Okay, enough serious business posts for now! Let’s look at some pretty stuff.
I’m still plucking away at TERA, with a level 12 Slayer and a level 24 Priest. We talk a bit on tomorrow’s podcast episode about why the game is fun despite it having a load of sexist nonsense, so I won’t get into that too much now, but I will commend TERA for its combat.
(By the way, like 6 of us from the Cats and Twitter have a guild. /gapply Bad Cats on Tempest Reach to join in!)
My awsome rock lady Slayer
I’ve read plenty of criticisms about “tab target combat” in MMOs and I never quite understood what the alternatives were, but in TERA your attacks go where you point them, whether there’s a bad guy in that direction or not. Some mobs will run away from you, some will roll right past you as a defensive maneuver, and there is often strafing and kiting and dodge-rolling in standard combat.
Last night I took on my first BAM, or Big Ass Monster (yes, really) with a slightly higher level guildie, and it was great fun. He played a Sorcerer, the glass cannon class, while I was on my Priest (a healer with low DPS, and there ain’t no dual-spec in TERA). My guildie died at about 40%, and I plinked and kited the giant creature for probably close to 5 minutes until he could respawn and get back to the battle. Sure, I only took off maybe 10% of the boss’ health during that time, but kiting it around on the brink of death was damned exciting.
Anyway, I get a lot of “questions” about TERA through Google search terms, so let me answer a few and then I’ll get on with the photos.
Is there a banker in the first newbie zone? Yes! About halfway through the zone you’ll come across the small town at Tower Base, and the bank/mailbox character is in the southwest of the city.
Can I skip the queue by paying for TERA? No! Right now skipping the login queue is only available for Founders, or people who bought the box. Folks have reported the odd box still being available in out-of-the-way stores, but personally I don’t think it’s worth the effort. There are also Elite players, which are the folks paying a subscription. They have fewer limitations, like more character slots and auctions, but not queue skipping.
How do I leave a guild? Actually, leaving a guild is pretty easy (the guild menu is “g”). The trick is that there’s a week-long cooldown before you can join another guild, so join and leave wisely.
What class should I play? Dude, I don’t even know what class I should play. They’re all super different, so just try them out.
So first, pretty vistas!
A woodsy landscape in TERA
Mountainous landscape in TERA
I came across this giant, strange-looking egg in the wild while doing a quest, so of course I shot it. Then it unfolded into a giant crab/spider hybrid thing and ate me. :(
Creepy egg monster in TERA
One of the best things about TERA is all the weird crap in the world.
What.. is going on here?
I had to kill this guy for a quest, but it felt like killing a Katamari. :(
Herding Cats is the blog of Liore, known in the real world as Jessica Cook. She writes mostly about MMOs and RPGs, and believes in 
The best part about that BAM quest is that it’s recommended for 5 players… and yet it was done with 2. There’s no way in WoW or Rift, or any traditional MMO that 2 players could do a 5 person quest, at the appropriate level, no matter how skilled or geared they are. It’s a testament to Tera’s awesome focus on skill over numbers and luck.
Oh hello fellow BAM-killing guildie! :)
It’s a great fun game to play, I was surprised at how much the combat in Tera increases my enjoyment of questing. I’m at level 36 now so just over half way to cap. My one concern is that the end game may prove to be inaccessible to someone with slower reflexes – hearing guild mates chat about Nexus and the dungeons it sounds a lot more difficult than leveling content.
Telwyn´s last post: Tera: Eldritch Academy
My suspicion is that the end game is.. the same as all the other MMOs, only possibly even less fleshed out? I don’t mind though because as you say, the questing is rad.
“There are also Elite players, which are the folks paying a subscription. They have fewer limitations, like more character slots and auctions,”
As far as I know, subscription in EU (where I am from) does not give you more character slots. You just get 2 slots regardless or free to subscriber. However if you buy the game(very hard these days) you get 8 slots per server. This may be different in US, is that where you from?
I have just started Tera as well and I am enjoying the combat. Its very different from my previous MMOs (EQ2, WoW, Vanguard and GW2). I think combat will determine if I stay and play the game long term. Normally its the guilds, people on the server etc, determines how long I play a game and sadly I am finding it *very* hard to meet like minded people on any of the EU servers!
Anyway, long time lurker here who has decided to post since I have just started Tera as well :)
Hello long time lurker! Thanks for postin’, particularly because I checked and you are totally right. Elite (in North America) gives:
* One flaming halo
* Thirty of each of the 4 NPC summon scrolls
* One hour boosts for each XP, gold and reputation, refreshed daily
* Ten strongbox keys
* One village atlas
* Increased maximum simultaneous listings on the Broker (50)
* Lower taxes for listing and selling items on the broker
* Elite mount
* Double your daily quest limit
* Store discount on selected items throughout the En Masse store
I was seriously considering getting Elite for a month because I wanted more character slots and cheaper auctions, but … now I’m not sure what I’ll do!