I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. As far as innovation goes, I would give it a 5/10 since I don't see that much innovation to be honest. And, I would have to give longevity a 3/10 due to the fact that I don't see the innovation and the bad community.

Tera brings nothing new to the table with the exception of combat...and Raiderz is doing that style of combat too. The community alone was enough to drive me away for good. Imagine, if you will, all of the Barren's chat of 25 WoW servers rolled into one server...that's Tera...for me. And, the Elin race just freaked me out.

I definitely agree with everything else you wrote about.

You do a great job with reviews Bill and I always look forward to reading them.

Whats up with the fixation of the WHOLE FRIGGIN INDUSTRY about these fixed 10 Euros a month thing.  I mean, wouldnt 5 euros a month be a good base for a company to work from.  Maybe a 5 euro a month sub with paid for large expansions in the 15/20 dollar range.  Everywhere you go its 10 euros a month,  with maybe 5 euros a month somoen might not even be bothered by the fact that for one month they werent able to log on even once...heck its only 5 euros!

Originally posted by bigsmiff

I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. 

To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community, the island of dawn is no worse than barrens chat in a sense, but because the game is new, you should compare it to what barrens chat would be if there were 300 people in the barrens at all times.

With that being said, this community, is hands down, the best I have had in an MMO. Aside from the elitists and trolls, so outside of 60 hardmode dungeons and the island of dawn, no game compares as of right now.

As I level there's people not talking at all besides asking for groups or looking for leveling buddies, or the odd question about a game feature or if something they are experiencing is a bug. 

I am even invited to parties by random people I see questing beside me, they just want to group, and the groups are always good, we always chat and complete several quests together.

It's a real shame that the island of dawn is not only a poor representation of the gameplay, but also the community...I wish they'd just start us at level 20.

It's a pretty fair review.

The quests for the most part don't interest me or many others (some like them) and I feel the "end game" isn't very well thought out.

I still insist that it feels like a proof of concept game. They had an idea and implemented it and then realized there was a "game" part that needed to be added.

Still, I'm having a blast and it's the first game where I will subscribe a few months in advance. I love the dungeons, combat and aesthetic (for the most part).

A fair review, I think that's just about the score the game deserves.

Wow.  I wish I had played the game you reviewed.  Gameplay an 8 out of 10.  Yikes.  I would have given it a 4 out of 10 in gameplay because all you do is quest hub hop and grind mobs over and over.  The story, questing, crafting and exploring are extremely shallow if there at all.  The only thing the game has going for it is open world PVP, flashy graphics and "different" actiony combat.  Guess I play MMORPGs for something else.  I can get the above on just about any console game that's come out in the past 5 years.

The community score...yikes.  I would have given it a -1/10 it was that bad and I tried 3 different servers.   There was maybe one 15 minute span where the conversation in general was actually civil, but before and after that it was all about who could say the nastiest things for shock value or belittling other player's and their opinions. It was atrocious. 

As someone currently playing I felt it was a fair review to. I tend not to look at scores, whats a good score for one month isnt the same for a game the next month, things change to fast in our genre to put a number on anything and it certainly changes over time as an mmo matures.

Its enjoyable, it works, and it has potential to grow, sure it has systems that arent particularly innovative, but coupled with the unique combat and quality, it could become something special in time. 

TERA is something beautiful, in look and feel, and id certainly agree the team should be proud of what they have produced, whatever the scores may be.

Great review. You brought up a lot of the same points that I hear from friends who play Tera. They say it's a great game (combat, graphics) but the PvE is repetitive, the PvP is broken and the end game is missing. One guy I use to play Aion with said it reminded him of Aion's launch.

7.7 is too generous. I will rate it 5 / 10. Graphics and combat is the only saving grace in Tera.

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. 

To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community

I am being 100% honest. I am not talking about the Island of Dawn only. I thought it would be better after the IoD, but it was more of the same.

By the way...I rolled a new toon on the RP server since RP servers tend to draw in the adults...it was really bad as well. You and I apparently play during different hours if you see anything different.

I still think the longevity and innovation scores are far too high given the fact that:

1) only doing 1 thing innovative that we've seen and/or the reviewer has actually played (the combat) so should be 4-5

2) Longevity is impossible to determine by a level 20-30 something a few weeks after launch. Longevity should get an automatic 5 for EVERY game until a re-review is done a month or two after release.

That, of course, all just IMO.

I would have given TOR a 7-8 in Longevity after 2-3 weeks, but a 1-2 after 6 weeks.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. 

To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community

I am being 100% honest. I am not talking about the Island of Dawn only. I thought it would be better after the IoD, but it was more of the same.

By the way...I rolled a new toon on the RP server since RP servers tend to draw in the adults...it was really bad as well. You and I apparently play during different hours if you see anything different.

 I play about 10 hours a day, so don't know how I could miss the trolling.

Been in the level 25-55 range for two weeks now and have yet to put someone on ignore and have only been annoyed by one person, also why have I been these levels and played so long?I meet people and end up just talking or joining in on them while they quest, even if they aren't on my quests. And I am on a PvP server, Basilisk Crag. Hell, just this morning a level 60 came and helped me finish BAM quests and yesterday someone I met while leveling went on her 60, we formed a party, she left the party and healed us from the outside while the five of us fought BAMs so she wouldn't cause us to lose xp. She did this for over an hour...

I spend probably 50-60% of my leveling time in groups I didn't even look for, they just happened through area chat or random meetings.

The low level areas are people rolling alts, who want to troll while leveling to make it more entertaining.

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. 

To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community

I am being 100% honest. I am not talking about the Island of Dawn only. I thought it would be better after the IoD, but it was more of the same.

By the way...I rolled a new toon on the RP server since RP servers tend to draw in the adults...it was really bad as well. You and I apparently play during different hours if you see anything different.

 I play about 10 hours a day, so don't know how I could miss the trolling.

 

Been in the level 25-55 range for two weeks now and have yet to put someone on ignore and have only been annoyed by one person, also why have I been these levels and played so long?I meet people and end up just talking or joining in on them while they quest, even if they aren't on my quests. And I am on a PvP server, Basilisk Crag. Hell, just this morning a level 60 came and helped me finish BAM quests and yesterday someone I met while leveling went on her 60, we formed a party, she left the party and healed us from the outside while the five of us fought BAMs so she wouldn't cause us to lose xp. She did this for over an hour...

 

I spend probably 50-60% of my leveling time in groups I didn't even look for, they just happened through area chat or random meetings.

 

The low level areas are people rolling alts, who want to troll while leveling to make it more entertaining.

 

 

Unless it got better, my whole Tera experience until level 42 was filled with a terrible chat, immature people, and plenty of sexual chat comments. But who knows, maybe it changed.

Just my personal 2cp. Played it for 2 weeks and this is my input:

>>> Stability/polish:10 ; no arguments there

>>> Graphics: 10 ; nothing better that I have seen for now.

>> Combat & Class: 8.5 ; I like the combat a lot, but its becoming repeatative pretty quickly. Not enough options in my humble opinion to make it 9 or 10.

>>> Instances and Grouping: 7.5 ... ok

>>> Quests/linearity/making your own choices/theme park: 5 ... OR LESS ... this was the deal breaker for me.

Moved to D3 after 2 weeks.

Originally posted by xposeidon

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

I played on Dragonfall server and I would definitely give the social/community there a 1/10. 

To be honest I think you're being a little unfair to the community

I am being 100% honest. I am not talking about the Island of Dawn only. I thought it would be better after the IoD, but it was more of the same.

By the way...I rolled a new toon on the RP server since RP servers tend to draw in the adults...it was really bad as well. You and I apparently play during different hours if you see anything different.

 I play about 10 hours a day, so don't know how I could miss the trolling.

 

Been in the level 25-55 range for two weeks now and have yet to put someone on ignore and have only been annoyed by one person, also why have I been these levels and played so long?I meet people and end up just talking or joining in on them while they quest, even if they aren't on my quests. And I am on a PvP server, Basilisk Crag. Hell, just this morning a level 60 came and helped me finish BAM quests and yesterday someone I met while leveling went on her 60, we formed a party, she left the party and healed us from the outside while the five of us fought BAMs so she wouldn't cause us to lose xp. She did this for over an hour...

 

I spend probably 50-60% of my leveling time in groups I didn't even look for, they just happened through area chat or random meetings.

 

The low level areas are people rolling alts, who want to troll while leveling to make it more entertaining.

 

 

Unless it got better, my whole Tera experience until level 42 was filled with a terrible chat, immature people, and plenty of sexual chat comments. But who knows, maybe it changed.

Thank you...that's exactly what I am talking about.

Originally posted by xposeidon

 

Unless it got better, my whole Tera experience until level 42 was filled with a terrible chat, immature people, and plenty of sexual chat comments. But who knows, maybe it changed.

I would't disagree, there are many players who need a good swift ban.

i just report and block and go my merry way. Still, I'm amazed how many players are still running in "young adolescent" mode and are still astounded by their li'l pee-pees and how potty jokes never get old.

tee-hee.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Unless it got better, my whole Tera experience until level 42 was filled with a terrible chat, immature people, and plenty of sexual chat comments. But who knows, maybe it changed.

Thank you...that's exactly what I am talking about.

 Well, I'll admit, that's all BETA was, and all Island of Dawn was when I got TERA a week after release(due to some computer troubles).

But otherwise, since reaching the second continent, I have not once witnessed any sexual talk, immaturity(besides one or two OWPvP arguments about ganking), elin discussion, alienware comment or WoW was the first MMO remarks.

So it's a shame to me, when I see people badmouth the community constantly because I think who i've met so far, have all been great people who are beeing misrepresented.

The people having retarded discussions are just trying to have fun on the Island of Dawn, and can you blame them? Hell maybe even participate a little, it could be fun, or you can just turn off the chat, the chat is more customizable in TERA than any game on the market right now.

Sorry for the wall of text. Apparently writing from a mobile device does not alloparagraphs. *********************

You know, I keep forgetting to bring this feedback but better late than never:

*A) I think "Customer Support" is a feature that would be valuable in including in future reviews. It is actually a pretty important aspect of an MMO that somehow always flies under the radar of reviewers everywhere. Good customer support is a rare gem to find, and this game has it in spades. While you'll always have a small percentage of people claiming it's terrible, by and large a solid consensus is that it's eerily good. In my experience the best customer support I've received in years period. Whether software, furniture, dentist - these guys pull off this generally unrewarding job and should be recognized and encouraged. So maybe future MMOs take their CS seriously.

B) Perhaps using numerical scores is not such a great idea. As you can see people find it hard to read. They look at a number and disregard your dissertation. Additionally some might feel what you write does not quite match the number given. That I believe is because the value of a "10" score changes between reviews. That in a of itself makes numbering little more than a handle for contention more than useful feedback. I would suggest a one or two sentence summary, clearly highlighted to score. Instead of 7/10 a sentence saying weak in this aspect but I felt it more than made up for with this other aspect." period. Next section. ********+*********+*++****

As an example look at the SWTOR score. That game most definitely blows TERA (and arguably all other game's) with it's story and voice acting. But by the same token TERA blows it right out of the water and is on an entirely different category when it comes to combat, healing, aesthetics, performance. So at the end one could argue they would end up with a similar score instead of a full point discrepancy. Again, because the value of the score changes between reviews.

[mod edit - added paragraphs for readability]

Originally posted by Pivotelite

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Unless it got better, my whole Tera experience until level 42 was filled with a terrible chat, immature people, and plenty of sexual chat comments. But who knows, maybe it changed.

Thank you...that's exactly what I am talking about.

 Well, I'll admit, that's all BETA was, and all Island of Dawn was when I got TERA a week after release(due to some computer troubles).

 

But otherwise, since reaching the second continent, I have not once witnessed any sexual talk, immaturity(besides one or two OWPvP arguments about ganking), elin discussion, alienware comment or WoW was the first MMO remarks.

 

So it's a shame to me, when I see people badmouth the community constantly because I think who i've met so far, have all been great people who are beeing misrepresented.

 

The people having retarded discussions are just trying to have fun on the Island of Dawn, and can you blame them? Hell maybe even participate a little, it could be fun, or you can just turn off the chat, the chat is more customizable in TERA than any game on the market right now.

I'm not saying it's all a bad community, I met some cool people too, but your second paragraph (which I underlined) described the regular chat on my server, so I guess maybe it's just because of different servers I don't know, but truth is it was pretty bad, even after the starter island. So I say it was 50/50.

I thought that the score was a bit low but then I am one of the ones that likes the game. I have said before that I think this will be a game that you either like or you don't so I would expect opinions about it to be polarized.

As for innovation being low, I think it is important to remember that you don't usually want to change to many things at once. With very few exceptions you don't ever add more than about two huge changes into a new game. The only recent game that I can think of that breaks this mold is GW2 but then they are basically running on a platform of completely changing how mmos are done. So changing combat and adding a political system seems a pretty reasonably amount of major change.

The other factor to keep in mind is that changing combat and how it is done is a HUGE change. Combat is 80% of the game play of just about any MMO. So while it might be just one thing, it is no small thing. Further, the UI also had to be redesigned pretty significantly from the MMO norm to work with this altered style of combat. And they did it in such a way that it works well with a controller or a keyboard. When you compare it to what FFXIV tried to deliver with their controller centric design and just how hard it failed for most PC players, well, I think Bluehole did a pretty amazing job in the UI redesign department.

Really, sit back for a moment and consider how badly such a deep redesign of the UI could have gone. In MMOs, you simply don't mess significantly with UI design. It has too much potential to blow up in your face. And yet they didn't have much of a choice given how they wanted to change combat. Still, it was significantly different from the norm and even I didn't have much trouble picking up the new way to do things. I am not a shooters guy. This is literally the first game I have ever played for any consistent amount of time where I have had to use WASD to get around. The fact that I didn't need a detailed tutorial to get going on it is a strong testimonial to a well designed starter area and a well designed UI.

Also, regarding the quests. Sure they are pretty basic but I also felt that they were just right for this style of game. I enjoyed the story that came from the storyline quests. Not exactly Tolkien but still very interesting with a betrayal coming from the inside and such. The rest of the quests, frankly didn't need to be any more complicated. They are just tasks. If you want to go grind dungeons to level, queue up. (hopefully your a lancer) If you want to go grind in a group. BAMs are that way. -----> If you simply want to solo, here is your list of tasks. Maybe I have a very low bar, but I really didn't mind that these "tasks" were not overly complicated. The combat itself was enough fun to make up for the quests being standard fetch, kill and deliver. They could have added some more variety to the storyline quests but frankly I think it would have gotten in the way had they had to much of that in the regular task. It would have taken too much away from simply enjoying how the game played at its combat core. Sure when combat itself is little more than another chore then basic kill quests are simply not good enough but when combat is fun, kill quests are fun and non killing quests loose their necessity at best and start to get in the way at worst.

So while I can't argue with your assessment of the quests in principle,  I still disagree with your conclusion. I think this older, more basic, more "boring" style of questing works well with this style of combat and that too much of the new style, inovative, puzzle/minigame type quests would actually get in the way.