Tera Online News

The Devs really know how to organize an event. They know who their community is; first official event I've ever seen hosted at a full bar. The Gamers have grown up, the Polls about the age groups did not lie. On a side note this was the first gaming company I've seen that did not go light on the catering at their event, most don't even have catering. And by the way, no joke, drinks were on the House! The walls were awash in TERA, game content was playing on all of the screens.

They had the works: piles of hawaiian barbeque kebabs steaming in enclosed food warmers with great sauce, quality sliders, and they had some other wraps that you could make, I didn't try the wraps as I'm not really a big eater.

It's not every day you find yourself having shots with the PR guys and the Community Managers. I have to say the setting for this event was very different and quite frankly made me feel at home. It was like we were drinking beers and downing shots with friends, playing our favorite MMO. And thats what I look forward to.

They shared quite a bit of info on character creation, character customization, achievements, glyphs, and more. We also got to see the latest UI for the game. Hopefully they will post it up for you guys or share it with a site like terablah. I was concerned that the UI would feel detached from the game but it feels natural. It was reassuring when I saw that you could do what you wanted with the UI.

The most recently updated player models were a fair bit richer in detail than the models that are shown on the fan sites. The Human Males in particular look a lot better then I thought they did in the past. Which is a good thing for me, I had planned on playing one and still do. They could have been running it with higher specs then wherever the models on the fansites came from. But the graphics in action did not disappoint.

Very impressed with the effort put forward by the PR team and the Community Managers, Scapes is a great guy, glad I got to meet him and the rest of the guys. Even the CEO was present. The dedication and support shown by this company is very apparent. I didn't win a prize from the drawing but we all walked away with some Tera T-shirts and posters. Thanks guys.

Hello TERA Community,

Before I start to talk about the topic of this letter, I would like to say “thank you” to every fan who is already active in this forum. Everybody here at Bluehole, Frogster and En Masse knows that the community is the heart of an MMO.

For TERA, En Masse will take care of the North-American community and Frogster will concentrate on Europe to prepare everything for a great gaming experience in an English, French and German version. Our combined goal is to support all TERA fans in the best possible way, because triple-A games deserve triple-A services, and that is what we all want to achieve.

After we finished reading all the new threads concerning the partnership between Bluehole and Frogster, we saw that there are many open questions, so we discussed everything within the last days and I would like to start answering some of the topics now and continue within the next days.

1. Free-to-Play or Pay-to-Play
We will publish TERA in Europe in a pay-to-play model. TERA is designed for a subscription model, so the game will be operated as a pay-to-play MMO all over the world. So no one needs to be concerned that TERA will be a free-to-play game in Europe.

2. Questions about possible censorship / PEGI +13 / USK 12+
It’s not our goal to cut or reduce the TERA experience in Germany or any other country where Frogster holds the rights to publish TERA. We won't censor something if we are allowed to keep it in. We love TERA just the way it is, just like you do. We don’t want to change a single pixel of this great game. But I am sure you can understand that we have to stick to the existing law in Germany and other European countries like any other publisher. We will keep you updated on this topic, but so far we believe that nothing has to be changed for Europe.

3. Questions about servers for TERA in Europe
We are working closely with the developers at Bluehole Studio on this matter. This includes specific details about the best possible server hardware for TERA in the EU. Both Bluehole and Frogster want to be sure to offer servers that deliver the best performance for the players in Europe, while En Masse is taking care of this in the US. As the combat system is based on manual evade and targeting, it is really important to choose high-end hardware in order to secure a fun and stable playtime for all customers of TERA in EU, US and the territories covered by the other partners of Bluehole. This is one of the most important parts of the contract between Bluehole and Frogster, so you don’t need to worry about receiving less powerful hardware than US players.

4. Questions about our Support Team for TERA
There will be a special 24/7 professional support team. This team will be in place just for TERA players and no other Frogster games. I really think that a triple-A title like TERA needs not only fantastic graphics and superior gameplay, it also needs the best possible Costumer Support and Community Management available. That is the reason why we will create a complete team separate from all other products in order to have many dedicated specialists available who work only on providing the best English, French and German support to TERA customers. To achieve this, we’ll continue to hire new and experienced staff.

5. Questions about Community Management and information to the players
We know that it is very common for some publishers to deliver information, patches and other stuff for each territory on different dates. Bluehole, En Masse and Frogster already agreed that we will post everything on the same day, providing all users with the same information and the same game versions.
So let me tell you, we are all looking forward to bringing you the best service possible for TERA. You’ll be supported by a team who will be responsible only for you, the TERA community in Europe.

Thank you again, and stay tuned for more information.

By the way, in August there is one of the largest gaming conventions in Europe, Gamescom, so we invite everyone to visit the TERA booth and talk with us if you still have open questions. We’re looking forward to showing TERA to the world and the European player base and answering all your questions.


Kind regards,

Daniel Ullrich
Director Product Management
Frogster Online Gaming

This past week, TERA received an editorial nomination for GameSpot's Best Massively Multiplayer Game of E3 2010 award. You can now vote for TERA as the Reader's Choice for the same award. Be sure to cast your vote before the July 9th deadline! Visit the nominee page on GameSpot.com and click the "Vote" button!

Interested in spreading the word and a chance to win a TERA messenger bag? Check out our Twitter account, @TERAOnline, for the latest retweet event!
-- Scapes