Tera Online News

Dev Blog Post: Race and Class Combinations
By Brian Knox, Senior Producer

I want to talk a bit about TERA's class and race combinations, something that's been a hot topic in our community and was recently discussed in Sam Kim's interview on Ten Ton Hammer and then again on TERACast. In the past we've said that we plan to have all classes available to all races, and this is certainly still our goal. However, like plans gone awry for a relaxing vacation, sometimes real life interferes with your ideal plans.

There are three forces at work here:

• Game Balance. Above all, we want to ensure that TERA provides a balanced experience, something I discussed in my post about classes and hitboxes. What’s more balanced than allowing every race to play every class?

• Race Differentiation. The flip side of the coin is what makes each race unique. Size, hitboxes, and animations provide some uniqueness, but so too does allowing each race its own individual set of classes it can play.

• Aesthetics. We want to give players as many options as possible, but there are story and lore reasons why a certain race may not be appropriate for a particular class. This is partially based on our continuing development of TERA's rich narrative backstory, partially because some combinations simply don’t make sense, and partially because the actual combinations (such as weapons and armor for some races) are very technically challenging to pull off in a convincing way. If you’re going to look at a character for hundreds of hours, we don’t want you thinking how goofy that character looks holding a massive sword.

We’re trying to find a way to make sure the game is balanced, the races feel distinctly different, and everything remains aesthetically pleasing. That might mean that not every race will be able to select every class in the final version of the game, but then again, it might. The fact of the matter is, we just don’t know yet. We’ll keep everyone posted on how this shapes up, but for now we’ll have to stick with a firm "maybe," and we certainly appreciate everyone’s patience as we move closer to TERA's launch.

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Feel free to discuss the news article in this thread!
-- Scapes

This is the third and final article in our series recapping what we learned from Focus Group Test 2. We’ve enjoyed sharing the feedback with everyone, and sincerely thank those of you who hopped on our forums to offer opinions on the subjects we raised in the first two articles: the gameplay experience and the Westernization process. This article covers an important and highly-anticipated —but oft-overlooked —part of the testing process: the technology behind the game!

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Technology

We’ve made references in the past to TERA’s minimum specs, and part of the great news from FGT2 is that the overwhelming majority of testers either had a rig to run TERA, or could find one to participate in the test. The general requirement to run TERA, at least in its current state, is a gaming rig made in the past four years. The test confirmed this and helped us take a peek at a few behind-the-scenes ways to optimize the code to make the experience better. TERA is a gorgeous game, thanks in no small part to the Unreal 3 engine and Bluehole Studio’s excellent artists, and we want as many people as possible to see just how amazing TERA looks.

For reference, the current system requirements are:
• Intel Core Duo 2 Processor (or equivalent) or better
• 2 GB of RAM or greater
• NVidia GeForce 7600 / ATI Radeon X1800 GTO (or equivalent) or better

We got a good deal of feedback on in-game voice chat as well. No huge surprise: voice chat is very important to TERA players. We polled focus group testers about third-party voice chat vendors, and they almost unanimously indicated that an in-game solution would be best, provided it outperforms currently available third-party voice chat solutions.

As a result we’re exploring options and deciding how to engineer a high-quality approach to TERA’s in-game voice chat. This will be an extremely important aspect of working together when your fingers are busy with TERA’s action combat, and unable to type messages!

Last, but certainly not least, we encouraged as many focus group testers as possible to try one of TERA’s best upcoming features: the use of a game controller. Controller support will be native to the release version of TERA, and quite a few testers gave it a whirl in FGT2 using free third-party programs. The consensus was positive: people found the controller provided an interesting experience, and most who tried it said they’d be willing to use one permanently—at least part of the time, swapping between the controller and the more traditional keyboard-and-mouse combination. The ability to remap the controller is critical to its success, as well as preset key combinations that players could switch between easily—e.g., for rapid reaction to PvP challenges.

As we move into potential future testing and the beta test phase of TERA’s development, we encourage everyone who has the opportunity to test the game to give the controller a spin—you may be surprised at how well it works with TERA’s action combat system.

That’s it for the feedback roundup from Focus Group Test #2! Join us on the TERA forums to voice your opinion about the game. We’d also like to thank our focus group testers one last time for all their excellent feedback and helping make TERA an amazing game!

Thanks!

- The TERA Team -

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We welcome your questions and comments in this thread. We ask that our Focus Group Testers be mindful of the non-disclosure agreement as it is still in effect.

SEATTLE, WA – June 10, 2010 – En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher focused on delivering highly anticipated online video games to Western audiences, announced today that it will present the first hands-on demo of its flagship Action MMO title, TERA™, at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. The hands-on demo will focus on TERA's groundbreaking action combat system, which allows players to step into a world where their actions, teamwork, and combat expertise—not statistics—give them a chance to become true heroes in the face of danger.

"At E3, people will have the chance to experience firsthand what makes TERA's gameplay so exciting," said En Masse CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. "Select media will form a party with varied roles and venture forth to experience their first battle using our innovative action/adventure style combat system. During the show, players will see how TERA is changing the rules of MMO combat."

TERA is an innovative Action MMORPG with rich graphics and animations where players fully control their characters through the game’s dynamic battle system. Player actions in TERA can change the balance of power in a world threatened by dark powers as six allied races work together to protect their world. The game, which is currently in development for PC, will launch in North America and Europe in 2011.

TERA will be available at E3 for hands-on play in the En Masse Entertainment booth (#537) in the South Hall during show hours on June 15–17, 2010.

Players can visit the official TERA website for game information, team updates, and to sign up for beta testing opportunities at: www.TERA-Online.com

Can’t make it to E3? Want a dose of TERA? You’re in luck!

Senior Producer Brian Knox will hold a special live Question and Answer session from the E3 convention floor for the TERA community (and anyone else who wants to know about our game!). While we can’t have people play the game from their homes yet, we want to give you guys the chance to ask Brian your TERA questions and get them answered in real-time!

• The Q&A will be held at 10:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM GMT on Wednesday, June 16!

• Brian will answer your questions on Twitter from our TERA account: @TERAOnline. So practice squeezing your questions into the 140-character size limit!

• You’ll need to join Twitter in order to ask Brian questions (it’s easy and free to do so). Please make sure your tweet contains the following:

1. @TERAOnline – Directs your question to our Twitter account.

2. Question text – What do you want to know?

3. #TERA hashtag – Lets others find your tweet.

Example Tweet: "@TERAOnline How many player classes does TERA have? #TERA"

• Brian may not be able to answer every question (and we reserve the right to ignore inappropriate ones) but he will do his best to answer as many as he can!

• We’ll take questions for about 20 minutes and we expect the interview to last a half-hour total. If we’ve got a big backlog of questions, we may continue to answer them after we’ve stopped taking new ones.

• If you can’t be online during the Q&A, we’ll post a transcript after the event.

If it turns out you’re going to be at E3 be sure to catch TERA at Booth 537 in the South Exhibit Hall.

See you on Twitter at 10:30 AM PT on Wednesday, June 16!

Can’t make it to E3? Want a dose of TERA? You’re in luck!

Senior Producer Brian Knox will hold a special live Question and Answer session from the E3 convention floor for the TERA community (and anyone else who wants to know about our game!). While we can’t have people play the game from their homes yet, we want to give you guys the chance to ask Brian your TERA questions and get them answered in real-time!

• The Q&A will be held at 10:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM GMT on Wednesday, June 16!

• Brian will answer your questions on Twitter from our TERA account: @TERAOnline. So practice squeezing your questions into the 140-character size limit!

• You’ll need to join Twitter in order to ask Brian questions (it’s easy and free to do so). Please make sure your tweet contains the following:

1. @TERAOnline – Directs your question to our Twitter account.

2. Question text – What do you want to know?

3. #TERA hashtag – Lets others find your tweet.

Example Tweet: "@TERAOnline How many player classes does TERA have? #TERA"

• Brian may not be able to answer every question (and we reserve the right to ignore inappropriate ones) but he will do his best to answer as many as he can!

• We’ll take questions for about 20 minutes and we expect the interview to last a half-hour total. If we’ve got a big backlog of questions, we may continue to answer them after we’ve stopped taking new ones.

• If you can’t be online during the Q&A, we’ll post a transcript after the event.

If it turns out you’re going to be at E3 be sure to catch TERA at Booth 537 in the South Exhibit Hall.

See you on Twitter at 10:30 AM PT on Wednesday, June 16!

Can’t make it to E3? Want a dose of TERA? You’re in luck!

Senior Producer Brian Knox will hold a special live Question and Answer session from the E3 convention floor for the TERA community (and anyone else who wants to know about our game!). While we can’t have people play the game from their homes yet, we want to give you guys the chance to ask Brian your TERA questions and get them answered in real-time!

• The Q&A will be held at 10:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM GMT on Wednesday, June 16!

• Brian will answer your questions on Twitter from our TERA account: @TERAOnline. So practice squeezing your questions into the 140-character size limit!

• You’ll need to join Twitter in order to ask Brian questions (it’s easy and free to do so). Please make sure your tweet contains the following:

1. @TERAOnline – Directs your question to our Twitter account.

2. Question text – What do you want to know?

3. #TERA hashtag – Lets others find your tweet.

Example Tweet: "@TERAOnline How many player classes does TERA have? #TERA"

• Brian may not be able to answer every question (and we reserve the right to ignore inappropriate ones) but he will do his best to answer as many as he can!

• We’ll take questions for about 20 minutes and we expect the interview to last a half-hour total. If we’ve got a big backlog of questions, we may continue to answer them after we’ve stopped taking new ones.

• If you can’t be online during the Q&A, we’ll post a transcript after the event.

If it turns out you’re going to be at E3 be sure to catch TERA at Booth 537 in the South Exhibit Hall.

See you on Twitter at 10:30 AM PT on Wednesday, June 16!

Question 1) In WoW, Hunters stood still to fire. In Aion, they were constantly on the move. Can you provide an outline as to how the Archers of Tera-Online will play?

Brian Knox: The archer is a very action-oriented class. It requires a player to aim attacks (place the crosshairs where you want the arrows to go), and also to evaluate the situation and think ahead. Higher level archers can leap backwards to create distance between themselves and a target, as well as lay traps for incoming foes.

Question 2) Recently there's been some information come out that a characters hit box will depend on their race - meaning smaller class, smaller hit box - but this will also be countered by the fact that larger classes will have a longer reach. If this is true (clarification would be wonderful), how does this affect Archers? Is this hit box issue mainly for melee classes, or does it affect ranged ones as well?

Brian Knox: Archer skills are more dependent on the distance to the target's hit box. It's critical that a group have a strategy to pin down a monster so the archer can maximize damage.

3) A downside to the bow and arrow class in other games is the constant need to refresh your arrow supply - thus making the class generally more expensive than others. Can you confirm that an Archer uses simply mana/energy to fire instead of physical arrows? And if so, will there be any other requirement/consumable required by Archers to do damage?


Brian Knox: Archers have a quickly regenerating pool of mana (MP) for both basic attacks and advanced skills, so there's no need to find and equip special arrows. That said, archers can customize their bows with different crystals according to their preferred style of play. In each battle, a player needs to weigh the pros and cons of using one of their big skills versus two or three basic attacks.

4) In previous games where the Hunter/Archer class has used arrows, they've been able to upgrade the level of the arrows used to further increase their damage output. Apart from the obvious (bow and armor upgrades, levels and skill increases), will there be any additional ways to boost damage done? (Not counting the Mark of Sagittarius)

Brian Knox: Some skills "charge up" while holding down the action button, increasing damage. To balance that out, however, those skills can be interrupted while charging. And like I said, players can also equip different crystals into their gear, as well as use charms, potions, and enchantments to increase their damage.

5) If Archers are to be more mobile with their fighting style, will there be any penalty for moving backwards while in combat? Aion for example had damage increases for moving forward and a penalty for moving backwards--will Archers in Tera suffer similar adjustments?

Brian Knox: Archers try and keep a good distance between themselves and their foes, because they do stand in one place to fire. But this is not a penalty in any way. The archer learns two important skills before any others: The first, simply named Arrow, provides a quick single-target attack that's continuous while holding down the action button. The second, Arrow Volley, allows archers to "lock on" to multiple targets while moving, then attack them all at the same time. Even at low levels, these two skills are really effective in combat.

Astute players might note that these skills were previously called "Normal Shot" and "Multi-Shot." The new names are an example of some of the changes we're making in TERA's ongoing Westernization process. In the future, many skills will get similar "makeovers."

6) With the aim-and-fire aspect of combat, how important will line-of-sight be? For example, in instances where you are surrounded by your group members, do the arrows simply pass through any fellow group member to the creature in front? And how does this work with multi-mob pulls? How do you make sure you're not hitting something you shouldn't be if they are all packed together?

Brian Knox: It helps if you don't think of it as an arrow, but instead as an attack. Just like any other class, the attack hits the first enemy in range. A powerful attack meant for a big boss could hit a minion instead if not lined up just right, or if the berserker you're depending on to pin down your target knocks something else into the line of fire.

Combat in TERA involves moving yourself to where you'll do the most damage, no matter which class you're playing. Berserkers want opponents flat on their backs; lancers want them lined up like target practice. Archers want their foes far enough away so they can get the next shot off, but close enough that both skills will hit.

7) What types of Armor will be available to Archers? And will it be level dependent (ie we start off with leather and upgrade to chain later on) or will simply be one type and one type only? I assume multiple classes can wear the same types (for example Beserkers and Lancers both wear mail), so will it be easy to determine which class a piece is better suited to? Or will we be fighting to the death over each drop?

Brian Knox: Archers use the same type of armor (leather) as warriors and slayers, but that's okay. There's lots of it, and it's easy to get. Crafting, quest rewards, monster drops—and don't forget that all characters on your account share a bank vault. If you find a piece of armor while playing your sorcerer, you can store it for your archer to use later.

8) And lastly, does any particular statistic directly effect the damage output of an Archer? For example, in WoW, if you increased your Agility as a Hunter, it directly increased your base damage. Will Archers be on the look out for any particular stats?

Brian Knox: Archers will want to increase both their critical and attack stats to maximize damage on all their shots. By design, TERA has a lot of RPG elements, but a lot more action than anything else! We're not trying to overload players with stats—they'll determine the outcome of fights with their actions rather than a calculator.

9) From a fellow Archer (@malagaj on Twitter), how are you planning to balance Archers with regards to our damage output and armor/hitpoints. Some have read that we not only come with excellent damage output, but also boast a high armor rating, is this true? Or do we sacrifice one for the other?

Brian Knox: In a target-based game, "bow fighters" can to be hard to balance. But in TERA, a player's skill is every bit as important as which weapon their character uses. Whether it's an archer aiming a Radiant Shot or the warrior picking when (and where) to start her Rain of Blows, the action is more organic than organized. You can have classes with higher damage and more defense because the user's skill of aiming and dodging out of the way contributes so much more to the outcome.

Question 1) In WoW, Hunters stood still to fire. In Aion, they were constantly on the move. Can you provide an outline as to how the Archers of Tera-Online will play?

Brian Knox: The archer is a very action-oriented class. It requires a player to aim attacks (place the crosshairs where you want the arrows to go), and also to evaluate the situation and think ahead. Higher level archers can leap backwards to create distance between themselves and a target, as well as lay traps for incoming foes.

Question 2) Recently there's been some information come out that a characters hit box will depend on their race - meaning smaller class, smaller hit box - but this will also be countered by the fact that larger classes will have a longer reach. If this is true (clarification would be wonderful), how does this affect Archers? Is this hit box issue mainly for melee classes, or does it affect ranged ones as well?

Brian Knox: Archer skills are more dependent on the distance to the target's hit box. It's critical that a group have a strategy to pin down a monster so the archer can maximize damage.

3) A downside to the bow and arrow class in other games is the constant need to refresh your arrow supply - thus making the class generally more expensive than others. Can you confirm that an Archer uses simply mana/energy to fire instead of physical arrows? And if so, will there be any other requirement/consumable required by Archers to do damage?


Brian Knox: Archers have a quickly regenerating pool of mana (MP) for both basic attacks and advanced skills, so there's no need to find and equip special arrows. That said, archers can customize their bows with different crystals according to their preferred style of play. In each battle, a player needs to weigh the pros and cons of using one of their big skills versus two or three basic attacks.

4) In previous games where the Hunter/Archer class has used arrows, they've been able to upgrade the level of the arrows used to further increase their damage output. Apart from the obvious (bow and armor upgrades, levels and skill increases), will there be any additional ways to boost damage done? (Not counting the Mark of Sagittarius)

Brian Knox: Some skills "charge up" while holding down the action button, increasing damage. To balance that out, however, those skills can be interrupted while charging. And like I said, players can also equip different crystals into their gear, as well as use charms, potions, and enchantments to increase their damage.

5) If Archers are to be more mobile with their fighting style, will there be any penalty for moving backwards while in combat? Aion for example had damage increases for moving forward and a penalty for moving backwards--will Archers in Tera suffer similar adjustments?

Brian Knox: Archers try and keep a good distance between themselves and their foes, because they do stand in one place to fire. But this is not a penalty in any way. The archer learns two important skills before any others: The first, simply named Arrow, provides a quick single-target attack that's continuous while holding down the action button. The second, Arrow Volley, allows archers to "lock on" to multiple targets while moving, then attack them all at the same time. Even at low levels, these two skills are really effective in combat.

Astute players might note that these skills were previously called "Normal Shot" and "Multi-Shot." The new names are an example of some of the changes we're making in TERA's ongoing Westernization process. In the future, many skills will get similar "makeovers."

6) With the aim-and-fire aspect of combat, how important will line-of-sight be? For example, in instances where you are surrounded by your group members, do the arrows simply pass through any fellow group member to the creature in front? And how does this work with multi-mob pulls? How do you make sure you're not hitting something you shouldn't be if they are all packed together?

Brian Knox: It helps if you don't think of it as an arrow, but instead as an attack. Just like any other class, the attack hits the first enemy in range. A powerful attack meant for a big boss could hit a minion instead if not lined up just right, or if the berserker you're depending on to pin down your target knocks something else into the line of fire.

Combat in TERA involves moving yourself to where you'll do the most damage, no matter which class you're playing. Berserkers want opponents flat on their backs; lancers want them lined up like target practice. Archers want their foes far enough away so they can get the next shot off, but close enough that both skills will hit.

7) What types of Armor will be available to Archers? And will it be level dependent (ie we start off with leather and upgrade to chain later on) or will simply be one type and one type only? I assume multiple classes can wear the same types (for example Beserkers and Lancers both wear mail), so will it be easy to determine which class a piece is better suited to? Or will we be fighting to the death over each drop?

Brian Knox: Archers use the same type of armor (leather) as warriors and slayers, but that's okay. There's lots of it, and it's easy to get. Crafting, quest rewards, monster drops—and don't forget that all characters on your account share a bank vault. If you find a piece of armor while playing your sorcerer, you can store it for your archer to use later.

8) And lastly, does any particular statistic directly effect the damage output of an Archer? For example, in WoW, if you increased your Agility as a Hunter, it directly increased your base damage. Will Archers be on the look out for any particular stats?

Brian Knox: Archers will want to increase both their critical and attack stats to maximize damage on all their shots. By design, TERA has a lot of RPG elements, but a lot more action than anything else! We're not trying to overload players with stats—they'll determine the outcome of fights with their actions rather than a calculator.

9) From a fellow Archer (@malagaj on Twitter), how are you planning to balance Archers with regards to our damage output and armor/hitpoints. Some have read that we not only come with excellent damage output, but also boast a high armor rating, is this true? Or do we sacrifice one for the other?

Brian Knox: In a target-based game, "bow fighters" can to be hard to balance. But in TERA, a player's skill is every bit as important as which weapon their character uses. Whether it's an archer aiming a Radiant Shot or the warrior picking when (and where) to start her Rain of Blows, the action is more organic than organized. You can have classes with higher damage and more defense because the user's skill of aiming and dodging out of the way contributes so much more to the outcome.

TERAHispano.com has published a brief walkthrough of TERA as experienced during Focus Group Test 2. Titled "Road to Velika", the article takes the reader through the new character experience starting with the Island of Dawn and ending at the first major city, Velika.

Read the full article on TERAHispano.com. Keep an eye out for Set 3 of Screenshots of the Week which will feature the city of Velika and its neighboring towns.