Tera closed beta

[Gogan]

I keep finding new things I like about this game. I really need to take some screenshots and/or video to demonstrate things. Some more random observations...

I'll second Path's opinion about grinding mobs. I know we've all been trained to loathe grinding mobs, but the combat and the mob AI actually makes it fun. At least so far. Each mob has one or more "tells" that indicate a particular attack it will perform. Maybe its eyes will flash red, or it'll perform some kind of animation (e.g. bangs its club against its shield). If you pay attention and are quick, you can avoid these attacks entirely. You do have to be relatively quick though. This holds true even up to "elite" mobs, which recommend a 5-man party to kill. They're all soloable if you pay close attention and are quick. The fight will take 10-15 mins and any mistakes can result in a quick death, but it's definitely doable for skilled players. It's quite rewarding.

There are repeatable quests in Tera, which usually involve killing 10 mobs, for example. What I like about these quests is I can pick it up, go out and kill, say, 50 of those mobs and go back to town and turn in the quest 5 times. I don't have to turn in the quest after every 10 mobs.

There's a built in screen in Tera that lets you view all of the guilds on the server, how many members they have, what level they are, how much "praise" they have (part of the political system, I think). You can even apply to guilds in-game. The whole guild system is really well done in Tera, and I haven't even gotten into the whole political system yet. There's guild leveling with bonuses, just like WoW. You can watch this video to learn more about guild leveling (which includes guild housing). Rumor has it player housing is in the works too.

Leveling a healer is starting to get tough solo. I'm level 37 at the moment, and the speed at which a dps class kills things is so much faster than me. I don't have any trouble killing things really (though I have to be careful when taking on a bunch of mobs), but it takes significantly longer than an archer, for example. Getting to 60 as a healer will be an accomplishment. I hear Lancers (tanks) are the same way.

[Gronthor]

Good stuff Gogan and Path keep posting your experience if you will. I was really close of biting the bullet and doing it by buying it but i am holding off just a little longer.

[Gogan]

Here's a pretty good page showing all the different armor sets for each armor type and race:

http://tera-online.cc/gallery/races/

There are some really nice ones. I also learned that Tera has an equivalent of WoW's transmogrification, although I haven't played with it yet. You can dye your gear different colors as well.

[Gogan]

Did you ever get Tera, Gron?

Path and I hit 60 a couple days ago. He would've done it much earlier, but waited for me to get home from work each night. Leveling was a lot of fun, as were the few instances we did. The group quests out in the world were a lot of fun too. Not sure there's a ton to do now that we're 60. I do want to see how the story finishes, though.

I'll likely be pretty scarce in-game for the next week or so. Work is kicking my ass.

[Gronthor]

i ordered (had a new egg 20 dollar promo card) but hasnt arrived yet. Im guessing monday but it will be moot as it will be d3 time then

[Gronthor]

i got it. pretty different then what i am used to with MMO. Not sure i like it yet or just not used to it. I will say it is very pretty though. i will give it the full 30 days to hopefully get used to it.

[Gronthor]

Are you still playing this Gogan?

[Gogan]

Naa, I cancelled after the 30 days. I liked the game, but it was bad timing with D3. I might go back to it if MoP disappoints.

[Gronthor]

I renewed for a month to give it a better shot. I need a new game to play bad.

Cant go back to WOW just not the same
SWTOR is over for me
D3 was short lived no where near the playability as D2

Looking at Guild Wars 2 but man i dont know havent had too good of luck with MMOs of late.

[Gogan]

Yeah, I've been leveling alts in D3. I'm not too crazy about farming Inferno indefinitely. So once I finish leveling my Monk and DH, I'll probably lose interest. I really like D3, but it's not a long-term game.

Honestly, I think I'm over MMOs -- or maybe just the way I used to play them. Tera had a lot going for it, even as a single-player experience, and I'd like to play through it again. I don't know what long-term staying power it has, but I'm not sure it matters to me either. Did Tera let you down after that second month?

I haven't played GW2 yet. It's F2P, which is compelling, so I'm sure I'll check it out.

MoP seems to adding even more to cater to the casual gamer, which appeals to me these days. But after playing D3, Tera, and Rift, going back to those outdated WoW graphics is really rough. I guess we'll see how it goes.