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Howsabout another 5000 TERA closed beta keys?
Massively's got a treat for those of you who were off doing something crazy like sleeping, eating, or working last Thursday, such that you missed out on grabbing one of the 10,000 TERA closed beta keys we gave away that very day in just under four hours. The treat is a picture of a centaur stabbing a dude with a spear! Just kidding -- it's 5,000 more keys! These keys will secure your spot in TERA's Closed Beta Test 4 for North American players only, which runs this weekend, beginning on March 23rd. Just click the button below, claim your key, and then copy and paste it into the appropriate section of your En Masse Entertainment account, which you can create at the official site. After you've verified your email address, click the "enter code" button on the right side of your account window and submit your key. You can download the TERA client via the button on the account overview tab. Don't forget to have fun!
Get your free TERA beta keys here!
So you're not in the TERA beta yet, but you'd like to be, amirite? I mean, come on -- sexy avatars, action combat, gorgeous fantasy graphics -- what's not to like? Well, Massively is your sugar-daddy because today we've got 10,000 keys to give away, each of which will unlock the world of Arborea via TERA's Closed Beta Test 4 for North American players only. All you have to do is click the link below, claim your key, and then copy/paste it into the appropriate section of your En Masse Entertainment account. What's that? You don't have an En Masse account? What are you waiting for, foo? Head to the firm's official site and make one right now! After you've gone through the email verification song and dance, click the "enter code" button on the right side of your account window and submit your key. Then download the TERA client via the button on the account overview tab. En Masse has also brought word of a new video that shows off TERA's high-level Temple of Temerity instance. The dungeon tasks players with holding off hordes of enemies bent on destroying a relic, and the instance made its public debut at last week's GDC demo. Finally, En Masse is releasing an e-book called The Amaranthine Heart which expounds on TERA's lore and backstory. It's available for a palty $.99 on Amazon (and the instance video is free of charge after the cut).
TERA cracks open Akasha's Hideout to the viewing public
Why is it dangerous to watch the video below? Because if you do, you might just be converted to TERA's philosophy of high-impact action and BAMs -- big-ass monsters! En Masse Entertainment has released the second part of its dungeon video series, this time giving a brief overview of some of the boss monsters awaiting adventurers in Akasha's Hideout. Akasha is the goddess of pestilence, who has holed up in Fyrmount with her prize. What could that prize be? We don't know, but it must be something pretty incredible to risk life and limb trying to recover it! You can check out Akasha's Hideout after the jump!
GDC 2012: TERA's growth spurt and dynamic events
"It's been a helluva year since we've been at GDC last," TERA Producer Chris Hager started, "and everyone wants to know what we've been doing for the past 365 days." Thus began our time with En Masse at GDC, in which enthusiasm for the forthcoming TERA was positively infectious. Hager sighed happily as he reminded us of the title's May 1st launch date: "You have no idea how happy that makes me to be able to say that." Just because a launch date is on the horizon doesn't mean that the hardest part is over for this crew. During this past month, the team's been running a closed beta test that's provided vital feedback for last-minute tweaks and preparations. "We've taken that feedback and it's helped us evolve TERA into the game we all want to play," Hager said. So just what has En Masse been doing for the past year, and what has us most excited about getting our hands on a launched version of TERA? Read on to find out!
TERA recaps the most recent closed beta weekend, concludes that PvP players enjoy PvP
TERA has just wrapped up its most recent closed beta weekend and is aiming at another this coming Friday. In this latest test, players finally got to take part in the game's PvP offerings, and the official postmortem leads to an ironclad conclusion: PvP players really enjoy killing one another. Across the beta's two PvP servers, players racked up a total of 50,000 kills, with over 150,000 battles fought. And that's not even factoring in the number of guild battles taking place with over 2,000 guilds formed. As it turns out, it wasn't just the players doing the testing; the developers were also putting together a small guild and going out among the people, as it were. It seems as if the game's PvP is humming along smoothly, and with the next closed beta coming up in just a couple of days, it'll be worth watching to see how the rest of the game stacks up. And for those players participating in the closed beta weekends, the third edition begins Friday!
TERA offers answers, launching with level 60 cap
Western players have two new things to look forward to when TERA launches on May 1st: level 59 and level 60. That's right, according to a forum post by Producer Brian Knox, the level cap for En Masse's launch will be bumped up by two levels. As a result of the level cap increase, the team's had to rework the formerly max-level dungeons. "We have shuffled them around -- some up and some down," Knox writes. "We will have more detailed information on it closer to open beta but it should create a much smoother progression to 60 as well as a good amount of content at level 60." For those with many questions about the game, En Masse has launched a new section of the official site called TERA Answers. TERA Answers is a knowledge base that allows players to submit and search for questions and answers to game issues. It's meant to supplement the official forums, as helpful answers may be buried in the latter's case.
The Daily Grind: How many MMO betas are installed on your machine?
Oh man, betas! There are so many nowadays that I have trouble keeping track. Not only that, but my attitude towards actual betas and "marketing" betas has softened somewhat. It used to be that I wouldn't touch a pre-release MMO with a ten foot pole. They were buggy, laggy, and frankly they spoiled my launch-day joy by wiping any progress I'd made during the testing phase. Now, though, many firms allow your beta characters to live on post-launch, and most late beta phases are more about stressing the servers and getting the game in the public eye than they are about system testing and bug reporting (which, let's face it, isn't much fun even when you're being paid). Right now I've got TERA, Tribes: Ascend, and a couple of other hush-hush MMO beta icons on my desktop. What about you, Massively folk? Are you a beta fiend, and if so, how many do you currently have installed? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
TERA's Poporis wreck face in the most adorable possible way
Last week, En Masse Entertainment introduced TERA fans to the deceptively childlike Elins. Now we've got some new details on the Elins' brothers-in-arms, the Poporis. These bestial creatures were once nothing more than feral animals until they were granted sentience by the Elins. Since then, the two races have joined forces to create the Popori Nation, which seems a smidge arrogant considering the Poporis wouldn't even have a nation if it weren't for the Elins, but we digress. The Poporis are characterized by their candid nature and show uncompromising ferocity in the defense of nature. Today, the Poporis fight alongside the Federation -- at least as long as the Federation's goals coincide with their own. To get a glimpse of these adorably ferocious (or ferociously adorable) critters in action, just click on past the cut for the new Popori-centric trailer. But remember, Arboreans: Just because something is cute and fuzzy doesn't mean it won't maul your stupid face.
En Masse details TERA's roleplay server ruleset
En Masse Entertainment has spilled the beans about TERA's roleplay server ruleset (yes, people still RP in MMORPGs!). A new server FAQ has all the details, and the short version is that there will initially be one "official" ruleset server. Celestial Hills is where you'll want to roll if you're partial to player-generated stories, but be aware that En Masse is taking a laissez-faire stance to its RP ruleset. The company says it will implement naming conventions to discourage leetspeak and real-world references, but it also says that the subjective nature of such a policy makes it difficult to enforce. En Masse also says it won't monitor out-of-character chat, but it will boot those who "continually harass others." Finally, the FAQ addresses player requests for RP tools like the ability to walk and create custom emotes. "We are working on a list of game features to enhance your roleplay experience," En Masse explains. "[As with] all game feedback, we are evaluating and prioritizing getting it in the game." [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
TERA's EU sneak peek weekend canceled due to unknown technical fault
Upcoming fantasy MMO TERA has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, from controversial IP blocking to NCSoft's ongoing lawsuit against developers En Masse Entertainment. Today we add another story to the growing list of problems plaguing TERA as its European sneak peek weekend has collapsed due to unknown technical issues. Though a limited number of preview keys were given out for the event, the game and login servers broke down shortly after the preview got underway. The event that fans were looking forward to has now been canceled, with no date for a restart yet announced. The official TERA Europe Facebook page confirms that "The cancellation was not due to load problems caused by the large number of potential players," but was unable to shed any light on what caused the fault or when the sneak peek event would resume. With the game's US launch set for May 1st and its European launch shortly after on May 3rd, we can only hope that these problems are ironed out soon. [Thanks for the tip, Phil!]
The MMO Report: Shut up, that's why edition
Why does The MMO Report cover Minecraft? "Shut up, that's why," says Casey with a smile. In addition to chronicling Minecraft's newest FarmVille-esque update, the Beard meanders through the Dark Millennium Online cancellation rumors, The Secret World's Illuminati trailer, and TERA's upcoming May release date ("your cue to start claiming it's better than WoW, internet"). Finally, Casey touches on the patch delays suffered by Star Wars: The Old Republic, excusing the tardiness by suggesting the promised dates are more like guidelines, and besides, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." All this and a quick dip into Uncle Casey's Mailbag can be found in the full HD video behind the cut.
TERA integrates technology to combat gold farming for North American launch
When Scott Hartsman made his comments regarding gold selling, it's unlikely he planned it to become such a focal point for so many other companies and games. But it's certainly become a focal point for players, and TERA's development staff has decided to take the war on gold selling a step further. It was announced today that the game's launch will see the integration of the Crisp Platform, an automated service set to monitor in-game behaviors to try and detect cheating, gold farming, and botting before a player has even noticed these things taking place. According to the official release, the platform is based around a steady analysis of player behavior, looking for erratic patterns and unusual behaviors to flag potential abuses. In theory, this will allow En Masse Entertainment's support staff access to easy data at a glance, allowing any attempts at gold farming to be detected and stopped before the point that the money gets put up for sale. How successful that will be is going to depend on the implementation, something we won't know about until the game's launch in spring of next year.
En Masse talks more about TERA's BAMs and achievements
This year's GDC didn't bring us any revelations when it comes to TERA. Even though we got to roll through the Smuggler's Hideout and chat with producer Brian Knox, most of what we saw were refinements for the forthcoming fantasy MMO. We did learn that the devs at En Masse Entertainment are a fun bunch, though, and this sense of humor was on display as the team regaled us with footage of various BAMs -- company shorthand for Big Ass Monsters. Today En Masse has released a bit more information on these big bads, which it describes as "bigger than a house, tougher than an armored car, and meaner than a dentist with a grudge." You see, TERA's AI is smarter than that of your average MMO, and the game's BAMs will circle around players as well as recognize attacks and avoid them. Additionally, TERA's mobs bring their own unique and situational attacks to each battle. As players begin to wear down a BAM, the creatures will go through various phases that add further challenge and necessitate strategy adjustments. En Masse also offered a brief nugget pertaining to TERA's achievement system in a press release sent out this morning. "You'll earn achievements no matter which parts of the game you prefer. Story, monsters, player-vs-player combat, economics, and politics all earn you achievements to help you keep track of the great deeds you've done –- and to give you something to shoot for," says En Masse. %Gallery-88481%
