Although the game is, for the most part, well put together, people's views are going to vary greatly. Some people are going to love this game, while others are going to hate it.
CHARACTER CREATORS: 4/5
Needless to say, the graphics in this game are gorgeous. Even on low settings, the game looks amazing. The races themselves are also quite stylized. Most races have a wide variety of hairstyles, hair colors, faces, and skin colors. However, character creation can get a little confusing when you get to the "face" and "adornment" options. The "face" option allows you to select the overall facial structure of your character (baby-faced, weathered, etc.). Each face has its own specific adornments. The "adornments" option shows you more pre-made faces, which further defines the look of your character (green eyes and a scar, blue eyes and dark eye shadow, etc.). You can further tweak the structure of the face with eye, nose, mouth, and ear sliders, but you cannot further customize the adornments (i.e. you will not be able to change the color of the eyes or make-up). Also, you cannot change any properties of a character's body (height, weight, etc.). Overall, there's a lot amount of customization options, but some players will be left wishing there was more.
TAB-TARGETING MMO PLAYERS: 2/5
If you've played a lot of tab-target MMOs, the combat will take some getting used to. The main difference between tab-target MMOs and Tera is you do not need to target enemies to attack them. All you have to do is aim and shoot/swing. Tanking and healing are also much different in Tera than in other MMOs. Tanks will have to manually block, dodge, or even move out of range to keep themselves alive, while healers will have to aim at party members' characters or at the floor beneath party members to heal them. Even damage dealers will have to keep on their toes, since many BAMs(1) and bosses move around, and not all heals will come to you (the mystic class can put down motes that can be picked up for healing in the middle of a battle). Fighting big monsters in small areas can be a bit awkward, though, because of the camera; when against a wall, the camera zooms in and you will not be able to see very well. Also, accessing the UI does take some getting used to. When moving around the world and battling, the UI is not accessible by a cursor. You must press Alt, Mouse Button 5, or Esc (or a rebound key of your preference) to access the cursor so you can click on UI elements (like the menu) or things in the world.
ACTION MMO PLAYERS: 4/5
In Tera, the movement is smooth and combat is a lot of fun, but combat is slightly different than in some action MMOs already out there. (See the section "players from other MMOs" below for combat comparisons between Tera and other action MMOs.)
POINT & CLICK PLAYERS: 1/5
If you point and click your spells in MMOs, you will have a very difficult and frustrating time with Tera, since, by default, your cursor disappears when moving (and you'll be moving a lot during battles). You may want to try playing with a controller or look into keybinding (and possibly investing in a gaming mouse or gaming keyboard), or else this game probably isn't going to be for you. There is a combo system in the game to make playing with a controller feasible and playing with a keyboard easier.
KEYBINDERS: 4/5
Compared to clickers, keybinders will have a much easier time getting used to Tera's combat system. The only problem keybinders might encounter is if you use left or right click on your mouse to move. By default, your two main abilities (usually a basic attack and a block/dodge/evade) are bound to the left and right mouse buttons, and your mouse movement is connected directly to your camera. Also, you will always attack in the direction your camera is facing, not the direction your character is facing.
PvE PLAYERS: 3/5
PvE isn't much different from other MMOs out there. The main focus in PvE is questing, which can become grindy after a while.
-Questing: 2/5
Tera brings nothing new to questing and will remind you of many other MMOs & RPGs: you pick up a quest, kill 10 boars, and then turn in the quest for experience and rewards. Questing has a very linear feel in Tera, especially if you're following the story quests. Some quests can only be unlocked if you finish certain quests first. If you get into the story, it can be pretty interesting, albeit a bit confusing. The quest text is actually fairly well done (and even occasionally humorous), but it is so verbose, many people's eyes will glaze over it. There is also an amazing amount of pop culture references shoved into the game, especially in quest titles. If you like traditional questing, then you won't have a problem with the questing in Tera. Otherwise, questing can feel redundant and boring.
-BAMs & World Bosses: 4/5
BAMs (short for big-ass monster) are tough monsters that usually take a party to kill. BAMs and world bosses are scattered throughout the world and act as a challenge or a quest objective. BAMs will always be more challenging than regular mobs and give a lot more EXP.
-Dungeons: 4/5
Not only are there instanced dungeons, but there are also open world dungeons that can be freely explored. However, instanced dungeons are the only dungeons with set bosses. You can either manually enter an instanced dungeon or you can use the dungeon finder to automatically find a group and get teleported there. There is a cooldown on dungeons (even lower level ones), so you have to be careful when looking for a group.
-Raids: (UNRATED)
There will be NO instanced raids at launch! If this is a deal breaker for you, I suggest waiting until the game implements raids (there are supposedly plans for them). There will be open-world, raid-like content though (similar to how rifts work), where you'll be automatically grouped into a party/raid to fend off invasions (some monsters needing 30 or more players to kill).
PvP PLAYERS: 4/5
Some people will like the PvP in Tera, others may not. There are many ways to participate in PvP, even on PvE servers. On any server there are duels, deathmatches, and eventually there will be battlegrounds.
Note: You will not be able to level up on PvP. Duels, deathmatches, and open-world PvP do not grant experience. And battlegrounds are only end-game content. If you focus entirely on PvP in games, this may not be the game for you, since you will have to complete quests, kill monsters, or do dungeons to level up.
-Duels: 3/5
Similar to any MMO, duels are fights between two players. Unfortunately, some classes clearly have certain advantages over others in one-on-one fights.
-Deathmatches: 4/5
Deathmatches allow players to sort into two teams (with a max of ten people per team) and duke it out. Teams can be sorted unevenly (10 vs. 1, 3 vs. 6, etc.), if so desired.
-Battlegrounds: (UNRATED)
Unfortunately, I can't say anything about battlegrounds, because they have not been put in the game yet. It's said that they'll be implemented later this summer.
-Open-World PvP: 4/5
On PvP specific servers, you'll also have open-world PvP and guild vs guild (GvG). Because there is no targeting or factions in the game, open-world PvP works a little differently than in most MMOs. In order to attack other players freely, you must first use a skill called "Declare Outlaw" (which you can learn at level 11). Once you use this skill, you can attack any player (outside PvP-free zones), but you'll also be flagged so all other players can attack you (even if they haven't used the skill "Declare Outlaw"). Beware, there will be higher level characters going out of their way to kill lower level characters. Fortunately, there are multiple channels outside main cities, so, if you find you're continuously being killed on channel 1, try changing to a different channel.
-Guild vs Guild: 5/5
Enjoyment of GvG is really going to depend on how effectively guilds use it. GvG gives guilds the potential to stage epic battles against each other, but can also be a giant gankfest if a large guild declares war on a smaller guild. GvG wars last for 24 hours before ending in a draw if a set amount of points aren't earned or a guild leader forfeits.
RP PLAYERS: (CANNOT ACCURATELY RATE)
Currently, there's only one role playing server, which is PvE. Although there is no PvP server, but En Masse may add one in the future if enough players shows interest in one and if the PvE server is popular. From what I can tell, Tera has some rich lore, and with the wide variety of races, RP in Tera may prove to be interesting.
PLAYERS WITH ONE MAIN CHARACTER: 4/5 (RATING SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
If you find a favorite race and class, there is actually little need to go back and make any alts. Unlike in many MMOs, you can specialize in all gathering and crafting areas in Tera. If you're a dramatically higher level than a friend, they will gain no EXP from mobs when grouped with you, but they will still gain credit for certain quests.
Unfortunately, I can't say a whole lot about end-game content right now, since I haven't experienced it yet. But, there seems to be enough content to keep you busy for a while. There are: 5 level 58 to 60 dungeons, each with a "hard mode"; the Nexus, which sounds similar to the rifts in Rift; the political system, which lets guild leaders can run for vanarch of a certain area; and daily quests.
ALTOHOLIC PLAYERS: 3/5
One of the reasons for alts is because each class plays differently (although, there are similarities across classes). Unfortunately, there is only one starting area, so you'll be doing the same quests over and over again if you decide to create a lot of alts.
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