I'm not sure why, but a general lack of tolerance for differing tastes seems worse among mmo players than among any group I've personally had any experience with. If someone buys a brand of car that I personally don't like, or prefers a tipple that's not my favorite, I don't give it a second thought; in fact, there's a good chance I won't even notice. But in the wacky world of mmos, liking a particular game makes you the target of contempt and derision from those who don't like it. And they're very vocal about it, too; it's not enough for them to simply go about their business and stay quiet. They have to bad mouth the game in every neutral or friendly forum, or even troll in forums devoted to the game they dislike. And it's been that way ever since EQ challenged UO; I remember those bitter fights very clearly, when many PvEr's fled UO for the safety of EQ with its "PK switch" (what we called it, then). EQ fans would attack UO; UO fans would attack EQ, and so on and on.
I guess it's just an extension of the general lack of civility you tend to find everywhere on the internet. People will behave in outrageously rude ways that would get their noses broken in real life, because doing it behind the safety of a keyboard lets you freely jettison whatever socialization you got as you grew up.
I think it has to do with the fact game companys announce release dates 4 or so months out and then the following happens.
4 Months out : Forums are flooded with new players interested in the game, Basics of the game are discussed and everyone is relatively positive and extremely hyped for the release
3 Months out : Details of the game are discussed in depth and to death, massive amounts of gameplay footage are released and people get their first taste of what the game will really be like. Excitement is high but a small minority of negative people begin to voice their opinion
2 months out : People visiting the forums begin to get bored waiting for release everything has been discussed to no end , people begin to take their frustration out on the game. Forums are flooded with angry posts of what needs to be removed or added to the game.
1 month out : Total anarchy on the boards... Everyone is attacking everyone, Noone is even looking forward to the game anymore because they feel like they have already experienced all the content due to the endless discussions on the forums and 100's of gameplay video's they have watched.
Release : Forums are a complete warzone of angry players who announce they are not resubbing to another "wow clone" . Even people who were enjoying Tera in game catch the forum fever and begin there verbal assualt against EME.
I crack up that most of the haters I see crying "fail" in General chat are the same idiots each beta. If you hate Tera so much then why do you keep playing the betas? Also, I swear none of them even log in to play the game but only to chat. Most of these dorks are incapable of comprehending that nobody cares about their opinion...
Everybody has a certain need they want from a game. If Tera provides that, like it does for me, then good on you. If it doesn't, shoo fly shoo and best of luck finding the game that suits you.
Not to de-rail this post but I also get annoyed at the "lolz, looks like another WoW fan-boy crying" reply. Half the time the nincompoop didn't even read the OPs post to realize it had nothing to do with comparing to WoW...
If you are so thickheaded that you can't form an opinion of your own, I don't really want to be playing anyway.
Get a good guild of enthusiastic players who love the game, don't read to forums too deeply, and maintain your OWN opinion of the game that has been formed by experience and you should do fine :)
Basically I'v learned my lesson from past MMO's. I'm trying to go into Tera as fresh as possible ie.. I stopped watching K-tera streams about 6 months ago, I try not watch any video's from beta and even avoid any new screenshots released.
I have also not leveled any character past "Newb Island" so when OB rolls around the leveling process will be fresh and not a been there done that kind of thing. The only reason I even played CB was to get a feel for each class so I will have a charater I love to play when release comes with no regrets down the road. I'v also taken myself out of the whole "pet shop" debate on these forums. I am/was one of those players who was in favor of keeping them but I realize I haven't even seen what kind of trouble or mess they actually pose in game so I really shouldn't be expressing a vocal opinion for or against them until after May.
To me the best games I have ever played were the one's i went into fresh, with limited details of.