December 7.
Tag: Bluehole Studios
TERA: Remembering The MMO’s Best Commercials
The most memorable commercials you all forgot.
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Throwback Thursday: That Time Bas Rutten Beat Up Nerds
He beat up nerds to promote TERA.
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First TERA Expansion Announced
Hopefully today’s MMOrning Shot didn’t spoil anything for you. En Masse Entertainment announced the first expansion to TERA, dubbed Fate of Arun. The expansion will task players with exploring the mysterious northern continent of Arun, taking on a new evil power and perhaps saving the native Khirians in the process. The expansion also raises the level cap to 65 and introduces new gear, zones, skills, and dungeons for high level players.
“It’s been an incredible two years since TERA first launched in North America,” said En Masse Entertainment Producer Patrick “Treeshark” Sun. “Fate of Arun will be, without a doubt, the biggest addition to the world of TERA new and returning players have ever seen – and we’re excited to reveal more details in the upcoming weeks.”
(Source: En Masse Entertainent Press Release)
TERA Receiving New Class In 2014
I feel bad for not noticing this sooner, but in my defense neither did any of the other major MMO news websites. On November 25th, Tera Today published an interview with Bluehole Studios on some upcoming updates in 2014 to the Korean service. Alongside a rookie server where players will be able to ease into the game as well as level up a bit faster, TERA will also be enjoying the release of a new class. The class is specific to the Elin race, a powerful mid-range damage dealer, although Bluehole is not saying that the class will never be available to othe races. According to the interview, developing new animations for each race takes approximately eight months.
You can check out the entire interview at the link below to read more about additional updates coming to KTera, and hopefully followed by other regions.
(Source: Tera Today)
KTERA Free To Play Server A Success, Permanently Added
While we’re on the subject of TERA, let’s take a look back at its Korean counterpart. Earlier this year, I mentioned that the folks over at KTera were testing a free to play server. The server was originally set to remain active until August 9th, when the project would be pulled and Bluehole Studios would determine how viable TERA would be in the free to play market. Well, August 9th has come and gone (over a month ago) and I’ve received a few emails asking me to follow up on the previous article.
First of all, the server run was extended until August 30th, and according to mmosite.com, has been extended permanently. The free to play server, in addition, carries a permanent 2x experience buff as well as extra loot from quest rewards. Players are able to transfer their characters from the free to play servers to the subscription servers, although the article does not specify if the opposite is also true. It also notes that there is no cash shop on this server.
No word on free to play TERA in the western hemisphere, but given the apparent success of the server in Korea, an announcement seems just over the horizon.
(Source: mmosite)
Can We Stop Asking If TERA Will Be Shut Down Now?
Back when I was covering the TERA beta, I received a lot of messages from players who wanted to buy the game, but were afraid to because of the lawsuit between En Masse Entertainment. People were afraid that NCSoft had a chance of winning the lawsuit, and would have the game shut down in North America (and possibly Europe) as a result. Well, according to a press release by EME, the lawsuit has been settled and TERA will not be shutting down. As part of the settlement, En Masse maintains its innocence and has stated that the company will maintain its focus on TERA in the coming future.
“En Masse Entertainment confirms it has settled with NCsoft over the TERA-related lawsuit in the US. In doing so, En Masse Entertainment maintains its innocence and looks forward to refocusing the company’s full attention to TERA, its fans, and its future.”
As for the full details of the settlement, you can probably expect to see those somewhere in the realm of never.
(Source: Press release)
TERA Introducing Chronoscrolls
What are Chronoscrolls, I can hear you asking. In Eve Online, CCP allows players to buy Pilot License Extensions, or PLEX, which act as one subscription. These are physical items that are traded in-game, making it possible for another player to play Eve completely free as long as they are able to generate enough income to buy PLEX off of other players, while the player selling the PLEX is technically buying gold but in a safe environment, and of course CCP gets paid all the same.
Chronoscrolls are essentially the same thing. On June 28th, players will be able to buy and trade Chronoscrolls through the game’s market. They cost $14.99 (naturally) and are available to purchase on the EME store. You cannot trade directly with another player, destroy them, put them in your bank, or sell them to a vendor. They can only be traded through the broker house.
Chronoscrolls represent a potentially large increase in revenue for En Masse Entertainment as long as a lot of players are buying them.
(Source: TERA Website)
Korean TERA Major Server Mergers Coming, Free To Play Possible
Since TERA launched in Korea well before North America and Europe, players have come to see it as sort of a litmus test for the game’s overall performance. Back in June 2011, we reported that TERA was not meeting financial expectations, and the game was forced into a merger bringing the number of servers from 35 down to 15.
Fast forward to today and once again TERA is apparently still hemorrhaging players. In a post on the game’s Korean website, a planned server consolidation will go into effect on June 28th which will target all thirteen remaining servers. When the dust settles, KTERA will only have four servers remaining of the original 37 it launched with.
On July 4th, TERA will launch a test server to gauge the possibility of free to play for the title. The server will be open for four weeks with a level cap of 50, and is quite the indicator that TERA plans on heading free to play (at least in Korea) as a final saving measure. There is so far no word or indication as to TERA’s performance in the west, and whether or not other territories will follow with a similar model.
(Source: KTERA Website)
(Source: Free to Play Announcement)
MMO Fallout 