Well after the beta and some time to reflect upon, I want to bring up some issues I had with questing, both in perhaps the hope that they can be addressed, and or insight from K-TERA players as to whether these issues alleviate themselves later in the game.

Firstly I want to talk about the story. None of the story quests that I did, getting to around level 16, really got me invested in the world. The cutscene you get upon getting to Velkia and the threat the demons pose was great, but it came very late and wasn't entirely connected to the later story quests. So firstly does the story get better and more interesting higher up?

And as well I think there are a few things that could be addressed, although at this stage not very easily. Particularly moving that cutscene about the importance of the Federation either to the start of the game, or another one similar to it. FFXI had a very similar story, in terms of the various races having to unite against a common foe, and their intro cutscene pulls this off brilliantly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlWeE0cRr4U This cutscene shows off entirely why an alliance is useful, who our friends are, and who their enemies are and why. As a new IP TERA really needs a powerful hook to get us invested in the world right away.

Next this is more related to quest flow. The questing paths in the game are extraordinarily linear, and work to give a very confined sense of what should be open zones. I expected as such on the Isle of Dawn, but this pattern of collect three quests, complete them in the immediate area, turn them in at the next, continues in the forest zone. This really kills any sense of immersion, and it takes away from quests that are well written by simply burying them under shear volume. Given that it is probably too late in the design process to change these things, I merely have to ask do the zones stop this extraordinarily linear progression later on? And I do strongly feel by cutting back on the number of quests, or restricting them to fewer hubs would greatly help the leveling experience.

Don't expect many changes in this area. The quests were added after the fact and were not created in conjunction with the initial game--This is why they feel so disjointed. So if you are expecting better quest flow, you are probably just wasting your time. The quests were merely added to fill in the gaps b/c the original Korean version was considered too easy (boring) b/c of a lack of content and quick leveling pace.

I feel the exact the same way you do, but I also know what I am up against. You have to realize that TERA is ultimately controlled and developed by BHS. And BHS primary concerns are their own base, the U.S. is secondary. The lackluster and boring quest mechanics are a product of post-design decision shoveled into a game that was never intended to have them in the first place.

Don't worry too much about questing. They are revamping the leveling/questing from levels 1-40 in the current patch in Korea. Rumors are that it's gonna be included in our launch, speculation of course but it makes sense. It would be odd to have a patch introduced a month or two after our release that reworks levels 1-40.