TERA: The Exiled Realms of Arborea devs were on hand at this year's Comic Con and Carolyn Koh scored a lucky hands-on preview of this action-MMO. TERA is being developed by Bluehole Studios and published by En Masse in North America. Carolyn found a lot to like during her time with TERA. Find out what struck her fancy in her firsthand look at TERA.
TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea is the latest entry into the much vaunted “Action” MMO market, with combat that is more active/reactive than the traditional hit “A” and go for a sandwich while the game rolls the die variety. En Masse Entertainment pulled off a beautiful demo to prove that at E3. Scheduling 4 journalists into each time slot, we entered the booth, were each seated at a PC, handed headsets, a Quick-Start guide, were quickly guided through the controls and followed the Healer – an En Masse staffer into battle.
Read all of Carolyn's findings in her hands-on preview.

no news here, expecting a video :(
Ya, this link is not working...
don't like these huge weapons.
I was previously unaware of healers having to actually target players with the reticle to cast heals. That's pretty cool. Stressful I'm sure, but cool.
Wow a game following a diffrent format sweet so sick of the tired old battle sytems that been around since EQ. (^o^)y
Around before any MMORPG and a staple of CRPGs,some of us accept stat based and somewhat turn based combat as part of the CRPG genre and in fact like and expect it,not that I'm saying it can't be redone in a way that makes it seem new.Nor am I saying that there's anything wrong with a hybrid game,such as this one seems to be,a good game is a good game, but sometimes you do want a true CRPG experience.
I saw this :
"merchants from whom to buy health/mana/buff potions and scrolls such as town portal scrolls. A glyph system will also be in game for stat / skill enhancements and players will have to visit NPCs in the larger towns to apply and remove/rest their glyphs. Some outlying camps will also have Pegasus platforms besides the merchants and healer for ease of travel."
and already knew enough .Another Asian grinder ....
So....you read that there will be the standard supply merchants, a system to alter skills to have for example a higher crit rate or shorter cooldown which can be applied in the bigger towns, and that Tera will have the normal travel features to move from one area/city to another and from that you concluded it is "Another Asian grinder" ?
You must have a field day reading the mmo descriptions for anything that has released post everquest. My god the asian grinders are everywhere!
I disagree. MMO's invented a combat system way slower, tedius, and mind numbing than any rpg before it and outside of the genre. In the early days it had to be this way in order to avoid straining the servers and people's limited bandwidth. Later it became the accepted norm and a way for developers to be lazy.
stil I can just read anything in the future, :P
too grind, too difficult to aim and cast spells, i'm lagging too much and I can't fight against then, what is the point in have skills if my opponent sword hit 10x more then my sword and so on.
new things are always new things, if is good or no I will wait till I put my hands on this game, but the complains will be all the same, in the last 10 years are the same I doubt one single game will change that...
i don't know what MMOs you have been playing in the last couple of years... but with WoW, WAR, AoC and LotRO i had about 3-4 or more quickbars full of skills... that alone makes the combat very interesting... you know? with memorizing 30-odd keys for your character... it's not twitch but it surely flows well and favours player skill, too... sure you can just /autoattack stuff to death or click your skills or just use 5 of them and you might be fine for normal mobs and situation... but then comes the time where you need another ability and that's where the "action" starts...
compare it to RTS. you might not need the twitch you need for, say, quake3, but you sure have to memorize a lot more hotkeys than quake3 to excel(and build orders, etc) it's the same with the "standard" MMO combat... not a lot of twitch but lots and lots of hotkeys to memorize and (for pvp) a lot of other classes' abilities to memorize as well
it's true that it originated back in the old days because of server strain, blabla but it evolved as well... DAoC combat f.e. was a bit more on the slower side and the skills filled max 2 hotbars including macros... nowadays combat flows a lot more in most MMOs than it did back then and classes have got more abilities and so on...
not saying I'm not open to new stuff... tried Tabula Rasa and enjoyed it, tried AoC (don't kid yourself... TERA's combat is pretty much AoC without combos and more dodge-di-doo-da) and liked it... but the oldschool autohit+skills system has something going for it.
Also TERA is still an Asian Grinder.... not saying it's bad for everybody, hell there are loads of people enjoying Aion and Lineage2... but don't kid yourself into thinking that TERA is going to be THE one exception to the westernization rule... you're just gonna cry tears of woe later...
It SOUNDS cool, but in practice it can get really annoying. There was a similar system in Tabula Rasa. If I remember right, that one even had a semi-smart targeting system that would try to help you target other players so that you could heal them. It was NOT a lot of fun and drew plenty of complaints from those trying to play support classes.
I too am leary of another asian production company promising the moon and delivering crap. This game look promising and yet I am going to wait and see before I buy this time. Aion, a beautiful game, that was nothing but a grind, once you hit lvl 36. Many other Asian Dev's in the past did the same thing. Most gamers are not into grinding in the same location day after day and then move,grind in another area day after day. Rinse, repeat.
Tera does have some hope with the new studio here in the West helping them. I can only hope this time an Asian dev can deliver something besides a graphically beautiful game that is nothing more then a grind!
Interesting concept in a theme park game, a step closer to full FPS like combat ( which we already have in games like DF or MO ), BUT I don't like the asian art style. Oversized weapons, Popori race, strange manga like style ( take a look at monsters on those screenshots ), that's just screams: NO for me.
There is a lot I like here; reactive combat without target lock, good avatar sliders, races with a strong sense of individuality about them. Lots of other things as well, but we can't get away from the grind unless they implement a lot more quests it seems. So definalty one to keep an eye on, but as always no preorder, lets see how it pans out.
yea 3 -4 quickbars full of skills but you spam only like 3 or 4 buttons if your lucky lol. (^o^)V
There will still be people who buy it and then complain it is grind. Happens every time, they will never learn.
Game has boobies + huge weapons, so most think it will be awesome, even though they know nothing about the game at all.
"The Mystic have more offensive magic, and have a nifty spell called Vampiric Circle that drains the health of enemies within the circle and converts it to mana for your party."
= Mana tap from EQ necromancer class.
lol
Can't wait for this awesomeness. TERA is going to make the break in the mmo genre and I'm certainly pumped up for it. Go TERA!
Yeah, I am with the majority here. I am playing Aion right now and when I hear "asian mmo" red flags still come up. As promising as this game looks, the proof will be in the pudding when it arrives. This game definately has my attention, but I will definately wait and see what people say after it comes out before rushing off to buy it.
I think Bluehole/EnMasse tapped into the Korean addiction for us westerners. Here is proof
http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010-07-30/nerds_forced_to_leave_comic_con_after_playing_tera_for_six_straight_hours.shtml
Yeah I fear!!! that this is going to be Aion all over again. Well ok, the combat system sounds better but everything else sounds like Aion.
Unlike Aion who did not have the full right to make a western version and always follow up with the korean patches, these guys have a full green light to modify the game leveling experiance differently from the Korean version, so no i do not think they will do the same mistake as Aion, unless they are so blind to see what has happened in it..
Still waiting on the info on the political system. This devs said this game is going to be sandbox and not a themepark!
thats a spell not a combat system lol.
ooooh a paragraph and pic wooo man cant wait for this game NOT
Makes the post-wipe argument more fun too, I'm sure.
Instead of blaming the tank blaming the healer and the healer blaming the DPS for stealing aggro and too many adds you get the tank blaming the healer the healer blaming the tank for moving too much.
Er, i think I see health bars over the mobs in each of the pix, which completely contradict the information given in the preview!?
Did the writer actually play the game? I'm a bit confused.
I see that a lot of people do not know much about the game besides the combat.
1) hp & mp pots: you can only carry 10 in your inventory.
2) pots that effect stats: you can only carry 3 in your inventory.
3) all mmo's have grind (get over it because it's true). Tera will have grind of some kind, I just hope it involves combat....because it's a blast.
If you play it or not is up to you and for your own reasons. Will Tera be good ? I have no idea but there headed in the right direction so far IMO.
Thats the Players HP & MP bar at the top of the screen.
lol this is while I was formerly a dedicated healer in every game for years, I gave that up. Certainly, I have been to blame before when a group wipes, but after years of healing I can assure you 9.9 times out of 10 it wasn't my fault.
i was excited to play this game. it looks awesome. i know the news has been out for a while, but i just learned that it was sapposed to be lineage 3 and was stolen from ncsoft. so... screw this game. its bs, it would have been better being lineage 3.
bs company is gona make their money from something that they stole
Where are you getting your info from? I smell a troll.
Anyway the game looks great and the targeting systems would add a new feel to the normal tab target combat in MMO's. I agree that Asian based games are usually grindy but this group of devs seems to be worried about making an impression and have already made a lot of changes to make the game more westernized. I'm interested to see PVP and casters more but if nothing else learning to dodge an enemies attack sounds like fun!
Ever time I see things about this game I get more excited to play it. Then the crushing reality that it is a Korean port undergoing "westernization" hits me. I simply do not trust Korean MMOs. I hope Tera proves me wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineage_III
http://www.gmbase.com/news/detail_584_0.html
or just search: lineage 3 code stolen
Stolen is such a harsh word. I wouldn't say they "stole" it. I'd say...they had creative differences and took what was rightfully theirs. They built it, they made it...it's theirs.
"yawn"-reading what the OP has to say sounds like an advertisment for the game-I really wasn't impressed with what was said about the game.
So far, so good. Looking forward to it.
I'm sure the combat is fun- but are they going to ride with that feature alone? MMORPG's are more than just combat- possibly more than the sum of it's parts. Hopefully they won't neglect other features and focus on just one or two.
Only time will tell, however if you have been following closely with the game you will see that they already mentioned that Tera in the west will be worked from scratch all the way up when it comes to character progress to make sure the leveling is quest based and goes through a story that is deep and full of mixed emotions that are enough to get the player hooked up with the story line. so for a start, and as long as they have learned alot from past mmo's mistakes, I am sure this will go pretty good.
I previously stated in prior posts that I would be trying TERA. I completely remove that post here and am now boycotting TERA. I may just be one player but thats 15$ a month they wont see from me or any of my friends.
If they werent such shady people and didnt steal coding from NcSoft (Lineage III) then I would of kept my word of playing this title. Whether they worked on it or not.. It wasn't theirs to take and they got imprisoned from 1 1/2 years over that. If they can steal from their employers then I will only assume they will steal from their community. Boycott them.
Oh well, none of us care what you think anyway. I am sure there is more to the story then we know and personally, I couldn't careless about NCsoft. They would have ruined the game far worse then anyone else could.
And Im pretty sure no one cares what you think as well. This game is already LOSING hype. Good run.. Game isnt even going to be released for months and already losing fans <3. Read before you pay. When they ninja your money and give you crap but a bankrupt company then remember I LOL'ed at you.
I think you are missing one point here friend, NCsoft have sucked the Blood of many mmo players out there, the core developers of Lineage 3 ARE THE SAME ONES MAKING TERA.
Now put yourself in the same position and imagine....Lineage = no go..CANCELLED you are the code developer, but it does not belong to you, company sacks you, you see your coding being buried in the dust, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO???
To be honest regardless of morality, if it was my work i will use it, espicially when it comes in dealing with vampires like NCsoft who hungers for nothing but YOUR MONEY!!
Are you basing that on mmorpg's hype meter...hahaha...such fail.
Omg a new game exactly similar to every other i'm so excited!!!111one
Fail troll is fail
One very important issue with this game is how wil llatency affect it?We can't judge mechanics playing at some comic con with a latency of 0-15.Are localized players going to have a MUCH easier time dodging and making use of timing?
This is the reason i enjoy a simple no fail target lock system,also the faster the combat the easier it will be to notice latency issues.
I was happy to hear mention of holding hate ect ect,it makes me feel liek there is some potential for this game as far as grouping mechanics are concerned.I was worried about this because all i saw early on were videos of solo players fighting several mobs at the same time,it made me think this was going to be some easy/mode cheap form of solo game.
I'll have no hesitation in trying this game.. Combat sounds great.. I'll agree about the oversized weapons though.. They spoil it a bit..
All i have to say is people sit there and call everything "grindy" now a days and yet they will sit there in precious world of lamecraft doing the same raid over and over and over and over and over or sitting there rep grinding over and over and over and yet have the nerve to say every other game is grindy people need to wake up and take a good look at all those games they know and love and realize all mmos have some form of grinding and to get over it and give things a chance.
The REAL problem with terra is obvious, character development. These games comign otu are hardly RPGs anymore. They are online games but theres no character development, That class gets these spells , that man stats, and ban you and every other warrior are now the same. WAit wai theres TWO gylph spots. Im mean come on. In DAOC, Mudds etc i as far bad as many games go i got to decided what my character would become, yes there are class systems and that is part of that choice , but i am just sad to see the THINKING part of mmorpgs disappear.
Also end game which i have not seem much about.
But i love the combat. And this hands on really enforced my like of the combat system they ahve setup.
Basiclly i wish FF14 and this game were combined so id have ability to defined my charaters' role via equipment and others systems plus good combat.
Anyoen else notice how many mmos are releasing with good all aroudn systems and then one aspect fo the game thats just weak. (CO , no group play end game off the bat... there deffinatly is now its hard if you want it to be, but its too late).
I can feel you. I, myself, would have been heading to FFXIV but since the game greatly lacks PvP, TERA is what I'll be picking.
I think I am most excited by the healers having to manually hit their targets with spells. I love healing classes, but they are usually to easy and uninvolved in the combat itself. This will require healers to participate in the fight and move with the group. I am very excited to see how this works out.
"They also can summon members of the party together – you know, the guy who always gets lost when the party is running somewhere ..."
Ha ha, nice detail!
Cool write up, thought it also would have been nice to hear what Carolyn *didn't* like.
*triing to heal someone*
*triing again beacuse the asshole runs away*
*triing yet again but the assholw dies and yells that healer sux and cant do a job right*
oh, the joy of healing
p.s. screw tera. Korean mmorpgs with big swords, mobs and tits will suck forever.
MMO were not intended to be twitch games thats what FPS are for... just my 2 cents.
Well, I guess your used to having your stuff small. You can stick with WoW for all we care.
Learn to think outside the box ... just my 2 cents.
And you liek ur stuff big, big tities, etc.
For what I care making heal harder to aim will make stuff more frustrating, nor rly nerfing the heal, it will stay imba as it always were in most mmo games. Making spells and skills that will be as imba as healing, now that another story.
Ever played DDO or ragnarok online? Failed fort save against finger of death and ur, uhhh, dead no more healing for you, lol. Debuffed so hard ur useless, makes healing pointless. Uber1337dude + monk + asura = monk. Ur free to hype uberfanboy, but korean grindfest clone with laggy arcade conrols is still a korean grindfest.
If it wasn't for ignorant children like you who instantly jump to conclusions I wouldn't have to be here talking about it.
Save the world baby!
So where's the hero? Gone to kindergarden?
Maybe you need to go there since you can't even spell Kindergarten properly.
To meet you? No thnx.
ncsoft - blizzard old staff has made Blueholes studios and create TERA...so it will not be a lineage-aion grindfest at all(sure there will be some grind like any mmo out there)just because u guyz love WoW too much doesnt mean there is none other mmo's out there.TERA will be the best mmo by far forget wow forget GW2..TERA is the sh1t to way for
(Industry vets from Blizzard, Microsoft, EA, ArenaNet, NCsoft and BioWare are all on the project.)so there is no way again this game can be a pure grindfest at all.next time PLAY-JUDGE then TALK
Starting to like this game more and more, altough I'm hoping it will be a huge grind keeping all the crybabies away and making them go back to their stupid Casualcylsm. Asian developers are the last hope for this genre, westernized games are destroyed by carebears, whinners and idiots.
this game looks really awesome, but, when you factor in lag, i think it will be a sometimes frustrating combat system :(
We were testing it from Europe on US servers and Korean servers, and we didn't observed any noticable lag, expect for few hours during prime time on sunday (Korean server). On US servers gameplay was silky smooth. Playing the game on the nearest servers should be totally lag free.