When href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/events/gdc2010/TERA">I
first saw TERA
at GDC
this year I was impressed. The idea of an action combat MMORPG was
refreshing and exciting. I was able to play a small portion of it at
that show and it left me wanting to play more. Even so, I
wasn’t prepared for the style="font-style: italic;">TERA
experience I was about to enjoy
at E3 this year.



Stacy “Martuk” Jones and I stepped up to the style="font-style: italic;">TERA
booth to meet the En Masse folks for some hands on with the game. For
us they had set up five PCs with headsets. Each computer was displaying
a different class on the screen. As our host, En Masse
Entertainment’s Sam Kim, asked us and two other media members
to sit down we knew what we were about to do. We were going to play style="font-style: italic;">TERA
as a group.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/85399"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 500px; height: 285px;"
alt="tera picture"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85399">

Sam gave us a quick overview of the controls we’d need to use
during our adventure through the game. In our party we had a Berserker,
Slayer, Sorceror, Warrior, and Priest. I was playing the Slayer while
Martuk jumped on the Sorceror. Each of us made our choice to either
play with a controller or a keyboard and mouse combo.



If the single player game I had played at GDC was good, the group play
of TERA
was awesome. Shortly after loading into the game and grouping up we
were running down a pier heading into our first group combat
experience. Even though our group was composed completely of pure style="font-style: italic;">TERA
newbies, it didn’t take long before we found our niche. The
classes all played differently, but everyone seemed to be able to grasp
both the role and the controls of their character quickly. It also
helped that our En Masse hosts were guiding us along as we played.



The Berserker was the tank of the group, getting aggro and mitigating
damage with her attacks and abilities. My role, along with the warrior,
was one of melee DPS. The sorcerer was taking care of ranged DPS and
the priest, of course, healed. Once we fell into our roles the real fun
began.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/85397"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 500px; height: 285px;"
alt="tera picture"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85397">

The first battle was against a giant crab-like creature. The size of
the monster really made the battle feel epic. The Berserker was trying
to keep its attention while the warrior and I rolled around between its
gargantuan legs. Popping up behind it, we’d execute our
combos. I’d swing my massive sword, and the warrior would
flail madly with his weapons. It was easy to get caught up in the
excitement and I soon found myself getting a little too ambitious. I
would swing the heavy blade before lining up my aiming reticule and I
missed the monster entirely. Since I attempted a quick combo after
that, I raised my sword after the swing and slammed it down into the
ground, catching nothing but dirt. The force was extraordinary. My
character heaved on the sword, body expressing its enormous weight, and
I groaned. I had lost a lot of time from that mistake. I vowed to keep
focused so the rest of my strikes would be true.



The amount of coordination and control needed in the game is unlike
anything we’ve previously seen in an MMOG. The combos and
abilities are fun, and can be deadly, but as illustrated above, if
you’re not on your game things can take a turn downwards.



Healing looked to be a challenge in the game. Area of Effect heals
displayed a circle on the ground. If party members were in that circle
they’d get healed. Otherwise they’d have to do
without. Alternatively healers can cast direct heals but the target
needs to be still or the priest can easily miss them with their
targeting reticule.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/85395"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 500px; height: 285px;"
alt="tera picture"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85395">

The battles are intense and involving. They feel heroic and you quickly
learn that you rely on your group and they rely on you.
There’s little room for a lazy player in this game, at least
from the group content we saw. There’s far too much that
needs attention for a group member or two to just coast by. The mobs
have special power attacks and the group needs to be prepared to deal
with them. For instance, one encounter was a centaur-like beast. When
it reared up on its hind legs, you knew it was about to do a ground
stomp AoE. If you didn’t get out of the way you’d
take some serious damage. Luckily both the melee damage classes in our
group had roll abilities that allowed us to quickly get out of the way
when we saw the tell. The Berserker had extra abilities to mitigate
more damage when a heavy attack was about to come in.



One of the more fun group combos, at least for me, was a combo that I
could do with the Warrior. The Warrior had a stun attack that could
knock our enemies down briefly. If successful, as a Slayer, I could
then leap into the air and drive my sword down into the fallen beast.
The combos took team effort and coordination, but when executed they
were extremely amusing, bringing huge grins to myself and the Warrior.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/85377"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 500px; height: 313px;"
alt="tera picture"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/85377">

In this respect style="font-style: italic;">TERA
may be a double edged sword. The group gameplay emphasizes teamwork,
which is rewarding, but it could potentially become frustrating to
players who have a streak of bad luck and end up with groups that
don’t work well together. In some games a disjointed group
may be frustrating, but often you can flub your way through the
content. I’m not sure if that will be possible with style="font-style: italic;">TERA.
If that turns out to be the case it could become too frustrating for
many players to even bother grouping, leaving them out of the most rich
aspect of the game we’ve seen so far.



On the other hand, if you have friends who can carry their own, or make
some new friends with skilful alert gamers, you’ll have what
could quite possibly be the best group MMOGing experience
you’ve ever encountered.



TERA
continues to impress and amaze. It has become one of those rare games
that I can’t wait to see (and play!) again at the next
convention.