Feedback on TERA in general

    Alright, this is going to be a lengthy one. I have a few points of feedback about not only this game, but management of this game in general. Note that his is coming from someone rather new to the game - I'm somewhat comfortable with 456 dungeons and just today learned to play Corrupted Skynest (Normal) enough not to be a deadweight to my party.


    Here are the few topics I'll be discussing:


    1. Lack of clarity as to what exactly is going on with the game

    2. Proposes on game design

    3. Upcoming content discussion

    4. Some suggestions I'd like to see


    So first of all, lack of clarity


    I feel this is really important. Let us take a look at GameForge official TERA page. What can we learn about the game here? Absolutely nothing. The only thing that's going on there is updates in the in-game shop and about a game(?) that's a TERA ripoff/spinoff. What I would expect from an official site would be the following:


    1. Information about on-going events and links to useful material

    2. Anything related to upcoming content and a way for the playerbase to provide feedback

    3. Server status and information regarding maintenance or any downtime


    Nothing about the current Dragon event is mentioned there. Or the previous Elemental Core event or anything before that. Nothing about future content, or rather nothing about the game itself is there. Nothing about game status and maintenance.


    It took me a while to find that the details about the events are on these forums here. A completely different kind of GameForge "official" page. Why do you have multiple websites?


    Now, also about the dragon event. From somewhere my friend (I believe from Steam judging from the background of the image he sent me) found out that during the Quest event there will also be increased chances for enchantment. This is not mentioned in the forums. And to top it off, it's not clear what exactly will have better enchantment chances.


    About the other two topics, I still have no idea where to find discussions regarding future content and server status/maintenance/unexpected downtime etc. For example, right now the servers are down and I don't know what's happening.


    So my request would be this. How about we have a single source of truth about anything going on about this game? It's ridiculous I have to find information from multiple sources, hearsay or some other dubious places.


    Second of all, game design


    Now, I am no genius in game design but there is something I've picked up from my time as a mid-hardcore gamer of another MMO. The playerbase doesn't really know what they want, but clearly know if something is bad. Take note of this, especially the second half of the sentence. When the playerbase keeps telling something is bad then you should perhaps take a look at it and how to improve it. And do not try to gloss them over with band-aid fixes. The best way to approach this is to acknowledge something is bad and take your time desiging a proper fix/implementation instead.


    So, what is bad right now?


    1. Adventure coins

    2. Enchantment

    3. Pay to win


    Let's start with adventure coins. As I said in the beginning, I am quite the new player. However I already feel the pain of coins. The only reason I see these were added is cash grab. Honestly, why is it a thing? I can't even cap off daily Vanguard without getting additional coins from somewhere. The best I can do is 12-13 dungeon clears a day and then I'm out of coins. And I'm not even doing end-game content. And since Infinity Coins (not completely sure how to obtain them, I heard from some harsay these are 15k gold each) are a thing, why is it even in the game? How about limiting the progression in other ways, or better yet - create incentives to use other characters instead after capping the daily vanguard.


    Next topic is enchantment. We all know it sucks. I honestly doubt any of the developers of this game actually play it. No sane person would agree that enchant downgrade is a great and fun mechanic in the game. It's backwards progression, you spend time and effort just to end up worse than what you started at. Sure, there are safeguards in the game, but the amount of safeguards you need for a single attempt is ridiculous. At one point I was +13 and I believe I needed 81 safeguards for a single attempt. And to be 100% safe I needed to not only save up ~250k but also save up a ridiculous amount of event currency (Devan Fragments). Currency that I could spend on something way more important - mount cards. This whole system is scuffed. How about instead of juggling between gold, safe scrolls, unbreakable scrolls (?) and whatnot you guys just implement a system where it's completely clear what the enchant chance is and where you don't have to worry about breaking your gear? I believe there already was a similar situation to this in the game before. Why take a step backwards for absolutely no reason at all? "One step forwards, two steps back." - some nobody on the internet.


    Lastly, pay to win. Let me be straight. How to get 2.0 mount with coughing up some big bucks/buying it from others who did? I don't think there is a way. Also, I've heard complaints about there being learderboards where you can have contestants with pay to win consumables. Why is that a thing? Competitions like these should be fair towards everyone, not just people with the biggest wallets. I'm fairly certain you could milk the whales just off of various cosmetics. Instead of putting pay to win in the shop, get more cosmetics in there. A lof of the stuff I personally would like to have is unavailable. There is a reason people use "free" cosmetic mods, you know that right?


    Third of all, future content


    I have absoultely no idea where we can give our input on future content. From the Berzerker discord I found the link to Korean future patch notes, but I don't know where are upcoming patch notes for our version. This begs the question - do you not care about the opinion of your playerbase?


    Next, from that Korean version I found that there are plans to re-add temporary etchings. Please don't do that to our version, that's stupid as hell and that would no longer be just two steps backwards. I'm sure there's some more dumb stuff written in these patch notes so please do reconsider what's actually good for the players and what's not.


    Lastly, some changes I'd love to see


    These are some minor things/idle thoughts I though of while writing this wall of text. I'll just list them


    1. Add better cosmetics

    2. Buying mounts is kinda pointless


    Let's talk fashion. I'd like to say that not everything has to be a panty shot. Give us proper long dresses, street wear, actual fashion not fetish or furry outfits. That and fix Castanic's skirt physics. Every time I equip a dress or a skirt on a Castanic female the skirt just flips over like an upside down umbrella. If I want to look at Castanic ass I put on the swimsuits. And if you really want us to see underwear then actually make underwear outfits. It's extremely important that if you do add lingerie outfits, add an option to toggle thighhighs and elbow gloves.


    Talking about fashion, why is there so little selection in the TERA Store? And where can I find the dyeable outfits? Fashion is something that could bring you in a lot of money and yet you're slacking with it. If done right, you could live off of fashion and Tera Club alone - no need for any pay to win shenanigans.


    Mounts. Why would I ever use a different mount other than my Ancient Phoenix that has a flight duration of 900-something while all the other mounts have flight duration of 600-something (you can check that in Skills - Ride). How about you change it so that Flight Duration is a single stat that's taken after the best value from the mounts you have? This way I'd feel comfortable using several different mounts knowing that the flight duration will stay the same. That, and make all mounts have the same dismount button. For example, let me bind F11 to be unmount and where-ever on my skillbar (unbound keys) I use the mount I could use F11 to unmount.



    That's about it. I wrote this rant deep into the night and I'm too lazy to check for any mistakes I made. I might check up on it when I wake up. I would love to hear what both the players and GameForge themselves have to say about what I wrote. I'm looking for an open and civil discussion rather than a flame war where everyone is attacking everyone.

    all true.

    for problem 1: go play BDO. they fix the tiniest problems and post ALL changes that will be implemented in even a maintenance. you can have a look there in one of their maintenance/patch notes and see for yourself.

    BDO has downgrading too though, you will even LOSE some almost max gear if it fails.

    (coming soon to TERA(?)).

    i played it for over a year, but the stupid forced combo's on unreachable ( and HELL to change to another)- keys and the downgrading of my decent gear to shit gear made me quit and play tera again. then Krafton decided it would be a good idea to have downgrading in tera :P

    although here giving info has improved ( 1% but hey...) it still lacks hugely.

    after some patch/maintenance suddenly my anni gear downgraded. noted nowhere, never announced. i like surprises but that wasnt one of them.

    the second issue is simply greed-driven.

    all your problems can be solved by visiting the Holy Shop.

    i understand its a business and it cannot run, nor could it be free to play, if there was no income.

    however i feel they have overstepped the line.

    i dont think its possible to upgrade to max without ever visiting either shop or broker.


    three: fashion is rehashed 80% of the time. look at the fabulous new costume (see: shop update) its just the same as the thing they had before which was an ice-flame costume ( idk the exact names) only now *blows my mind have to get it* ITS PURPLE!!!

    WOOOOOOOW the same color as top gear/rolls. -_-

    all other mounts besides the ones that give extra buff are useless since the introduction of flying ( and buffed) mounts and are nothing more but cosmetic.


    i do (did?) like tera, nowhere else is the combat more natural-feeling and the supereasy drag/drop of UI and skills, along with the also supereasy key-reassigns.

    but lately... all sources of income/mats outside of dungeon/shop have been deleted.

    you can still sell mats or your crafted stuff but, save for a few--VERY few, they wont make much gold. and ( being the Rara Avis in Tera i am) i dont like running dungeons incessantly. especially if i have to do it on all my chars. and the same routine. every day.


    idk man. i guess now they are in full greed mode... every patch brings more things that can hardly be farmed enough but there is a solution in the shop...


    i think they are underestimating the power of having a large playerbase consisting of both f2p and p2w. they seem to be wanting to kick out f2p.

    well you can do that, but then the playerbase ( and with that the possibility of catching whales (or orca's)) shrinks and so will the chances of people spending money here.


    if you are gonna wait for gameforge to reply: dont. simply dont.

    your statement about lack of communication isnt restricted to the game.

    forum is exactly the same.

    the only replies i ever see on this forum are from 1 person ( threea <3)

    the rest of gf-posts are about maintenance. noooo-no-no not like any info of what will change with maintenance, just that its going to be done or is done. and not always.


    hmm you could ofcourse ask a GM in-game!

    oh no wait. this is tera. in 8 years i have seen 4-5 GM's.

    * with a total of 10 hours in the game . yes all 4-5.


    my advice for enjoying the game: just go your own way, enjoy the things you CAN get and ignore everything recommended. also ignore ( most ) people's advice. aside from really usefull tips on gear or skills, they all advise you to level up faster and do the endgame routine).

    if you level up a new char: avoid quest and dungeon as they give ridiculous xp.

    just go out into the world, explore and (try) kill anything along your way.

    this makes (imo) the experience of being here much more enjoyable than following the unwritten ( you must level up faster!) rules to be max level in a matter of hours (!) and then grinding the same stuff over and over and over and over.


    just my opinion, maybe i simply miss the adventurous feeling from the days when leveling up to max was difficult. (but with a much more rewarding feeling when you got there).

    Rara avis in TERA

    Quote from gigagamer

    Let's talk fashion.

    Regarding that, I'd like to add some suggestions


    -Wigs as separate tradeable items, that you can equip and unequip like costumes

    -Separate slots for arms and legwear, not just main costume and head slot

    -Dyeable mounts


    Having a dismount button can seem useful at first, but it may be confusing between combats as you may try to press it again to remount on your last used mount.