TERA is an action-combat free-to-play MMORPG available on Steam that initially launched in 2011 in South Korea and in 2012 in North America and Europe. This was the first real massive MMO to popularize the action combat system we see from many eastern MMOs.
As of August 2020, TERA has been upgraded to 64-bit which brings with it new system requirements, better performance, and better graphics in the new content being developed.
If you never tried it before, TERA is free-to-play on Steam, features a mix of both PVP and PVE content, and the combat is still top tier to this day.
Obviously, as this was just a first impression, I pretty much just scratched the surface of the game but the end game content in TERA basically consists of PVP Battlegrounds, Open World ganking, duels, and Guild Vs Guild battles.
On the PVE side of things, you’ve got dungeons with varying levels of difficulty, world bosses, and raids.
Pros
- Even in 2020, the combat is still really fun especially for the Valkyrie.
- The game is ultra high fantasy so there’s a lot of diversity with enemies, environments, and weird shit you see when playing the game.
- It is free-to-play on Steam, so the barrier to entry is pretty low.
- Despite being a free-to-play game, you do actually get a sense of visual progression with different outfits when levelling up.
- There’s an okay mix of both PVP and PVE content at end game.
Cons
- Visually, I think TERA is starting to show its age. This is to be expected with an Unreal Engine 3 MMO from 2011.
- The player base seems really small, with only 1,000 players on Steam Charts in the past 24 hours and they’re spread across multiple servers. There can’t really be a competitive end game PVP scene with player numbers this low and I can imagine finding groups is hard.
- As you’d expect from a free-to-play game from Korea, there is pay-to-win and pay-for-convenience in TERA. However, it’s not that bad compared to other F2P eastern games. Gear in battlegrounds are equalized, and as a free player it’s possible to get BiS gear just from playing a lot and working hard; seems like most people consider it pay to progress faster.
- The gender/race locked classes are super annoying. I really wanted to try the ninja, but I really didn’t want to play as a “loli”.
- The character creation is mediocre at best going by today’s standards.
- The leveling is soul-destroyingly boring, so you really have to do it in moderation.
- Despite the recent upgrade to 64-bit, it still isn’t a very well optimized game.
Summary
TERA is a fun and free-to-play MMO that’s worth jumping into every now and again to enjoy the combat. Also, even though it is P2W, you can still enjoy it as a free player and there is a decent mix of content in the game. I cannot, however, help but feel as though TERA’s days are numbered with its increasingly low player base and games like Elyon, Ashes of Creation, and Crimson Desert on the horizon.
Credits
| Author | Curtis Pyke |
| YouTuber | TheLazyPeon |
| Program | Freedom! Scholarship |
| Publisher | MGN |
| Game | TERA |