Where Tera shines for me are the classes. The world can be bland if the classes are cool. Back to the basic party trinity of tank, healer and damage, you have at least two options for each role. I messed around with a few and ended up enjoying Lancer (tank) and Mystic (healer/support) the best.
From a pure combat point of view, I think the Lancer is pretty sweet. His moves have a visceral feel to them. I feel the impact in combat and his animations are tight. Who wouldn't enjoy slamming a wall of mobs in the face with a shield??? Or a basic lance attack that inches you forward with each thrust, with the 3rd delivering big damage if you can pull it off. Think fencing moves with a lance 2x your height and a big whomping shield. It's muhaha goodness. We don't have macros but there's a spell/skill chain feature which lets you link abilities together into sequences that are advanced using the spacebar.
For the past few weeks, I've been playing Tera Online 1 to 2 evenings a week as a static duo with Sarzan, who is by the way, starting to blog on Spicy Funyun. For me, the idea is to surf F2P games until the next big surge of enthusiasm for GW2 aka an expansion, as filler. GW2 is my home for the foreseeable future but an alternative would be nice.
Despite having a list, of which Tera Online wasn't even included, that's where we've landed first. I don't remember how that happened. *Smile* Going in, I knew Tera Online wasn't targeted to players like me. I'm no FPS gamer. I've played a few in my day and have enjoyed them but I suck at them. I'm a die hard keyboard gamer. Me and PC games go way back. Me and controllers, not so much. So I can't blame the game for aspects that are awkward for me merely because I prefer to do most things with the keyboard. So I'll skip my opinion on those aspects for the most part.
It Ain't no Tyria
I don't know when I'll see the likes of GW2 Tyria graphics and detail again in another MMO. It's incomparable, inspiring and stunning. We do pay dearly for all this pomp and circumstance. Large body combat can be an agonizing slide show. For me culling just added insult to injury. Even so, gaming in Tyria's lush world that always feels alive, reminds me why I play fantasy games, in particular, MMOs.
Tera is somewhat of a generic fantasy MMO environment. The art style feels a bit dated coming out of GW2. It's not on the level of realism like Age of Conan, nor is it stylistic like Allods. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are "nice" but they're not really special. There are elements that appeal to me. So far I've seen shire-like areas, woods and germanic style locations I'm partial to as zones. The human city is slightly industrial in a way that gives it a whisper of steampunk.
Beyond Aesthetics
For questing you have your bears, pigs and boars clustered in groupings that are all too familiar and doing nothing new - same old pathing and static behavior. The zones themselves are very reminiscent of Runes of Magic. If ROM wasn't your cup of tea, Tera won't impress you much either. It doesn't feel like developers have come to terms with the sheer variety of choices we have now in the MMO space and that merely decent or "okay", isn't going to get you monthly subscribers anymore.
You will encounter some NPC and mob types I've not seen anywhere before, with details that are very nicely done. However, so far, it's back to questing in the wilds ala EQ1/2, WOW and the rest of the old guard. This questing in the wilds leaves me flat. I'm left wondering why I'm supposed to care what these creatures are doing out here amongst themselves? The answer is I don't. For me, there's no sense of urgency in that questing model. I don't bother with the quest text. I'm merely a schlub grabbing tasks and managing a "To Do" list.
All that said, there are aspects of Tera that shine, such as the classes and other reasons that kept me moving past the starter area. Check back on Wednesday for part 2 of my early impressions and Friday for the conclusion.
When I first hit level 80, I planned to do all of the instances I hadn't done along the way, as well as their explorer mode versions. That's not how things worked out. I joined a static PVE group within our guild but quickly realized that I really couldn't dedicate the fixed periods of time anymore. Obligations and temperament combined, the 2 to 3 hour chunks of time required, no longer suited my play style or personality. My preference for playing an hour here-n-there, tending to real life things in between sessions, was much more the norm. And this play style had now been encourage by the gaming mechanics in Rift and GW2. So in the end, I bailed on focusing on instanced PVE for end game.
Instead I worked on my crafting and found a profitable selection of items which I pursue with rigor. Farming, doing whatever local events pop when I'm nearby and chasing dragons fits perfectly into schedule. However, it wasn't until recently that it dawned on me that I was making farming a bit harder by rolling around in what is essentially, support/healer gear. Doh!
At first I resisted the idea of getting another set. I don't have to have it. I do fine farming and pull multiple mobs where possible to do so and kill them just fine. When I'm doing world bosses I play the supportive roll anyway so there's no real harm in keeping the set I have now. But after looking at the other crafted armor sets and the stats that are available on them, I changed my mind. I wondered how much faster I could farm with more DPS? Faster farming = more materials = more crafted items = more gold. So what if I'm not sure what I'm saving gold up for now anyway. Someday, something will come along that I need it for! *smile*
I purchased the Rift expansion a few weeks ago thinking I'd jump right in to level and build houses. That's now how it panned out after playing for a bit. Rift is still gorgeous. My cleric is still a fun class but it doesn't hold up to my experiences in GW2, which feels like Rift evolved and then some. I'm not unhappy with the purchase or having done a 6-month subscription. One of my nephews has taken a liking to the game.
This one in particular enjoys player housing and hence, was on my EQ2 account a bit but finds that game too daunting for a 10 yr old. The travel alone confuses him - moving from my houses spread across different racial zones plus the prestige ones was always confusing to him. Rift he gets and likes having a max level character. Combined with the new player housing, it's becoming his favorite. He asked me to make him his first starter house - the basics. A place he could call home and then decorate as he learned the mechanics and discovered new items.
These days, I spend the vast majority of my harvesting and chasing down dragons. I’m very pleased with the returns I’m getting for the portfolio of crafted items I’m focused on selling, and nothing breaks up farming runs like dancing with dragons.
There are 3 dragons as world bosses in GW2. You can read about them here. They are part of dynamic events, are hella fun and drop decent loot to use, sell or salvage. These continue the “come as you are” activity I’ve enjoyed most about playing GW2. I don’t need a group. I don’t have to be available on specific days at pre-set times. More importantly, I’m not obligated to stay for prolonged periods of time to complete the activity. I simply work them into my gaming session as possible.
My fastest and most profitable selling items are the Exotic accessories jewelers create using exquisite jewels and Orichalcum components. Depending on the stats, exotic accessories sell for upwards of 2.5 gold, where the items with healing stats sell for the least amount. The items themselves are easy enough to harvest for with the exception of one item that can only be salvaged (Ectoplasm) for and the rarest type of ore (Orichalcum).
Each time the servers reset the location of Orichalcum nodes change. You can search for a player made map on the web or run through the level 70 to 80 zones and note the new locations yourself. Since I’m out farming anyway, I do the later by taking a screenshot of each location. I also do this for Omnomberries which are another less abundant resource needed for my best sellers. I mine ore like crazy, so having ore and the gems necessary to create the items isn't a problem. The real limiting factor for me, is acquiring enough Globs of Ectoplasm.
Neccessary Evil
Ectoplasm is the one component that can’t be crafted or harvested. The only way to obtain it is by salvaging level 68+ gear that is rare or higher in quality. Players running the high level dungeons and farming level 80 world bosses for chest loot have a higher probability of having spare items to burn for salvaging. I suspect the largest groups of players with available Ectoplasm are those that leveled crafting professions that produce gear. I’m not among that group, leaving me to obtain them via my low salvaging opportunities and/or purchase them from the Trading Post.
Looking to expand my crafting repertoire, I decided it was time to make a date with Zommoros and the Mystic Forge. I had a ton of Mystic Coins in the bank and more Skill Points than I could shake a stick it. Aside: what the hell does that phrase mean? Is there a limit to the number of things you can shake a stick at??? Anywho, I was all dressed up in Skill Points and coins with no place to go.
A visit to GW2 Spidy and live research on the Trading Post showed that cooking trays and feasts sell for a decent profit. Depending on the type of food, the tray can go for double the profit of having sold the same 10 items individually. In case I hadn’t mentioned, cooking is one of my primary crafting professions. It’s like a tick. If cooking is available in a game I MUST COOK. Even though it’s generally among the lowest in overall profitability, I mentally and emotionally enjoy doing it. Besides, GW2 cooking is the best cooking has ever been done in any MMO EVER. I reached level 400 without looking up a single recipe. I've been at max for a couple of months at least and I'm still discovering new items. With cooking, I have no idea how many more recipes there are to be discovered and I love that about it.
Losing steam or not, Tyria is much too beautiful to abandon. Rift feels a bit old school after the open questing style and more active combat in GW2. It might feel better in a static group or guild. Soloing felt very lackluster. I suspect other games would now feel ancient in comparison to what I’ve quickly become accustomed to as far as questing is concerned. I missed playing GW2 while I was out of town last week. Just before leaving, I was determined to find “my something” to do at max level in GW2.
In my post raiding life, crafting is what I like to do as end game. Unfortunately, the profitability of the LARGE AMOUNT of recipes I labored to discover in GW2, sell for less than the materials needed to create them. Silly desperate constant under cutting sellers notwithstanding, I decided to take another look. I mean seriously, with that many freaking recipes at my disposal there must be some money-makers in the bunch. With the help of GW2 Spidy and a spreadsheet, I found several winners.
GW2 Spidy is a browser-based tool that aggregates the sales taking place on the Trading Post and provides min/max selling price, average profitability per item, etc. It’s like the NASDAQ of the GW2 economy. Using the information on this site and validating prices on the live market, I identified profitable items for my professions.
GW2 Spidy Home Page
I listed the items I identified on the Trading Post. Using the “What I’ve sold” option data, I recorded my actual sales into a spreadsheet. After a few days, I averaged my actual sales per item and ranked them based on profitability. These rankings help me to decide which items to create first when I’m short on materials, as well as providing a focused list for farming. Granted, I farm everything within a reasonable distance when I’m in a zone but this list of items takes precedence. Within 5 days, I was able to double the modest amount of gold I have deposited in the bank. “Ah, sweet sweet loot. All mine!”
Snippet of some transaction history
I’m not rich by any means. Players who are doing repeated dungeon runs or are in active WvW teams are bringing in more. However, this allows me to have my own end game, based around an activity that I enjoy and it is done 100% in my own time and fashion. Sure, I could farm and sell all the materials and possibly make more gold. But the gold itself isn't the point for me. The point was to fashion a viable end game for myself in GW2 as I have in other games.
Word of caution when using the GW2 Spidy Margin data. I find the calculations flawed in that they assume the cost of purchasing everything from the Trading Post, and for many items, don't let you choose that you've harvested it yourself. You can easily deduct those cost from the handy list of costs displayed on the individual item sheets. However, this means that you can't accurately sort your Watchlist by margin. *Sad panda face*
Since my crazy nights and weekends of hardcore raiding in WOW, my end game is about creating a business of sorts out of crafting and/or player housing. I’ve found that post WOW, if a game can’t provide either of those options, as in has a busted crafting design/market and lacks player housing, I’m generally gone a couple of months after hitting max level.
Tyria is gorgeous. I’m still not tired of wandering leisurely through the zones and discovering new nooks-n-crannies. The difference now, is that I have a focus for myself that keeps me entertained and invigorated in between content patches.
I have good days and bad days since my mother's unexpected passing. The "immediate must do activity" is over and it's back to picking up your life. I try not to think too far ahead. Like to the other dreadful things to follow, like dealing with her house and personal possessions.
I haven't been motivated to play anything since re-subscribing to EQ2. I think about playing and am excited about building my Wizards' Sactum. At the end of the day when it comes down to it, I'm just too drained. It would take me longer to log in and get started than my current attention span. I've also slacked off lots on sewing for the same reason. Well that and the fact of using a sewing machine with your mind wondering leads to lots of nasty little injuries like the couple I'm sporting now.
What has wrangled more of my attention recently is creating wire wrapped rings. I'd already experimented with button rings as part of crafting in real life. Expanding into wire wrapped has revealed even more avenues of creativity. The real boon is that a ring can be started and completed in an hour or less, which is about all the enthusiasm I can muster some evenings. In a small burst of crafting expression I created two rings based on sci-fi fictional settings - one MMO and one television series.
Rose of New Eden Rose of New Eden is based on EVE Online and the characteristics that draw me back to that game in cycles. I miss the striking contracts of its stark beauty, darkness, serenity and lurking danger. EVE is as simple as or as complex as, its beholder. Finishing this ring reminded me of the serial fiction I'd started here, "Shadows of New Eden". More than adding to the storyline, I've become intrigued by the idea of creating a ring named, Red Alice.
Inara Serra III, Firefly Inspired I worship Firefly and Serenity. This is an upgrade to an earlier ring I created. This version uses a Swarovski pearl and includes an insert band for more impact. I could totally see this as her wedding ring.
Am I crazy to be fashioning rings after sci-fi settings and/or characters? I certainly could be insane. But it was fun and in the end, I have two real-life items to appreciate.
Incoming shameless plug… You can purchase your own copy from my Etsy Shop. *smile*
I’ve been catching up on my favorite MMO blogs the past few days. It’s all making me very nostalgic. I have a large amount of wonderful gaming memories linked to MMOs. I know EQ2 is pretty sweet this time of year. For my money, that game does holidays the best. I’ve probably been dropped from my guild not that I did much with them. I was so wrapped up in my furniture and custom home decorating shop. Dare I install it on my current gaming PC???
I haven’t even checked out the new Rift content. But-but-but there they have trick-of-treat candy needed for crafting certain items that can only be harvested this time of year. I could farm some if time allows over the weekend… But-but the new Rift Chronicles are fun I’ve heard… Maybe I can sqeeze in a weekend drive by.
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