Hey, TERA Fans! Recently, BHS held a press conference to discuss TERA and its future updates. TIG's coverage of the conference shows that between May of 2011 and early 2012, TERA will receive some huge additions. From the long awaited server v. server content to cosmetic items, it seems fan feedback will drive the game's development direction.
Check out our translation of TIGs coverage below and let us know what you think!
“TERA, will include SvS after the Demonic Beast of Destruction update in May”
TERA will have a major content update this coming May.
NHN and Bluehole Studios showcased TERA's upcoming content, 'Demonic Beast of Destruction', and their roadmap for future content.
The content they revealed was literally epic. It will begin with the ‘Demonic Beast of Destruction’ patch, including server vs server content, server invasions, holding off monster invasions, and huge aerial cities.
The update schedule ran through early 2012 which was surprising as BHS usually likes to keep their distant future content quiet.
Korean TERA update schedule as translated by Kalsteine.
- Reflecting on their lack of communication with the fans.
The CEO of BHS first said he was sorry for not communicating well enough with the fans. Opening 37 servers and having as much as 160,000 people online at the same time (now down to about 100,000 people), they were off to a good start.
Of course, they recognized their launch had a few faults. They felt there was a lack of substantial endgame content, that it lacked the convenience and MMO should have, and it had a weak story, though they were most adamant that they had poor communication with their fans.
The CEO also said “Excuses are meaningless for a developer. After the awakening patch, we decided to stop being so silent and we will start communicating with the fans.” This is the 3rd time they expressed their apology in an interview.
CEO Kang-Suk Kim
- ‘Demonic Beast of Destruction’ will be the real beginning
This patch will be the first major content update for TERA, 3 months since the game's release. The level cap will be raised to 58 and new areas will open in Northern Shara. It will add 3 new zones to level in, open the Aman city of Kaiator, and add 4 new dungeons.
Dungeon difficulty will also be split between normal and expert. In an April 21st patch, they will be releasing the normal difficulty of the Akasha’s Hideout dungeon. The new boss monster ‘Kelscyke’ will be challenging.
Many appearance altering items like dyes and brand items as well as special weapon effects will be added. Also there will be an ‘item info lock’ system that will make for some fun yet daring trades.
The new map, North Shara on the upper left side.
TERA’s long term projects like server vs server content and factions who will fight for the ‘Dream Shard’ will be shown after the ‘Demonic Beast of Destruction’ patch. Those features are the reason BHS considers this patch the ‘real beginning’ of TERA.
In addition, players will be able to create their own combos, the lock-on mode will allow players to see through a monster to spot an ally, and a viable DPS role for warriors will be added. To get better feedback from the players, with the new major patch BHS will start a test server. On the test server, players may copy existing character or create default level 50 characters.
As mentioned above, the major content patch will be coming on May which is a month behind their original schedule and to this the CEO said “There was a lot to update and with the Awakening patch there were many unexpected updates, for that we got behind schedule.”
Kelscyke, the Angry Gryphon
- Server invasions & a huge aerial city will be implemented by early next year.
The ‘Demonic Beast of Destruction’ patch will introduce teamwork, opposition and resistance. If the current TERA is about 5 man PvE parties, for the future it will be about server vs server opposition and large scale battles. BHS mentioned 4 updates that will bring this to life.
First off, in autumn they will be adding guild wars and new battlegrounds as well as strengthening the ‘power’ of Archons in the ‘Dream Shard’ update. The ‘Dream Shard’ is a fragment of Arun and Shara's dream which contains the power of the world of TERA.
TERA, Teamwork, Opposition and Resistance!
This winter, the level cap will raise again, large scale PvE content called the ‘Black Crevice’ will be added and an area available for multiple players from different servers called ‘Agaia’ will be added. This is also when server vs server content will be implemented.
From left top, clockwise ‘Fight for the World’s Origin, Dream Shard’, ‘Floating City of Juras’ Ark’, ‘Server Neutral Area Agaia’ and ‘Monster Invasion the Dark Crevice’.
Dark Crevice will be event based. Dark Crevices will randomly appear in zones and spawn large scale monster invasions which players will have to fight off together. This content was made for all types of players, casual, hardcore and solo.
The server neutral city of Agaia will open up frequently and will be a place multiple servers will share. This area will provide different kinds of PvE and PvP experiences. Each server’s Archons will have to fight off the other servers in order to provide a better experience for their own server players.
Through Agaia, players can also invade other servers, allowing them to collect ‘Dream Shards’. To balance out the power, the server matching will change depending on how many shards a server has.
Agaia.
Lastly, early next year, the fourth major city called ‘Juras’ Ark’ will be revealed. Juras’ Ark can only be acquired through politics and the policies made through Juras will be server wide, affecting more than one continent. If Dream Shard and Agaia is about power, Juras is about how to use that power.
For example, if you are in a server that takes great care at PvP and server vs server wars, you can move Juras to the middle of Agaia, to use as a floating fortress. Along with the Juras’ Ark patch, TERA’s ninth class will be revealed.
Below is the press Q&A with the CEO of BHS, Captain of Development and Head Art Director.
Q: You said there was a lack of communication why did that ever happen?
A: To be honest from a developer’s standpoint it is true that we did our absolute best but we got a bit more hype than we anticipated and with that came an immense amount of pressure.
We also held back a lot for ourselves because our view of the game is not the same as the players and within players there will be thousands of different viewpoints of the game. If we took one player’s advice, it could end up working unfairly for the other. This was probably why we looked lacking on the communication part.
It took us a long time to figure out the wise answer and we have agreed to fix this attitude in the future.
Q: Updates are mainly focused on endgame content.
A: It is because the most criticism we've received is about the lack of endgame content. However, just like the awakening patch we will be updating non-endgame contents as well in the future. Just with May’s content patch, there will be a lot of things for the convenience of the players.
Q: What will be the ratio of content for solo and party players?
A: It will be similar to the awakening patch. It will focus on solo / small parties and if the player wants 5 man party content, they can simply join a dungeon.
10 new zones to level in as well as 4 new instanced dungeons.
Q: Tomorrow (April 21st) is the patch of the dungeon difficulty settings.
A: Normal difficulty will get rid of some of the more tedious patterns within the mechanic. Monster’s attack speed and health will be lowered. First we will implement this change on Akasha’s Hideout and slowly work our way through the rest.
This change will allow players to gain items much easier as Akasha’s Hideout reward contains the ‘Plague Essence’ item which can be traded in for items better than the Gold Labyrinth.
Q: Are you satisfied with NHN as the publisher?
A: It is true NHN has a bad reputation regarding the MMORPG genre; however they do have a lot of things they learned and tricks up their sleeves. Their marketing is the one ability we thought that was amazing.
We would like to have a game that shows good teamwork between the publisher and the developing company.
Q: Current status on the foreign launch of the game?
A: It is our goal to release the game within 2011 in NA, Europe and Japan. More details will be announced through the local publishers, so we can’t reveal any more information regarding future plans. We are currently trying to provide content fitting for the cultures of the regions.
Q: When do you think you will get to the break-even point with TERA?
A: We are expecting that following the launch of TERA in other parts of the world.
Slideshow of Juras’ Ark.
Q: How many players are currently online at the same time?
A: We don’t have the right to say this, since NHN is our publisher but we can say it is in its 100,000’s.
Q: If you look at the Internet Café game play rates, the rates are not that good. How much do you wish to recover with the new content patch?
A: MMORPG is a long lasting genre, if you compare it to an athlete it is like asking when their golden age was. TERA is still at its starting line and it is not yet point in time to talk about its golden age. We did see some popularity due to NHN’s good marketing but we are not shaken by that. We will keep updating regularly and hopefully we achieve our golden age.
Q: What’s your thought on the current Political System?
A: Currently the 2nd election has finished, as we mentioned since the launch of the game political system is just getting started. The system itself will evolve on how the players enjoy the content. Right now we think the powers archons have are still weak, we want to gradually increase it so there won’t be much trouble.
We think the system still needs more care and attention and we are planning to give all the care and attention it needs.
Q: Any plans for appearance altering items?
A: It is in the works, currently being discussed with the publisher. We will reveal details soon.
Q: Are you thinking of any optional business plan that will use the TERA IP?
A: We are currently looking at it with a very positive view, we would like to if we get the chance but we would need a good business partner for it to work.
Q: When are you planning to start the Chinese service?
A: It probably won’t happen within 2011, it is not about business but rather if we include China to our plan the other countries will suffer. We will get the current ones done before we think about China, not only is China a huge place but there are some unique issues we need to resolve as well.
Q: Are you thinking of merging servers?
A: There are a few servers that do not meet our recommended population; we are currently thinking about merging some servers. We are also thinking carefully about when to merge the servers, this will probably undergo after we discuss more with NHN.
Q: There are no exact dates on when the ‘Demonic Beast of Destruction’ will be released.
A: We will first test it via the test server to perfect the patch. When we think it is ready, we will put it out.
Q: Do you have to be subscribed to the game to participate in the test server?
A: Details will be given by NHN.
Q: Large scale PvP and PvE currently causes a lot of lag, do you think you can support bigger scale battles?
A: It is a difficult assignment for the client team and things like suddenly characters disappearing and slowing downs are the major issues. We have a few ideas to resolve those issues.
Just to talk extreme, instead of showing full armor detail we might think of just delivering the info of who’s the ally and who the enemy is.
No comments:
Post a Comment