TERA Updates

I've pretty much been "Diablo'd out", so I've gone back to TERA. I'm still chugging along the lower levels, up to 38 now. Here are some thoughts, in no particular order.

• Sometimes the quest text can be very funny. There's a magic academy, a la Harry Potter, at some point, and bad magic has taken over. You have to go in and clean things up. Here's the turn in text for one of the early quests:

• Since the Lancer is a tank class, questing can be slow. However, I found a quick guide on the forums that has helped enormously. The basic steps, if any other Lancers are having difficulty:

1. Don't block unless you have to, which is pretty much only red flash attacks.
2. Use health regen and mana regen crystals.
3. Alternate between the Shield Barrage - Shield Barrage - Spring Attack combo and a basic Combo Attack.
4. Use Second Wind on cooldown to keep your health up.

• One of the things I really like about TERA is that there is a lot of zone chatter. For some reason, a lot of newer MMOs have felt extraordinarily quiet. I attribute it to the design of the chatbox, or something, but TERA seems to have that magic where people actually talk. Or maybe it's just because I'm on the RP server.

• There's even an LFG channel which has sort of morphed into a general chat channel simultaneously. But I don't seem to mind the chatter on the channel. It somehow has hit the right note between talkative and spammy. I think one of the reasons it works is that you can only send a message to the channel once every 60s. I think this prevents one or two individuals from dominating the channel, allows many people to chime in, and also reduces the total messages sent to that channel. I think this cooldown might even be a general quality-of-life improvement for any public chat channel.

• If you'd like to try out TERA, there seems to be two options:


1. Instant Demo - I have no idea how this works, but it's some sort of streaming demo which does not require a download. Some people say they have had good results, but you might need a higher quality internet connection.


2. Seven Day Trial - The standard download and play for seven days. I think you can get up to level 23, which is enough to do the first dungeon and the BAMs (Big Ass Monsters - monsters which require a group and have lots of special moves).

Both of these options are for the North American version of the game. The European version is run by a different company. (Frogster, I believe.) I've heard that the latency for Europe to NA is not that bad, at least for a trial. Of course, if you make characters on the NA servers during the trial, they won't exist if you sign up for the Euro version.

• Finally, the section you've all been waiting for: the latest Inappropriate Lancer Armour:




The one on the left is really terrible, but the one on the right is surprisingly not bad. Though maybe my standards have just been battered down.