TERA: Rising – Alliance Update Interview

Just a few days ago, En Masse Entertainment has released their biggest update for TERA: Rising yet. Known as the “Alliance” update, TERA players can now participate in faction-based PvPvE scenarios in order to gain power, fame and a new mysterious crystal energy known as “noctenium”. The new alliance system also introduces new PvP gear, new jewelry and plenty more.

While the update has been met with much praise, it has also been met with many concerns from the community. With that in mind, I felt it would be best to get some of their questions answered regarding this new update.

Just an update - 8/14/2013

So here I am, procrastinating on work, as usual! But I still have a bit of time on my hands to post an update on my current personal status and my upcoming projects for OnRPG. One thing I'd like to talk (or rant) about is the newest update for TERA: Rising which is the Alliance system.  I've been looking forward to this new system for years, as I had many different plans in mind for it, including an RP-PvP based guild. Sadly, my plans fell through the roof due to many different reasons. The most prominent reason was the lack of interest from the community overall, as I was looking for a very specific kind of player to join my guild. Sadly, I wasn't able to rope in enough qualified members, so I decided to put my plans to rest and instead just focus on enjoying the Alliance update on my own.

The update finally came out on Tuesday the 13th (yesterday). I was kind of excited to give it a go.

I gave it a try and got a big surprise: It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be.

Alliance PvP is basically TERA's version of "World vs. World vs. World" mode" from Guild Wars 2, but it's nowhere near as engaging, since participating in Alliance PvE is just more of the same crap were used to: Kill the same rehashed BAMs, gather the same resource nodes, fight the same trash mobs, etc. What irks me the most about Alliance PvE is that it's the most effective way to earn contribution points. Which is silly, because I thought this was supposed to be a PvP focused update.

Oh, but there is PvP in there, no doubt. And it IS generally enjoyable when players are spread out all across the alliance maps, however, when attacking and defending alliance bases, it turns into "Fraywind Canyon 2: Electric Boogaloo" except now with twice the lag and three times the zerging. It also doesn't help that alliances are heavily unbalanced right now due to the amount of players in each faction, and there's no sign that the community will even things out, as all of the PvP tryhards have piled into Kaiator, the mass PvE guilds in Allemanthia, and everyone else in Velika (including me). Velika stands no chance against the other two alliances due to their sheer numbers, and there's absolutely no incentive for players to even think about joining a weaker faction, so Velika is going to be nothing but a punching bag for weeks or even months to come. And I'm not alone in this, either. If you check on the official forums, many people are speaking up over it, and the story is the same on almost every server, including Mount Tryanus, Ascension Valley, Tempest Reach and Celestial Hills. Here's a link to just one of the major topics on the subject of player imbalances: http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/Great-Job-Community-you-killed-PvP

All alliances not being able to have a fighting chance is going to end in disaster. As soon as either Kaiator or Allemantheia gets a foothold on the other faction, and Velika not being able to keep the other two factions on their toes, only one faction will forever stay on top. In fact: This is exactly what happened to Alliances in K-TERA, where everyone is just piled into one whole faction while the other two rot. At that point, one would simply ask: "Why bother having a faction system in the first place" if things are going to be THIS imbalanced?

'll try and stay optimistic, hoping that the community will sort things out by the end of the week, but so far, I'm doubting it.

Update: I recently got approved to do an interview with EME regarding the Alliance update. I already have a few questions prepared, but I'm trying to get a few community focused questions available, such as their concerns on the player imbalance and spawn camping. I started a thread on the official forums, with which players can leave a question and decide which questions should be answered the most.

http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/Tell-me-what-to-ask-EME-regarding-the-Alliance-update

TERA: Rising - Corsairs' Stronghold Demo

Hey everyone. Just quick one for the week: I was very reclutant to post footage of this new update for TERA: Rising because of an NDA agreement that was told to me by a PR manager for En Masse, but I then found out that there was no NDA at all, and then En Masse decided to release the new update a day before its intended release. Kinda bums me out a little that most other sites got their previews up before I even had a clue... Blah.

But anyway, the new 20 vs. 20 mode for TERA: Rising is out now, and it's a pretty sweet take on the 15 vs 15 " Zergrounds, except with all the lag issues that it comes with. With my time spent playing, it was fun, but if you had lag issues before in regular battlegrounds, your PC is going to cringe even more.

Anyway, check out the video for my experience with the new mode:

TERA: Rising - Review

It’s always been in the minds of gamers for years regarding whether it would be possible to create an MMORPG with satisfying combat similar to hack n’ slash action games. Titles such as Phantasy Star Online, Vindictus, Monster Hunter and many others have dabbled with this concept, but have always had a single flaw: Combat that was locked away in room-based instances and had restricted player limits.

Now the dream of a hack & slash MMORPG was realized with the release of TERA (The Exiled Realm of Aborea.) Recently, the game has gone through some hefty changes, with the most notable change being the transition from a P2P to a F2P business model. Bluehole Studios, En Masse Entertainment and Gameforge have made some bold claims with TERA’s gameplay, such as “True skilled based combat” and “Victory is determined by skill, not levels or gear.”, as if the game was made for action gamers in mind, rather than typical MMORPG players.

Just how true are these claims? Is TERA a true hack & slash MMO? After eight months of playtime, I can answer this question by saying:

“Yes and no.”