It’s been a few weeks since TERA launched and while I’m not ready to post my full review just yet, I’m only level 41 with my archer, I do want to talk about my experience thus far. For those of you not familiar with the game, you should check our my first impression TERA review, since I won’t be discussing much of that here.
When I wrote my first impressions of TERA I ended it by saying, “I could just be under that “new mmorpg” spell that seems to make every new MMO game better than it actually is“. Well I must still be under that spell because I’m still having a blast with the game.
Once you hit level 30, the speed at which you level begins to slow down and the mobs begin to get harder. This is actually a great thing, not only because it puts greater emphasis on acquiring better gear for your level, but also because it takes some of the grind out of the game.
Up until about level 30, you’ll rarely die from mobs, but after, they get tougher and are closer grouped together, combined with TERA’s very quick respawn rate, you will get caught and respawned on many-a-times.
While this can be frustrating for some, I love it. To me grinding is the most painful when you can’t lose and you’re just going through the motions, but when the game makes it difficult, it changes from a grind to a challenge, which to me is much more enjoyable, even though I’ll be swearing up a storm when I die.
PvP is still missing-in-action. You’ll get ganked once in a while, but for the most part players won’t bother since there is currently no stat system to record kills or rewards for PvPing. Guild vs Guild is still there, but I haven’t participated in it much, as I never seem to see anyone from the enemy guild during the times I’m on. I also play during off-peak hours, so that’s probably why.
Combat is still the beacon of shining light in TERA. Dungeons start to become more frequent after 30 and up until this point are mostly solo-able, but there have been a few that require a group of five, including some that are part of the main storyline.
You’ll also have the opportunity to take down a few BAMs by yourself as part of the main story, and while you can of course invite a friend to help, it’s crazy exciting taking one down on your own. My first solo BAM fight lasted about 10 min, my heart was pounding, my fingers were sweaty and when that big f*cker hit the floor my arms when straight into the air as I claimed victory over it. Since then I’ve taken down a few more BAMs solo and each time it’s just as exciting. En Masse seemed to get it just right with solo BAMs, making them just hard enough where you will fail if you’re not careful, but not so hard that you’ll keep dying.
TERA’s political system is getting underway as voting begins tomorrow for the first elections. So we’ll see how that goes.
What TERA needs to do in my opinion is concentrate on BAMS, dungeons and PvP, and not so much on standard questing, it’s just boring and a grind. TERA has the tools to become a great MMO, they just need to minimize the things they’re doing wrong and maximize the things they are doing right.
Cool non review. Im beyond confused on how “leveling gets slower” doesnt equate to even more grinding. Thats a major contradictions to me. I understand your point of view of it being a challenge but it just still doesnt make sense to me.
I dont have a problem with the levels coming slower later on, but that definitely increases the grind.
The grind is still there, its just less noticeable at times. When you’re doing a dungeon, they start to get very challenging so I tend to worry about dying more than I notice the grind. However quests outside of dungeons are still fairly easy, so the grind becomes more noticeable.
The absolute lack of PvP is disheartening. I heard so many claims early on that the PvP was great, but for the few weeks that I’ve actually been playing the only fights I’ve been active in have been a few gankers camping lowbies and one guy who came and gave me an honest fight.
Don’t get me wrong, I do -not- want them to implement battlegrounds. What I do want is more incentive to engage in open world PvP… which I don’t currently see happening. There is no faction base to build PvP off of, and guild battles simply don’t seem engaging enough; probably because they’re so horribly player restrictive, they may be server wide but does that really matter when only twelve people are involved?