So, after playing TERA for the first time ever in CBT 5 and wondering whether or not it's even valid for me to post and speak my opinion on these forums, I've decided to give it a shot.

I think of forums as a place to share ideas and express feelings in a MATURE manner. But the reality of the situation is that this is not the case most of the times. As such, I will try to cover everything in this one post, and I ask the playerbase that agrees with me, to post below with a positive message to En Masse, stating why you agree and your feelings on such matters.


As we all know, the western version of TERA Online has had some adjustments and removal of certain things in which En Masse Entertainment thought would be appropriate for the North American playerbase. These changes have brought about mixed feelings amongst the community. Some people think they're good, and will ultimately streamline the game, others wholeheartedly disagree and voice their valid opinions, while others simply don't care about any changes and just accept what is given to them.

inb4 the troll that posts below on how I'm "...just another perv, whining about how I don't get to see half naked chicks in game", I would like to state that, not every "North American" is sexually frustrated, nor does every single "North American" have moral issues with sexuality. But, you (EME) are taking the marketing strategy of assumption that if "a game has nudity, there's no way it can be taken seriously" and that's your choice. Will it work? Sure it will. Do I agree with censorship? Not at all. But this is not about whether the women are half naked or not.

This thread is about the watering down of content.

Now lets touch base on point with some specific issues of removal.

- Private Stores removed.

Why is this happening? You say it is to streamline the economy. Do you realize that you're taking away from the sense of community when you're doing this? Have you ever stopped to think about the repercussions of this? Yes, it's possible that the in game economy would be more streamlined by doing this. But at the same time, Private Stores offer something unique and different to TERA that other MMO's lack. Also, the Private Stores create a "Community Marketplace" where players can shop around and 'haggle' with other players about prices and the like.

Do you not think it's more important to build a strong community in game? Are you willing to sacrifice that in order to streamline the economy and make TERA feel like every other MMO out there?

I would like to state that not all of us are afraid of something different. On the contrary, I for one am looking for something different in an MMO, and am very, very frustrated with the news of all the changes that may take place.

- Implementation of BoP (Bind on Pickup) Items.

Don't you think chronoscrolls are enough? If you want to combat RMT, think of ways to do so without having the playerbase suffer in return.

- Removed Boxes of Mischief

This is another unique feature that, although was kind of strange to me and hard to figure out at first glance, I really enjoyed that there was something like this in TERA. Why? Because it's unique, it's different and that's why I want to play TERA.

I don't want to play TERA because it will have a streamlined economy. I don't want to play TERA because there will be BoP items. I don't want to play TERA because it has "church friendly" content.

Removing things because you believe it will help, might work in the short-term, but in the long-term it has a worse effect. Taking risks is what good business is about, and "playing it safe" all the time will just get you nowhere. Take the MMO, "Age of Conan" for example. It had full frontal nudity in game. Is that why it failed? No. Age of Conan didn't fail because it had "boobies", it failed because it was a poorly designed game.

TERA actually has good gameplay, not alot of bugs, great graphics, anime theme, etc. Sure there are minor bugs and minor problems... But why keep removing things? What kind of playerbase are you targeting?

Which brings us to the next point.

- Loyalty

I enjoy anime styled games, I like foreign cultures and I want to play something unique. There are lots of so called "North Americans" out there that share the same feelings as I do. Mature people are not fickle, they stick to something they enjoy and do so for a long time. Mature people have a cultural appetite. Mature people have loyalty, but also have higher standards and have more awareness.

- Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, World of Warcraft: The Mists of Pandaria.

These game names may scare you (EME). I mean, you run a business right? You need to make some kind of money for the work you're doing on TERA. And there is competition, yes, we understand that.

But what do you want? The quick buck? Or do you want the long haul? Do you want 200,000 players that subscribe for 6 months ~ 1 year? Or do you want 100,000 players that subscribe for 4 ~ 5 years?

Ask yourself this. How long before the playerbase realizes that you've just copy/pasted the same mechanics from other MMO's onto TERA? How long before the community realizes that NA-TERA, is just a watered down version of a culturally unique Korean game?

How long before the North American playerbase in which you are trying to lure and keep, moves on to other MMO's?

I for one would rather just have a raw translated K-TERA, instead of a reworked, watered down "North American" Version. Now the community can express their feelings and opinions below. But I believe this to be a very important subject, one that I forsee could make or break the future of TERA in the western world.

Agree with some, disagree with others. Overall a constructive and non-confrontational post.

Good post, though I disagree with a couple points, particularly this one:

Quote:
This can already be done via the AH and the trade channel/whispers. I would argue that pet shops actually dilute the market.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts, OP!

Mkkkkkay

#1. Getting rid of player shops hurts the community: How? You don't even explain it, thats like saying "don't you know that chocolate causes brain cancer", no facts behind that what so ever. I'm guessing what you are suggesting is that having playershops somehow enables to people to haggle better or allows for some people to communicate with shops they commonly frequent, but how is this any different from the auction house? Hell, the auction house even has a haggling system and if you commonly buy mats from the auction house, I'd bet you that those people selling large amounts ore will often be the same names.

#2 BoP items hurt the playerbase and are only in place to affect RMT. Not true yet again, one of the reasons they implemented them was to fight RMT. But it doesn't hurt the playerbase, not as much as you pretend it will anyways. First of all you can use those items you picked up even if they weren't for your class either for enchantment fodder or for giving to alts through your shared bank. Also, they stated one of the positive effects of this is that it will allows them to increase the drop rate while not destroying the economy. Very positive things in my mind all around. To sum up: More rewards from dungeons, More Stable Economy, Less RMT.

#3 Boxes of Mischief. Nothin really to say here, I don't see why they were removed, gambling can always be fun.

BUT the point that made me go WTF ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT was you saying "Ask yourself this. How long before the playerbase realizes that you've just copy/pasted the same mechanics from other MMO's onto TERA? How long before the community realizes that NA-TERA, is just a watered down version of a culturally unique Korean game? "

Really? They removed 2 basically pointless features and implemented BoP and now all of a sudden they are a copy paste of all the other MMOs? I don't even get how you can justify that statement in your head. Graphically it looks somewhat similar to AION, not a big surprise, but mechanically this MMO is VASTLY different than other MMOs.

This version is hardly "watered down" the exp curve is the same, the mob difficulty is the same.

i get your mentality man. but its weird when you start out by saying that the community is immature, request for a mature response, then post about all the hot topics right now that will guarantee people will get edgy and emotional.

i question everything now a days. and i have a hard time seeing that as anything but flame bait. not when their are tons of topics already discussing such things, or having discussed them to death. specially when you start off by mentioning censorship without actually addressing it, its like your looking for a fight. its weird that maturity is something you harp on in a game that has a huge statue of a goddess from the stomach up with nipples for all to see at eye lvl, in the main city right after leaving the starting zone.

your right in that the forums are about player interaction and communication, you are also right that people dont threat it as such. i include this thread in that generalization. ifs funny that you argue about the long term affects but provide none. the armors that were edited (thats right, they where changed, not censored) was a one time event. all others will be to standard when future content is released. made perfectly clear and apparent when the latest patch was released in KTERA. all the armors are fit for NA from the start.

everything else is just subjective takes on your part. perfectly valid in their own right but not points that can be discussed. little more than stating what your favorite color is or if you like cake over pie.

the only one you COULD have had an interesting take on you leave oddly short. the BOP issue can be discussed at length but you say little on the matter.

the rest is assumptions and guess work. nothing to work with at all. how is this providing a venue for discussion? what WILL the subscriber numbers be in 6 months after release? do you know? i sure dont. hell EME doesnt know either. there is no standard for this nor will there ever be. especially when your primary point seems to be uniqueness. a quality that varies from person to person. not to mention you completely disregard functionally and optimization as if they are some kind of passe idea that is ancient history and no more than a passing concern. favoring idealized subjectivity and not addressing the hard facts.

in short, your post lacks substance.

@op most of the points that you mentioned have been discussed at other threads nothing new, but why are u bringing it up again???

lastly, what is the most important part of any mmorpg is the ENDGAME content, which in most cases make or break a game.

sadly, I have yet to experience any endgame content, hence i reserve my comments till i have reach that stage.

Great thread, i agree and disagree with some specific ideas, but overall very constructive feed back.

Something that I've noticed about "Westernizing" MMOs, is that people that like WoW style MMOs keep taking breaks from the game, looking for other MMOs out there to replace WoW with. When an Asian MMO makes appearance in the western market, this type of players want the game to be reshaped to fit what they are accustomed to, its easier for them to adapt and swim familiar waters, it takes them less time learning the new MMO, and thats what they really want, because in reality they never wanted to leave their current western MMO. No matter how hard you westernize an asian MMO it will never be more "westernen" than the actual western ones. I have friends that severely dislike the art style of TERA, and they love their 2004 cartoony potato sack wearing characters.

You eventually end up with an hybrid MMO that tried to please the stereotypical wow player and failed at it, and a very pissed of community that actually loved the game for what it was but got yet again rejected.

"Private Stores offer something unique and different to TERA that other MMO's lack"

Final Fantasy XIV something similar to this. It seemed like a really cool and unique idea at first, but people grew to hate it. It felt completely unnecessary. While setting up your retainer (what it was called in xiv) was cool because they would dress up in the various gear you had them sell, people didn't like running around checking each and every retainer for an item they wanted to buy / sell.

OP completely missed the point of the changes on all fronts and ignored some of the GOOD recent changes, like enchanting improvements.

Clever troll post, but I still only give it a 2/10

Private stores are retarded in an MMORPG. Seriously, the baseline expectation is hundreds of players.

Who the [filtered] wants to click through hundreds of shops? Seriously?


The WoW-AH mechanic was a no-brainer evolution of the DAOC housing retainers, and it's an excellent model.