[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
While I added that idea of a boot camp instance, I'd just wish the level up game was streamlined and made meaningful again. So people leveling up was forced to learn and have fun while doing so.
You are the one missing the point, you want smooth runs, join a guild and set up a schedule and a raid group, and you will be set, the moment you are using instance matching you are using a tool developed to allow ALL players to try game content, not just experienced ones, so expect unexperienced guys to be ALWAYS there, and in the worse case scenario wipes.
If you don't have time there's a simple solution for you, offline games, you can start them and end them whenever you feel like and you won't be dependant on a party.
When you play Tera this is what you aim for:
http://forums.enmasse.com/tera/discussion/2995/video-soloing-finm-warrior/p1
Not to have a party of guys as skilled or more than you to carry you through a dungeon, because TO ME when you ask for skilled players it seems that you guys are the ones who want to be carried honestly.
EDIT: New mechanics are always being thought up by the devs (better or worse, easy or hard, similar or not to existing, doesn't really matter for this discussion, the fact is everytime new dungeons are added so are new mechanics) so while there is a minimum newbs (not noobs) can learn while leveling up, there will ALWAYS be a need to teach something at the newest/endgame dungeons
Sigh what I am saying is to teach noobs to make the game better FOR EVERYONE not just myself, I am not asking for skilled players or for smooth runs. I am just saying that teaching noobs should be the games duty not other players. All I see from your arguments is you don't want to help noobs learn you just want to do everything yourself.
See my edit, i was probably writing it at the same time you were writing that reply.
To reach a point where I can do everything by myself I go through several things first:
1 wipe in five man because you have to make mistakes to learn;
2 successfull five man without anyone dieing proves you know the dungeon;
3 lastman standing 5 man, its basically soloing but your whole party died and you are skilled enough to conclude the dungeon anyway;
4 and only after all that I can feel confident enough to solo.
Trust me during point 2 and 3 i've taught plenty of players since I started playing back when the game went free to play.
So going back to @Nopi 's Idea about having a boot camp, so then branching to having a solo instance that teaches the mechanics and as they update the game and add new dungeons it would be easy to add that to the "boot camp" instance.
The only problem with boot camps and whatever will be the new mechanics which as i referred will always have to be taught, even if it makes the thing quicker if they have some previous knowledge, I'm not saying don't add it, or it's useless, I'm saying I personally don't belive it will change much, but new and more content to the game is always welcomed.
Another thing I don't believe is they will go to the effort of doing something that teaches game mechanics and they have to change every six months, they didn't even bother with keeping a decent storyline, they just came up with some [filtered] and in the end they gave a crappy excuse at new start island, and that is just npc text, not a big dev project, with a special boss with updatable mechanics list etc etc.
To me the real bad idea is when ppl start talking about, oh you need to have this or that gear to run a dungeon, ilvl is more than enough as a measurement for that and cristals are simply an aid, a setup doesn't prove if you're skilled or not.
noobs is tipically used as an offense, when you wanna call someone unskilled in an offensive manner
newbs is used to describe some new to a game without any further/hidden purpose
Although sometime ago they used to be the same thing but noobs became generalized more as an insult.
Sometimes noobs don't actually need to be taught, I think in Tera it's more used in pvp as a provocation. For example i saw alliance conflicts where the chat was someone from an alliance trading "Noob, you're a f*cking noob" with a guy from another alliance, for one hour.
Personally i think it's a part of an MMO, teaching mechanics in a dungeon is as good a way to start interaction with other people as any other, but that's just my personal opinion.
As I stated before and I will keep stating, the level up game itself should have been the real school to newbies on how to learn to play. Sure, as you guys say, new end game content can bring new mechanics, and while a boot camp instance, which was just a patch-like idea, can teach basic end game stuff and be helpful at it, what we really need now is a way for people to learn their class before reaching end game.
As for crystals, they are not just end game content. A new player gets access to them as soon as they go and leave Velika for the first time. But nothing in the game, other than a single welcome screen tells anyone what to do with them and their importance. Same with class skills and mechanics. Add avatar weapons and you get a level up experience so irrelevant that one can't help to wonder why they don't just remove all open world content and level up stuff, start everyone at level 65 and keep just Highwatch city as a lobby.
That was why I believed the old game level up experience, while long and apparently not for the faint of heart nor for those in an eternal hurry, at least did more to make players push their minds and force them more to AT LEAST learn something about their chosen class. Because in end game, I bet many agree that knowing one's class comes first, then learning the dungeon, because in the end dungeons change more often than class skills and overall class mechanics.
TL;DR: I would like for newbies to learn their classes in a quick and efficient way and understand how to play and how to gear without forcing them to wear this or that without telling why. This is an effort that needs to be done by both players and devs together.
Oh, and I also don't believe soloing end game instances should be the goal for most in an mmo. This is a party/team based game, so working with a team of friends while conquering content is to me the real goal, as mmos are part game, part social hub. This is my opinion, at least.
While I do agree with you on old style Tera and I've already mentioned more than enough the old quote "back when I started playing", I have to call the attention to another detail that although it doesn't affect gameplay, it affects game survival.
Most ppl dress up max lvl characters, not many will dress up a character of low level, and dress up is what brings money to the game producers/distributors, so it is better for the survival of the game that the lvl up is easy.
This game is about 4 yo if I'm not mistaken, so it doesn't appeal as much as recent games such as black desert or archeage that have more recent graphics and functions not available on Tera (sandbox gaming), so the hype by itself can't bring new players and keep them in the game, like it happened when Tera was launched, so the option they found out to keep revenue comming was easing the lvlup so ppl reach max lvl fast and spend money on it even if they only play it for a small time.
Edit: If the lvl up wasn't easy most ppl would give up before reaching end game saying "this game is full of grind and uses an outdated approach to gamming" and wouldn't spend money on customizing theyr characters.
I agree with you in the level up lenght. The old way was too long. Thing is, even BHS recognizes this. It's why they streamlined all of the 1-20 experience to make it shorter, and the 60-65 level up is already very efficient. Now, what I meant by making the level up game worthy again so we don't see people too inexperienced at end game, is to not only make it harder again. Not so hard, mind you. This isn't Dark Souls. But also remove level up clutter by streamlining the quests, removing things that may be unnecessary or take way too long. This way people gets to 65 quickly, without having to go dungeon only, and learning something about their characters along the way.
BHS did a good thing for the level 1-20 progression. The problem I see with the current 1-20 experience is not it's length, but the fact that everything is one shot once you get your first avatar weapon(now at around level 12 or something like that) and two shot before it. I don't want to say, and refuse to admit, that most people in the gaming community prefer stupid easy games, since gaming should have always been about some sort of challenge. So I keep to my statement that streamlining leveling up AND making it worth by way of difficulty, not just a chore everyone wants to get done with, should be the way to go in this game, and it gives more incentive for players to learn their class.
Again, just my opinion.
Just because you don't want to say/admit it, doesn't mean it's not happening :P
And games comming from Korea suffer from a special discrimination due to previous experiences like Lineage 2, Aion and so on, people barely try them and at the smallest challenge they go immediatly: "Stupid Korean games it's always the same an endless grind".