[TERA PC & Console] En Masse is closing, but TERA lives on! We will continue to support TERA PC (NA) and TERA Console until service is transferred. Stay tuned for more information.
[TERA Console] The Grotto of Lost Souls update (v85) is now live! Read the patch notes here: https://bit.ly/TERACon_v85
[TERA PC] The 64-bit update (v97) is now live. Check out all the changes delivered on August 11 here: https://bit.ly/tera64_patchnotes
[TERA PC & CONSOLE] Summerfest Part 2: The Beach Bash is on from August 11 until September 1! Participate in event activities to earn tokens redeemable for costumes, consumables, mounts, and more! Details: https://bit.ly/tera_sf20
Comments
I started with Campfires not because I was going from most important to least important, but because it's more like I was going from easiest/quickest fixes to the harder, longer-term fixes that take longer. I just happened to start with campfires first because it was the first thing that came to mind when I thought, "What would be a quick and easy thing to work on, to make a lot of older players smile, or be even a little happier about?"
That's also why it was considered a quality of life change, along with the potions. It's nothing game-breaking but the fact is the potions we have now are pretty underwhelming when you need a decent boost right away, or want HP/MP over time.
I was also going over things that can be worked on sooner than later that don't take large reworks to achieve. Start small, fixing little things as you go about working on the larger ones.
1. Make PvP a "first class citizen" alongside PvE in gear progression, and fully support/encourage the PvP community with PvP-specific balance changes, initiatives, and tournaments.
Making PVP a "first class citizen" thing is going to take a lot more work than re-implementing features into the game that were taken out before that didn't help anything by BEING taken out.
2. Re-introduce competitive PvE aspects both native to the game and through events to encourage the community through content droughts. (Also, closely monitor for K-TERA content droughts and introduce timely new content to fill the gap.)
I remember a long while back dungeons like BRNM had a scoring system in them - I wouldn't mind seeing this be brought back and some level of reward be given either on an individual, or guild-level basis. Aside from this, implementing features like this will take several months and require a dedicated effort of BHS to accomplish.
3. Add a true "level sync" system, allowing level 65 players to party with low-level players to complete dungeons/content, increasing the potential for cooperative PvE play with new players.
Again, this will take BHS having to code an entirely new system into the game, though it is an awesome idea and I'd love to see it one day.
4. Eliminate talents in K-TERA and implement the same buffs via a different system (or as part of an existing system) that is accessible to all regions (so there is no perception of "preferential treatment" in class balance).
Agreed, either remove Talents from KTera or integrate it into all regions. This preferential treatment is garbage and is a huge slap in the face to every non-korean region of the world. I love the concept of the talents system, but everything else I've seen is.... underwhelming or downright irritating.
5. Have a constant stream of small events running in the game all the time (such as various boosts, spawn events, featured content, etc.), rather than relying so much on "big deal" events that might be flops. (Though keep doing occasional "big deal" events also.)
I would agree with this other than the idea - except I worry that people will eventually get used to always having some sort of event or another going, and once things slow down, or events stop being completely regular, people are going to have a similar reaction to how we do when dungeons get removed - they will feel like chunks of the game are getting removed.
6. Further improve the gearing system to reduce the impact of RNG, allowing a definitive "fail-safe" that is reasonable for each gear tier.
I agree, but disagree with this. Frankly I'm alright with the current existing gearing system - excluding of course the GearXP only allowing you a certain percent success chance despite reaching the '100%' XP limit for each level. If 100% GearXP = 100% Enchant/Upgrade chance, I wouldn't find a fault in the existing system. Yes, later levels like later Frostmetal and Stormcry take a lot of material to Enchant, but they take a good while to get to 100% XP too. And no, I don't believe that casual players will grind to the same level more seasoned veteran players will - casuals run a couple dungeons a day, if that. By time they reach 100% XP, they would have already had time to accrue enough money and materials for upgrading.
7. Finally finish the revamp of all in-game merchants (fashion coupons, vanguard, buddy up, reward emporium, etc.) and regularly introduce new items going forward to keep things interesting. (i.e. Don't allow things to fall this far behind again.)
Agreed, shops and reasons to grind all need an update, and while I'd like them sooner than later, as anyone would, I expect that a complete revamp/overhaul of all of these systems is going to take a long time. It would definitely go into the 90+ day category. Adding to this though, I'd like to see the Reputation shops get an upgrade and be brought back into relevancy. I've been playing for over two years and don't think I've ever really sat down to grind one of those other than one single time in Kanstria to get an item that I later was able to just make on my own.
8. Closer monitoring of broker prices when determining event rewards, and closer attention to balance of prize awarding, to maintain a better sense of "worth" of event prizes for dedicated and new players alike.
Yeah, the events can be fun but when you see someone hoarding 1000+ catalysts for a Kyra's open-world event, it's pretty infuriating. I think that's why EME made some of the events limited to dungeons only, as a way to firewall things like that from happening. If anything, I'd like to see a sort of currency system where you can grind up catalysts and then use them to purchase items outright - or choose to gamble them to win items at a huge discount. Bungie found out the hard way that grinding for RNG rewards isn't as effective as letting people just grind up a currency to be able to purchase the items they want, and I think EME can learn a lot from the mistakes Bungie and EA are making lately, as EME themselves are loosely following in the same footsteps.
10. Change TERA Rewards so that all in-game actions that reward points also give corresponding credits, and make it so that Elite players earn rewards/credits at a higher rate (double?).
I too would like this - the Tera Rewards system is good in concept, but only alienated a ton of players who didn't just fork over stacks of cash. Something like this along with a Rewards Emporium update would go a long way in making that entire feature actually relevant to players.
10. Have continuous and constantly-rotating Elite Discounts on the cash shop every day/week.
This would be nice - Discounts in the store for Elite Members would definitely give a very credible and real benefit to being an Elite member. I would honestly think having monthly updates would probably be a more manageable method, and would give an allowance of time to some people with less money time to actually save up in order to get what they want, rather than feel rushed to pull out their wallets for fear of losing out.
11. Since eliminating cash shop lootboxes is unlikely, require all lootboxes to have posted odds and an absolute failure cap.
Definitely - With the posts on the forums of people buying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in lootboxes, only to get one, or none of an item, actually seeing what the odds are would be a huge step forward in EME's claim of transparency with the community. Not to mention lootboxes without % success chances for the primary advertised item is largely seen as gambling, even if developers try to do the political two-step and play the verbatim/semantics game about how every lootbox gives items. People buy the lootboxes for the advertised item - knowing what chances of success may lower the amount people buy, but it would go a LONG WAY in fostering a much better outlook that the community has towards EME. And that in and of itself would return a profit by not making players feel cheated or lied to, so they will stay with the game longer, and naturally, spend more money.
I also think adding a more expensive smartbox for that item for people to just outright avoid the lootbox ordeal entirely would also be an extremely positive thing for EME to do in the wake of all of this lootbox backlash going about. I know for a fact there are a few items in the store that I want but refuse to buy through lootboxes - having to pay a bit more to just buy the item outright would definitely encourage me to spend money I otherwise never would (doubly so if there's an elite discount or store discount applied... parting me from my money would be much easier in a situation like that, EME...)
12. Regular and on-going meetings with Player Council to create a constant feedback loop, with tracking of delivered improvements and measurable results.
Absolutely - Players want to know what's going on. This is our game too, so we want to know if ideas are actually being listened to by not just EME but BHS too. Not to mention consistent meetings would do absolute wonders in allowing people, namely the player council members, to calm concerns or hot topics with the community before things blow up like they have recently.
13. Find/hire regular forum moderators who can monitor the forum on weekends/evenings/holidays for any forum or in-game issues, and trigger appropriate staff action as needed.
This would definitely help, the last thing we need is for EME to pull a Bungie and go on a three week hiatus with zero word while things are broken and in complete disarray.
That's basically what I meant by a fail-safe. The system is close to providing it already, but dials it back for the higher-tier gear so it's back to RNG again. So they have it within their means to address this, but they chose to keep this variability. (I do sort of understand why they did it for markets like Korea where netcafés are still a thing, but it isn't well-received in Western markets that don't have the same dynamics.)
And yeah, I knew what you were intended by the small asks... but the problem with that is that it can backfire on you. Someone looking at your requests can just go "why are they harping on these trivial things?" and dismiss the whole thing as just subjective preference and tune it out. It's sort of burying the lede. If we had direct access to the developers, that'd be one thing, but people lower in the chain of command typically only have a certain amount of "currency" to make requests before they tuned out entirely. So if they're going to forward requests up the chain, I'd rather they focus on things that can make the biggest difference. Of course, QoL has its place too, and I'm not against that... but not sure we need campfires while the building is already burning. But anyway, that's just my approach. I just don't want the important issues to be missed.
one of the reasons why people don't give their opinion, is because we have been giving it for years now and they just get ignored. ive given mine many times and also in this thread , even counterpoint has given theirs multiple times and they are on player council. sometimes we get the " we will look into it" or " thanks for the comments" , but that's pretty much as far as it goes. so yeah, people feel like its a waste of their time and efforts now giving their opinions.
This is why I mostly concentrate on local issues like merchant updates, which we are finally -- slowly, but finally -- seeing some progress on. Also lootbox changes are probably going to happen eventually regardless just due the overall industry (note that PUBG posted lootbox rates the other day, and that's BHS). I know other PC members also focus on other more-local issues too, like event rewards, BG jackpots, and stuff like that because at least you're speaking more "directly" to those responsible (even if it might still get approved by BHS). It's also worth looking at things other publishers do on their own to see what is at least potentially possible to accomplish.
But big changes that would fundamentally change the balance/nature of the game? They need to be aware of what people want, but I don't think that's the bigger issue. (The points I listed about the base game, they already know.) The bigger issue is that they're just one vote around the publisher table, and other regions have their own needs and priorities too.
In July 2017, South Korea government established a voluntary code which strongly recommends Game companies to reveal the rate of RNG-related cash items(loot box or Gacha box). But it is still "voluntary code" so that companies are not reliable to follow it yet. Their government gives a certification mark when a company follows the code. This is the reason that lots of Korean games recently revealed their rate of RNG loot box. China did the similar one but forced code by their law. Also, in last month, Apple just announced that they will force all paid games in App Store to reveal their loot box rate.
However, the federation government has not done anything like Apple, China or South Korea. Also NA TERA is separated from KTERA since BHS/EME fundamentally blocks log-in's from most Asian countries. PUBG (by steam) does not have this kind of limitation so that they have to follow the law (or regulation) of publisher's country. Note that people from China or South Korea can log in steam's PUBG, but they fundamentally cannot log in NA TERA.
And yes, most people here want to discuss the stuffs that EME can handle without BHS's help(=local-issues).There have been lots of constructive suggestion/feedback for TERA contents, but sadly, EME has mostly ignored them since they cannot grant anything about those suggestions and feedback. KTERA website (nexon) shows monthly result of players' suggestions which they will apply, not apply, or consider to apply. However, this isn't enough since they only show what they want to show. Lots of good suggestions and feedback are still being ignored by devs even in KTERA if those are not severe for them(=minor issue).
What EME can do for this is that they just listen and then ignore or forward them to BHS. However, EME has barely told us which suggestions and feedback they have forwarded to BHS, and this has made people feeling "lack of communication" or "getting ignored" on forum.
One thing we might be able to realistically ask to EME is to collect and categorize our suggestions & feedback from forum / discord and then show us the list of the things that they will(and will not) forward to BHS. With this periodical announcement, people would feel "more communication with GMs" since at least they can figure out which of our ideas have been forwarded to BHS via EME.
My understanding from the conversations we've had with them is that they forward an awful lot of stuff to BHS -- nearly everything that's constructive and relevant. They also have conversations with them multiple times a week. But I'm not sure this knowledge will serve as much comfort because BHS is a black hole. So even if EME were to prepare a list of all the feedback they received and say "we sent this to BHS," when nothing actually happens people still won't have confidence that the communication process is working. And doing this also has the appearance of throwing their own sister company under the bus while trying to absolve themselves of responsibility somehow. I'm not saying it's an entirely horrible idea, but it can also backfire.
(I tried a few times to collate everyone's feedback into various kinds of lists and charts so that everything can be tracked properly, as you would for managing any project, but it's easy to lose motivation when there's so little direct feedback from up the chain.)
The BHS developers simply don't have the sort of open, iterative development culture that people are more used to with (at least many) Western developers. Things just enter the black hole, go into some closed inner circle discussions, months of development happen, and then something comes out the other side that may have some passing resemblance to what you asked for. If you take the long view you can see how feedback does, in its own way, influence things, but it's a very long, convoluted, and opaque process.
(As for lootbox odds, I do realize the situation is a bit different with PUBG due to the way it's published. However, if one of the biggest games on the market publishes lootbox odds in the open like that, for the global market in English, it gets harder to defend not doing so. This, along with other industry pressure to self-regulate before governments step in, is what I'm thinking may finally push things forward.)
It has been like this even in the old forums.
If you look into it you will see almost no constructive feedback because people only joined in threads were flamewar between certain individuals are involved, but when it comes to a thread with good/positive feedback the comunity just turn the back and skip the thread "because its too long to read" or simply because its more fun to meme the publisher and others they don't like and good threads ended being sunk with trash threads about bickering.