Disclaimer
This is a "checklist" of sorts, primarily aimed at NA players who are contemplating (or recently have made) the jump to the EU version of the game. Seeing the recent influx of players I thought it'd be useful to outline some of the key differences between both regions, and hopefully answer some of your questions and concerns. Especially the one about whether the grass truly is greener on the other side.
What you see below is written from the perspective of someone who has spent what I would call a decent amount of time on both regions. I have tried to represent the information below as factually accurate as I can, but if you find any mistakes in it feel free to correct me. Likewise, if you have any questions about differences between specific EU-NA items/QoL changes/etc not mentioned here feel free to drop a comment. Even if I can't help you out, chances are someone else can.
About EUTera
Gameforge has a dubious history when it comes to the way they handle their games. In cases like Aion and Tera this has led to many regional players seeking their fortune on the other side of the pond instead, putting up with a higher ping and inconvenient raid/siege/event times for the sake of a (hopefully) better gameplay experience. But as with everything in this life, nothing is permanent. Times can change, and while EnMasse has in my opinion indeed been the "better" (or least worst) region of the two for a long time, developments over the last ~2 years have accumulated and deteriorated the region to the point where players have recently been moving (back) to EU.
EUTera is what some people have come to call the "casual Tera". The dedicated aspect is still there for those who want it, both in PvE and PvP, but the region sets itself apart from NA based on how long it'll hold your hand for and help you on your way, as well as the ways in which it tries to keep players involved and interested in the game.
The main ways in which EUTera differs from NA are gearing (a lot faster & cheaper on EU), events (frequent and with decent to good rewards) and involvement (more accurate patch notes, livestreams, quick to capitalize upon EnMasse's mismanagement). There are also differences when it comes to items & their acquisition, security, the business model (cash shop) and some others, which I will explain to the best of my ability below.
Items
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Elleon's Marks: These EU-exclusive tokens make for one of the main reasons why talents are cheaper on EU and, by extension, gearing is faster. These tokens are a 100% drop from all dungeons at ilvl 412 and above (for all players in the group), and are used to purchase a variety of items. The most notable of these are the Expert Enchanter Supply Box (40 marks, chance at FM mats) and the Master Enchanter Supply Box (100 marks, chance at SC mats).
Elleon Marks help new players gear up faster, and give veteran/geared players reason to keep doing these dungeons as well = lower queue times.
The amount of marks you get depends on the ilvl of the dungeon.
| Difficulty |
# of Elleon Marks |
| Baby (ilvl412) |
5 |
| Easy (ilvl431) |
10 |
| Medium (ilvl439) |
20 |
| High (ilvl446) |
50 |
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Federation Reward Boxes: These are RNG boxes that are awarded for each win in BG matches during their respective jackpot/power hours. They contain a fixed amount of Elleon Marks and also give you a bonus item, which may be a Diamond or Strongbox Key when lucky. The full BG schedule + reward tables can be seen [here].
As with NA, each match will still award the usual 7/4 material chests and belli creds. These boxes are just a bit of extra motivation to queue for BGs on EUTera and bring your best game.
Do however remember that no win comes for free - looking up & applying the PvP crystals/glyphs for your class helps raise your chances.
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Fashion Coupons: Hurray, costumes. The ways in which you obtain these on EU differs slightly from NA, but I've tried to outline the three main methods I found below:
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Guaranteed (but small amounts): All level 60+ dungeons (final boss, roll), World Bosses (10~20pc), Enchanter Supply Boxes (see above)
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RNG: Federation Reward Boxes, possibly Weekend Challenges (see below), etc.
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Events: The bulk of your Fashion Coupons will likely come from these. You get 750 every weekend from the Star Traces event, for instance.
Other sources are Livestream codes, Buddy-Up rewards, League of Levelers events, and so on.
The idea is that if you pursue them actively you'll find that they are a bit slow to acquire, but as you just do your daily runs and activities you'll notice you have a stack of 2-3k sitting there before long.
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Others: You may also come across a number of other previously unseen items on EUTera, such as these Draughts and the Combat Accelerator Potion. They can be useful, but are not mandatory by any means. The effects do not carry over to BGs. These potions are rather hard to acquire, generally coming from RNG boxes, events, or (in the case of the draughts) buddy-up mentor rewards.
Line-up of EU's "p2w" potions
Events
EUTera has more events than NA, and while the majority of these are related to the cash shop (there's your usual jackpots, big spender bonuses and so on), Gameforge also made sure to invest in a decent amount of in-game events. There's usually something for everyone, which thus gives most players reason to log in.
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Star Traces: This is EU's weekend login event (permanent). The rewards have changed since it was introduced back in 2017, but you can still read how the event works by clicking [here].
Long story short, logging in 2x 5 hours during the weekend gets you a free 8-day 1.5 flying mount, some talents, as well as some other items based in your total login time during that weekend (e.g. 750 fashion coupons). You'll also earn tokens that can be used to 1) buy Inventory Expansions or 2) can be assembled into other tokens, which you can then either (2a) sell on broker for ~1k gold/u -or- (2b) use to assemble an RNG box which can potentially give something nice.
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Weekend Challenges: This is a frequently recurring mini-event, where you get awarded with items if you clear specific dungeons at least X amount of times within the event period. The dungeons and rewards vary per day, so just keep an eye on the website as everything is announced ahead of time there.
These usually take place on the weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun), but may also span across a larger period of time. When this event is active you'll see this cute Elin with the exclamation mark appear on your screen.
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League of Levelers: EUTera periodically organizes level-up events for new/returning players, or players wishing to try out a new class. These usually give out a free Twistshard Set upon reaching 64, and possibly also offer a number of other goodies down the road.
Trivia: Last year this event awarded a Frostmetal Set instead, and came bundled with an event server where you could level-up fast, hoard select stuff, and then freely transfer one character of choice to an existing server. The buddy-up tokens also offered different rewards than usual on this server. While this variation is probably kept for special occasions, a free Twistshard Set should still help you on your way.
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Custom Event Dungeons: Another thing on this region is that Gameforge sometimes tries their hand at making their own custom/event versions of (past) dungeons. At the time of writing there is a 10man version of Rift's Edge active, as well as a 5man HM equivalent (Rift's Edge: Extreme Excitement Edition). Since they are custom dungeons they may be bugged in some aspects (e.g. entries, incorrectly displayed ilvl reqs & rewards), but they are functional and rewarding.
My knowledge on EU's annual events (Halloween, Winter, etc.) is somewhat limited, but what I can say with certainty is that the Summer event has been way more rewarding than the NA equivalent could ever dream of being in recent years. Rootstock will also still appear frequently, and be around for a fair period of time. Finally, event rewards offered by both regions also tend to be a bit cheaper when it comes to tokens compared to NA (e.g. SS/SSH Diamonds cost 50 tokens on EU instead of 60 on NA).
Some possible rewards from EUTera's Summer Event (2018). Smart Box: Adventurer's Armor contains the respective FM piece.
(Right-click > View at full res)
Cash Shop & Economy
EU's version of EMP is TT (Tera Thalers). The smallest quantity you can buy them for is 50TT at €5 ($5.75). Compared to NA I feel EUs cash shop is a tad more expensive, but thanks to bonuses such as Happy Hours (see below) supply and demand are sort of balanced. There's also a decent amount of people selling TT in-game (rate is 1:700~800gold on Killian).
The economy may strike you as a somewhat inflated when it comes one aspect (e.g. costumes), but the rule of thumb is that this is usually counterbalanced by another aspect (e.g. cheaper talents/innerwears). Another example is the Bank Expansions: expensive, but balanced out by Inventory Expansions being obtainable for free via the weekend login event.
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Business Model: EUTera uses what I like to call a "Pay2(skip)Progress" model. Their main income seems to come from two types of loot boxes, Shimmering Jewel Boxes (gems) and Divine Support Boxes (enchanting mats), which in theory allow a player to jump straight to endgame gear while they are still in Stepstone Isle - the only limit is their wallet.
On the other hand, most of the game's costumes (including dyeable versions and also special emotes) can be purchased directly from the store. EUTera still has some RNG boxes (for e.g. dragons, a wheel of fortune), but it's nowhere near NA levels of gambling.
When buying costumes, make sure to select the version you want from the slider menu on the left.
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TERA Elite: Here known as Tera Club, it costs the same as on NA but strikes me as more beneficial. In addition to the usual bonuses you also get a 30d loot pet and 20x Strongbox Keys at the end of the month (which equals about 75~85k gold value if sold). The main thing that surprised me, however, is that EU's TERA Elite also provides a daily item that actually makes VO (Ghillieglade) relevant again. This item is used to open a box that drops inside the dungeon, which awards a guaranteed 40/10 talents as well as range of valuable extra rewards.
tl;dr More bang for your buck.
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Happy Hours: Charging TT on select Sundays will get you additional bonus TT. The bonus amounts vary from +20% up to +40% during rare occasions. Happy Hours will be announced on the website, and may also appear in the in-game chat (not sure).
QoL/Other Changes
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No Xigncode: Xigncode is forbidden under EU's recent GPDR (data protection) law, so it isn't used. Privacy concerns aside, this means that even those without high-end computers will be able to enjoy an at least somewhat better game performance.
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Sliders: Temporary sliders (-3/+3) are a thing here, and can be used on top of the regular (permanent) sliders, allowing you to go up to -/+6 on select costumes. Both sliders variants are mainly awarded by events, with the permanent being slightly more common.
- Faster news on upcoming content, more accurate patch notes, livestreams
Applying Codes
EU Codes can be redeemed via the in-game shop or the website. In-game, look for the TERA Shop icon on the menu bar:
Then click the three white bars found in the top right of the cash shop window > Redeem.
Parting Note
Matters such as the community, player attitudes etc. vary per server. Every game and server has good and bad people, vocal ones and less vocal ones. What you see on global may not always be what you get, be it for the better or worse, but I can with decent safety claim that most of the players on all servers have good intentions. What also wouldn't hurt bear in mind is that a simple "hi guys first time here, what should I do?" in dungeons is more efficient than staying silent and wiping, that elitism quickly becomes a thing once you venture beyond the 439 dungeons, and that the world is round.
