Quote: knoxxer on 02/07/2012, 01:09 PM

The feeling of playing a character you know will be wiped -- it sucks.

You know what sucks more? The feeling of spending $96 on this game then finding this thread describing the plan for launch a couple hours later.

Please, it's not too late. Wipe this thread and go with the European model for launch. A 3-day free for all (Open Beta) followed by some character purge at some later date for those who do not buy the game is absurd. The European model is obviously the way to go, it's not even close.

Is this some kind of weird stress test to see if the servers can handle so many people, customers and window shoppers alike, logging on all at the same time?

Quote: apqoo on 02/13/2012, 12:49 AM

So NA and EU have different beta to launch plans?

According to the EU site http://community.tera-europe.com/home/news/article/overview-about-beta-phases.html their plan is:

CBT -> Wipe -> OBT -> Wipe -> Name Reserve -> Headstart

But from what I've read, NA plan is:

CBT -> Wipe -> Name Reserve -> OBT (no wipe) -> Headstart

Knoxxer, you know that knot in your stomach? It's telling you that deep down inside you know this is a really bad idea to launch the game this way. Again, please reconsider, it's not too late.

I'm trying to be optimistic about this game. It really looks like one that will provide a lot of joy to a lot of people. Get off on the right foot!

...I just found out about the Elin artwork changes.. I guess I won't even go there but again these decisions really do not inspire confidence. sigh.

Quote: knoxxer on 2012-02-07 21:09:43 UTC

As a side note TERA has a unique naming convention to allow for more unique names. You can add in two periods (not sequentially) to your name to create names like. Godfry.The.Almighty or Certain.Death. This gives a TON more variety of names.

I have to be honest and say I absolutely hate this idea. Many MMOs purposely make this kind of naming workaround impossible for a reason. Players like to feel unique, and it's difficult for a player named "Certain Death" to feel unique if there is another player on the same server running around with the name "Certain.Death", and visa versa. It becomes very easy for one of those players to get saddled with the others reputation.

Surely there are enough names floating around out there without providing players with a way to borderline-impersonate one another? If this is such a huge concern, why not force players to choose a first and last name and only require the last name to be unique? I wouldn't have a problem with someone being named "Bob McNugget" if my name was "Bob Pickletoe".

I know that everyone has a ton of questions around our beta schedule and in particular our decision for not wiping after open beta. Let me assure you we have put a great deal of thought behind this entire plan. Our goal is to make TERA the best possible experience. We took a step back from other MMO launches and identified things that went wrong and how we could do it better. Below is a list of items we believe our plan improves on.

-Our open beta will make major changes to the starting experience that have been in the works for some time now. We want you guys to experience the changes all of your focus group and beta testing feedback has given us.

We strongly believe trying TERA will make you a believer of our innovative combat system and that our open beta will allow for this. Knowing you can purchase TERA and keep moving right along with your same character is a big incentive.

[/list].

I know that everyone has a ton of questions around our beta schedule and in particular our decision for not wiping after open beta. Let me assure you we have put a great deal of thought behind this entire plan. Our goal is to make TERA the best possible experience. We took a step back from other MMO launches and identified things that went wrong and how we could do it better. Below is a list of items we believe our plan improves on.



The feeling of playing a character you know will be wiped -- it sucks.

• We want playing TERA to mean something, we want you to connect to your community, your character and your world. With an impending wipe this is near impossible. With open beta we want players to start playing TERA for real -- not for trial or beta purposes. For all those wanting TERA to launch earlier, this is your answer, we are opening the doors for playing the live version of TERA in early April!
  
  
• But why are you wiping closed beta?
  
  
• -Our open beta will make major changes to the starting experience that have been in the works for some time now. We want you guys to experience the changes all of your focus group and beta testing feedback has given us.
  
  
• We strongly believe trying TERA will make you a believer of our innovative combat system and that our open beta will allow for this. Knowing you can purchase TERA and keep moving right along with your same character is a big incentive.
  
  

I sure hope they fix all those issues in beta for launch!

• Development in MMO’s takes TONS of time. There is a myth that games will have a magic patch at launch that fixes all of the beta issues -- and this just isn’t the case. We plan updates months in advance and know the content that is heading to us.
  
  
• Will we take feedback from the betas??
  
  
• -Of course! Starting with closed beta we are treating every player as a paying customer and that their feedback matters. Each event will work on tweaking short term issues and planning for long term content shifts.
  
  
• We will address short term items in between beta and launch but long term feedback will be prioritized into our content update schedule.
  
  
• We have a dedicated team at Bluehole standing by to address western needs. Gone are the days for games from the east not having the development team attention and dedication to our market. What we change and tweak will be determined by us -- not by what update plan another market is on.
  
  

What server are we playing on at launch?

• Pre-order customers are the FIRST to reserve both their server and name with our pre-character creation.
  
  
• -This event will take place between closed beta and open beta and allow anyone who pre-ordered the game to select a server and create a character with a name of their choice. We will be limiting this to 1 character created.
  
  
• -We will take a look at the open beta inactive accounts a few months after launch and decide if we need to reset their names. We have the tools to do this in place already.
  
  
• -As a side note TERA has a unique naming convention to allow for more unique names. You can add in two periods
(not sequentially) to your name to create names like. Godfry.The.Almighty or Certain.Death. This gives a TON more variety of names.


• We are trying to give around a week’s time for pre-character creation so that you and your guild have plenty of time to find a server to settle into, it will be possible to create, delete and re-create on a new server if some of your friends joines late.
  
  

Queue times and unbalanced server populations!

• This process has huge benefits for balancing servers and planning of resources.
  
  
• -This event will be key in limiting your queue times and ensuring healthy servers going forward.
  
  
• This balance is the main reason we will limit players to creating one pre-creation character.
  
  

If you have further questions please let ask and I will do my best to answer.

Hello and Happy Easter...
I was wondering if you plan in the future to intiate a turn function in you programming for the keyboard along with the straffing?
As a mouse user and use to run and turn character and occasionally using W A S D keys it is a little frustrating to have to use 2 hands to run and guide my character. The other keyboard functions are easy to use and logically set up IMO. I don't see may posts about this so maybe everyone has a controller of some sort.