Yearly Archives: 2015

TERA Rising: Brawler Preview – Punch First, Ask Questions Later

By Michael Sagoe (mikedot)

 

There’s a new challenger that’s heading for the world of TERA Rising this December, and this challenger has one hell of a mean left hook. Simply known as the Brawler, this new class is a complete and total game changer. Standing alongside the Warrior, Lancer and the re-tooled Berserker, the Brawler is a melee-focused, counter-based tank who can perform brutal attacks using two powerful gauntlets known as Powerfists. Along with a set of devastating skills including knockbacks, staggers and combos, the brawler is a force to be reckoned with.

After witnessing the new class being demonstrated in the South Korean version of TERA, I was curious to try it out for myself, because along with the new class, new gameplay mechanics were also being introduced with it.

 

Starting off the preview tour, I joined up with CM Treeshark from En Masse to give me and my colleagues a rundown of the brawler’s skillset. The brawler has a unique way of performing regular attacks compared to other classes, as the LMB performs a string of punch attacks while RMB performs a blocking stance. When players hold down RMB to perform their blocking stance, they can easily absorb a fair amount of damage, but if they perform a block right before an enemy attacks, they’ll achieve a “Perfect Guard” state that will shrug off all the damage from that single attack and can follow up with a huge counter attack.

 

Also similar to action games like Vindictus, players can perform branching attacks from LMB to RMB in order to perform different moves:

  • LMB > RMB can stagger enemies
  • LMB > LMB > RMB can launch enemies into the air
  • LMB > LMB > LMB > RMB pulls enemies in close
  • And LMB > LMB > LMB > LMB > RMB knocks enemies down.

 

Just with these two mouse skills alone, the Brawler has everything it needs to handle any situation, and that’s just for starters…

 

 

Similar to how the Gunner class works, the brawler has a special resource called “Rage” that builds up a meter whenever the brawler performs skills and attacks. Once the rage meter has either been filled up halfway or completely, the brawler can then perform a powerful skill that either deals out an insane amount of damage or restores the player’s health and MP. Players will have to learn how to juggle between executing skills and building meter in order to deal out the most amount of damage, as well as being able to pull the most aggro during team situations…

 

 

…Or they can just keep punching the hell out of everything, regardless of the situation. That works, too.

Speaking of launching enemies into the air: The brawler class is the first in the history of TERA that is able to knock enemies up into the air and juggle them using their various skills. Unlike other classes that focus on stuns, roots or snares to CC opponents, juggling is brawler’s own form of CC. Attacks like Roundhouse and Flip Kick will knock enemies up, while skills like Bull Rush, Haymaker and Jackhammer, along with regular punches, will keep them in the air for an insane amount of time.

 

After we were given the rundown on how the brawler dishes out damage, it was time to give the class a quick test run. As a former TERA player, I quickly grew accustomed to the brawler’s brand of destruction and was able to destroy enemies with ease. Of course, my character was equipment with some heavy duty gear and weaponry, so most of the enemies were dead within a few hits.

 

 

I and the rest of the participants wanted to bash our fists against something that wasn’t going to crack so easily, so our tour group’s next stop was the new dungeon “Kalivan’s Dreadnaught” to fight some tougher baddies.

 

As the dungeon run started, everything was pretty straightforward and typical of what you would expect from a TERA dungeon: Kill trash mobs in your way, grab some loot and head to the next room. After clearing a few rooms, we came face to face with the dungeon’s first boss named Pepero. While this boss did look like a recycled boss from previous dungeons, it did have a few new tricks up its sleeve. While CM Treeshark handled the tanking, the rest of the group rocked the DPS.

 

 

Getting the hang of blocking and dodging away from Pepero’s attacks was a lot more challenging than I expected, but once I started getting into a rhythm, I was able to focus on dealing damage, and the results were satisfying.

 

After beating the boss and clearing a few more rooms, we came across another boss named Polyphemus, a mean cyclops who deals out massive AOE attacks. Once again, it took me awhile to get the rhythm, but I managed to come through and do my job as the DPS combo king, not to mention that I only died once, where as my team bit the dust on multiple occasions.

 

 

Last up, we faced off against the last boss named Kalivan, a Naga monster who was armed from head to tail. While I used to spend a lot of time farming Nagas for sport, this boss threw me for a loop as he performed special AOE explosions that were nearly unavoidable. Despite getting knocked down and damaged several times over, I hung in there and started to tear Kalivan a new one. At one point, I even managed to pull aggro away from CM Treeshark when the boss had more than half of its HP deleted. This caught me completely by surprise as I was so in the rhythm of maxing out my dps, I completely forget I was supposedly playing a tank class. Typically tank classes just aren’t satisfying to me, so this feeling of getting lost in the rhythm made for by far my favorite tank class I’ve ever experienced.

 

 

As the tour ended, I thought to myself, “With the new juggle mechanic, isn’t this going to make the Brawler a bit overpowered when it comes to PvP?” I then asked CM Treeshark his thoughts on the matter, with which he stated that PvP balance will be just fine, as the Brawler has certain limits and disadvantages when compared to other DPS classes. Now, I was still a bit skeptical at the time, but I still took his word for it.

 

I also asked Treeshark what other content will be featured when the Brawler gets released, and he mentioned that another dungeon called “Forsaken Isle” will be released alongside Kalivan’s Dreadnaught. There will also be new balance chances, new end-game gear and other quality-of-life functions such as the options to self-revive after death. While this sounds nice, as well as a broken feature, being able to self-revive will cost a hefty amount of gold, so players will have to use them sparingly, or just get revived the old fashion way by having a healer pick them up.
The new Brawler class is a real game changer for the world of TERA, and I’d like to say that I’m looking forward to seeing how much things will get shaken up with the dedicated TERA playerbase as the new Brawler update arrives December 8.

 

Cabal Online Launches Art of War Update

Cabal Online Launches Art of War Update news header

Get ready for an epic battle! ESTsoft, Inc. unveiled details for the latest free content update for CABAL Online, available today. The new update features all-new ways to battle it out in Nevareth as players embark on new quests as well as take their place in a new custom PvP arena.

 

In addition to the new areas and arenas, select dungeons across Nevareth now feature the “elite difficulty” and offer the toughest test yet for dungeon plunderers in CABAL Online.

 

With the “Art of War” update, players can jump onto the war-torn battlefield of Memoria Chrysos with their determined teammates to work towards the ultimate goal: Glory on the battlefield. Champions will be tasked with capturing buildings and securing vital resources in order to strengthen their position and defeat the enemy guardians.

 

In the brand-new custom PvP battle arena, warriors can face-off against their friends in-game and determine just how much is on the line during the battle. Players can join a friend for a friendly practice battle or go all-in and truly prove who the mightier champion is.

Blade & Soul Announces Launch Date and Head Start Period

NCSOFT West announced today that its highly anticipated MMO, Blade & Soul, is set to launch in North America and Europe on January 19, 2016, at 12:00 AM EST. Ahead of the official launch, Name Reservation will be available for Disciple and Master Pack purchasers on January 11, and the Head Start period for all Founder’s Pack purchasers will begin on January 15.

Blade And Soul Launch Announced

“This is a big day for us, as we’re able to share the official launch date of Blade & Soul for all Western players,” said Tim Granich, senior director of Marketing at NCSOFT West. “We’ve already had tens of thousands of players in our first two closed beta weekends, and look forward to welcoming many more beginning with the next beta weekend on November 24th and all the way through launch.”

The free-to-play MMO, which recently completed its second closed beta weekend, will feature launch content including seven classes for players to choose from, 30 dungeons, a character level cap of 45, and the popular skill-based 1v1 Arena.

The Arena is the highlight of the game’s burgeoning eSport’s presence, as NCSOFT recently hosted the 2015 World Championship for Blade & Soul in Busan, Korea with over 6,000 people in attendance over two days. NCSOFT plans to have North American and European representatives participate in the 2016 World Championship, following a competitive PvP tournament qualifier in the West. Pre-season rankings in North America and Europe will begin soon after launch, with additional details to be announced at a later date.

The next Closed Beta weekend for Blade & Soul begins on November 24 and runs until November 30. For more information about Blade & Soul and to sign up for future closed betas, visit www.bladeandsoul.com/en.

Mabinogi Duel Now Available Worldwide for Mobile Devices

Mabinogi Duel Now Available Worldwide for Mobile Devices news header

Head-to-head card battling comes to life in the visually stunning and tantalizingly addictive Mabinogi Duel for iOS and Android. NEXON Co., Ltd. (“Nexon”) (3659.TO), a worldwide leader in free-to-play online and mobile games, today announced its Korean subsidiary, NEXON Korea Corporation released the strategic mobile trading card game (TCG), which is now available on mobile devices in 153 countries, including the US.

Mabinogi Duel is based on NEXON’s acclaimed massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Mabinogi, and blends a distinct look from Eastern magna style with Western Fantasy. The tactical deck building system gives TCG fans an expansive strategic card battle experience that includes a library of more than 1,000 cards.

Accessible to players of all levels, Mabinogi Duel gives those who are new to the trading card genre the ability to easily pick up and play, while more experienced players will enjoy fine tuning their tactical skills to take on friends and other players globally. The game’s features include:

  • Generation 1 – The Lord of Farkka: a robust single-player campaign, complete with colorful stories of a fantasy world, exiting cards, casting elves, goblins, warriors and witches.
  • Player Versus Player (PvP) Arena: real-time PvP battles for epic duels against other players.
  • Real Card Trading: Players can trade their own cards with other players via multiple in-game card trading system.

Mabinogi Duel combines beautiful artwork with all the elements of a deep, authentic TCG that fans of the genre will love,” said Donggun Kim, director, devCAT Studio, Nexon Korea. “Since Mabinogi Duel’s open beta, and through its soft launch, the team has carefully fine-tuned the game in preparation for its global launch, and we look forward to sharing it with the rest of the world to enjoy.”

 Mabinogi Duel is available from Google Play and the App Store in 153 countries and seven different languages as a free download.