Home » Site News » The Community Play Diary continues with a new installment titled Know Your Enemy!
Catch up on previous Community Play Diary installments by visiting the archive thread on the TERA-Online.com forums.
Tower Base
BroMags: So here we are at the Tower Base, the closest thing the Island of Dawn has to a settlement. There's a series of tents clustered around the Federation outpost here with a kind of makeshift assembly chamber in the center of the ruins. What is this place and where did all this come from? How did the island just kind of sprout out of the ocean covered in ancient ruins? The Island of Dawn mystery dovetails into the overall plot for the game, so I know we'll find out more later on. It's intriguing to look around and see beautifully-crafted architecture that clearly has no place on a brand-new island.
From a learning curve perspective, the Tower Base provides a basis for the next series of tutorials. Here, we'll learn about game mechanics other than combat.
Game Mechanic Story Quests
Scapes: With Vekas felled, piglings hunted, and sickly noruks put down, Tribune Adria requests our presence at the foot of Tower Base. After thanking us for our efforts as Valkyon Federation recruits, she starts us along a series of quests designed to teach the player more about TERA's game mechanics and interacting with different NPCs and items. These tutorial-style story quests are designed for players not familiar with common MMO elements, while maintaining the immersion of a new recruit learning from Valkyon Federation representatives. Additionally, they're geographically laid out so that the next quest is always nearby.
Explosives Expert
BroMags: The bomb-throwing tutorial is one of those little touches to the game that really shows how far we've come in the last year. In the first version of this tutorial, there was literally no explanation for what you needed to do. It took almost five minutes to complete, requiring you to throw several more bombs than were necessary to understand how a simple arcing mechanic works. Now, it's streamlined and simple-you add the bomb to your inventory, try it once or twice, see how the arc works and then take out a group of scarecrows. Simple.
Hold on Tight, Don't Look Down
Scapes: Climbing may be new even to veteran MMO players, but it's accomplished very easily in TERA. In this quest, we're sent to the other side of Tower Base to retrieve a particular flower atop a cliff overlooking the island. A marker at the foot of the cliff points out which vines to climb. After making an obligatory glance up the vertical rock wall, we step up to the vines and press and hold "F". Our characters reach up, grab hold of them, and make good time up the side of the cliff right away. Before long, my high elf gets a leg over the edge of the top and is back on her feet. Jason's aman is right behind me. We take a moment to appreciate the view before gathering the flower nestled among some ruins. Instead of using a teleport scroll to return to Tower Base, Jason opts to leap from the cliff. I watch him plummet, and his health drops very close to zero upon impact. He limps back to town.
You're New in Town, Aren't You?
BroMags: The next tutorial quests introduce you to the important kinds of NPCs you'll meet in towns and how to interact with them. I start at the store (which is a good opportunity to unload some of the items I've picked up), move along to the skill instructors, then on to the bank and post office. TERA strikes a nice balance between immersion and completely breaking the fourth wall-the quest-givers and storekeepers do use language related to the UI ("Press F") but couch it more or less within the game world. There are instructional pop-ups, too, but we specifically opted not to go with trying to squeeze the tutorials in entirely in the game's language-it's just too awkward.
Junk in Your Trunk
Scapes: Any long-time MMO player will tell you that interacting with vendor NPCs is an important part of upkeep after a bout of questing and adventuring. Keeping your inventory empty of items you don't need and stocked with items necessary for success is a good habit to learn. As you might expect, interacting with vendor NPCs in TERA is a very simple activity. After right-clicking on the NPC and opening their shop, your inventory will appear, allowing you to select which items you want to sell. These will show up in a "sell" pane along with a grand total of the gold you'll receive for selling them. Purchasing items is done the same way with the same "shopping cart" of items along with a total cost. This allows you to review your purchases and sales before confirming them.
After getting rid of the items Jason and I can't use, I stock up on bandages and campfires, both used for regaining lost health. I also finally trade that Heavy Armor of Vekas I found to Jason.
Force + Rock = Smaller Rocks
BroMags: I'm not a crafter. I don't even attempt to play one on TV. So this may very well be the last time AnungUnRama takes out a pick-axe and removes material from the ground. That being said I have played around with the gathering and crafting systems in TERA, and I'll let you in on a little secret (someday this will end up on the wiki): there are some valuable raw materials lying around on the Island of Dawn. Kind of makes sense if you think about it-brand new, untapped land rises from the ocean. It's bound to have some valuable natural resources on it. So you might want to consider stocking up before you finally take the pegasus out of town...just sayin'.
A Charming Campfire
Scapes: Another set of quest-giving NPCs are nearby so we talk to each of them. One asks us to recover stolen research from the stonebeaks found around Tower Base, while another wants us to collect a special type of mana dropped by nearby sporewalkers. However, before we head out, Milene the "Rest Guide" offers to teach us about the stamina system in TERA. She asks that we set up a campfire; it's a good thing I bought more from the vendor earlier. Once it appears, a heart-shaped window pops up with a percentage on it, representing my character's stamina. Stamina increases when resting and decreases when in combat. The higher your stamina, the higher your health and mana pools. This is represented by a "+X" in your character's health and mana bars at the top left of the screen. Your stamina drops to 0% upon death damaging your health and mana. It can be restored by resting, which requires a campfire or brazier and can increase your stamina up to 120%.
Milene goes on to teach us how to use charms in conjunction with campfires. These consumable items can be used when near an open flame to grant a temporary buff to your character. She gives us some Onslaught Charms which grant an attack power boost that scales with the character's stamina. Right-clicking on the charms next to the campfire quickly yields the buff and up to three can be applied at once. Time to take on those new monsters before the effect of the charm wears off!
Sporewalkers and Stonebeaks
Scapes: Leaving the safety of Tower Base, we immediately encounter numerous sporewalkers. These bulbous elemental creatures have giant limbs, a stout figure, and what look like three eyes and a pulsing, external heart covered in arteries. Their attacks are as peculiar as their appearance: they will close the distance between themselves and a ranged attacker by tucking into a "ball" and rolling towards them at great speed, often bowling the target over. I found this out very quickly. Jason chides me for pulling too much aggro and steps in, making quick work of the sporewalker.
BroMags: I hit Level 6 while I'm chopping through the sporewalkers. Level 6 means new skills, which means the money I just acquired from selling all my excess loot is about to come in handy. There's a real sense of positive reinforcement that comes with seeing the white wings, feathery explosion, and shaft of light that indicates a leveling up. AnungUnRama is still low enough that I'm leveling fairly often. Once we get into the later parts of the game leveling becomes much rarer, and the rewards that much sweeter. I can hardly wait!
Scapes: Before we run back to learn our new skills, a nearby flock of stonebeaks reminds us that another quest needs doing. These flighty critters are clearly avian in nature but sport elaborate armor and tiny polearms. Not unlike the terrons, these guys spawn as a group with a leader who can buff his smaller minions. Jason charges in for the attack, grabbing the attention of the stonebeak cronies while I keep my targeting reticle on the lead bird. Jason's circular Cyclone ability and my Searing Spray spell put the whole group down in a hurry. The power of area-of-attack skills versus grouping monsters!
New Skills
BroMags: After sheathing our weapons, Evan and I both run to the trainers. No new skills, but I do get to upgrade my basic combo attack. I take a few practice swings (including a few at my partner) just to get a feel for the timing. The basic attacks never really change that much in terms of tempo and momentum, so once you learn how the skills work together in synchronization you don't have to adjust when you level them up, which helps the game's learning curve. The numbers are better though, so my attacks just got that much more effective-which is good because next time we're wandering away from the safe nest of the Tower Base and off into the southern Island of Dawn, to face our density. I mean, our destiny.
Scapes: I turn in the completed quests and eagerly run over to magic instructor Charise. Level 6 means I get to clear the second rank of Divine Radiance, my basic attack spell, and Heal Thyself, my self-targeting heal spells. Charise also teaches me Fiery Escape, a get-out-of-danger ability for priests that sends the caster flying back in a burst of flame that damages all surrounding enemies. I think she knows the type of hungry-for-combat healer I like to play...
Next Time
We depart Tower Base and travel to Leander's Outpost!
Tower Base
BroMags: So here we are at the Tower Base, the closest thing the Island of Dawn has to a settlement. There's a series of tents clustered around the Federation outpost here with a kind of makeshift assembly chamber in the center of the ruins. What is this place and where did all this come from? How did the island just kind of sprout out of the ocean covered in ancient ruins? The Island of Dawn mystery dovetails into the overall plot for the game, so I know we'll find out more later on. It's intriguing to look around and see beautifully-crafted architecture that clearly has no place on a brand-new island.
From a learning curve perspective, the Tower Base provides a basis for the next series of tutorials. Here, we'll learn about game mechanics other than combat.
Game Mechanic Story Quests
Scapes: With Vekas felled, piglings hunted, and sickly noruks put down, Tribune Adria requests our presence at the foot of Tower Base. After thanking us for our efforts as Valkyon Federation recruits, she starts us along a series of quests designed to teach the player more about TERA's game mechanics and interacting with different NPCs and items. These tutorial-style story quests are designed for players not familiar with common MMO elements, while maintaining the immersion of a new recruit learning from Valkyon Federation representatives. Additionally, they're geographically laid out so that the next quest is always nearby.
Explosives Expert
BroMags: The bomb-throwing tutorial is one of those little touches to the game that really shows how far we've come in the last year. In the first version of this tutorial, there was literally no explanation for what you needed to do. It took almost five minutes to complete, requiring you to throw several more bombs than were necessary to understand how a simple arcing mechanic works. Now, it's streamlined and simple-you add the bomb to your inventory, try it once or twice, see how the arc works and then take out a group of scarecrows. Simple.
Hold on Tight, Don't Look Down
Scapes: Climbing may be new even to veteran MMO players, but it's accomplished very easily in TERA. In this quest, we're sent to the other side of Tower Base to retrieve a particular flower atop a cliff overlooking the island. A marker at the foot of the cliff points out which vines to climb. After making an obligatory glance up the vertical rock wall, we step up to the vines and press and hold "F". Our characters reach up, grab hold of them, and make good time up the side of the cliff right away. Before long, my high elf gets a leg over the edge of the top and is back on her feet. Jason's aman is right behind me. We take a moment to appreciate the view before gathering the flower nestled among some ruins. Instead of using a teleport scroll to return to Tower Base, Jason opts to leap from the cliff. I watch him plummet, and his health drops very close to zero upon impact. He limps back to town.
You're New in Town, Aren't You?
BroMags: The next tutorial quests introduce you to the important kinds of NPCs you'll meet in towns and how to interact with them. I start at the store (which is a good opportunity to unload some of the items I've picked up), move along to the skill instructors, then on to the bank and post office. TERA strikes a nice balance between immersion and completely breaking the fourth wall-the quest-givers and storekeepers do use language related to the UI ("Press F") but couch it more or less within the game world. There are instructional pop-ups, too, but we specifically opted not to go with trying to squeeze the tutorials in entirely in the game's language-it's just too awkward.
Junk in Your Trunk
Scapes: Any long-time MMO player will tell you that interacting with vendor NPCs is an important part of upkeep after a bout of questing and adventuring. Keeping your inventory empty of items you don't need and stocked with items necessary for success is a good habit to learn. As you might expect, interacting with vendor NPCs in TERA is a very simple activity. After right-clicking on the NPC and opening their shop, your inventory will appear, allowing you to select which items you want to sell. These will show up in a "sell" pane along with a grand total of the gold you'll receive for selling them. Purchasing items is done the same way with the same "shopping cart" of items along with a total cost. This allows you to review your purchases and sales before confirming them.
After getting rid of the items Jason and I can't use, I stock up on bandages and campfires, both used for regaining lost health. I also finally trade that Heavy Armor of Vekas I found to Jason.
Force + Rock = Smaller Rocks
BroMags: I'm not a crafter. I don't even attempt to play one on TV. So this may very well be the last time AnungUnRama takes out a pick-axe and removes material from the ground. That being said I have played around with the gathering and crafting systems in TERA, and I'll let you in on a little secret (someday this will end up on the wiki): there are some valuable raw materials lying around on the Island of Dawn. Kind of makes sense if you think about it-brand new, untapped land rises from the ocean. It's bound to have some valuable natural resources on it. So you might want to consider stocking up before you finally take the pegasus out of town...just sayin'.
A Charming Campfire
Scapes: Another set of quest-giving NPCs are nearby so we talk to each of them. One asks us to recover stolen research from the stonebeaks found around Tower Base, while another wants us to collect a special type of mana dropped by nearby sporewalkers. However, before we head out, Milene the "Rest Guide" offers to teach us about the stamina system in TERA. She asks that we set up a campfire; it's a good thing I bought more from the vendor earlier. Once it appears, a heart-shaped window pops up with a percentage on it, representing my character's stamina. Stamina increases when resting and decreases when in combat. The higher your stamina, the higher your health and mana pools. This is represented by a "+X" in your character's health and mana bars at the top left of the screen. Your stamina drops to 0% upon death damaging your health and mana. It can be restored by resting, which requires a campfire or brazier and can increase your stamina up to 120%.
Milene goes on to teach us how to use charms in conjunction with campfires. These consumable items can be used when near an open flame to grant a temporary buff to your character. She gives us some Onslaught Charms which grant an attack power boost that scales with the character's stamina. Right-clicking on the charms next to the campfire quickly yields the buff and up to three can be applied at once. Time to take on those new monsters before the effect of the charm wears off!
Sporewalkers and Stonebeaks
Scapes: Leaving the safety of Tower Base, we immediately encounter numerous sporewalkers. These bulbous elemental creatures have giant limbs, a stout figure, and what look like three eyes and a pulsing, external heart covered in arteries. Their attacks are as peculiar as their appearance: they will close the distance between themselves and a ranged attacker by tucking into a "ball" and rolling towards them at great speed, often bowling the target over. I found this out very quickly. Jason chides me for pulling too much aggro and steps in, making quick work of the sporewalker.
BroMags: I hit Level 6 while I'm chopping through the sporewalkers. Level 6 means new skills, which means the money I just acquired from selling all my excess loot is about to come in handy. There's a real sense of positive reinforcement that comes with seeing the white wings, feathery explosion, and shaft of light that indicates a leveling up. AnungUnRama is still low enough that I'm leveling fairly often. Once we get into the later parts of the game leveling becomes much rarer, and the rewards that much sweeter. I can hardly wait!
Scapes: Before we run back to learn our new skills, a nearby flock of stonebeaks reminds us that another quest needs doing. These flighty critters are clearly avian in nature but sport elaborate armor and tiny polearms. Not unlike the terrons, these guys spawn as a group with a leader who can buff his smaller minions. Jason charges in for the attack, grabbing the attention of the stonebeak cronies while I keep my targeting reticle on the lead bird. Jason's circular Cyclone ability and my Searing Spray spell put the whole group down in a hurry. The power of area-of-attack skills versus grouping monsters!
New Skills
BroMags: After sheathing our weapons, Evan and I both run to the trainers. No new skills, but I do get to upgrade my basic combo attack. I take a few practice swings (including a few at my partner) just to get a feel for the timing. The basic attacks never really change that much in terms of tempo and momentum, so once you learn how the skills work together in synchronization you don't have to adjust when you level them up, which helps the game's learning curve. The numbers are better though, so my attacks just got that much more effective-which is good because next time we're wandering away from the safe nest of the Tower Base and off into the southern Island of Dawn, to face our density. I mean, our destiny.
Scapes: I turn in the completed quests and eagerly run over to magic instructor Charise. Level 6 means I get to clear the second rank of Divine Radiance, my basic attack spell, and Heal Thyself, my self-targeting heal spells. Charise also teaches me Fiery Escape, a get-out-of-danger ability for priests that sends the caster flying back in a burst of flame that damages all surrounding enemies. I think she knows the type of hungry-for-combat healer I like to play...
Next Time
We depart Tower Base and travel to Leander's Outpost!