MMORPG.com: Congrats on two years! I swear it feels like just yesterday that we were reviewing it. How does it feel to make it past the sophomore year?
Patrick Sun: It feels great! It does feel like just yesterday when we opened our doors to the whole world. The teams here at En Masse and Bluehole Studio have been pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into TERA and it’s great to reach this milestone.
MMORPG.com: What’s your biggest achievement going back the past two years? Don’t say F2P conversion! That’s cheating.
Patrick Sun: Darn! I would say that maintaining our level of service for the past two years at a consistently high level is the accomplishment we are most proud of. Not just in providing the best customer support, but also in the launch of content, community interaction, and engagement.
MMORPG.com: What sort of events are you guys going to be bringing into the game for the anniversary?
Patrick Sun: We will be having prize drawings each day for all our players. They will have the chance to win cool prizes just for playing TERA. We'll also have a BAM invasion on Saturday, and these BAMs will have special rewards for this event. If that doesn’t sound like a lot to do for such a big milestone—you’re right! Let’s just say there’s a good reason we’re holding back, and it’s right around the corner. Stay tuned!
Watch the exclusive anniversary trailer!
MMORPG.com: What’s been the best thing so far to come out of year two? I know a lot of people were excited about the new class.
Patrick Sun: Out of the 3 new battlegrounds, 4 new dungeons, and a new political alliance system, I would say that the new reaper class is the most exciting. Our players have become accustomed to the classes we've had since the inception of TERA, and this changes things up. This offers players the chance to become the master of a whole new playing style, and see how things shake up both in dungeons and in PvP matches.
MMORPG.com: How’s the response been to the recent PVP additions and faction warfare? Any new stuff coming there?
Patrick Sun: It’s gone over pretty well. Our players have taken up the Alliance system as well as the Alliance faction warfare. I’ve logged in at times on Sunday night just to witness the battles our players wage against each other and it’s always really grand. We’ve also held PvP tournaments this past year focusing on both the 3v3 and 15v15 PvP competitions that our players enjoy. All of our tournaments have yielded close and intense battles rivaling those of any event I’ve ever seen. New stuff is definitely coming, but we are also going to look at sprucing up our current PvP content as well.
MMORPG.com: What can people look forward to in year three? What are your own personal hopes for the game?
Patrick Sun: The new reaper class launches ridiculously soon, and that’s our main focus for now. After that we’ll be bringing five new dungeons that will also offer the next-highest tier of weapons and armor. These new dungeons will present even harder challenges for our players to conquer. There is still even more to look forward to, but I can’t disclose any of it just yet. My personal hope is that TERA continues to evolve in 2014 and beyond. Our combat gameplay continues to shine even in 2014, and expanding the rest of the TERA universe that revolves around it will be what I hope for.
