What Would You Change About… TERA?

November 12, 2014 11:45 ( Articles ) 3

What Would You Change About... TERA?

Today we introduce you to a new series in which we’ll ask ourselves what to change about different titles in order to improve them, making them better or more interesting and fun; and of course, we want to know what you think as well.

As this is our first installment, we’ll start with a heavy hitter: TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea. Many of you already know the game, but for those who have not played TERA the game is a free-to-play MMORPG in which we go into a detailed fantasy world.

 

One of the most interesting features of TERA is its combat system in which you have to target your attacks manually, which makes it fun and interesting, besides being more challenging than in other games. The game is also notable for its aesthetics and the great quality of its graphics, which despite having been out for a few years, have nothing to envy of the latest MMORPG. In addition, TERA has an interesting political system, in which players can choose their leader, the Vanarch, who can make decisions that affect all players on the server.

The game features high-quality PvE and PvP; in PvE you can complete challenging dungeons, face a variety of enemies or fight challenging BAMs (Big Ass Monters), some huge enemies that are especially powerful and quite abundant. The PvP of the game is very varied, and we can both fight in small scale battles, as well as massive battles between factions in which a huge number of players are involved.

 

Once we had played the game and highlighted its virtues, we asked ourselves: In which areas could the game be improved? What can be changed to make a better game?

History
The game has a very linear story; all characters live the same adventure, which does not provide much replay value to the game. It would be interesting if the game would allow players to make decisions that affect their characters’ story, with which each player's experience would not be exactly the same as that of the rest of the players.

Missions
The missions are quite monotonous: Missions in the game are not characterized by their variety; the NPC usually ask us to kill a certain number of enemies in a certain area, or search another NPC which in turn will give us more missions in which we have to kill another type of enemy. We'd like to see more varied missions, in which we had to complete small puzzles, or that simply don't ask us to only "go here and kill X demons", since it makes the level up process pretty monotonous.

Characters
The characters are too similar: Despite the fact that we can customize the appearance of our characters; the changes we can make don't make our character very different from another character of the same race. It would be interesting to be able to change the complexion and other details of our character, to have a look that is more unique and not a clone with a somewhat different face, hairstyle and skin color.

Social
Improve the game's social aspect: In the game it is difficult to assemble groups, trade, or simply talk with other players by the constant spam that fills the chat channels. In addition, a lot of players simply want to level up quickly, so forming groups and enjoying the social aspect of the game becomes something secondary. We believe that developers should enhance this aspect of the game, since socializing is one of the most important aspects of an MMO.

Guilds
Improve the management of the guilds: Currently the Guild systems are somewhat archaic; the Guild leaders have very few tools to manage the Bank or the Guild members' ranks, maintaining the Guild level requires constant farming and there are little to no incentives for being in a Guild aside from Alliance dailies. The Guild mechanics need to be fixed and redone to be more intuitive, need more options and features that enhance and exploit its social aspect, and need to avoid a constant farming in order to improve.

Interface
User interface: The interface of the game is one of the aspects that most needs to improve; among other things, it slows down the game, is awkward and gives a lot of troubles, and has hardly received any improvements since the pre-beta days. Improving or redoing the interface is a very important aspect when it comes to improving the game.

Farming
The constant farming is practically mandatory: In the game you're forced to spend hours and hours hunting monsters to get the items needed to improve your weapons and equipment, which ends up being an impediment for players who have neither time nor patience to devote so many hours to a game. Although when you get the items necessary to improve an object, you only have a % chance to do it and don't lose the invested items.

Respawn
Monsters respawn at an alarmingly high rate: In the game, it is common that when you're completing quests or farming monsters, that they'll respawn almost instantly, usually when you're in combat with other enemies, which besides being annoying, can make you die more than it should. We believe that there is a simple solution, define the respawn time by the number of players that are in the area and thereby avoid finding yourself constantly surrounded by enemies.

Dungeons
The limitation when it comes to entering dungeons: In the game if you want to enter dungeons and raids more than two days a week, you have to pay. This is a major impediment, because it limits the options for those players who want to enjoy the game for free. We believe that it is a rather unnecessary measure, since many similar games get their benefits with the items sold in their in-game stores. This measure is also annoying and keeps a large group of players from playing the game.

 

These are some of the things that we would change about TERA, but what do you think? What would you change about this game? Would you add anything else to the list? We await your opinions! Let us know!!!!!

By: David Puig

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