[Tera] Third time’s a charm…or not

{insert deleted picture here}

Earlier this afternoon I finally deleted Tera. I really, and I want to emphasize REALLY, tried to get into this game. I thought the combat was awesome and all my friends are playing. Those two things should have been enough to at least get me to try it for 30 days. Alas its not to be.

The game just didn’t grab me the way it seems to be for everyone else. I want to make it perfectly clear I didn’t get that far in the game and so my experience is based primarily on first impressions. Or rather third impressions. I know that I’ll probably get flack for it and that’s ok but to me first impressions are important. Unfortunately Tera just didn’t make a very good one even with their revamped starting experience that tells you some of the story. It just didn’t feel like enough especially after you head to the actual starting zone and the questing turns into your usual MMO get x gather y talk to z. At the very least I can say that drop rates seem to be an non issue so thankfully you aren’t grinding mobs. Other than that its very dry and boring. It’s also very linear with you following a set path. I’m told that once you get out of the starting area that changes but seeing as I got bored I can’t comment on that.

Combat is fun. I’ll give Tera that much. I played an Archer and I really enjoyed shooting arrows at things and watching them hit the dirt before they could hit me. Later on as your skills increase you can create combo skill chains and I found that to be a nice little touch. I’m pretty sure had I gotten to the beta level cap I would have an interesting arsenal of skills at my disposal that I could chain together to become a deadly Archer fighting machine.

There were some other nice little features thrown in as well. Such as a listing of all the guilds on your server and being able to apply in game to a guild you might find interesting. I also like the bonus crystals you can use on your armor or weapon to enhance your character based on your play style and that these crystals don’t get destroyed when getting new armor. Also another really cool thing was being able to gather anything as long as my skill allowed and successful gathering gave you a beneficial buff.

For me combat is really all Tera has going for it. With the amount of free to play games on the market and not to mention 2 other MMOs on the horizon I feel that I am at the point where I can be a bit shrewd when it comes to spending my MMO money. I wish I liked Tera because it would mean being able to play with my friends again but I guess its just not to be.

{also if you delete your game make sure you move your screenshots >.< those get wiped with the uninstall.}

PAX East 2012: Girl vs DVR?

Another PAX has come and gone and I’m left with the same feeling I had before I headed up for Boston, a serious lack of MMO gaming desire. While there are 3 MMOs on the gaming horizon; Guild Wars 2, Tera, and The Secret World, only one has held my interest and it didn’t even have a showing on the Expo Floor this year. I’m not quite sure what this says about me or better yet the future of MMOs in general. 

I had the opportunity to play both Tera and The Secret World this weekend. Tera to me has amazing an action combat style. They had several different classes out on display at level 30 so you could roam around the country side fighting mobs. There was a VIP area that I believe was showing off a high level instance but access to that was limited to the media.  However I get the feeling with Tera that outside of just the combat there really is nothing new here. I’m sorry but combat alone is not enough to make me plunk down money for the box and monthly subscription fees. The Secret World did intrigue me a bit because of its modern day setting however it comes off almost like Left 4 Dead in a MMO. I really can’t say if my negatives on either game are based on the lack of time I had to play them or just because they are the same old MMO wrapped in shiny new packaging. I have a strong feeling its the latter. 

As I’ve mentioned before Guild Wars 2 is really calling to me on many levels. I’ve followed the game for awhile and got to play it a bit at PAX last year. The week leading up to PAX I watched an ungodly amount of beta video on YouTube. I do plan on doing the pre-purchase deal and hopefully will get some time in the beta because of it. The game from what I’ve seen last year first hand and from videos seems promising. The folks at Arena Net really want to do something different and they seem committed to releasing the best game possible. You can tell a lot of love has gone into Guild Wars 2. My only issue is will it be different enough to hold my attention. I have a feeling that it will but until I can sit down and get some real quality time with the game I can’t give it my stamp of approval despite how fan girl I might come off when talking about it. 

Until I get my hands on a game that speaks to me and makes me log in every day to experience the world the development team has created I may be forced to become Girl vs DVR. A little joke name given to me by Pete Smith of Dragonchasers at our tweetup when I mentioned instead of gaming I spend my nights going through my DVR. Gaming and more importantly MMO gaming has become such a huge part of my life over the last 10 or so years. It’s sad to think that it might be coming to an end. I really don’t want to become Girl vs DVR but as the saying goes only time will tell.