The Exiled Realm of Arborea

Tera Online
Official Tera Online Box Artwork
Developer(s)	Bluehole Studio
Publisher(s)	En Masse Entertainment (North America) Frogster Interactive Pictures (Europe) Hangame (Korea)
Distributor(s)	Atari
Designer(s)	Yong-Hyun Park (chief producer) Byung-Gyu Chang (chief strategy officer) Huang Cher Ung (art director)
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Windows
Release date(s)	Windows NA May 1, 2012 EU May 3, 2012
Genre(s)	Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)	Online multiplayer
System requirements Microsoft Windows Windows Vista or Windows 7 AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ or Intel Core2 Duo E6750 4 GB or more of RAM NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT video card or better 25 GB free HD space Broadband Internet connection

The Exiled Realm of Arborea, also known as TERA, is an MMORPG by Bluehole Studio. It was released in South Korea on January 25, 2011. The date for release of North America is May 1, 2012 and for Europe it is May 3, 2012 with open and closed beta testing taking place before their launch dates. Possible localizations for other regions have been mentioned, but have not yet been confirmed besides Japan.

Gameplay

The Exiled Realm of Arborea will have typical MMORPG features such as quests, crafting and player versus player action. Combat uses a "real-time battle system" that incorporates third person camera view. The player targets an enemy with a cross-hair cursor rather than clicking or tabbing an individual opponent (this is called the Non-Target battle system" by the publisher). Players must actively dodge enemy attacks. The player may use keyboard and mouse, or an Xbox 360 Controller to control their character.

Plot

On the official website a backstory for the game was revealed.

About a millennia ago two omnipotent titans Arun and Shara entered into formless voids and for reasons we can only guess, fell asleep. The titans started to dream. Dream of a world that took form on their backs known as Tera. The first beings to call Tera home were twelve godlike beings dreamt up by the titans, but it wasn’t long before the gods started fighting. As the dream continued new creatures took place called mortals, they were less powerful but far more numerous. Arun dreamed of ambitious Elves, clever Humans, honor bound Amani, powerful Giants, scheming Devas, and mischievous Poporis. Shara dreamed of sly Sikandari, dark Gulas and Vampirs, fierce Wendigos, strange Faeries, and serpentine Nagas. The mortals were forced into the divine wars of the gods, which eventually left the gods dead, imprisoned, or otherwise diminished. The mortal races didn’t escape unscathed. Some—like the Sikandari, and most of the Giants—were wiped out but others rose from the wars such as the Barakas and Castanics. Now that the gods were gone the seven races; Amani, Barakas, Castanics, Elin, High Elves, Humans, and Poporis must band together to fend off a new enemy. A metallic race from the underworld called Argons; their goal is to take over Tera and wake the titans to end their dreams and destroy Tera.

Controversy

In January 2012, NCSoft filed suit against the makers of TERA for allegedly stealing much of the content for Lineage 3 in order to make TERA. The employees had been convicted of stealing trade secrets from NCSoft in 2009 and of a civil complaint made against them in 2011 by NCSoft, but both of these were later overturned.

Features

Races

Characters may be one of seven races: the Amani, a race of draconian humanoids; the Baraka, a giant, intelligent race; the Castanics, a demon-like race; the Elins, an innocent nature loving race; the High Elves; the Humans; and the animal-like Popori. The Baraka, Elin, and Popori are gender locked (only male Baraka and Popori, and female Elin exist). Both males and females are playable for the rest of the races.

Classes

Archer

The Archer is a “Range Damage Class,” which uses a bow and wears light armor. This class is known to have the tool for every job with its evasive abilities, traps, minor melee attacks, and arrows that poison, explode, pierce armor, rapid fire, and area of effect enemies.

Sorcerer

The Sorcerer is a “Range Magic Damage Class,” which uses an arcane disc to channel his magic and wears cloth armor. Known as “Warriors of Intellect” they do massive damage using fire, ice, arcane, and debuffs as long as they can keep their enemies away. They have several moves to help them evade and trap enemies.

Slayer

The Slayer is a “Melee Damage Class,” which uses a 2-handed sword and wears light armor. This ultimate solo class has high damage attacks while also being quick and agile enough to never be hit. They are also known for their round house sword attack and ability to flip over and around enemies.

Berserker

The Berserker is a “Melee Damage Class,” which uses a massive 2-handed axe and wears heavy armor. Also known as “Damage Juggernauts” this class is the heaviest hitter in the game and knocks around foes like dolls. They have the ability to block with their axe and make good back up tanks since they can take heavy damage. The only downside to this class is they are very slow moving.

Lancer

The Lancer is a “Blocking Tank,” which uses a shield and lance and wears heavy armor. This class is most impressive because of its ability to use his shield to completely guard himself and allies behind him. But do not doubt his damage because lancers use both their lance and shield to do massive damage with shield bashes and lance thrusts.

Warrior

The Warrior is an “Evasive Tank,” which uses twin swords and wears light armor. Acting almost like a common rogue or assassin this class has the best dodging and evading abilities in the game. His quick attacks enable him to keep agro while dealing constant, higher than LANCER, damage.

Mystic

The Mystic is a “Support Healer Class,” which uses a scepter and wears cloth armor. More support than heals, the mystic acts as a party buffer. His abilities to summon minions and use crowd control make him useful. The newest and most interesting part about this class though is that he drops health and energy orbs on the ground that his teammates must pick up; this is how mystics heal.

Priest

The Priest is a “Healer Support Class,” which uses a staff and wears cloth armor. This ultimate healer has the most extensive skill tree in the game that makes him able to buff and heal party members while still dealing damage and being able to solo. He has target and area of effect heals, stat boosts, barriers, and a few evasive moves to protect him.

External links

• Official website - US
• Bluehole Studio's website
• En Masse Publisher website
• Frogster European Producers