Continuing a discussion on my early impressions of Tera Online...
The Classes Shine
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.
Like the WOW Warlock's ability to handout Healthstones, the Mystic can produce healing orbs that can be dropped in the world that persist. This allows players to do self directed healing when needed. You just sprinkle the area with orbs before the fight and when someone needs healing they walk over and consume one. I also have direct heals and cleansing spells. I have a summon party skill and a short duration party increased movements speed when out of combat.
Surprisingly, pet pathing isn't a problem. I've not lost one yet. HOWEVER, they arrive very late and usually dragging a pack of mobs with them. It's back to long distance mob aggro ala EQ1. I arrive at my destination and while I'm taking care of whatever, my pet shows up with a tons of mobs. So far as I can tell, there's no dismiss pet command which is very odd indead. Small problems like this aside, the Mystic is fun to play.
Not having to do direct healing unless you're in an instance means I'm doing damage and debuffing when questing. I have a tank pet to help the party tank or off tank something after me. I have a short duration DPS pet which I don't use very often. For heart thumping "oh shit!" situations, there's another short duration pet that does AOE and HOT healing. Her duration is VERY short which I understand. The little healing fairy would be OP otherwise.
All combined, these characteristics make the Mystic a solid choice for soloing, questing and getting into groups for instances. Lancer is the most desired tank and if I was open to tanking for groups, which I'm not, and was better at FPS style movement, that would be another very solid choice. From a pure entertainment perspective, I enjoy the Lancer the most.
Game Play
Not much new in terms of game-play. I'm over running back and forth to turn in quests. That paradigm needs to DIE already. Running back and forth to someone hanging out behind a tree all day, is no less immersion breaking than getting rewards in the mail ala GW2. I'll take the convenience thank you very much. No part of riding directly hither-n-yon is entertaining. That aside, Tera has all the other trappings you'd expect to find. Coveting Gear, enhancing gear, crafting, mounts, guilds, daily quests, daily quests only for people in guilds, dungeons, PVP, etc.
Player cities are just the right size. Not so big that they're like coffins outside of the few places players like to parade around in the hard-won gear and special ponies. They're big enough to contain the services needed and then you're off quest, PVP or do some dungeons.
"there's no dismiss pet command which is very odd"
True, but the only pet that needs dismissing is the Thrall of Protection; because it's the only one that lasts more than a few seconds. Since you can have only one pet out at a time dismiss a Thrall of Protection by summoning one of the other three.
I wouldn't worry too much about aiming. For most classes, and especially melee, the reticule is quite forgiving. I've tried all the classes and the TERA Warrior is the most absorbing class I've ever played in an MMO.
Incidentally the Lancer is not only the favored tank but if you queue for instance then Tank is the only role Lancers are eligible for.
Mike.
Posted by: NoAstronomer | March 20, 2013 at 11:30 AM
Unfortunately, the Thrall can go buck wild. The pet remembers the mob that was attacking you even if it died and you summon a new one. And it attacks something that attacked you without you commanding it to do so which has the unintended side effect of un-sleeping mobs I've mezzed. In those moments, while you're cringing and feeling like the group noob, you wish for a dimiss command. :-)
In general, I've decided not to summon him in groups since he's not really needed and can cause little dramas to unfold.
Haven't tried the LFG tool yet. Was thinking I'd keep the Lancer as my solo/farming alt.
Posted by: Alysianah | March 20, 2013 at 02:07 PM
Agreed! The Thrall of Protection is simply not intended for use in groups that already have a tank.
I'm surprised that the ToP is breaking mezz in that I'm suprised it can get to them before the mezz wears off naturally. The 'mezz' skill for mystics is very short lived - only a few seconds - and it's more of an interrupt than a crowd-control device.
Posted by: NoAstronomer | March 21, 2013 at 10:02 AM
Yep. He's too dangerous in groups. Not sure if it's intended or not but I find the length of the mezz depends on the level and class of mob. If I'm soloing regular mobs and pull too many, I can mezz one long enough to kill one then set pet on other and continue.
However, bosses, you're absolutely right, it's often like an interrupt. BAMs in particular, I sometimes cast it just to get my bearings on tank if he took damage and is LOS, or want to interrupt one of their ranged moves/jumps/charges. Sometimes it works and other times not.
The classes are fun and combat can be wild which is what makes it so entertaining.
Posted by: Alysianah | March 21, 2013 at 04:29 PM