Is it Worth Playing Tera Online?
Does this old gem still shine brightly?
While we are waiting for the gazillion pending releases of MMORPGs and Expansions that are coming in 2021, we needed something to wait by right?
With Swords of Legends Online Closed Beta just closed a week ago & not everyone was invited into Lost Ark’s Alpha this week either. I’m sure everyone wanting to play an MMORPG to scratch that itch in the meantime right?
I had Tera for awhile now, it’s always been a love & hate relationship between us, it’s a great game but it had so many issues that always prevented it becoming my main game.
Is Tera Online Still Good?
Publisher
Gameforge is the current publisher of Tera Online. It was just not long ago, roughly in August 2020 when En Masse was the publisher. While a year later, it has still never been released why it closed it’s doors to Tera Online. In the meantime, I have been quite impressed with Gameforge’s current management on handling Swords of Legends Online. However, it’s a different project means a different team. Thus, I shouldn’t hold the same expectations for Tera Online. Tera Online has been considered a P2W title in the pass, while it’s pay2win levels does not compare to gacha games or other titles such as non-reboot Maplestory or Perfect World Entertainment Games, it is still pay2win nevertheless.
Combat
Gameplay
Tera Online was one of the pioneers of action combat games in the MMORPG industry; while it hasn’t changed at all in past decade, it is still quite refined and very much playable.
It utilizes an combo-based system while letting you still free style fight if wish to do so. The newer classes combat definitely feels a lot more fluid than the older classes.
Overall, I believe Tera Online should receive a full overhaul with an update in their Engine as it is currently still using Unreal Engine 3. It’s popularity will spike once again if Tera 2 or Unreal Engine 4 Tera ever gets released as a totally differnet game with toned down Pay2Win Elements.
Customization
Character Customization
Character Customization is also another one of the cons as it is also quite dated. It does not have an super advanced character creation model like you see in Black Desert Online, it is one of the more simple presents, which does fit it’s age. Nevertheless, the customization you can still pick from still far exceeds that of newer games such as SOLO, especially in the color department.
Build Customization
While they are always going to be a BIS and META gear/stats for all games, Tera Online does allow some customization to character builds through the Glyph System.
Glyph enhances certain skills whether giving them passive bonuses or unique effects. Each character can use a limited amount of glyphs to customize the character to their liking.
State of Game
Playerbase
While it is always hard to take a real gauge of games that have their own launcher and no player base statistics from the developers. We can only measure it as from Steam population count instead.
Tear is looking at a decline in player base for sometime now, in the past 30 days, an average of just under 700 players has been playing. While this is just the steam side of it, we can consider the real number is quite a bit above this as we need to include the Gameforge’s own launcher player base as well.
Another factor to take into consideration is that this is the player base of both NA and EU servers added together despite unable to co-play together. Meaning an NA player base is actually much lower and vice versa for the EU player base.
Updates
While the game is very old, it is still constantly receiving updates; with the last update on 6th June 2021 and the one prior being 24th April 2021, whether it is new content or quality of life changes. Bluehole & Gameforge is still brining new changes to Tera constantly, you can still count of that.
Tera isn’t an abandoned title, it is more a title that is old and instead of doing a renovation (fixes) to continue shining radiantly, it been slapped with Band-Aids (new updates) to cover the underlying issues to stay alive.
Tera doesn’t just get updates, it also have constant in-game Events, however, unlike personally tailored events, these events are more of a default “rotation” events you would see in an Gacha Mobile Game. Such as Dungeon Double Drop, Drop Rate Increase, Upgrade Increase, Login/Quest Rewards.
Cash Shop
Tera Online also like many others have a subscription-like premium system in game. This membership provides benefits such as
- You get 20 keys each month
- 3000 tikat each month
- a pet each month
- Club bar which contains:
- Mount
- Nostrum
- 2x Daily material items
- 2 GG entries a day per char
- Book which lets you port trough the map
- Book which let’s you save up to 10 points where you can port in the future
- 1680 instead of 1000 Adventure Coins
- Faster Adventure Coins regeneration
- 2% fee at broker (Marketplace)
Further, inside the cash shop, you are able to find all kinds of convenience items such as Level Boosters and gear materials along with cosmetic items such as fashion. One arguably can say, this game is quite pay2win.
Graphics
Tera Online had one of the most gorgeous graphics in the early 2010s MMORPG industry. However, it is very clearly it has aged quite a bit, while staying with Unreal Engine 3 with it’s plasticky shiny models did not help it either. The game is still stunning but it does not compare at all with the newer games such as Black Desert Online.
| Minimum: | Recommended: |
| OS: Windows® 7 (64-bit) | OS: Windows® 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor: Intel i3 7100 / AMD Ryzen 3-1200 | Processor: Intel i5 7500 / AMD Ryzen 7-1700 |
| Memory: 8 GB RAM | Memory: 12 GB RAM |
| Graphics: GeForce GTX 760 / Radeon R9 280 or better | Graphics: GeForce GTX 970 / Radeon R9 380 or better |
| DirectX: Version 11 | DirectX: Version 11 |
| Storage: 80 GB available space HDD | Storage: 80 GB available space SSD |
Is Tera Online Worth Playing
Fun
So… Is Tera Online fun to play? Tera is dying, from the constant feedbacks and bug reports on the forum & in game, it is very clear that Gameforge and Bluehole are not taking care of this title at all.
Tera has a very high potential, it always did, and it always will, however, it does take the right decisions coming from above to make sure Tera stays alive.
Old games always has a place in the MMORPG community, there is a reason why WoW Classic was such a hit, and why WoW TBC Classic will continue being a hit.
It’s another reason why Aion Classic will also be a hit despite being published by NCsoft. Another reason why Bless Online all of us jumped on that massive hype train despite all knowing Neowiz is lying to us.
Tera Online isn’t worth playing at this current state, but it has potential, it’s your chance to redeem it Gameforge, show us the same level of commitment you are tending to Swords of Legends Online and Tera will shine brightly once again.
