E3 2011: TERA Online Impressions and Gallery

Last year, Nerd Reactor had a taste of “True Action” MMO, TERA Online. It left a huge impression on us and was certainly a game we were keeping tabs on. This year, En Masse Entertainment is back at E3 and the game is shaping up to be even better than the last preview. For the uninformed, TERA is a developing MMORPG whose single biggest drawing point is “Action”. What do I mean by that? It means instead of just targeting on a mob and being locked into combat with it, you have free reign control over your character at all times. Instead of passively slapping on the attack key, you must maneuver through enemies, chain together awesome combos through your regular attacks and your skills. That’s right! It’s as if you’re were playing an action game inside and MMORPG. So how is TERA doing now? En Masse gave NR a new firsthand demo to run through in the form of giant boss however that’s not all. En Masse also teased at a new Political system to be implemented in TERA.

So let’s start with the Political System. Basically, players can become the ruler of a province called a Vanarch. In order to do this, players can take two different routes. The first one is the most straightforward, you must win the votes of your fellow players just like a real campaign. En Masse suggested that anything is fair game in getting your word out: Websites, YouTube videos, Message Boards, Advertisements, you name it. The second way is the much vicious path. Take to the battlegrounds and fight your way to earn points. After you’ve gain control of a province, you can do many things like setting the tax rate, setting up special shops, imprison players, etc. Of course to maintain this, you must earn recommendation from your players. Otherwise, you must undertake some extremely difficult Vanarch quest. Which brings us to the presentation’s demo. We will be fighting a giant boss monster named Sabranak alongside En Masse’s producers.

I was in charge of the Archer character out of a 5-man party. It was a basic party, a tank, healer, archer, mage, and melee DPS (damage per second). We first started by warming up with some lesser mobs. To attack, you simply start clicking the left-click to shoot your arrows. Pressing and holding the right-click stores a charge shot which does pretty good damage after letting go. In addition to these, you also have your standard hotkey skills mapped on your number bar. One of them gives your arrows different properties, while another seems like a blowback arrow with strong recoil. One unique key is the dodge key. Think of it like a dodge roll from other action games. Because our characters were at the level cap they fell pretty quickly. Traversing on our mounts, we finally came to the big boss himself, Sabranak. Our warrior tank, controlled by Matt, one of the En Masse guys, goes straight to whacking him. The mage and I sat back from a safe distance slowly chipping away at its massive health. Our melee DPS still had a little trouble getting use to his control so he was getting aggro’d by the boss. Luckily our healer, controlled by the other En Masse, Brian, keep up with his heals. While fighting, nearby adds aggro’d me leaving me to do some hit and run tactics. What was really interesting about TERA is monster attacks can damage other mobs. Sabranak launched a fireball attack from the air at a spot I just barely avoid hitting the mobs, dealing massive damage to them. Before long, Sabranak was on his last legs, when he switches, his attack patterns becoming more fierce. At last, he finally falls and our demo ends.

I’m extremely pleased at how far TERA is coming along in its development. I asked Matt, the PR Director, when we may see a beta in the future, however he only said TERA is still in the stage of implementing features so we will have to hold out just a little longer. Considered me hyped for this potentially genre-changing title! While we wait for more information, check out the gallery for over 20+ of new TERA screens!