TERA (video game)

TERA
Official Tera Online Box Artwork
Developer(s)	Bluehole Studio
Publisher(s)	En Masse Entertainment Frogster Interactive Pictures Hangame Hangame-JP
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	Windows KOR: January 25, 2011 NA: May 1, 2012 EU: May 3, 2012
Genre(s)	Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)	Online multiplayer

TERA is an MMORPG by Bluehole Studio. It was released in South Korea on January 25, 2011. It was released in North America on May 1, 2012 and May 3, 2012 in Europe 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

TERA 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 a control pad to control their character.

The developers collaborated with CCP Games and their successful use of "PLEX" for Eve Online as a way of deterring gold farmers. As a result, TERA will have a currency called "Chronoscrolls" which works similarly as it allows game time to be purchased with real money and sold for in-game gold.

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 Vampires, 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.

Features

Races

Characters may be one of seven races:

• The Aman, 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
• The animal-like Popori.

The Baraka, Elin, and Popori are gender locked (only male Baraka and Popori, and female Elin exist), though it is said that Popori is the male version of Elin. Both males and females are playable for the rest of the races.

Action Combat System

Unlike many MMORPG games of it's time. Tera's combat system is considered to be superior to many as it blends features of a First Person Shooter. With this system players report becoming more immersed in the environment where skill is a major factor as opposed to only gear and level.

Classes

Archer

The Archer is a “Ranged Damage Class,” using a bow and wearing light armor. This class is known to possess a wide range of abilities to help control the fight by using traps and ranged attacks. They also have Focused Shot, a powerful charged shot which adds high but unreliable DPS. Archers' damage scales based on the distance to the target. Starting at 6 meters (melee range), it is reduced by 10% for every 4 meters away from the target. With the Archer's range of 15 meters, this is a 20% damage reduction at maximum range. Despite this scaling, the biggest benefit to Archers is that they have the choice to remain at a safe distance, can support the party from the rear, act as a lookout, and can keep the group alive by kiting everything off the party's healer. In PvP, their Focused Shot skill gives them very respectable killing power while their traps give them ways to escape any immediate danger.

Berserker

The Berserker is a “Melee Damage Class,” using a two-handed axe and wearing heavy armor. This class is the heaviest hitter in the game but also the slowest. They can stay in the frontlines of a battle by blocking any attacks with their axe and provide powerful burst damage with charged attacks, where they unleash a single massive strike. However, due to the nature of their charged attacks, a single missed swing can be treated the same as doing nothing for 5 seconds. As a result, Berserkers are the most unreliable source of damage out of all the classes, and struggles to perform well in a highly mobile fight. In PvP, Berserkers are a constant threat as they can potentially one-hit KO a player with a big critical hit from their charged attack. As such, they are able to bully and keep other melee classes in check.

Lancer

The Lancer is a “Blocking Tank,” using a shield with a lance and wearing heavy armor. The Lancer is the most defensive class in the game as they can use their shield to completely guard themselves and allies standing behind them from incoming attacks. Possessing the highest survivability of all the classes, Lancers also have the lowest damage output in the game, excluding the healing classes. In PvE, Lancers are generally accepted as the main tanking class as they are able to mitigate all incoming damage without any risks, compared to the much stricter dodge timing required by the Warrior. Lancers have two key skills that allow him to hold the attention of the enemy: Shield Counter with the extra threat glyph is their main skill, which can only be used after a successful block; Challenging Shout is their second skill, of which its large range can be used as a way to pull enemies from a distance. In PvP, Lancers serve to support the party by constantly harassing the enemy's support classes with stuns and interrupts while mitigating as much damage as possible to the party. Most notably, Baraka Lancers can make use of the game's collision detection by simply being large enough to block off key doorways with their body.

Mystic

The Mystic is a “Support Healer Class,” using a scepter and wearing cloth armor. The Mystic provides more utility than the traditional healer by being able to create health and mana pickups instead of directly healing the party. This means that skilled parties who proactively avoid damage by dodging will actually benefit much more from a Mystic healer as the mana pickups will allow damage dealers to use their skills without any downtime. However, this means that Mystics are constantly running around the battlefield to keep the party optimized with heals, mana, or buffs. Between Mystics and Priests, Mystics are much more difficult to play. Mystics are most notable for being able to summon temporary minions to help with healing or to draw aggro while soloing, and for their powerful crowd control abilities which makes them invaluable for initiating team battles in PvP.

Priest

The Priest is a “Primary Healer Class,” using a staff and wearing cloth armor. This traditional healer class uses a stationary style of healing, where healing doesn't require as much mobility on the Priest's part. This makes Priests much easier to play than Mystics, who must move around constantly to keep the party optimized. While Mystics specialize in boosting a party's offense, the Priest excels in keeping the party alive. Priests have all kinds of heals for any situation, and can cover the entire party with a temporary damage absorption shield. In PvP, Priests take on the tank role as the entire enemy team will naturally focus on the Priest. Their many heals gives them immense survivability and makes them quite difficult to finish off as the Priest's party will be picking off any pursuers.

Slayer

The Slayer is a “Melee Damage Class,” using a two-handed sword and wearing light armor. This class naturally excels in soloing because of the innate crowd control capability it possesses through knockdowns. Their high chance of knockdowns is always a huge threat in PvP, while in PvE it provides breathing room for the group. Slayers hit extremely hard and move very fast in combat, which makes them powerful in any situation. This class is very popular because it's easy to play as well as being very reliable, which cements its position as a staple role in both high level PvE and PvP.

Sorcerer

The Sorcerer is a “Ranged Magic Damage Class,” using an arcane disc and wearing cloth armor. Sorcerers are capable of great sustained burst damage, and are able to restore their own mana pool relatively quickly with a very short cooldown. Sorcerers, as the traditional glass cannon, output the highest DPS in the game by maintaining a fast and continuous barrage of spells at the cost of survivability. In PvE, they are the most reliable source of DPS as they are generally out of harm's way and their spells hit very hard. In PvP, they are invaluable in team fights by forcing enemy groups to scatter to avoid their powerful AoE spells.

Warrior

The Warrior is an “Evasive Tank” or "Melee Damage Class," dual-wielding twin swords and wearing light armor. Warriors are the other tank in the game, relying on well-timed dodges to avoid incoming damage. As a result, Warriors are the hardest class to play in the game as it requires the player to become familiar with attack patterns to dodge efficiently, while the Lancer can just hold block whenever they feel threatened. Despite their light armor, Warriors actually gain higher endurance ratings than Lancers in the endgame due to their extremely good gear scaling, which means they take less damage from hits. However, Lancers will still easily outlast the Warrior due to the reliability of their block mechanic. Despite the obvious advantages of a Lancer tank, Warriors are more than capable of tanking all endgame content; it just requires a different approach. In a damage role, Warriors excel at it as they have high mobility to stay on their targets, which also makes their play style feel like the traditional thief/rogue class. Warriors are very powerful in PvP as their tanking nature gives them lots of natural survivability while their fast attacks keeps the target pinned down. Casters are especially vulnerable to Warriors and have a very difficult time trying to escape. Warriors are a popular class due to their high-speed nature.

Controversy

In 2007, NCsoft filed a complaint to South Korean gosu gamer authorities and brought a civil action for damages and an injunction to Bluehole. The Bluehole founders and employees, formerly employed under NCsoft and working on the Lineage 3 development team, were convicted by a Korean criminal court for the theft of valuable trade secrets from NCsoft in 2009. In 2010, a Korean civil court held these individuals, along with Bluehole, liable for misappropriation of trade secrets, awarding NCsoft about $2 million in damages and issuing an injunction against utilizing trade secrets for monetary gain. The damages were later reversed by an appellate court, but the injunction remained in place. Both the criminal convictions and civil judgment are presently pending on appeal before Korea's highest court. Despite the injunction, Bluehole developed and released TERA in South Korea.

On January 9, 2012, NCsoft filed a civil action in the United States against Bluehole and its U.S. subsidiary En Masse. NCsoft seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting the launch of TERA in the United States, or damages for the substantial harm that the launch will cause NCsoft. They assert claims for copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, breach of confidence, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment under the laws of the state of New York.

On April 18, 2012 Enmasse Entertainment announced they were found not guilty in the Korean civil actions. However, three employees were found guilty.

External links

• Official North American website
• Official European website
• Bluehole Studio's website
• En Masse Publisher website
• Frogster European Producers