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Since the announcement earlier this month that Frogster will handle TERA‘s European servers, the fanbase has become quite divided. Unfortunately, hostility has reared it’s ugly head on the forums, and users are scrambling for some answers. Just in time for the party is Daniel Ullrich, Director of Product Management at Frogster. Now, before we get into his comments, let’s take a quick look at the source of the fans’ anxiety.
In 2008, Frogster was made responsible for bringing the F2P title Runes of Magic to the English and German speaking market. After a successful beta phase, the game was released on March 19th, 2009. While the game itself received generally positive reviews, Frogster failed to meet some of it’s players’ needs. Recurring server issues and subpar customer service tainted the company’s image, and left players with a bitter taste in their mouths.
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Now, TERA has been generating a great deal of excitement, as it promises unique gameplay mechanics, solid production value, and compelling PvE/PvP content, among other things. The official site even goes so far as to declare it “The First True Action MMO” (take that, Age of Conan!). In fact, TERA looks so good, it’s fanbase has become increasingly protective, and the announcement of Frogster’s involvement has only stirred the pot. Forum posters are worried that Frogster will implement RMT on their servers, as well as other F2P-related features.
Back to Daniel Ullrich, who posted a thorough message to TERA forum users yesterday. Daniel wants us to rest assured that Frogster’s plans for the game are completely in line with that of Bluehole Studios and En Masse Entertainment. That is, they plan no significant deviation from the developers’ vision. In a nutshell, here is what we can be sure of:
- TERA will be released as a P2P game in both the U.S. and Europe
- Frogster will implement high-end hardware to “secure a fun and stable playtime for all customers”
- TERA Europe will employ a dedicated 24/7 support team
- Patches and other updates will be released on all servers simultaneously
With that being said, the question of censorship in Germany is still up in the air, as German law may conflict with some of the subject matter present in the game.