[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
Lastly, I'm sure that "little reward to show off" makes the person feel special. I'm sure you even described special in your first sentence itself. Special doesn't mean being an obnoxious show off or something related to the matter, it simply means different, unusual, distinguishable, all in a good way. :chuffed:
Fair enough.
The thing is, I was a Guild Wars player before I came to TERA. I played GW1 and liked it quite a bit. Then GW2 came out, I played that for a while. I was disappointed with some of the changes they had made compared to the original game. But I played it anyway, and I found some aspects of it to be fun... for a while. Until I eventually got bored with it, quit, and never went back.
I picked up TERA when it was recommended to me by someone I used to play GW with. He told me how amazing it was, the graphics, the gameplay, the action combat, the unique monsters, etc. I was hesitant to try it, but he said it was free to download and free to play, so I tried it out. And I liked it. It was fun, and different.
But I'm starting to reach the point of boredom. Not yet, mind you, this isn't me threatening to quit or anything like that. The reason I'm posting is because I have invested a bit of time and money into this game, and I would like to continue to do so. I'm looking for variety of content. I'm hopeful because TERA does release new stuff on a regular basis. However I'm also skeptical because that new stuff isn't usually all that much different from the old stuff. I don't want to get bored, I play games to have fun.
Maybe that just means I should take a break every now and then, go try out different games until I get bored with them and then come back. I always come back to games that I'm "faithful" to, and usually those are the games that offer the most diversity. I won't name names here because this isn't the place to praise other games... my point is that, if or when I do get bored with TERA and decide to take a break, I don't want to come back six months later and see that the only thing that has changed is that my gear is no longer useful. Because that means going through the whole gear grind and enchanting process all over again, and that's just not fun for me. To me, upgrading gear is supposed to be a means to an end, not the end itself.
I know that most MMOs lose most of their players over time. But not all of them. The ones that do are usually either very limited in content, very broken, very p2w or some other aspect that turns people off. TERA doesn't have to be one of those. It can be something great, it has the potential. I think that's what really bothers me, is the fact that this game has so much potential to be the kind of game that attracts newcomers while also keeping veterans around, but it seems like much of that potential is wasted. Maybe it's because the game's original devs are no longer around... it seems like they really had a vision for the kind of MMO that could amaze and entertain people. Then that vision got passed on to other people who didn't really know what to do with it, people who weren't really passionate about it, people whose only real interest was "how can we make money off of this". And don't get me wrong - I know that games need to make money. But they still need to be fun, as well.
And no I'm not saying that TERA isn't fun. Most people who try it end up enjoying it. For a while. But then as time goes on, people start wanting something more, something different. More side quests. More events. More dungeons. More diversions. Crafting, player housing, fishing, gathering, character customization, roleplay, etc. Not everyone can have fun doing the same stuff every single day, that almost starts to feel like a job.
Yes, it's an MMO, it's meant to be a social gathering for players in it for the long haul. Not meant to be for casuals - yet they've catered to casuals to bring new players in. Not meant to be newb friendly - yet they've dumbed down the content to make it easy for noobs to level. It's meant to be social - yet what you have is a confluence of clueless noobs, elitist veterans, vets who are tired of the dumbing down of the game to cater to the clueless noobs, noobs who are tired of elitism of the vets, bored veterans who already have full +15 and have run every dungeon hundreds of times, noobs who can't even clear those same dungeons once because their gear is bad or their skill is bad (because the dumbed down leveling process doesn't teach them how to play their class) or because the veterans refuse to take them because they don't want to waste their time with people who don't know what they're doing... you have longtime players who can't find a static because everyone in their old guild has quit... if the goal is to bring in new people and keep them around for the long haul, I really don't think they're hitting the mark.
I only suggested greater of variety of content to help keep some of the bored veterans interested, but apparently that's a waste. I've also suggested making leveling more of a learning process and less of a faceroll, but everybody just wants to get to 65 ASAP and they don't want to bother with that nonsense. I won't even bother suggesting anything that might possibly increase socialization because that will probably just result in trolling, you can't force people to like each other or team up with each other. Hence why BHS released solo dungeons, so that solo players can have something to do. But the multiplayer veterans hate solo content, and they also hate clueless noobs, yet they complain about not being able to find enough people to fill their queues... what to do? What to do? How do you retain veteran players while also convincing new players that this game should be their new obsession, without alienating either group? You say there's no perfect solution, and perhaps there's not. But if that's the case, then I fear for the long term future of the game, and the last thing I want to do is "throw good money after bad".
The thing is, true variety takes a whole lot of time. For them to make something brand new, 100% original, they'd need to stop releasing content every 6 months and instead go for 1 year or more between patches. At the same time, that new content that takes a year to create can be played-through in a month leaving the remaining 11 months empty. It's the nature of games. You can't create content at the same speed as people can consume it. Heck, it's the nature of everything we consume: books, TV, movies, food. The key is to find something to do in-between. You got all your gear this patch, feel the boredom? Pick up another game for a bit. read a book. Take a dance class. Bake a cake. But there is no golden solution and, on that note, can you name 3 games that have not decreased in population over the last 4 years? If you say "Candy Crush", I'm out of here.
LOL don't worry, Candy Crush wasn't on my list. That's the kind of game that would lose my interest in 4 minutes, never mind 4 years.
Um... well there are a few games that I still play after 4 years... but those are games I pick up then put down, then pick up again. I've probably put thousands of hours into each of them. But yeah, after a while I do get burned out. It happens. Doesn't mean the games are bad, just... too much of any one thing is too much.
I know, it takes a lot of effort to make a good game. I don't mean to diminish their accomplishments. TERA is an awesome accomplishment. But... it's an MMO. Gotta keep coming up with new stuff or else people get bored. I get your point, creating all-new stuff is hard. I know that. I'm not trying to diminish their hard work and all of that. But, okay, let's take something like flying mounts. That's something that um... maybe a few people asked for? It's something that other MMOs do. It probably took a heck of a lot of work to implement. And they did it. Why? Because they thought people might like it. Can you imagine how many developer hours went into making that a possibility? Just to please a few people who were probably fans of other MMOs that had flying mounts...
So... is it really that crazy for me to hope for something like player housing? Considering that it's something that other MMOs do and more than a few people want it...
Sorry, sorry, off topic. I guess my main question is, if I get bored with TERA and take a break, then come back 6 months later, is it still going to be the same thing? The same gear progression, the same X dungeons, the same grind, the same RNG, the same female-locked OP classes... or will there be something new? Maybe it's not fair for me to expect a game like this to keep changing, when after all some of my favorite games are offline single player b2p titles that never really change aside from the occasional expansion pack... but the thing is, those titles gave me so much variety straight out of the box, limitless customization, freedom, sandbox gameplay, more quests and various diversions than I could ever complete in a lifetime... that keeps me coming back to them. That's what I'd like to see from TERA. Less MOBA, more RPG.
No, I said RPG, not RNG. >:)
But then I can understand the confusion. I guess some people consider neverending grinding to be an adequate substitute for gameplay.
IF I JUST KEEP DOING THIS SAME THING 10,000,000 TIMES THEN MAYBE I'LL WIN AND GIT GUD AND BE CONSIDERED PRO!!!
Sounds a bit like Candy Crush if you ask me...
Exactly. People actually believe most or even a good fraction of the players are world boss hunters? Lmao seriously it's a very small minority, albeit vocal one on these forums, that do these achievements. Personally I'm neutral about this subject, leave it for the no lifes that actually think it means anything(**cough*it.doesn't.and.never.has*cough**) or change it to please a few whom have whined, it makes no difference imo.
Also to those who say it's a "slap in the face" to those who did farm months or w/e, guess how those others who do not have every hour of the day to play and farm feel? Not to mention the fact that most if not every single one of these world boss hunters has gotten kills simply by being able to be on for server reset, another "slap in the face" to those who can never be on @ those hours.
To shift directions on my previous topic... yeah I'll offer some input on the world boss stuff.
I'm impressed by the people who got world boss achievements under the old system.
I'm also simultaneously a bit concerned for them... O.o
You really sat at your computer for X number of hours waiting for some random monster to spawn? 50 times? For each and every world boss?
Well, that is... dedication. And surely you should be commended for that... very extreme... possibly unhealthy level... of dedication... O.o
Um... I certainly would never want to take anything away from you... because you've already shown an incredible ability to waste.. I mean, devote... countless hours of your life to one single, worthless cause... certainly wouldn't want to give any of you reason to come after me... O.o
On second thought. I was going to say I think it's cool that those achievements are going to be easier now, but now that I've thought it through, you know what, I think we should let the people who earned those achievements keep them. Because they seriously earned it.
*please don't murder me*
You said MMOs only lose players if there's something wrong with them and there are some who didn't. I was curious which ones you meant.
If I had to guess, I'd say "less than we think". Tera has always had flight built into it so it's possible that a large portion of work was already in the game and they just built onto that, threw wings on a few mounts and shipped it out to make it rain money. Especially when you consider how annoying it is, I doubt they poured a lot into it.
We got guild housing which they are going to change. I don't think player housing would be possible as Tera's world wouldn't allow it. They'd need to rebuild a lot of the open world or maybe make it instanced. Tera's always been more focused on guilds than individual players though. I don't see the point in flying mounts and I don't see the point in player housing though the latter would probably be more my speed.
You can't really compare a f2p MMO with whatever b2p single player games you enjoy. It's like asking "If I stop watching Criminal Minds for a few months and come back, is it still going to be about criminals? And, sure, Sabrina doesn't change while i watch it but it's about so much more than magic" Every MMO has the same grind, the same RNG and then they have a gimmick that makes them a little different from the rest. GW2 has exploration and jumping puzzles, Tera has action combat etc.
Well it seems that TERA has lost players because some believe it's P2W. Which it's not. So we'll toss that one out.
Many people don't like new OP broken female-locked classes. You can count me in on that one. I like new, different classes. But not when they overshadow old classes. And especially not when they're limited to specific races or genders. I won't go so far as to say "das racist!", but it does limit personal options and creativity.
Gear grind is something that appeals to some people. Probably not most people. I don't mind grinding for something if it's truly OP and impressive. But if that's just going to get replaced a few months later by something even better...
To answer that question before moving on to the next... what do I think is wrong with TERA? Class imbalance. Poor optimization. Gender and race locking on new classes. Neverending gear grind dictated mostly by RNG. Lack of variety... you can't "tweak" your classes into different "builds", you can't make a male brawler, you can't run content that has been removed, you can't make money off of crafting, you can't gather more than this amount each day , you can't effectively "farm" in open world, etc... and to your guild housing example, you can't have a "guild hall" unless you're in an OP tryhard elitist guild (guilds which won't allow filthy casual trash to join in the first place). I'm not asking for a giant glowing floating castle in the sky with my name on it, in fact I'd prefer something more private and more personal anyway.
Okay, so I can't compare TERA to a single player game. Your examples are kind of silly... if I stop watching Criminal Minds for 6 months and then come back, they'll probably still be utilizing unrealistic plots, horrible acting and the fake term "unsub"
Yes, TERA has action combat. And that's cool. But is that the only "gimmick" they're going with? Is the entire game supposed to live and die by the whole "we have action combat" mantra? I kinda think they're going to have to take that concept a step or two further and maybe try including some other concepts if they want to be around for the "long haul". And I think they do. Want to expand, that is. And I'm willing to support them, if they're willing to take this game into a "forward" direction, expanding, adding, improving, etc. What I don't want to see is
"Newest patch: new elin-locked class that can beat everything else up. Also two 'new' dungeons featuring recycled boss mechanics, and 'new' tier 11 and 12 gear that is 15% better than your old gear! Start grinding for it now, because the new content is 15% harder to clear! Other than that everything else is the same. It will be just as hard to enchant your VM or mid-tier gear as it was in the last patch, only now it will be even more expensive because you need t11 and 12 fs. Also we made it harder to obtain gold in game, so... good luck with that. Maybe ask one of the whales for a 'small loan' of a million gold. Oh and we have new exciting costumes that are locked in RNG boxes. Come buy some, 1 out of every 50 people will be happy with their results! The other 49 can just suck it up and buy them on the broker like the poor schmucks that they are. If you run out of gold, consider buying and selling EMP."
^ that is what I DON'T want to see. But, ultimately, that is most likely what I will end up seeing. You seem to be okay with that. So do many of the other tens of people who play TERA. LOL, I kid, I kid. It's got to be at least hundreds.
Really, at this point, your argument seems to be, "this is what TERA is, this is what TERA will always be, deal with it; if you don't like it, then stop playing it". If that's your official position... and if that's BHS's official position... then best of luck to the both of you in your future endeavors....
You're gonna need it.