TERA Online (Now Free to Play) - Catch All

I think the group stuff really starts at Secret Base (which I've still yet to complete.) which are level 21 quests.

My char is at level 24 now but I'm stopping there and let everyone catch up as that'll be the char I'm using for the static group.

zeroKFE wrote:

This game's combat is super fun in a group, so I'd be very happy just doing group questing if people don't want to level that far for the first meeting

Group questing is definitely a good time and it seems they give a pretty nice xp boost for grouping as well. They went a long way to make it group friendly. Collection quests AND gathering nodes can both be shared among group members as long as everyone begins interacting ("F" key) with it before it finishes.

Played my mystic and covered a lot of content. Really enjoying some of the scenery. Did not mess with crafting much (banked my mats for later use). Did get to run both dungeons a few times and enjoyed them. Felt about 20-30 min per run which is a good time. Ran with some premade groups and ran some using the dungeon finder. Worked pretty well.

BAM hunting in groups is quite fun. I did solo some BAMs, but the time investment required for a mystic to burn down a BAM is just not worth it. Much more fun in groups.
I love that I can change channels on the fly as well. That allowed me to go to a low population channel to kill a named mob or loot some items that were being farmed.

I haven't chosen a character for the static group yet, so I am quite behind the curve. I also don't want to take anyone's spot for the static group. Do we have a headcount of interested people and their chosen class (beyond Zero's archer)? If I am needed, I am in. I don't mind rolling Lancer if there is no tank.

Collection quests AND gathering nodes can both be shared among group members as long as everyone begins interacting ("F" key) with it before it finishes.

Yeah, thankfully I discovered that very early on -- that's a VERY nice quality of life feature.

I haven't chosen a character for the static group yet, so I am quite behind the curve. I also don't want to take anyone's spot for the static group. Do we have a headcount of interested people and their chosen class (beyond Zero's archer)? If I am needed, I am in. I don't mind rolling Lancer if there is no tank.

Actually, you may not be as behind as you think -- I'm not sure Zenke had a chance to play this weekend, since on Sunday at least his priest still seemed to be level 1 (at least as far as the friends list told me). That's part of why I suggested we might just start with low level group questing the first week. If that's the case I'll probably run a melee DPS class until we catch up with my hunter (er, archer :P).

Dumb question, that I should have asked earlier: I thought this open beta stuff was still to be deleted when the game goes live?

I've liked what I've played in past events, so I just wanted to save my enthusiasm for launch/pre-play for purchasers. That's this Saturday, yeah?

Basically I wasn't going to start caring about Tera-Hack until he wasn't going to get deleted.

If that's not the case I have no problem buckling down to start leveling.

They wanted to give pre-order people a "bonus"
Basically, anyone that preorders gets to keep their open beta character/stats/etc in tact for launch. The cap for the open beta was 32 and you were allowed one character per server.
If you preordered, there is no character wipe. When the head start begins Saturday the 28th the cap will be raised to 38 and you will be allowed 8 characters per server.
That will run until May 1rst when the game launches and characters will be allowed to continue on to max level.

The open beta characters (the ones made during early character creation) will actually carry over -- the last character wipe was at the end of the last closed beta. The only restriction this weekend was that you could only have one character per server.

I can totally sympathize though -- that's why I didn't play anything past level 10 or so in the closed betas.

In any case, though, no real sweat. As Bean and I were saying, group questing is great fun even at low levels, so if it makes sense to not push all the way to 18 or so (where the content specifically designed for groups starts), no big whup -- especially considering that Bean hasn't started his static group character and I'm happy to run another one until we catch up to mine.

Have spun up a couple of characters on various servers, not sure whether the game will stick and with which group of friends

Parked my lancer (Shyn) at the tainted gorge camp in case folks are in need of a helpful walking mountain, you know, one that carries a barn door and likes to poke things with a long sharp stick; from what I've seen across all the servers, tanks seem to somewhat of a rarity.

Well poop.

Okay, well. I like Zero's suggestion, which I will now do in bold print like a boss:

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE TERA STATIC GROUP, PLEASE REACH A MINIMUM LEVEL OF 18 BY TUESDAY, MAY 8TH.

This allows folks to level after the official launch date, doesn't presume pre-orders, and gets everyone into a good spot to do the first 'real' group content up through the first dungeon (Bastion at level 20).

Does that sound like a plan?

Michael Zenke wrote:

Does that sound like a plan?

Sounds good, but maybe we could throw in some group questing the week before? Maybe meet up at level 3 or 4 at the Tower Base on May 1st (or maybe some time over the weekend, even)?

(I suggest this because my wife planned a surprise vacation for us taking me out of town on Tuesday the 15th, so I'd love to get some extra group time before I have to miss a week. )

ShynDarkly, are you part of the static group running on Tuesday nights? I see you have a lancer and I don't want to roll one if you're planning on using lancer and committing to the static group. Let me know.

Right now, Im leaning towards tanking (Lancer or Warrior). If Shyn wants the tank role for the group, I may either dabble with DPS warrior or a Beserker. Once servers open on Saturday I will create him. So ideally, I'll need to know what role I'll be filling by Friday. Keep me posted Shyn!!

DPS warrior

Just what differentiates DPS warrior from tank warrior in this game? Glyph choices, I guess? Having just hit 20 on my sorcerer about 5 minutes before stopping playing for the weekend I didn't really get to look at how that system works at all, so I'm not sure how big a difference it could potentially make.

Also, I saw people in chat saying something like warriors couldn't queue in LFG as tanks. Quite likely they were just trolling, but does anyone know if this was the case or not? I was probably going to make my melee alt be a warrior due the supposed flexibility there, but if you can't queue in either role, well, maybe not.

I believe all this talk of play and levelling is moot until friday - the servers are shut off until then.

I just hit 18 on my slayer at the areas that start south of Crescentia, so I'm pretty much ready to go for when we start grouping.

Bean wrote:

ShynDarkly, are you part of the static group running on Tuesday nights? I see you have a lancer and I don't want to roll one if you're planning on using lancer and committing to the static group. Let me know.

Right now, Im leaning towards tanking (Lancer or Warrior). If Shyn wants the tank role for the group, I may either dabble with DPS warrior or a Beserker. Once servers open on Saturday I will create him. So ideally, I'll need to know what role I'll be filling by Friday. Keep me posted Shyn!!

Not sure whether you've tried the Lancer before or not, but if you're feeling tanky and are committed to the static, go for it; I'll likely be parallel and available as a fill-in, matching levels with folks until things settle and I see if my wife and her friends stick with the game. I'll be around on Saturday, so either bounce me a tell in game (if I'm not on Shyn, drop him a mail) or on here if you decide you don't like the Lancer for any reason

Regarding glyphs, while trying to answer my own question I found this calculator. Could be helpful.

http://www.teraguru.ru/glyphcalc.html

zeroKFE wrote:
DPS warrior

Just what differentiates DPS warrior from tank warrior in this game? Glyph choices, I guess? Having just hit 20 on my sorcerer about 5 minutes before stopping playing for the weekend I didn't really get to look at how that system works at all, so I'm not sure how big a difference it could potentially make.

Also, I saw people in chat saying something like warriors couldn't queue in LFG as tanks. Quite likely they were just trolling, but does anyone know if this was the case or not? I was probably going to make my melee alt be a warrior due the supposed flexibility there, but if you can't queue in either role, well, maybe not.

I tried briefly tanking as a warrior, and while you have some great skills for getting and holding aggro, what you don't have is solid armor or the ability to carry shields; closest I can think in past games to the TERA's warrior is either LoTRO's warden or maybe a DPS rogue in WoW. So if you're willing to dance, dodge a fair bit, and be willing to glyph for HP and temporary shields, its doable if you've got a solid healer on you and you don't mind them cussing about what you cost them in MP pots

Lancers have it a easier, lot more armor, but nothing like the agility or abilities to dodge. Beserkers are the mid-ground, wearing the same armor as the lancers, no shield, but some 2H blocking with their weapon and dodging.

EDIT: Should add, warriors are great offtanks, and great for folks who are more aware of what's going on overall and who can jump in and take aggro off something squishier when needed. Also of note with the lancers is that with their shield skills (bash, barrage etc), they not only shield themselves from damage, but if they position things correctly also protect anyone behind their hitbox from a fair amount of AE damage too.

What are these glyphs everyone speaks of? Can't believe I'm level 24 and haven't looked into these yet.

And how do I get into this "bastion" dungeon? Never saw it on my quest list.

On the subject of warriors, they're not really tanks so much as distractions to take heat off squishies, as some people have already stated. Tanks = soak up damage, warriors = avoid damage. I think the warriors primary focus in groups should be DPS and status effects.

What are these glyphs everyone speaks of? Can't believe I'm level 24 and haven't looked into these yet.

This game's version of talents, essentially. If you head back to Velika you will find vendors next to the trainers who sell them. More than that I couldn't say much, since I haven't done it yet myself.

zeroKFE wrote:

Also, I saw people in chat saying something like warriors couldn't queue in LFG as tanks. Quite likely they were just trolling, but does anyone know if this was the case or not? I was probably going to make my melee alt be a warrior due the supposed flexibility there, but if you can't queue in either role, well, maybe not.

It is all about stance and glyphs. You an avoidance tank and a damn good one but keep in mind your avoidance is all manual. All of your attacks lend to straffing as they move you the direction you are swinging.

And it is accurate you can not queue as a tank in the LFG system, that has been a problem since Ktera and no one has fixed yet.

Good ol google.

http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/d...

I guess it comes after Secret Base quests.

Killtrash still playing?

We might need another thread where first poster can keep us updated on available players/scheduling for the static group.

kilanash wrote:

I believe all this talk of play and levelling is moot until friday - the servers are shut off until then

Advance notice helps those of us who aren't available to check forums due to work schedule. Or say, one who is spending quality time with the wife so they can have the rest of the weekend free for all things Tera! I was also interested in getting a headcount, since I don't think anyone really knows how many people are interested in this static group yet. In an ideal situation, we would attempt to avoid duplicate classes as well.

Shazam wrote:

Killtrash still playing?
We might need another thread where first poster can keep us updated on available players/scheduling for the static group.

Hack seems to have taken the initiative on this, maybe he should start up a thread to discuss the static group and leave talks of game discussion in this thread?

ShynDarkly wrote:

Not sure whether you've tried the Lancer before or not, but if you're feeling tanky and are committed to the static, go for it; I'll likely be parallel and available as a fill-in, matching levels with folks until things settle and I see if my wife and her friends stick with the game. I'll be around on Saturday, so either bounce me a tell in game (if I'm not on Shyn, drop him a mail) or on here if you decide you don't like the Lancer for any reason :)

I typically gravitate towards tanking classes in most MMOs for some reason, but I don't mind swapping it up if you're happy to tank with your lancer. If you can be there on Tuesdays to tank, I say go for it and I can find something else to work with. I am flexible on the matter so will defer to your choice since you already have a character in the range to tank the first instance.

That open beta ended, eh? I wanted to see if it'd run for me.

I guess I'll have to wait for a trial.

Good idea, Bean.

TERA Static Group Thread

Sel, Shazam, Shyn, go sign up in there so we can count heads.

Shazam wrote:

Killtrash still playing?

We might need another thread where first poster can keep us updated on available players/scheduling for the static group.

I am, but I don't think I will be able to participate in a static group though, since I'll be playing on weird hours until mid-July. Like I posted on the other thread, I have a 23 Slayer and I'll gladly slay stuff for you if you need my help on that level range.

If you want we can just rename this thread something else and make the other Zenke created as the main one if you prefer. Or leave it as is and I can update the first post with any necessary info.

If you want we can just rename this thread something else and make the other Zenke created as the main one if you prefer. Or leave it as is and I can update the first post with any necessary info.

I think the only missing information is that there is a GWJ guild on Dragonfall called "Hookers and Blackjack." Folks can either look for me (Zero.Anne), Kilanash (Selitha), or Shazam (Blades) online and ask for an invite, or just use the "guild list" feature in the social tab to find it and apply -- as long as they include their GWJ forum name in the application note, I'll add them the next time I log on. I'm trying to give as many people as possible the ability to issue invites, but those are the only names I remember at the moment.

I updated the OP with Guild info, Static Group thread link, Launch info and some other stuff.

OP wrote:

So, what is TERA?
TERA is a Korean ACTION MMO and what makes it different from our regular MMOs is that combat is similar to something like Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star Online or even DCUO. So there's no targeting and casting spells/abilities like other MMOs. You are actively dodging attacks, aiming spells, etc.

Hrm, action rpg? Really? For those who have tried it... is it legitimately actiony like PSO?

Hrm, action rpg? Really? For those who have tried it... is it legitimately actiony like PSO?

I'd say it's more of a hybrid of an action RPG (think Vindictus) and WoW.

You still have skill cooldowns and limited dodge/block abilities depending on class such that pure skill alone won't allow you to negate all incoming damage. Your character also moves slowly so it's not always easy to dodge. Theoretically it's possible to take out bosses and such on your own but you'd have to be 100% perfect and expect to fight for a long, long time.

So basically player dexterity and skill does matter but it's certainly not a precision based action game like Ninja Gaiden.

Hrm, action rpg? Really? For those who have tried it... is it legitimately actiony like PSO?

Been a long time since I played a PSO game, but it's probably somewhere between that and a standard MMO.

The biggest difference from a normal MMO is that abilities are targeted via targeting reticules and (with the exception of a few "lock on" abilities) hit or miss via hit box based hit detection -- although it is worth noting that the hit boxes are pretty generous. Also, while abilities have cooldowns, at least as far as I can tell there is no global cooldown, but rather an animation based system of determining when you are able to fire off another ability (or if there is a global cooldown, it is hidden underneath animation recovery periods). As a result of these two things, you certainly have to think about ability usage as you would in a more pure action game -- i.e., not just in terms of DPS and resource management, but also in terms of opportunity costs related to positioning, recovery time, and enemy attack avoidance.

Anyway, while it is maybe more of a hybrid between action and standard MMO gameplay than the marketing of the game implies, it's certainly different enough to be very fun (especially in groups), and combined with some truly gorgeous art direction (issues of questionable portrayals of females aside) the game has a lot going for it that makes for a fun world exploration experience.

I have 3 codes for free access to the headstart. Send me a message if you want one.