Hello, TERA Fans :D No I haven't forsaken you, I'd never do that <3 I am really sorry for my disappearance though-- you can blame blizzcon! I was over in California doing coverage for MMO-Champion and a little partying too. ;D
Anyway! Better late than never, today I have
Kalsteine's translation of
a new Korean article that popped up late last week. The article's got lots of new and important information, including updates Blue Hole Studio has made to armor and the introduction of a new item enhancement system.
Check it out below and let us know what you think!
Hello! Mr. Blue here.
Ever since the third closed beta ended, I'm sure you have all been hungry for new information. There was some news about new skills and enhancement crystals but today we've got even more news! We'd love to hear your feedback on these features.
Changing/Adding Items
One thing we noticed during CBT3 was that there was a limited variety of items. While leveling up and attaining better items, players felt that they wanted to look unique. To satisfy everyone, we thought we really needed a huge variety of items, not just items that are stronger, but also items of different styles. We increased both the quantity and quality of items.
These are just a few of the items you'll have the freedom to use around early-mid game. We encourage people to level higher and see our huge selection of items.
Increase in Item Quantity
One of the most common complaints during CBT3 was that there wasn't enough items to attain during leveling. Due to that there wasn't a very big difference between characters of the same level range. Even after killing elite monsters players were unable to acquire new equipment and that came off as a huge let down. These issues prompted us to change and add more items for players to acquire.
We have added a number of different weapons and items to the game since CBT3. We've also added amulets, crystal infusion (?) and stat bonuses. Equipment can be acquired through questing, monster drops, crafting and other methods.
Armors now exist with different looks and colors.
Do you recall the final bosses of the instanced dungeons and open world elite areas? Now you can acquire items named after them once you've defeated them. You can also acquire tokens which you can use to buy equipment with from doing instance related quests or clearing an instance.
Equipment named after monsters. Tradon's Dual Sword(Left), Ranork the Giant's Dual Sword(Right).
Better Item Quality
1. Variety of Ranks
We also implemented a system of item ranks. Equipment will now be ranked either as normal quality, high (magic?) quality, rare quality or legendary quality. Their corresponding colors are white, green, blue and orange.
Differently ranked items.
2. Different stats for each different item rank.
Ranks are not only there to show which is better than the other. If an equipment is ranked magic or above they will have extra stats. Magic items will include one extra stat, rare items will have 2 and legendary items will have three.
Also items only acquired by instanced dungeon bosses also come with bonus stats, so go venture out in the World of TERA to find out more. Other than equipment acquired from quests, ranked items with stat bonuses will have different kinds of stats, even if the item is named the same. This will give more variety even if everyone has the same items.
The exact same type of weapon can have different stat bonuses.
3. Fusion Enchantment
TERA's equipment can be enchanted through a system called
Fusion Enchantment. No matter where you are, you can use the Fusion Enchantment UI and use materials to enchant your equipment. To fuse one piece of equipment with another, they do not have to be the exact same type of equipment as the one you are trying to enchant, they just need to be the same rank. The piece of equipment can even be an item for a different class. (This information may be slightly inaccurate, but that's what it seems to sound like they're saying from the literal translation.)
The piece of equipment in the middle is the one being enchanted and the two on either side act as materials.
Some options that are attainable through Fusion Enchantment.
Fusion Enchantment can raise basic stats like defense and it can also add bonus stats that become available when certain requirements are met. (Kind of like Set item bonuses except this one is through reaching certain enchantment goal. You can see +3, +6, and +9) Greyed out options are options that you cannot currently benefit from due to item lacking the requirement. Having a + on weapons can be reached through enchantment and some of them require you to enchant as much as 9 times for some bonuses. Also these bonuses are completely random, so it is hard to foresee what your future bonuses will be.
4. Other changes
We've changed many things other things since CBT3. We are working to make crafting a bit more accessible, adding more accessories, adding items like bombs you can throw at enemies, different graphic effects that can be achieved through Fusion Enchantment, and more equipment variation. We are sorry we couldn't reveal them in more detail in this report and we hope you will find out more when you explore the world of TERA!
"Thank you for reading!"
Sorry for the long wait for more information.
Sincerely, Mr. Blue