Now that the proverbial "cat is out of the bag" about the North American version of TERA adding in a subscription free revenue model, we managed to catch up to Associate Producer Patrick Sun to talk more about the TERA Rising model and about incoming changes to the game. Check it out and then chat in the comments.

MMORPG: TERA continues to evolve in the MMO market. What is the state of the game like today for players?

Patrick Sun: We’ve all seen a lot of changes in the MMO market this past year, and with more free games than ever before, players have a wide selection of quality titles—all of them competing for players’ time. With our award-winning combat system and our upcoming fully-free model, TERA will definitely be a free game to put on your radar. 

Read more of Bill Murphy's TERA Rising: New F2P Model Combating the Stereotype.

Originally posted by darkhalf357x
I agree with RemyBurke. The ultra narrow linear questing has to change. I played in Beta but just thinking of going through the SAME exact quests again is making me cautious. Give us multiple starter areas.

Originally posted by Rednecksith
Their F2P model is good. Almost too good, in fact. They'd better be prepared to offer some awe-inspiring cosmetic items in the shop, otherwise nobody's going to be spending money due to poor incentives, lol. And why the hell is post format not being preserved all of a sudden? Grrrr... (supposed to be a new paragraph here).

Originally posted by Ramonski7
I bought and played for about a month. The biggest draw for me was the Vindictus-like combat in a lobbyless world. After the first month I chose not to resub. It was more to do with the horrible launch day blues and horrid questing direction. Needless to say that Terra Rising's F2P model is one of the best I've seen and future sub based mmos need to take note of not taking away from what would have made your game attractive but adding to it to get players back aboard. And after experiencing some of the more resent conversion to F2P that include: SWTOR, TSW and Vanguard. Terra is heads and tails above.

Frankly Tera's revenue model is the least of its issues. A good F2P model isn't going to save the game any more than a sub-model kills good games. What's important is what they're going to do to fix the problems the game has and how they plan on making the game  attractive to more players.

I don't think a 3v3 arena and a new dungeon really address what many people seemed to fundamentally find wrong with the game, but I suppose we'll see.

Originally posted by Myria

... What's important is what they're going to do to fix the problems the game has...

...what many people seemed to fundamentally find wrong with the game...

Please elaborate on these topics.  The worst part of the game for me was the wall-of-text-poor-translating-ok-you-didn't-need-to-read-that-just-go-kill-shit-quests, and the griefers camping bridge out of noob city.

I practically despised my experience in the TERA free trial, but even I would consider giving it another go with their f2p model.  Just won't be rolling on a pvp server if I do.

Originally posted by moosecatlol

Originally posted by Ramonski7
I bought and played for about a month. The biggest draw for me was the Vindictus-like combat in a lobbyless world. After the first month I chose not to resub. It was more to do with the horrible launch day blues and horrid questing direction. Needless to say that Terra Rising's F2P model is one of the best I've seen and future sub based mmos need to take note of not taking away from what would have made your game attractive but adding to it to get players back aboard. And after experiencing some of the more resent conversion to F2P that include: SWTOR, TSW and Vanguard. Terra is heads and tails above.

 

I'd say that it's nothing like Vindictus. If people still insist that this is "True Action Combat" then it'd have to be near the bottom of the tiers of Action Combat. Personally I'd put it below Raiderz and Risk Your Life. However I do agree that it does have a nice pricing model.

Collision detection and target reticle combat is what I'm referring to. If a mob is getting ready to swing and I back up, it will miss. Same thing if someone is casting a spell. I also have the option of just blocking it. So in that sense it's closer to Vindictus than it is to EQ. And when you say "true" action combat I get a picture in my head of online fighting mmo hybrids like Raiderz, Vindictus, Dragon Nest, C9 and others like them. They are ok for their combat, but they all allow autolocks to make it easier so players can flip. jump, twist, spin, roll, bounce, tumble and handstand while they fight. Hence the reason I said Vindictus-like instead of just like Vindictus. It's free target combat without all the nonsense or autolocks.