TERA Monthly Twitter Chat Indicates New Game Elements

TERA's November edition of the monthly Twitter dev chat has been posted on the game's official site; Questions involving the current alpha test and the upcoming closed beta are answered seriously. The team indicated that the current testing is going quite well, and the first public preview will start in early 2012.

Many players asked about the open world PVP. The team suggests that a free-for-all-from-level-1 PvP server is not impossible, but it won’t happen at launch. Besides they are considering add player housing and festival activities to enhance gameplay. Now let’s check out the details.

Q: @Draykho Will there be any kind of tab targeting or targeting at all? Maybe a simple camera lock to help? Cant wait to play <3
A: There is no tab targeting in TERA. However, some of your skills will require you to "paint" your targets. For example, priests have a skill that allows you to target multiple party members for healing upon casting.

Q: @Deioth Great PvP improvements, do you intend to reward players for OWPvP rather than force them to grind BGs for PvP gear?
A: We don't want players to have to grind anything for good equipment. There are a lot of different ways to get gear with PvP stats. Drops from BAMs and bosses have the potential to have PvP stats and certain gear can be sealed and unsealed to change attributes randomly. Sealing and unsealing involves erasing an item's current bonuses and a random chance to add different stats that can grant PvP bonuses.

Q: @Nectemar Currently the Outlaw system is restricted to practically endgame. Will the level cap be lowered so I can OWPvP earlier?
A: Yes! We're currently fine-tuning what that level will be but it will be very early in the game.

Q: @Uruvion Is the preview event separate from the more public alpha tests?
A:TERA;is in closed alpha testing and the first public preview event will be separate from this testing phase, starting early 2012.

Q: @TeraHispano How is all going on with TERA;alpha test?
A: Awesome! We've been getting really good feedback and insight which is allowing us to guide future changes to TERA. On top of that, everybody is having a blast which makes us more and more excited for our public preview events!

Q: @NightYoukai With /sit being added, are there any plans to add text based emotes toTERA;as well? Ex- "/me drinks some water."
A: This is something we've communicated to the dev team. We don't have an ETA on implementation but it is on their radar.

Q: @jessetrevor Any news reguarding the new website forTERA;?
A: The new TERA-Online.com is progressing well and we're really excited by the changes we've seen (and the new forums).

Q: @Ocajnik Is there any chance at all for at least one server dedicated to hardcore pvp? Pvp from level 1?
A: An ironman server! This is something that we've tossed around the office but isn't something that will happen at launch. Maybe after?

Q: @frore Will ability mechanics/damage differ depending on PvP/PvE targets?
A: Skills will remain constant in function between PvP and PvE settings. The defining factors for PvP will be having gear with PvP bonuses (as we tweeted before) and player skill combined with class knowledge.

Q: @LodurZJ how will healing feel different between the healing classes? is one more direct heals or mitigation?
A: Healing is very different between priests and mystics! Mystics create both short-term, single-target heals and use directed heals. Priests on the other hand focus on healing the entire party at once through area-of-effect heals and multi-target heal skills.

Q: @Uruvion Will the community still have a chance to experience the game before the end of the year as previously mentioned?
A: We have our Friends & Family group and a select group of community members in our closed alpha test. This includes people who have attended our En Masse Entertainment events!

Q: @TeraHispano Why to add a Group XP bonus in TERA?
A: Prior to this group experience fix, it was almost punishment to level in a group due to the split experience sharing. This is a way to incentivize group play and overall community building.

Q: @NightYoukai Will master glyphs shake up a class's playstyle a bit, or will they just allow players more focus on preferred skills?
A: For folks who don't know, glyphs are tweaks to existing class skills that allow players to customize them to their play style. The intent of masterwork glyphs is to increase uniqueness of players in the same class, allowing for them to focus on different play styles. We feel that the new masterwork glyphs will accomplish this but we'll be watching to make sure that they do and changing them if they don't.