Good morning, TERA Fans! Today we have part II of
Mr. Blue's address about changes being made to the Korean client based on feedback!
Though it's a little late, this is a great translation by
Meiellink and
Locien that we hope you'll find useful :D Of course, until our own western CMs tell us how these changes will effect our game version, keep in mind that we have no idea if we'll be seeing any or all of these changes.
Enjoy!
Q. The variety of equipment was lacking and it was hard to feel a difference between the different equipment slots. How will this be improved?
A. Among the things we plan on changing the most, items will be the biggest part.
First of all, we're going to divide equipment into four grades, make them more diverse and add more options which will make a noticeable impact in gameplay. We're also planning on making it so that you will be able to strengthen your equipment through a system which will give your equipment more latent effects. By frequently obtaining various equipment and strengthening them with crystals and synthesis according to your personal needs or liking we believe our aforementioned changes will make the equipment system more fun. Additionally, to make the acquisition of new items a bit more interesting we're adding two or so new equipment slots.
Q. Will the appearance of equipment be given more variation?
A. Since the development team has just been given more time to work on TERA, we're taking this opportunity to add new appearances to equipment and an option to change the color of it, thus strengthening the variety of looks in equipment. When this process is finalized we want everyone to be able to notice a difference when switching equipment.
So, compared to the third closed beta not only will there be a higher amount of equipment, their appearance will also change considerably.
Q. Even if you defeat named monsters (Special, named monsters), they pretty much drop the same items as regular monsters do. Do you plan on fixing this problem?
A. If you look at the answers to the aforementioned questions about items, some of this question should be answered already.
Since there weren't any grades and very few options in equipment during the third closed beta, the amount of different equipment dropping was also low. But in the next version of TERA if you hunt named monsters, you will be able to get rare high grade equipment with various different options from them. After finishing a difficult fight you should be able to acquire good items, therefore we are in the process of fine tuning the rewards of named monsters in hope that they will become more fun to hunt.
Q. Crafting was very difficult. Gathering material is also difficult, it takes a lot of time and the crafted items were not worth their time and effort.
A. Crafting is an important part of TERA's equipment system.
We're planning on making crafting more easily accessible to players, and make it so that the rewards will become better and better.
Additionally, we're going to make improvements such as random options being added to crafted items to making crafting more interesting.
Q. When buying items at the broker, it should be possible to buy an item even if the seller is offline.
A. In the third closed beta we excluded the ability to directly buy items intentionally, in order to test the haggling system. We tested the haggling system to see if players had any complaints, while implementing the ability to directly buy items. We plan on improving the haggling system to make it more convenient for high level players.
Q. The group recruiting bulletin boards were only found in villages and camps, which made it impossible to search for group members directly in a hunting area. Are you planning on adding additional methods to make this easier?
A. Group recruiting bulletin boards were split into single hunting zones, so you were only able to search for group members from the same region one you were in. To fix this problem we plan on integrating the group recruiting system into the system menu. From now on you will be able to search for group members without returning to a village or a camp, simply by using the system menu.
Q. Due to the large size of the world, traveling between hunting spots and villages was slow. Will you do anything to counter this problem?
A. As you progress in TERA, you will be able to start using high speed mounts at a certain level. Additionally, we have already implemented "Return Scrolls" which teleport you to the closest village, as well as "Town Return Scrolls" which teleport you to the closest town in order to make traveling faster and less problematic.
Q. The UI is awfully large, you can't adjust the position or the size which fills up the screen. Will it be possible to adjust it individually in the future?
A. As a lot of players have pointed this out we're planning on giving the UI a revamp. We will make it possible to change the size and position of the UI according to the player's taste.
Q. Very much content is shown in the chat window, conversation channels weren't properly differentiated, making it hard to read it.
A. We plan on not only changing the colors of the text in the chat window, but also strengthening the customization options for the chat window to make it easier to create chat windows with your own style. Especially by being able to click the name of a character in your window, showing the guild name, class, level as well as options to add them as friends, inviting them to your group or whispering them.
Q. For those of us who look forward to the endgame, what kind of things can we expect seeing?
A. When you reach the level cap your character won't gain any more levels, thus character growth stops. To make up for this you will be able to acquire strong gear which will not solely come from instanced dungeons or named monsters. TERA will feature TERA-specific gameplay aspects, and one of these will be the Political System which will let players form alliances fighting fiercely to become the rulers of the continents for honor and personal benefit. Detailed information about the Political System will be released at a later time.
I don't know if our proposals will satisfy you. Rest assured that the development team is listening to your ideas and issues that you've pointed out and are working on them to create a beautiful in-game world.
TERA is going forward. We're working very hard in order to make it worthwhile to all of you who believe in us and support us.