Tera Online News

TERA Fans translator Kalsteine found an interesting article on Korean gaming site This Is Game yesterday! The article centers around an interview with two Korean TERA players, a Lancer and a Warrior as they discuss the differences and troubles both classes have in terms of tanking.

Fans of the game often wonder about Warriors and Lancers and how they compare, so this interview should lend some insight on that topic. Currently the overall feeling is that Lancers have threat trouble while warriors are too squishy and hard to control.

You can check out the full interview below. Enjoy!







Will Lancers forever be the tank of choice for dungeons? Or will Warriors take their crown? Last January, with a flow of buffs to the Warrior class and constant nerfs to the Lancer class, the tides have turned. Lancers all over TERA are crying due to extreme nerfs, complaining that it is difficult to keep aggro. Warriors have begun to be called “Dust Bunnies” because of their squishy nature and the fact that they must hop around from side to side.

Lancers who can’t keep aggro and Warriors who aren't chosen for groups despite their skill and mob control; both are tanks with completely different playstyles. Here's their story.

Please introduce yourselves!
Lancer: I’m “SwordKing” from the Arun server, level 50 Lancer of course. Currently the guildmaster of SPARTA. I’ve always preferred the sword and board classes so I’ve played Lancer through Korean CBT to US FGT.

Warrior: I’m “Kremulin” from the Essenia server and a level 50 Warrior. I first started TERA in the beginning of the OBT, currently I keep my brother (Lancer) as a off tank and take the role as the Main tank.

^Look how reliable they look!

Could you tell us a bit about the different tanking styles and what you both bring to parties?

Lancer: Generally, Lancer tanking consists of taunts and guards. Nowadays you have to mix in attacks to keep aggro, before you could just taunt and block to keep aggro, then taunt again to simply gain more aggro. When we are short on DPS I tend to unload all my offensive skills to help the DPS.

The pros of having a Lancer as your tank would be the high survivability and stability. With Lancer’s AOE taunt and Guard skill you can safely advance forth the dungeon and because of that every class can do their role without too much trouble.

The only con right now is due to a stealth nerf to Lancer aggro, causing aggro to be lost too easily. With a single heal spell a mob may lose aggro on me and run towards the healer.

Warrior: Warriors are evasion tanks. A pros for the Warrior tank would be that they don't lose aggro from heals because of their high dps which helps sustain aggro. However, because they have to evade left and right, the formation can become unstable and can endanger your party member at times.

Let me tell you how Warrior tanking has changed recently. Before life leech was nerfed, we were able to form a party with PURE dps and could have an extremely DPS intensive group, because life leech alone was enough to keep the warrior alive with the combination of the evasion. Because of that after hitting max level I would 1/2 man dungeons to clear and hog all the loot. Due to the insanely amazing stats on the items all Warrior items were up to 4 times as expensive compared to other class items.

However once release came and with the 0.1% life leech nerf, many Warriors have quit the class. Ever since, even if you kept playing, you were almost never the main tank and just simply a backup for the Lancer.

The recent patch made tanking really convenient for us. Shadow Clone's cooldown was reduced so after handing over all my aggro to my summoned shadow and during the clone stays up I can dish out crazy DPS with me and my party, resulting in a much faster clear time compared to Lancers.


What do you feel are the pros and cons of each class?

Lancer: I always liked the image the Lancer gave out. ‘Leader in combat’ and what not? Center of the party and a dependable Father who will always be able to protect you, I think that is the charm I find in lancers.

There are a few things I find very inconvenient, first thing is the aggro management. Because of the stealth nerf, it is very difficult to lead and keep aggro at the same time. If they would bring it back to where it was before I think that would help a lot of lancers.

Secondly their movement speed is WAY too slow in combat. Let me give you an example, the first boss in Gold Labrynth is a Kuma. The Kuma does a jumping smash attack and it is too strong for a Lancer to withstand because the damage goes through our shield. So in order to avoid that I have to move out of the way, but as a Lancer that is really hard. Also this movement gets in the way during PVP and PK so it is always an issue.

Lancers do have the skill to hook an enemy and bring them to you but because of the non-targeting aspect of the game it is almost useless to players that are above average speed. Other than that, I am satisfied with Lancers.

Warrior: Hm… one thing I love about being a warrior is that moment when you dodge an elite or a boss’s strongest attack, the thrills I get when I successfully dodge is almost addictive. Compared to when I play other classes, I happen to be more focused when I play my warrior and also you can enjoy the flashy attacks. Once you get the attack speed buffed items and Glyph options, it is a whole new experience as a Warrior. The attacks are so fast; I can barely see my blades!

Even with all the lovable things about the Warrior and the official page’s character difficulty of 2 Stars out of 5, the Warrior requires a lot of control. Most were baited with the label of “character that is easy to control” and I think the biggest con of this class is that the class is actually not so easy.

One mistake and you can be dead on the floor and not only that without the insanely good controls they are definitely not as efficient as Lancers. Also because of the constant treatment of “Warriors are useless” many people still hold that thought and don’t like to put us in the party. One of the articles even said “If you don’t like to be treated like a peasant, don’t roll warrior.”

So before I start the dungeon run I always say “I am Kremulin, the one that will guarantee your safety. I even have a Lancer as an off tank to assist me so as a Main tank I will do my very best so please just watch how I do before you decide.” And thankfully after that not a single party I formed were disbanded ^^.



What are some of the stresses you feel during solo and party play?

Lancer: I am satisfied with soloing. I think because of our role as a main defender in a party it would be wrong for us to have good damage output as well. It is like giving Warriors good defense, just won’t work.

Currently, the problem with party play is as mentioned above, the aggro management. I think the Lancer’s main role is definitely keeping his/her party safe from all harm’s way so not being able to do that is kind of frustrating.

Warrior: I solo a lot. It can be challenging and difficult but I can always handle a 1 vs 1 situation.

However when there is a battle of the masses going on, no matter if you are lancer or warrior you will fail. Even if I am invincible for a while after dodge, I only have so many dodges. Eventually people will focus fire on me and I will go down very quickly.

So I don’t just use my 2 dodge skills to dodge, I use stuff like long jump attack and charge slash to avoid attacks. And nowadays my new found friend, shadow clone protect me from harm’s way.

Also the reason I put my survivability on such a high priority is because of my role during party play, as my death means all my party being in confusion or total chaos, so I always try my best to stay alive. I think as a tank I think the safety of the whole group is the most important so I always tank with my brother’s lancer assisting me.

We switch the main and off tank role depending on how the groups of mobs are positioned so we can move along quickly and effectively so we can handle any situation with a smooth experience because at the end a Warrior is still being controlled by a person and a Lancer can’t do everything.


What do you think of Patch 2.1?

Lancer: I don’t really get what this patch was about, and I can’t for the life of me understand why they did this. This is not right. Because of all the Warrior buffs and Lancers nerfs, we are really slowly falling.

I’ve always played Lancer with the thought that I was the most important role in the party but now a Warrior replacing me along with damage, then who would play a Lancer? I know I wouldn’t.

Warrior: Truthfully, I was kind of scared about this patch. I saw other classes were nerfed to balance with us, and some people fail to realize the good change with the Warriors, even with the patch.

The patch notes clearly state that the buffs were for Warrior ‘Tanks’, not as an off tank or a helping hand but as a main tank..but many people still only look for a Lancer for a main tank in their party. We are still the underdogs. Right at this very moment, we currently have more threat generation than Lancers so if we were to be off tanks the formations would get messy and get out of hand, resulting in a wipe.

BHS figured how the Warriors would be played and made most skills to suit that play style but did not provide the option to correctly use these skills. Do you know the skill “Killing Will”? For 2% of Crit rate increase, we sacrifice 50% of the Crit Resistance. This skill lasts for 20 seconds, same with the recently buffed Shadow Clone duration. Meaning we can pull up our Shadow Clone and hand over the Aggro then use that skill to quickly deal high damage as a “DPS PARTY TANK”, finally giving us some tools to use these skills.

Many people say this patch was to improve solo play but I think otherwise. I still think Warriors need balancing and because of the current flaws Warriors need help from other party members to stay alive.

^Dependable Shadow Clone!

How is tanking after 2.1 Patch?

Lancer: It is really difficult. Our main perk was that we were safe and stable party tanks but nowadays I can’t keep the aggro up with just taunt. To keep the same aggro as before, it requires me to control a lot more and even if I build aggro they are quickly taken away by a single heal spell or damaging skills from other classes. Now with the recently patched Warrior tanking, I fear for our role as a main tank.

Warrior: I just want to say it is finally time for us to stand and just be one with the shadow…but no one wants us in the party…

How’s getting in groups after Patch 2.1?

Lancer: I’ve always run with my guildies so really it isn't too much different. Even when I do end up doing a PuG I could still get a group with ease.

Warrior: As for me, people who know my ability accept me, but with a PuG, we are still treated like scrubs. I still think there are only a handful of Warriors out there who can replace Lancers in their role…

I also had to go through many bumpy roads to get to the place I am now, many wipes and many mistakes. People hated me for that back then.


How’s the difficulty on the new dungeons and quests?

Lancer: I think they were new and exciting. I didn’t find any dungeons difficult other than the Gold Labrynth, games are not fun when they are easy.

Warrior: Normal missions are really easy but with Gold Labrynth, no matter how much I tank whenever my party members get one shotted by a mob, I feel that the dungeon’s difficulty sky rocketed.

What are you views on Lancer as a Warrior and vice versa?

Lancer : Warriors are “DPS” in my book. The current problem with tanking can be set straight with a simple patch increasing our threat back to normal.

So whenever you have a party without a Lancer but a Warrior, it can be called a “Pure DPS” party, a little unique party mechanic of TERA. Even though Lancer and Warriors are both specified as tanks, I don’t necessarily think their play style in tanking should be the same.

Lancers should always lead in my head. So, I think the current evasion mechanic of the Warriors’ should be changed to something fitting for a DPS, not as a tank. The Warrior class should require intensive control along with glyphs to enhance evasion and maybe give them stealth to help them DPS. I don’t think the tanking patch is appropriate for them. If tanking roles can be filled by roles other than Lancers, I don’t think anyone would want to play a Lancer.

Warrior: Yes, Lancers are good at tanking but we are tanks too!

What I want to say is that Lancers being the only tank is old news and we hope that one day other Lancers would just admit to the fact that we can main tank just as well as Lancers.
Just like my Lancer brother, and I would like to meet the interviewed Lancer if a server transfer is possible. ^^

What are some of the things you want from your party members and developers?

Lancer: The most important thing is that I would like each class’s roles to be specified, in TERA the only true tank are the Lancers.

Warrior: Warriors are tanks too! Still to this day, many people do not know if Warriors are tanks or dps.




Lancers want to hold on to the title of “The Only Tank” and Warriors want to be accepted as tanks. Can’t the two co-exist?

The two classes lack clear and firm roles; this probably means TERA’s balance still needs work. If the two classes understood their differences and just tried to accept one another, wouldn’t they both be able to enjoy the game instead of fighting over their roles?

Filed by TERA Fans News at 6:22 pm under Uncategorized  Tagged Buffs, Cbt, Dust Bunnies, Guildmaster, Insight, Lancers, Main Tank, mob, Nerfs, Obt, Png, Server Level, Sparta, Squishy Nature, Sword, Tanks, Taunts, Tides, Translator, Warrior Class, Warriors
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Hey folks! I decided to put a short weekly article together for the site to outline my little KOBT sorcerer's adventures on the Arun continent.

Now I know what you're saying... "Bah, there are so many screenshots and vids out there, why would we need another rehash of the same-old same-old?"

This column will show you places you might not have seen, even if you were playing in the KOBT. It has become an obsession of mine in TERA to climb every mountain, explore every zone, and break everything I can break! So in that spirit, little Caelixi here has been on a complete adventure of Arun, including three unfinished zones that have NPC's and instances, but not a single mob to be seen. One zone was even blocked off to the public by a blue swirling barrier, but that didn't stop Caelixi from fully exploring the zone behind it!

But I digress, all good adventure tales begin, well, at the beginning. So I'll start by saying that this isn't a tutorial on mountain climbing. I'll give a suggestion or two as to where I climbed, but don't ask me for xyz coordinates, I have no idea! I just see an incline, and think to myself "hey, I can climb that!". I will say, though, that BHS didn't make it very difficult to get up there - some areas have a gradual incline that you can ride a horse straight up without even jumping, until you're far above the landscape.

One such area is in the Celestial Plains, when entering from Velika. The gradual slope of the mountains take you high above the landscape, where you can see for miles. A little bit of strategic jumping gets you even higher, and opens a whole new world of exploration, and shortcuts.



Caelixi here would like to point out that mountain climbing has its perils. Many areas have invisible floors or walls, and some even have pitfalls that drop you through the terrain, as we'll see next week...



As I mentioned, the view from the mountains is often quite astounding, and lets you see for miles. This shot, for example, is taken from the mountain range between Velika and the desert area to the south. Right place at the right time, a Sky-Whale-Thingy floats by in the distance.



Another easy access point to the upper echelons of screen-shotty goodness is from the Celestial Plains to the Kuwangi Mire. A low and gently rising mountain range is all that seperates the two zones, and the view from above lets you see all the way out to the ocean - and presumably Shara, if you could see that far!

Next week Caelixi heads North!

Filed by TERA Fans News at 2:30 pm under Uncategorized  Tagged Adventure Tales, Bhs, Cartography, Continent, Dropbox, Exploring The Zone, Instances, Kobt, Landscape, Little Bit, mob, Mou, Mountains, Obsession, Perils, Pitfalls, Png, Screenshot, Shortcuts, Slope, Suggestion, Tera, Xyz Coordinates
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Archer Column: Reap Mob Basics

Hey folks! Cala takes a break this week we so can take a look at some of the tactics she used in Chapter 7, as well as some other basic principles of Archer gameplay. I won't be looking at skills specifically, but tactics that an archer will need to become intimately acquainted with very quickly after setting foot on the Isle of Dawn. I'll outline how to handle those pesky little clusters of mobs, as well as the bigger 'medium' sized mobs, and the variety of ways you can spell their doom.



Ok, so you're running around on the Isle of Dawn, you've popped a few Ghilliedhu, learned a couple new skills, and have made your way to the Expeditionary Supply Base (the one Cala is almost at). Outside of here, you'll notice Terons, groups of small earth spirits bent on your destruction – should you choose to pester them, and let's face it, you will! In an early article by EME, these mob clusters were referred to as Reap mobs, presumably because you swoop in just reap their little lootz.

Attacking a cluster of Reap mobs means one thing, a LOT of hate directed at you. If you've played an archer class in other games before, you may have had times when you accidentally stole aggro from the tank, or you may yourself have 'evade-tanked' on occasion. Archers in TERA are NOT tanks. I can't stress this enough. You won't be able to sustain a beating, meaning you won't be standing in the center of a cluster of Reap mobs letting them wail on you while you pick them off one by one. With the exception of Multi-Shot, and the post Isle of Dawn Penetrating Shot, you WILL be picking off mobs one at a time.



In every cluster of Reap mobs, you'll notice one who stands out a little taller, a little bolder, perhaps even a little more rude than the rest. This fella will be the one calling the shots. He'll be the one saying “Oh, what have we here guys, fresh meat!” and getting his followers to trun on you... He'll be the one granting buffs to the little buggers, and he'll also be the one tapping into the Titan's dream to replace the reap mobs you've previously dispatched! Clearly, there is reason to take the leader out first. My recommendation: unless the little guys are arranged in such a perfect ball and you can't resist opening with an AoE to watch them fly, open with a powerful attack on the leader first, and take him out fast.

TERA's archer class is all about evasion, just not the evasion you are used to in stat-based combat systems. You won't be auto-dodging any attacks, and you won't dodge better even if you did have an evasion stat, which you don't. You're dodging comes from your keyboard and mouse. Kiting and dodging are going to be your bread and butter, and the more proficient you become at this, the more challenging the obstacle you can overcome.

Two things to remember while kiting:
1.)Be aware of your surroundings! It won't help you to survive longer if you have a half dozen mobs on you and you run blindly into another pack of Reap mobs! Sure individually they might not hit hard, but when you have a bunch on you, things can get hairy!
2.)Kiting doesn't do damage, your bow does! Leave enough room between yourself and the mobs that every few seconds you can turn, fire, and keep running.



Kiting Reap mobs is not only your best option for survival, it's also an extremely efficient way of massing the critters into a 'chain' or 'ball', which makes your AoE (Rain of Arrows, Arrow Shower) or linear attacks (Penetrating Shot) more effective. If you were standing your ground, taking a beating, and firing your bow for all you are worth, a few things would happen. First, you would be having to swivel about to find a target, since they tend to surround you. Second, you'd run out of mana because you are simply popping shots off full tilt. Archers have the smallest mana pool of all the mana wielding classes, and it gets empty very quickly. Of course, it fills very quickly too, but not if you aren't giving it a chance to. Kiting – taking a couple steps, turning, then firing, repeat – allows time for your mana to replenish itself between shots, so you won't need to worry about hearing that dreaded 'out of mana' sound.

In Chapter 7, Cala balled them up by kiting, forced them into approaching a cliff, put them betwixt her and the cliff, then sent them flying. You can do this too! When you get Backstep (the basic Archer dodge skill, also known as Caelixian's FAVORITEST SKILL EVER!) you will be able to do some pretty slick and tricksy maneuverings to grant yourself the advantage. Train the Reaps towards the cliff. Once they are upon you, quickly turn your back on them, facing the cliff, and hit backstep. Waste no time charging your penetrating shot, and unleash it at the ball. Feel free to snicker at their pathetic little screams; chances are they would if it had been you going over! Knockback won't be very viable for an Archer in PVP, (the physics are excellent – a heavy target won't do much flying, but the little ones will!) but you can still use Backstep to quickly get behind your foe for a chance to knock them down. All of your back-attacks have a chance to knock down your target, so try to score them as often as you can. Oh, while we're on the topic, IF you score a knockdown in PVP, resist the temptation to approach the target, or continue attacking and use the opportunity to put a bit more distance between it and you, or charge up a powerful attack for big numbers.

There you have it, a Reap mob primer with minimal side-tracks. Hope this helps those of you who are only just dreaming of getting your hands on an archer, and find yourselves on the Isle of Dawn in the very same scenario as Cala!

Filed by TERA Fans News at 6:08 pm under Uncategorized  Tagged Archer, Archers, Buffs, Calling The Shots, Chapter 7, Clusters, Dawn, Doom, Earth Spirits, Fella, Followers, Fresh Meat, Gameplay, Hey, Little Buggers, mob, Mobs, Swoop, Tank, Tanks
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Playing a healing class is not for everyone. Some do it because they are way over powered in PvP situations, and others do it because they genuinely love to play support classes. Mystic is the ugly duckling, soon turning into a swan with its odd way of healing, debuffing, buffing, and now summoning.

One of the big draws of the Mystic is its odd way of healing party members. As the TeraFans wiki says, the name of the Mystic's basic heal is Essence Of Rejuvenation. This skill causes the Mystic to drop orb(s) and allowing a party member to pick them up, healing them for a set amount. So, it is more or less a heath potion, or a life herb that you would get in other games after killing a mob. Some have said that the orbs will need to be strategically placed for party members to use, which is most likely what will happen. There is still a lot of theory crafting that is being done on these orbs, other then the obvious picking them up to heal.

The other big draw to the Mystic class is the three new summons they will be getting. The Mystic community literally has NO info on the summons other then one is for healing, one is for tanking, and the other is for dealing damage. In one tweet from Tera Online, it seems they are still working on getting the info themselves. Around the time the Summons where announced, a poll was created to see who was still going to play a Mystic.
One player said:

Quote

Where another said:

Quote

And another stated:

Quote

The announcement of the summons caused quite a stir within the Tera community, causing some people who were already heart set on their class to question their initial judgment, and maybe move to playing a Mystic.

An incentive for group play would be the skill vampiric circle. You might be asking yourself "why?" Besides the fact that it is super awesome, it draws the life force out of mobs. Here is the kicker, you can then use the mob's life force you have gathered, and give it to your parties mp. The Mystic class also gets mana boost, which slowly gives the player MP over time, sort of like the priest class. The Mystic class also gets an instant heal. Two of the mystic's main attacks are Curtain of Retribution and Sharan Bolt. The Sharan Bolt shoots a ball of energy toward a mob, dealing out damage. The Curtain of Retribution is a fan shaped AOE attack of rainbows and butterflies.

We do not have a lot of info on the class yet, and information will definitely be welcomed in the months to come before the game is launched. It will also be interesting to see how the Mystic grows from En Mass' FGT to launch of Tera, and the updates Tera will receive.

Filed by TERA Fans News at 7:23 pm under Uncategorized  Tagged Bu, Draws, Group Play, Heath, mob, Mystic Column, Mysticism, Orb, Orbs, Party Member, Party Members, Potion, Rejuvenation, Summons, Swan, Team Combat, Team Play, Tweet, Ugly Duckling, Wiki
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OK. I’m going to flat out say it: I like swords.

They are sharp. They are pointy. They kill things to death. And this is awesome. But before you start jumping to conclusions about me from those four previous sentences, let me get one thing straight: I’m hardly a bloodthirsty monster whose only idea of what’s best in life is to crush his enemies, see them driven to before him, and hear the lamentation of their women. At least, I think so.

But, that aside, when I’m in the mindset of a fantasy setting where anything can happen? I throw caution to the wind and say “Screw the rules; this is awesome.”

The game world is designed as such to allow everything from humans, to pretty-boy and succubus-esque demons, rock giant loremasters, bishounen and (arguably) sexy elves, musclebound draconic humanoids, to the collective fuzzies whose genders are almost-but-not-quite-entirely-unlike different races, ALL of which in a setting to co-exist not only in a persistent environment, but also mesh in a cohesive art style. If this doesn’t say that this game has at least some form of cool factor at least in art direction, I don’t know what does.

When I was researching deep into the classes of TERA after seeing how much this game ran on the Rule of Cool, I was immediately sold by the promise of utilizing this awesome with an action combat system (a fact many of you are also aware of, I’m sure). This left me with the process of going through class after class to find the one which “clicked” the best. Obviously, everyone has their favorites, and I’m certainly no exception. Surprisingly though, the decision came fairly quickly.

I didn’t care for magic. I didn’t care for super heavy armor. I didn’t care for pew pew. And I didn’t care to be supremely agile and fast. And I decided upon that after seeing only the first class I clicked on, which incidentally happened to be the Slayer.

When I compare a gigantic blade of steel or unobtanium slicing into several mobs in a single, overpowering arc of immeasurable strength to throwing pretty lights, shooting wedges on sticks, guarding with a shield or poleaxe, or have to resort to using poisons on blades, this is hardly a fair contest.

This is how I see it: You have a big sword. You are actually able to swing it. You don’t have to prepare your spells or anything. You charge in. You swing the sword several times and time a whirlwind to deal massive area of effect damage to the mobs. They get flung back or stunned. You finish them off. All of this caused with brute force and (essentially) a giant hunk of finely edged metal.




For me, this is the epitome of what this game is to me: over-the-top epic going against all natural laws of physics and everything else for the sake of the Rule of Cool. If you stick around for the coming weeks, I’ll highlight some of what makes the Slayer and the rest of TERA have this uncanny quality. For those concerned about me neglecting the news about the class: don’t worry. I will be writing up on more detail on the class, especially the theory-crafting bit, as we get some more definite (and revealable) information.

For now, let’s all sit back and relax and twiddle our thumbs impatiently while I crack some hopefully entertaining articles for you all every Wednesday, especially for all of the Slayer fans who happen to come across this.

I’m Sorxaro, and this is “Slay On!”

Filed by TERA Fans News at 4:04 am under Uncategorized  Tagged Armor, Art Direction, Art Style, Bishounen, Caution To The Wind, Combat System, Demons, Different Races, Fuzzies, Game World, Genders, Humanoids, Jumping To Conclusions, Lamentation, Mindset, mob, Persistent Environment, Pretty Boy, Sentences, Unobtanium
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TERA Online gameplay : Castanic warrior killng a mob respawn EU\US test

Filed by admin at 5:12 am under tera online  Tagged castanic, EU\US, Gameplay, killng, mob, online, respawn, Tera, test, Test Online, Warrior
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TERA Online : Castanic warrior interface insight killing a mob | EU\US Test

Filed by admin at 9:58 pm under tera online  Tagged castanic, EU\US, Insight, interface, killing, mob, online, Tera, test, Test Online, Warrior
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