OnRPG Selects our True TERA MMO-FO

 

 

Last week OnRPG partnered with En Masse Entertainment and TERA to search our community for the top MMO-FOs. About thirty people stepped up to the challenge and in the end two Canadians stood above their peers as knowing exactly what an MMO-FO is all about. They have been rewarded a physical collector’s edition (grand prize) and digital collector’s edition (2nd) for their efforts and I wanted to share our winner, AnonymousAnnie’s entry on the homepage so others can aspire to such greatness:

 

 

It is rather comical for people to be talking tough about what they have done in an MMO that requires only half of what your mind is really capable of. As someone who has been playing MMORPGs for over a decade now, I cannot help but find some amusement in what qualities as an impressive feat. To pick on a popular game as an example: I remember venturing into World of WarCraft and hearing people talking about “hard raids” or recommending “challenges” for me. The end-game content is laughably easy. All of them are paltry and pitiful offerings that pale in comparison to true feats of difficulty that I have faced in other MMOs. Especially some of the non-F2P Korean games out there.

In general a lot of MMO gamers are soft. They are slow, they are spoiled and they will take whatever they feed them. I do not blame them. With their ability they are able to acquire equipment that will carry them through whatever they need to with very little need to improve how they play. Who is to blame them when they are playing in an environment that plays much of the game for them? Oh, but if it is still too hard, they can read what is essentially an order-of-operations for any encounter and download tools/mods to make their experience even easier.

I respect that everyone has different tastes, and some people might enjoy a slow and relaxed experience. It is their time and money and they are free to do what they wish. The market should offer something for everyone. But myself? I have not played an MMORPG I have enjoyed in ages. I feel that, with functionality such as tab-targeting or click-to-move+attack, the game is doing so much of the work for me that my interest begins to fade. Cannot aim? That is fine. Everything will just home in on the target and a calculation will dictate whether I hit or miss. It feels like I am losing more and more control of my character, and my abilities as a veteran gamer are not as rewarding as I would like. I appreciate that my sense of strategy usually has some deal of effect, but what about marksmanship? What about reflexes? What about positioning? These all have varying levels of effect on just about any MMORPG, but it is overly trivialized.

This bothers me more in a PvP environment. I am not the best player in the world, but at times I find myself absolutely disgusted in how low some of these games bring the skill ceiling. PvP is about 80% of the reason why I get into an MMO. Which is not to say I do not enjoy farming and general PvE, but in the back of my mind I am always thinking about battle strategies or who I am about to impale with the new lance I am working on. The whole draw of PvP is I am not just killing predictable AI. There is someone else on the other end. I can feel their abilities. I can feel their emotions. I can feel their fear.

I will continue my quest to taste the various MMO offerings out there. Games such as Global Agenda have been nice… but if I wanted a shooter then there are better options out there. I want games that have the intricacies of a fantasy world with the demand for twitch abilities as a shooter. I want to feel like I am actually in control of the combat, and my skill and choices as a player mean more. Not going to lie: There have been some quality MMO offerings thus far, but none of them have really offered what I want. I am hoping TERA will deliver something I can enjoy. The fact it is coming from a Korean developer has certainly raised my hopes. They generally make the things I enjoy most.

Hope to see you on the battlefield, wherever we meet. I apologize if the arrogant tone of my words has offended you. -AnonymousAnnie

 

 

If you’re ready to step outside the norm and mix your FPS and Fantasy MMO genres together in an open world unlike anything you’ve experienced before, then I suggest you head over the TERA-Online.com and pre-order to gain access to this weekend’s closed beta. I’m hearing rumors from my buddies over at OnePR that TERA has something big to reveal at GDC this week so this weekend’s CB test is one you won’t want to miss!