Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Q: We have one more fan question on PvP. They’re curious about PvP and racial aspects. How will that play into the PvP experience?

A: Right now, races will give you a lot of options on how you look and how you portray your individual persona within the game. As far as gameplay, races will have no benefits or have any effect on how they play in PvP or PvE.

Races are more vanity, but there is some cool stuff. If you’re playing a berserker and you’re playing different races, the way they swing their axe is different. We actually ran a focus group not too long ago and asked them if they would like to see some variance among the races and classes, so it’s something that we’re looking into. We’ll have more information down the road a bit.

To make a clarification, certain races will have certain classes available to them, while other races might not have a particular class available. Therefore, race will have some determining factor in what kind of character you can play, but that’s more associated with the class you can play as opposed to racial bonuses.

Q: So the rumors floating around that if you play a certain race, you’ll have a greater reach than other races is not true then?

A: No, that is not true and is not specced in the game. If a human slayer and a castanic slayer were to go toe-to-toe with the same level of skill, would that skill or ability have differences between the two due to their race? The answer to that is no.



Q: The guy asking the question goes out of his way to say that he’s not talking about strength or intellect, but smaller things such as the reach of their hands. That’s definitely a no though?

A: That is definitely no. There is no difference between the races. However, some of the feedback that we’ve gotten is that they would like to see some bit of variance, and that is something that we’re looking at. However, one of the great things about MMOGs is that you get to play who you want to play. I really love castanics as they look really cool and I enjoy playing that race, so I don’t want to feel like that I’m being penalized for playing a castanic versus another race. Right now, they are looking at little areas, but keeping it balanced. It’s important to us to let people play who they want to play. We don’t want people to choose not to play a race because of a disadvantage.

Q: Let’s go back to the world itself. The way you described it is beautiful and my follow-up question to that is: how big is the world?

A: The short answer is BIG. There are over eighty zones, and each zone is not an instance. The zones are connected so you can walk from one zone to the next. There are huge continents, and from a land mass perspective, there’s probably never been another game with this much land. The zones have their own unique feel and environment. You can engage the world in a desert, tundra, barren, swamps, lush rainforest, or any one of a million different types of environment. The world is very big and immersive.

There’s a popular game out there right now that people have been playing for awhile and it is pretty large, and we have more land mass. Our focus, however, was not to make it huge. Our focus was what is it we need to do make sure we deliver to the players. One of the key things when you create an MMOG is that you want people to come back, so we felt that it was important to offer diversity throughout the continent. You’re going to see that in the way the monsters are, the way the environments look, and the types of climates. When I explore a new area, I tend to stop and go, “wow. There’s a waterfall in the distance and the sun is setting.” Describing it really doesn’t do it justice, but there are a lot of great moments of discovery in the game.

Environments will have meaning, so there’ll be reasons why you’re there or reasons why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. If you see a crazy cave alongside a mountain and you see etchings along that cave, you might actually begin to understand why those things are there.

Q: There’s been talk of mounts to quicken travel. Are there any other methods to make travel in such a massive world easier?

A: Absolutely! Unlike some other games I could mention, the last thing that we want is to have a player spending five minutes fighting a monster and then spending forty five minutes running back to turn in the quest or spending hours and hours running from one zone to the next for whatever reason. We’ll have, in addition to the flying mounts called Pegasus that’ll take you from one zone to the next, teleportation scrolls that’ll take you to the main town as well as mini-teleportation providers who’ll take you to any mini-zones in the nearby areas.



Q: I want to get a sense from you guys how each race plays into the architecture. I’ve been looking at some of these screenshots and it looks like you’re looking into a valley that stretches for miles. Is there any bit of lag time from looking from your perspective to looking at a point across the map where you decide you want to go there? Is it that massive feel where you feel like you’ve been running for miles and everything still looks amazing?

A: You’ll definitely get that affect from what we’ve been talking about where you’ve ran, or ridden on a horse, miles and miles and you reach another immersive environment. The new environment is beautiful, engaging, and there’s ways to interact via quests and the story. You’ll get that feel that this is an amazing world and each zone is almost a world in and of itself.

It’s really influenced by the culture that lives there. You’ll see some screens that are coming soon that showcase a land that’s a mix of circus, where there’s these statues that are a vibrant color and are unique, but once you start to interact with the denizens of that world, you begin to see why things are the way they are there.

It’s like the real world where you can travel and see places that started for a variety of reasons such as being rich in a certain type of mineral or food item. That whole culture is built around that and you can see it.

You can apply it to the races in that the castanic will have their own city with its own unique feel to it versus a human city. All of these different cities will play together into what makes up the Valkyon Federation, which is the overlying world of TERA.

Q: What is the exact PvE style of this game? Is it like older games like Everquest where you needed a group to kill a mob of monsters, or is this a friendlier game where you can go kill a few mobs of monsters by yourself?

A: Choice, which is what we want to provide for our users. There are things in TERA called party mobs, where it’s more like Final Fantasy XI, it’s not where you couldn’t engage them alone because of the action system in TERA really revolves around player skill, but some of these party mobs will be more easily dealt with by a party type environment. You also have other types of mobs that you can handle solo, so you have that choice. You can choose to get to max level through solo play and there’s options of leveling through party play or instanced dungeons. Each of those paths has content that you can cycle through and it’s not boring or repetitive. You can mix and match these paths depending upon your time, location, personal preference, and skill level.

Personally, I think soloing your way through the game (and there are party oriented dungeons) would be extremely challenging and you’d really have to develop your skills. I think you can do it, but there’s something to be said for each path. Sometimes, it’s fun to just pop in and fight some monsters to complete a quest or two by yourself. However, it is a lot of fun to get in with a group and use your skills together, where you really execute some mass attacks. You could really cover some ground together if you’re used to working together or really experienced with your class.

Whatever choice you make, it’ll be a unique and content-filled experience but there’s definitely benefits to be had depending upon which route you choose.



Q: Can you tell us about the political system? What is that like?

A: It’s roses and candy and everything nice rolled into the best system…I’m kidding! We’ll definitely be able to release more details upon launch, but I can tell you a little bit about it now. The political system is a way in which players can interact. There are a number of ways that a person can be elected into office. Essentially, certain players will lobby the community and try to get elected into office through various means. Once in elected office, the players can control a lot of different things from the economy to player interaction to guild rivalries and other things. It’s an awesome opportunity for a player to get involved in the evolution of the game itself.

I wish we could tell you more, and the stuff we’ve told you is just the tip of the iceberg. I honestly believe that the political system is going to be a game changer. I think that people are going to have a lot of fun with the political system. You can really see the creative minds that we have behind the game shine within the creation of the political system. It’s going to be pretty compelling to players.

Q: How do guilds work within the format of the game? What can guilds do or what kind of advantages do you have belonging to a guild within the framework of the world?

A: Within TERA, you have the basic bonuses of a guild such as forging a separate identity and being able to chat amongst guild members. In addition to that, there are unique ways in which guilds can participate in the world of TERA, and when we’re able to talk about the political system, you’ll understand. Guilds would be one channel to participate in the political system. Guilds are awesome for the social aspects as well as PvP instances, dungeons, and end game content.

There are a lot of things that we want to say, but we just can’t right now. Give us a little more time and the closer we get to launch, the more we’ll be able to say. Right now, we’re concentrating on showing people how fun combat is and how that works. There’s some stuff that we’re not talking about intentionally. One reason is the development process and you want to make sure that everything works nicely. A lot of the stuff I’ve seen is awesome, but I’ll stick the gag in my mouth until we can talk about them.

Q: Let’s talk about the price tag. There’s an article stating that TERA will be the most expensive MMOG in the world to date.

A: The point is that when you’re introducing something new like action combat, you’re going to have to spend the time and resources to make it good. It has to be awesome; you can’t just make it half-way. Our answer to your question is that we’re spending the time and resources to make sure that the things that we can and can’t talk about are the best that they can be. What does that mean, you ask? I’ll tell you what that means. It means that we’re looking at every part of the game and spending the time and resources to make it an amazing experience because that’s what is going to keep people playing. It’s going to get people interested in the game. I know that historically, a lot of people have said what we’re saying, but I can tell you that we have a true commitment as shown by our focus group tests and the feedback we’re getting from those. There’s a true commitment to deliver to players what they want and also showing them new things that we think they’re going to love. We’re not going to let anything stop us from delivering an incredible experience.



Q: I think that players will appreciate hearing that since so many titles have been launched in the last few years that are incomplete and buggy. Players have been in an uproar over it, so it’s good to hear that.

A: The truth is that when you’re looking at worlds this big, and you’re testing these games making sure that everything works is no joke. However, there have certainly been games that have been released too early and shouldn’t have hit the market. We’re not doing that. There’s so much about that day one, week one, week two experience. When you meet someone, first impressions count. The great thing is that we have the depth to keep you captivated. It’s important for us to hit the market with a polished product.