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TERA compiles Elleon's Journal, starts Day 2
Lore and storytelling often seem like lost arts in the majority of today's MMORPGs, as the games (and the players) tend to focus heavily on advancement and item collecting. TERA, the upcoming action fantasy title from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment, looks to change that equation with compelling world and character lore designed to flesh out the game's unique setting. Lead writer David Noonan has been delivering story updates via Twitter for some time, effectively using the microblogging service to disseminate the journal entries of a TERA NPC known as Elleon. "I want to make something absolutely clear at the outset: Elleon isn't tweeting. That would be wrong, wrong, wrong. But we are using Twitter to distribute Elleon's journal entries, which will tell a story (and give you a peek at game content) over the coming weeks and months. Twitter is just the distribution technique; Elleon isn't going to retweet, reply, or anything like that," Noonan said in a forum post last month. Fast forward four weeks and the official TERA website has released a compilation of the Day 1 journal entries. Check it out, and don't forget to get your lore fix with Elleon's Journal: Day 2 on the official Twitter feed.
TERA showcases screenshots of the week
Scapes, Senior Community Manager for En Masse Entertainment's forthcoming TERA fantasy action MMORPG, has been a busy bee this week. In addition to the The Velika Guardian newsletter announcement and publication of Issue One, he's also treated anxious fans to a new Screenshots of the Week featurette. The weekly unveiling, also found on the official TERA boards, will highlight specific areas of the map as well as showcase the many mobs and assorted creatures that look to dine on unwary adventurers. For this week's debut, we're treated to three shots from the Island of Dawn. Check them out on the official site and as part of the game's official Flickr photostream.
En Masse publishes first TERA weekly newsletter
En Masse Entertainment Senior Community Manager Scapes brings word of the first issue of The Velika Guardian, a weekly newsletter designed to keep readers abreast of all that's new and happening in the world of TERA. The newsletter, basically an ongoing forum thread that features a collection of relevant updates (as selected by the dev team) from the previous week, can be found on the game's official boards. For the debut issue, Scapes highlights Patrick Wyatt's TERAHispano.com interview, the recently released Focus Group Test 2 Postmortem, and Sam Kim's interview with TERAGamers.de. Check out Issue One of The Velika Guardian over at the official TERA website.
TERA FGT2 gameplay feedback detailed
TERA's official website has updated with the first in a series of 'postmortem' articles featuring player feedback and developer responses to the recently concluded second round of focus group testing. En Masse has collated a mountain of information from the 60-hour testing period and organized it into three broad categories (gameplay, Westernization, and technology), each of which will feature a postmortem article. The first article, focused on gameplay, expounds on everything from race/class combinations, to gear and itemization, to progression rewards. "Feedback regarding progression fell into four categories: equipment, items, skills, and gold acquisition. We asked testers whether they felt they received real and tangible rewards for their efforts, and feedback followed many of the same trends for each of the three categories. Gear was a hot topic: moving forward, TERA will feature more equipment items per level, new visuals for these items, and a wider assortment of item statistics. Gold seemed to be just about right, although testers noted that it was hard to tell for sure without a live, in-game economy," the article states. Check out the full write-up over at the official site.
TERA's Sam Kim talks PvP Battlefield, questing
German fansite TeraGamers.de features a new interview with TERA developer Sam Kim. While the majority of the web site is, naturally, auf Deutsch, the interview has been helpfully translated to English and is available on the site's forums. Kim discusses everything from quest innovation, to character customization improvements, to PvP options. "I'm sure you know that there will be PvP servers, with world PvP, and PvE servers with consensual PvP. One thing you might not know too much about yet is the Battlefield system. This system has been designed to be scalable -- everything from pickup skirmishes to guild-on-guild frays," Kim says. He also touches on the subject of item quality tiers, and acknowledges the fan demand for more armor and weapon variety. Check out the full interview over at TeraGamers.de.
TERA welcomes you to the northeast
There are a lot of things about TERA that have helped push it to the forefront of people's minds without having seen much of the game, but the lore is certainly a big part of it. Aside from being a fine way to wave away fantasy inconsistencies, there's something infinitely unique about a world being dreamed into existence. But life in Northern Shara (with Shara being the eastern continent) is anything but a peaceful dream, as it's the site where the unnatural Argon first burst into the world. A new lore entry on the official site goes into detail about just what is happening in the besieged environment. Argon forces are both the core threat of TERA and the biggest danger to the region, but they're not after simple conquest. They've imported vast machinery to help them terraform the world into a more fitting environment, crawling across the landscape and distorting it. Still, within the city of Kaiator, the Valkyon Federation (presumably including the player characters) works to stem the flow of invaders and disrupt their efforts. Take a look at the full description for a better picture of the world's first battlefield against what seems to be utter annihilation.
TERA's Patrick Wyatt talks security, RMT
The guys over at TERAHispano have scored an interesting interview with En Masse Entertainment COO Patrick Wyatt. The former NCsoft executive talks at length about everything from possible RMT options, to account security, to private servers and potential in-game griefing in TERA. In light of the much-publicized problems with bots, gold-selling, and account theft in Aion, these issues are clearly on the minds of TERA fans as En Masse works to localize Bluehole Studio's open world fantasy MMORPG for the western markets. "Ultimately, if users want to purchase gold, they'll find a way to do it. The U.S. "drug war" hasn't stopped people from buying drugs, it merely causes fluctuations in the price of those drugs and the amount of crime and violence that people are willing to commit to buy and sell drugs. If we only try to attack the problem of gold farming by detecting and blocking the gold farmers we will not be effective in stopping that behavior and all of the problems that go with it, like chat-spamming to advertise gold-buying sites, purchase fraud, phishing, and account theft," Wyatt says. He goes on to list EVE Online's PLEX system and Everquest's Vox and Bazaar secondary market experiments as potential "interesting solutions." Check out TERAHispano for the full interview as well a companion gameplay-centric interview with Producer Sam Kim.
TERA FGT2 recap features new screens
TERA Fans does it again, this time with some nifty screen shots and a wee bit of commentary on the second Focus Group Test. Judging by the images, the action fantasy MMORPG from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment is going to be one of the prettiest on the market. From shots of character creation and armor choices to vast panoramas and even a brief look at the Homunculus pet system interface, this update delivers the visual goods. "This weekend, many TERA fans got a chance to test our favorite game! From what was available for us to test, the TERA Fans staff is able to discuss a few exciting features. Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring wiki articles and guides with some exclusive information on the topics found below! Keep a look out," writes Amira, TERA Fans administrator.
TERA dev talks political system, westernization
Amira over at Terafans.com points us toward a nifty developer interview with En Masse Entertainment's Jason 'BrotherMagneto' Mical, Community Director for the publisher's forthcoming TERA action MMORPG. The piece touches on everything from languages and localization to the political system, which remains shrouded in a bit of mystery. "We're still putting the finishing touches on the system, and we don't want to leak too much, too early. However, I can share that it will be heavily dependent on guilds and groups, so PvP players will probably find something very much to their liking in the system," said Mical. The interview also features a couple of noteworthy bits about developing TERA for the western market. The game is the brainchild of Korean MMO heavyweight Bluehole Studio, an outfit composed of Lineage II veterans. "The Western version of TERA will differ distinctly from the Korean version. There will be additional lore and quests, location and NPC names will differ, and there will be other cosmetic changes, too. We're still determining how much the two versions will differ in terms of game mechanics. Our input is helping to influence the game's development in Korea, and mechanics will likely be very similar, but not identical," Mical said.
TERA gets a website overhaul and new lore updates
With a unique control scheme and a great deal of industry talent moving behind it -- not to mention impressive and surreal graphics -- TERA has begun capturing people's attention. And when people first got peeks at the lore behind the game, that interest only increased. While the updates have been slow in coming, the official site has recently undergone a major overhaul, and aside from making the site as a whole far less Flash-reliant one of the major updates has been the addition of new lore on the world and each of the individual races. As we'd heard before, the world is the product of two sleeping titans that dreamed the entire world into existence. Each facet of the world came about as part of that dream, including the long-standing wars between dreamed-up gods and then the mortal races beneath them. But the mortal races have banded together in response to the Argons, a race from outside of the dream that has the potential to annihilate the very structure of the world. It's an interesting attempt at world-building, and between that and the addition of new music to listen to on the official site, TERA fans will get a much better sense with this update of how the world will feel.
Industry vets joining En Masse Entertainment ... in large numbers
While you're waiting anxiously for the eventual Western release of Korean MMO Tera, En Masse Entertainment is busy hiring up developers with high profile credentials by the handful. From Aaron LeMay (former resource manager and producer at Bungie and Volition), to David Noonan (worked on D&D 4th Edition), to ex-BioWare PR man Matt Atwood, it seems that En Masse is really, really interested in getting the attention of game industry vets. According to En Masse's announcement, the man credited with creating the Xbox Live Operations Center, Marcus Schweig, has also been hired on to head up network operations. "As we build toward the launch of Tera, we are adding veteran strength to all facets of the company to ensure a topnotch Action MMO experience for our customers," CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang says of the acquisitions. Hey guys, you know that Ron Gilbert's up for grabs these days, right? Your move.
TERA adds veteran industry talent
En Masse Entertainment isn't messing around, judging by today's announcement regarding several game industry heavyweights joining forces with the publisher of the forthcoming TERA MMORPG. "We want En Masse Entertainment to serve as a magnet for creative talent. As we build toward the launch of TERA, we are adding veteran strength to all facets of the company to ensure a topnotch action MMO experience for our customers," said CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. New TERA team members include Aaron LeMay, a veteran of major action franchises including Halo and Saint's Row. Also signing on are Matt Atwood, former Global Public Relations Lead at BioWare and responsible for overseeing both Dragon Age and Mass Effect. David Noonan, a former Dungeons and Dragons game designer and Aion writer also joins the TERA crew, as does Microsoft Xbox Live Operations Center veteran Markus Schweig. Head on over to the official TERA forums for the full press release.
Everything you ever wanted to know about TERA's testing but were afraid to ask
So your interest has been piqued in TERA. That's really understandable, considering the impression it left on us at the GDC and the jaw-dropping graphics it's put on display thus far. Based on that, it's quite possible that you signed up for the focus group testing when it was first offered. But simply signing up doesn't provide you with all of the answers to questions you need. Fear not, for if you were one of the many who signed up to test, an official sheet of information has now been posted. For those of us not taking part by choice or by poor luck, two of the most important pieces of meta-information are the fact that there will be an NDA in effect and there will not be enough spots for everyone who wanted in. One can also infer from the information about what's been added that the game is progressing nicely and still has a ways to go before launch -- yet it's still shaping up quite impressively. Those interested in finding out more can take a look at the full information sheet on the official TERA site, and keep your eyes open for more news here.
Massively exclusive: TERA lore dev blog
While we had a chance to get our hands on with the upcoming mmo TERA at GDC 2010, there was little we could glean about the overall lore of the world beyond the broadest of brush-strokes. That's why we were so glad when the folks at En Masse Entertainment offered to give us some exclusive insight on some of the history of this interesting new world. This developer blog, written by David Noonan, Lead Writer at En Masse Entertainment, turns an eye towards the history of the High Elves, but in a fascinating way. Written in the format of a research paper -- complete with editorial remarks from a wizened professor -- it gives us a closer look at the bloody, violent, and fascinating culture of one of the elder races in TERA. While TERA's warlike High Elves are cautiously accepted now in the ranks of the Valkyon Federation, they're still not entirely trusted by the other member-races. Only recently did they stop their bloody and bitter wars -- and the memory of the world's inhabitants have not yet faded in terms of what the "Children of Karas" once did. The High Elves, aware that their own survival is dependent upon cooperation with any other enemies of the Argon invaders, actively look past those previous differences; their cause is now that of saving all life on the planet. They act with strength, patience, and honor to achieve their goals of moving "forward, together and strong" -- a tenet that is just as important to the High Elf race as the benedictions spoken at meals in elven homes for well over 3,000 years. Curious about lore on the High Elves of TERA? Join us behind the break for the dev blog from David Noonan or check out the gallery below for a handful of exclusive new screenshots! %Gallery-86517%
GDC10: En Masse's Patrick Wyatt talks MMO security
Security concerns in MMOs are nothing new. We all know the drill -- Don't share your account, avoid suspicious emails and sites, change your password regularly and so on. We go through all of that to keep our personal accounts safe, but what about the bigger picture? Patrick Wyatt from En Masse looked over this very thing at GDC this year, explaining how issues like gold farming, account theft and even plain old griefing affects the MMO community at large. He began looking at the other side of the equation: the people causing these problems in the first place and what motivates them. Money is the main motivator, of course, but there is no shortage of attackers who are just doing it for kicks. So as long as you protect your own account, it doesn't affect you, right? Wyatt addressed that false assumption as well, outlining the affect of each type of attack on the general gaming community and the game in question itself. Any event that affects the game and the community at large will of course affect every member of the community. So what's to be done? Game developers never stop working to stay ahead of "the enemy", and Wyatt illustrates quite a few possible solutions. This slideshow certainly isn't only for those in the industry. It's very informative for any MMO player, so head over to playnoevil.com and take a look at the slideshow for yourself!
TERA unleashes trailer on the masses
The upcoming action RPG fantasy MMO TERA from Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment definitely caught our eyes at GDC 2010. While our fearless leader Shawn got a chance for (several) hands-on sessions with this intriguing new title, the trailer from GDC has come out today for the rest of us who weren't so fortunate as to make it to the conference. What is most impressive about this trailer to us (beyond the fact that nobody seems to fall out of those skimpy metal bikinis) is that the footage was created using all in-game resources. If that's the case, the in-game graphics -- including facial emotes -- are quite impressive. Of course, considering how deep the game's various systems appear to go based on that hands-on at the convention, we're not surprised to find the graphics are equally as impressive. So if you haven't had a chance to see TERA in action, be sure to check out the trailer behind the break. Between all the details we keep hearing about and luscious visuals like this, we think this is definitely going to be a game to watch.
En Masse answers twenty TERA questions
Amira over at TERAfans.com has published a lengthy question and answer session with En Masse Entertainment's Brian Knox. En Masse, North American publishers for the forthcoming BlueHole Studios MMORPG, was formed by veterans of both Blizzard and NCSoft and their first project is localizing and distributing TERA to the western market. Knox drops a few interesting tidbits, including a brief mention of TERA's political system. "TERA's endgame will involve the full spectrum of things you expect from an MMO, including battling in dungeons with PvE instances, taking to the battlegrounds to fight for honor, working the economy with crafting, enchanting, and playing the market. In addition, players will be able to influence the history of each server by participating in the in-game political system," he said. Check out the full interview and stay with Massively for more TERA coverage in the coming weeks.
GDC10: Hands-on with TERA Online
New MMOs are becoming a dime a dozen. We here at Massively are constantly flooded with press releases claiming that Company A's new game is not only an MMO, but it's the best darn MMO you've ever seen. Despite this, we try to hold back the cynicism and keep a sharp eye open for the true diamonds in the rough. At GDC 2010, we saw what could be considered at least an emerald in the rough. TERA had a huge presence at the conference, with fliers everywhere you looked and an impressive demo booth with four playable stations. Since Seraphina and I both spent some quality time with the game, including a developer demo, we decided to pool our thoughts for one big article on what we saw. Follow along for our impressions of TERA.
New TERA screens revealed
Publisher En Masse today revealed three new high resolution screen shots of Blue Hole Studio's forthcoming action MMORPG TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arboria. "TERA is a new class of MMO that combines the depth and flexibility of online PC games with the lush graphics and immediacy of console action games," said Dr. Jae-Heon Yang, CEO of En Masse Entertainment. "Players can go beyond factions and static story lines to write the history of TERA in real time as six races learn to work together." Stay tuned to Massively this week as we'll be sitting down with En Masse at GDC 2010 and bringing you full coverage of TERA's debut. %Gallery-87895%
TERA enters third closed beta test
Although the official press release for TERA only came out yesterday, the game has been in the works for a while, and is preparing for its third closed beta test. This round of closed beta testing is expected to have 20,000 users, and begin work on quite a bit of new content. Six tribes are currently available, eight different classes, and 88 character models. The new content introduced with CBT3 includes new maps and 68 new techniques. Some new instanced dungeons and a party invite bulletin feature will be added as well, along with generally expected features such as in-game voice chat (provided by Hangame) and the ability to swim, jump, and climb. Look for the addition of Quick Menu and equipment items as well. You can take a closer look at TERA at the official site, and check out the gallery of screenshots and concept art just below for a visual overview of the game. %Gallery-86517%
