game? No, probably not. I mean who cares all that much anyway? Right? TERA will offer flying mounts with airborne cities that can only be attained via the use of a flying mount. This makes TERA far more 3D oriented than many games out there - much like Aion was for it's time.
  
  
  
  
  

  Airborne mounts were delayed in the Korean patch so not sure when they will add them, however, dragons and dragon flight paths have been added.
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• 5 & 10 Man Dungeons with 2 Difficulty Settings
  TERA will have both 5-man and 10-man dungeons to start, but have plans on adding more content to sink your teeth in after launch. The dungeons will also offer 2 difficulty settings with greater rewards for completing the harder dungeons.
  
  
  
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  Unlike many games, dungeons in TERA are on a whole new level with traps, false floors, and other awesome tricks added to not only the dungeon but, the boss fights as well! Combined with the action FPS gameplay TERA will offer some of the most fulfilling dungeons since WoW. Perhaps not has hard to complete via gear dependency, but more thrilling and fun I would argue.
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• Open World Dungeons
  
  Alright, so you know about PvP in TERA and how much of it is based in the open world. Well, to further increase PvP and the awesomeness of PvE the developers have added Open World Dungeons! Yessir! That's right! One of the many features people have wanted is now available.
  
  
  
  
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• Monster Invasions
  
  Wait what? A page from RIFT? Yes indeed! During random parts of the day every so often 'Dark Crevices' will open up leading to large scale monster invasions that must be fended off by the server. Can you see it now? Monster invasions that get people together only to start a mass PvP event on the spot! This IS a FFA (Free For All) PvP game after all!
  
  
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  Rewards will be given and if it is anything like RIFT, should offer a nice distraction from questing or PvP at times. What a nice bonus! This is yet another awesome feature that may or may not be on release. No confirmation.
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• Guild Housing and Guild Halls
  
  The ability to add items into your guild hall and housing will offer some extra playability to the game as you tweak the settings that best fit your guild.
  
  - Guild housing--available in the three main capital cities (Velika, Allemantheia and Kaiator)
  
  - Guild housing, tiered based on the size, clout, and wealth of the guild
  
  Among the interesting blurbs on display are the fact that guild housing is back on the dev team's radar, and the feature may yet make it into the game's spring 2012 launch.
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• 0% Grind
  
  With Korean MMO's typically dealing in terms of long leveling times coupled with lack of quests players tend to get turned off. TERA, however, will offer not only a way to level up 100% through questing only, but extra quests that allow you to tackle harder, team-oriented world content or zones dedicated to harder monster battles.
  
  Furthermore, TERA will have upwards of 8 dungeons on release, the political system and much more to keep things fresh and in perspective.
  
  Lastly, the time to level in TERA is less than most MMO's to date. On the Korean server it took slightly longer than 2 weeks for many to hit max level and only 3 weeks for those playing semi-casually. Combine the low time to level with varying leveling options and action combat and you have yourself a game that won't get boring and dull like traditional MMO's to date.
  
  TERA focuses on it's endgame and doesn't shove a ton of mid-game content that is boring and redundant. I will say, however, there is MORE than enough mid-game content to go back and level another character for fun as there are many zones and many different locals.
  
  Other Reasons to Play!
• Few bugs on release
  
  
  You might be wondering. How can he make such a statement? Well, let me explain. TERA is already released in Korean and is being tested by hundreds of thousands of Korean players and US players even. Many of the bugs that plague many games on release will be taken care of with only a handful of smaller bugs on the NA release. Now
  isn't that just nice!
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• EU Players Rejoice
  
  No IP blocking has been confirmed and this allows you to play with whomever you want on whatever server you want. Also, the server lag for EU players on the NA test server were minimal so cross-server playability is defiantly viable.
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Well, there you have it. A crap ton of reasons to get into TERA and good reasons if you ask me. A lot of other games will offer their own unique things be it a storyline with voice acting or a dynamic world that will prove to be very fun I imagine. However, only one game will have the BEST emphasis on PvP and the BEST emphasis on realistic graphics with amazing monster designs and that game is TERA.

So you interested? Well, this is how you can sign-up for the TERA division which is already 70+ strong. All you need to do is say you plan to play. That's it! Not painful at all right? Simply post in this thread (below).
http://www.xoohq.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14233

Once posted you will be updated with division meetings and new information on how to get into beta events and more!

Did I mention GW2 developers have TERA-envy? =P

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Thanks for reading and I hope to see you around!

~ Kyoji

 

Work in progress. Not done yet

 

Primary reason to play TERA...you can make other people do this. FFA Open World PvP Baby!