First off I'd just like to say that I tried Tera for the first time on the recent closed Beta after much anticipation and absolutely loved it. It gave me everything I was waiting for along with a few nice bonuses surprises I wasn't expecting. It provided everything except the one thing I was hoping for more than anything else, the challenge. At first I considered this is only the tutorial and you are probably easing people into this new combat mechanic and expected it to pick up later but it never did.
I know the difficulty of an MMO is one of those things that your never going to be able to please everyone with, some like a challenge some don't. So what I personally would like to see is this split over servers. Set up different servers based on difficulty, much like how you pick how hard you want a game to be at the start of many single players games. Its what I think should be done to please everyone without alienating and losing one pool of your players.
This would be so cool, but I can only imagine it being a coding nightmare to even attempt. Where would you start? Less quests, mobs have more hp, mobs hit harder? They would be re-writing the entire game.
KTera experienced players say it gets harder later, and you will always have the "hard mode" options for endgame. I think the correct approach would be "wait and see". If it was just super easy because it's 1-22 and up to the first dungeon, and as you say...more of a "tutorial", than I think it won't be an issue.
I've played three other MMOs to at least twenties, Aion, Rift, and SWTOR. All were fairly easy in my opinion up to the twenties, but either they got harder, or took a LOT of time to gain levels (particularly Aion where each level after 25 feels longer than the previous).
I was surprised how easy the Beta was, but I'm hoping it's partly because it's beta and they want people to get through to experience the game. The only thing I would not change on the Island of Dawn though is the final boss for the story line. I think he should remain soloable, and grouping to do story quests should be reserved for levels 11 onward.
I think with the action mechanics as they are, a lot of people still need practice with it even up to level 22. I found that I personally didn't get the hang of things until around level 16 when I really learned how to fight decently.
But, I agree with ValkyrieLaw, let's wait and see before we say the game is "too easy".
No idea what happened there, it cut out the bulk of my post:
I Too played Rift and Aion (<->
hmm.... one last try
I Too played Rift and Aion (Awesome MMO) and they are easy to play, thats why i quit them. If im going to trawl for 50+ levels of insane Exp grinds (this isn't against grinds I don't want leveling to be fast) but if I am, I want to ENJOY it, not just a 1,2,3,4,2,3,2,4 rotation.
As you state it takes a while to get the hang of, and i personally though around the level 15 mark is where you should notice it start to arc up and get harder, as the story quest giver says (paraphrasing) "you're not on n00b island anymore, nut up or shove off"
I Agree with OP, let the kiddies have they're 'GAME', and let me have...
*stands defiantly*
...MY ADVENTURE!
(Did it work?)
I recall reading a post recently from someone who played Jtera. He recounted watching a livestream where someone died 30+ times and started crying from repeated failures in a hardmode dungeon. He said the fastest time to complete was a bit over an hour whereas some took 12 hours plus with many lineup changes if they didn't have the appropriate gear and skill.
Hope its like that...
What has ever been challenging about leveling up in any game? Time consuming, possibly, but hard?
Ktera was never hard leveling up. It wasn't even grindy, contrary to the KMMO stigma. It was fun though, doing dungeons and group quests on top of the standard quests. That might just be fun to me though.
The Vampire Mansion dungeon coming up will be a lot of fun for people. While the Secret Base is fun and entertaining, I felt like the Vampire Mansion was the first real dungeon.
[quote name='Arkay' at='2012-02-15 10:22:46 UTC']What has ever been challenging about leveling up in any game? Time consuming, possibly, but hard?
This is my point exactly XD why cant it be hard and fun? it being time consuming and easy is what makes it boring imo.
I look forward to these dungeons your talking about if they are challenging though :)
bring on the deaths XD