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Just an update! The team at EME uploaded a video of our day at the office! I'm the one who's ALWAYS ready to kick some ass :D (in my curse shirt xD)!
Thanks again to all the staff at En Masse! What an awesome experience!
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Hey, TERA Fans :D As you all know, the team at En Masse Entertainment was kind enough to invite the community into their new office in Seattle this Saturday and I was one of the attendees! In this post I'll detail the events of the visit from my perspective :)
On Saturday afternoon, the group met up with Scapes at the convention center and we all made the trek over in a fairly orderly fashion! When we got to the office we rode the elevator up in groups, met the team, and took a tour of the office.
Their office is entirely open with almost no one having an actual enclosed office or cubicle. Beautiful views of the water can be seen from nearly every corner of the space as you'll see in the above pictures! There are huge, brilliant pictures of TERA characters and landscapes all around. Needless to say, the office just bleeds inspiration and looks like a lovely place to work.
After the tour, COO Patrick Wyatt sat us down to reveal their secret weapon in the fight against illegal RMT: the chronoscroll system. Alongside the event the team published a detailed description of this feature over on the official site, but here are the basics:
- Chronoscrolls are items which will be purchasable on the official site at TERA's launch.
- The cost of chronoscrolls will be equal to the cost of a monthly subscription.
- Chronoscrolls will be able to be sold in the in-game auction house or in player shops for in-game money. En Masse will have no say in how much in-game money the chronoscrolls cost: the players of the server will be in total control of placing value on the scrolls.
- Therefore, with this system, in-game money will be able to buy subscription time and subscription time will be able to earn players in-game money.
The goal for the feature is to kill the incentive for illegal RMT by legalizing a Gametime to in-game money type of RMT. I think it's an interesting idea that could definitely be successful. How about you, TERA Fans?
After the chat with Partick, we learned that our demo would be the same instance used during this year's Gamescom: Necromancer's Cell. We were placed into teams for the run and Organic and I spent the time waiting to play by chatting up the writers and other team members (the fruit of which can be found in his notes here!)
While I was waiting to play, Brian Knox alerted me to something I did not expect-- the Elin in the current build of the game were wearing release-candidate state, updated armors! I let him know that with this knowledge I was obliged to hijack a computer station and take pictures and to my further astonishment, he agreed to let me post them here for you guys! (Thanks a TON EME! <3)
So without further ado, have a look at the updated Elin armor:
I personally found the changes remarkably subtle and in some cases I had trouble locating what was changed. I learned that nearly all of the Elin armors were updated in some way; all short skirts gained shorts underneath, some panties were changed to shorts, some skirts were made slightly longer, and most stomachs were covered. I feel that they are tasteful and preserve the spirit of the original armors. I'm so excited I was able to take pictures and share them with you all, so please, let me know what you think!
The build of TERA we played also had a couple of additional features:
- Localized voice acting: All of the voices were provided by Seattle based actors. High Elves had slight British accents.
- Updated UI Icons: A few of the UI icons were changed around. See a picture over here.
- The build included the Korean Dark Awakening patch.
- New PvP ranking sheet, see picture here.
- Updated controller support.
After I had snapped all the pictures I could of the new Elin, Brian was awesome enough to hook up a controller for me to test the game with as it's a feature the team is really proud of; and understandably so! The controller was nearly plug-n-play: when it was plugged into the PC, TERA immediately recognized it. I was able to change bindings through an in-game menu and even hold down the attack button to spam the basic attack just like you're able to with the left mouse button.
The clunkiest aspect of controller use at this time is picking up quests, since you have to get the cursor to the "accept quest" rectangle using the joystick. However, the team has plans to refine this and I have no doubt they will! They seem extremely dedicated to controller support and as a huge keyboard and mouse fan I have to say, leaning back with a controller and some TERA was pretty sweet!
The Necromancer's Cell instance was a lot of fun! I played a sorcerer and felt that my group did extremely well as we had no deaths what-so-ever and cleared the place in 19 minutes! The two bosses we fought were pretty fun and not too challenging from a ranged perspective.
The final boss included static adds which pulsed AoE lightning that hit you hard if you got into their melee range, so it was essential that ranged classes cleared them out when they started to take up too much space. Overall the demo dungeon was a great experience.
The promised swag bags did not disappoint! They included TERA posters signed by the team, a TERA messenger bag, a TERA rock, and most importantly, the world's first chronoscrolls. That's right! We were granted physical chronoscrolls which we will be able to use as one month of free gametime at release. Completely awesome, check it out below!
On the whole, the EME open house event was awesome. I'm so glad I was able to attend and I really appreciate the team for opening up their doors to me and other community members!
Comments
Patch is Destruction of the Beast, and that's where the new icons, PVP rankings and, if we're up to date, a lot of new things comes from.
Also, the shorts look better. Body pieces look like **** though.
Now I just wanna tray it again! My new PC, pretty much top of the line, is eager to bring TERA to the next level! :)
I'm not sure yet what to think about the Chronoscrolls since I highly doubt that I will use them. They did say on the official forums that there will be those who can pretty much completely ignore them. I think I will be one of those individuals.
As for the Elin armor ....... I like two of them: the red one and the white and gold one. The other ones kind of look ... not finished. They look kind of half-assed to tell the truth. Let me take you through them in detail (from left to right and top to bottom):
#1: this outfit while nice, I feel as though the shorts don't quite match. When they were just "panties", there was so little of it that it didn't really register. But now that there is more material, they look out of place. It probably would have been better if they'd used the same tortoise-shell design on the shorts, too.
#2: While the shorts kind of go with the jacket, the undershirt does not. It looks entirely mismatched now. Perhaps if they changed the color to better match the jacket it would look better.
#3: As stated before, I like the red one ... although the area where the tummy and abdomen are probably could use a better design ... make it similar to the design on the jacket (make it stand out a little more). It looks sheer, but maybe that was their intention? I don't know.
#4: So they added shorts to this one? I barely noticed.
#5: See #4.
#6: This one I also like, but I feel that the undershirt would probably look better if it was gold.
#7: This one is my least favorite and I feel needs the most work. Actually, I don't like it at all. The "undershirt" looks as though it was just slapped on (spray painted on without any forethought). Now that the "panties" are shorts, they do not go well with those pantyhose things that she's wearing. Perhaps shorten the pantyhose ... remove the undershirt. Why was the undershirt put there anyway? Just to cover her tummy? What's wrong with showing her bellybutton?
Anyway, those are my thoughts and my opinions. No one has to agree, but I thought I'd give my input.
NO OFFENSE: But I honestly hate what they've done..
If you want to "cover" the Elin up a bit more at least use colours & textures similiar to the actual armor design vs. completely trashing the overall look of the artist's view. Of course the shorts are adorable and certainly do match with some armors - but the ones you took photos of honestly didn't match.
SUCH AS: The second Elin cloth has an undershirt and shorts, couldn't they have at least used the same colours or design as the robe she is wearing? And I still don't see the issue with showing a tiny bit of "tummy" (there are ways to avoid more skin and still making it look tasteful). Oh and the last one (leather/plate newbie armor?) was "vandalized" in my opinion. I like how they added the same pattern/texture for her undershirt but either you keep the undershort and add the panties or remove the undershirt and keep the shorts. The shorts seem to ruin the overall look and make the stockings/panty hose look weird.
Now enough with the silly Elin rant. ;p
I'm curious regarding the voice acting for the characters...
Were the voices actually good? did they seem out of place? I'm so anxious to find out how NPCs and our characters may actually sound! :3
ONCE AGAIN - THANK YOU AMIRA FOR THE AWESOME POST!
I'm curious regarding the voice acting for the characters...
Were the voices actually good? did they seem out of place? I'm so anxious to find out how NPCs and our characters may actually sound! :3
ONCE AGAIN - THANK YOU AMIRA FOR THE AWESOME POST!
You're welcome! <3 I didn't want to steal the station I was at for too long, but from what I heard the voice acting didn't necessarily sound out of place, just made me jump a few times since I'm completely used to the characters speaking Korean.
I do have to say: each race had its own style of speaking. Last year at the TERA PAX 2010 after party, David Noonan really drove home the idea of "each race speaks and thinks differently and we consider this while we write", and it's plain to see that that belief really influenced the voice acting. Like I said, High Elves sound near-British, very regal while, in contrast, Castanics sound far more casual, with an always-ready-for-adventure type voice.
Basically, my impression of it was that the team went out of their way to give each race a distinct accent or speaking style, which is a great thing!
Our pleasure!
So, on pictures 1,2 and 3: I feel like they need more. No, not more coverage or anything, but more... sparkle, jazz, design, something. All the designs got the same bland shorts and ultimately that is boring. There's no shape, no bows, belts, anything to make it more visually interesting.
Take the original of picture number 2. The undergarments were a pink and gold frilly piece. The shape and colour added visual appeal, and complimented the rest of the armor. The edited version however, is now a bland pale purple short short. I like the shorts, hate the blandness and colour that they have. I feel that the originals should have just been changes to shorts, thus keeping the visual appeal and would continue to compliment the armor. It would have kept the colour, and shape that they have.
This goes for some of the other armors as well. Take the last picture for example. The unedited version was basically a gold plate undergarment. The new version is pale shorts. I like the shorts better, however, i feel they could have added more, like gold colour somewhere to continue the flow and visual interest of the armor. I think it needs some sort of gold belt of some sort to make it more visually interesting.
I also dont like the mid drift cover up job they did. It makes the armor boring and bland. I think if the belly really needs to be covered for whatever reason, they could do something more visually appealing.
As for the Elin look I don't really see much wrong it with it. They could rename the class to the Miley, since she wears those types of pants in her concerts.
Chronoscrolls will be interesting and it works quite well in EVE.
Right. But consider this: I've been testing the game since 2009, I played a sorcerer during this demo and never died. Organic reports that the sorcerer in his group died 4 times. It could just be that I've seen a lot of TERA and maybe the other person had not.
Right. But consider this: I've been testing the game since 2009, I played a sorcerer during this demo and never died. Organic reports that the sorcerer in his group died 4 times. It could just be that I've seen a lot of TERA and maybe the other person had not.
There were a lot of factors promoting success.
1. It's not that the fights were easy.
2. There WERE deaths in nearly every run (the press had a full wipe, but there were lots of deaths in the press runs as well), there just were no WIPES.
3. You can actively evade attacks, so even the tank dying doesn't mean a wipe.
4. Every class can rez, so, again, even if tank or healer die, it's not a guaranteed wipe like with almost all other MMOs.
5. There were EME staffers on Priests healing.
6. There were EME staffers standing over EVERY player telling them what to do, telling them to get out of the electrical field, telling them what boss phase was next and what they'd need to be, calling out heals for the various classes, etc. It's not like were were in a room with five noobs who'd never seen the game before.
7. Many of us have played the game in FGTs, CPEs, KOBT, Korean retail, etc.
So, no. It's not that it was "easy".
Wow - then I guess I don't have anything to really be worried about; and if the voices ever do turn out bad I can just use the JP/KR voice packs. :p
I find it awesome that high elves have british voices (it adds to the arrogancy and superiority of the race)! I just find it ironic that castanics don't have seductive voices. ;)
Amira do you remember how the Elin & Baraka sounded? Find it interesting that they actually voice the characters in a way that reflects their mind and beliefs.
ALSO: NP for the constructive feedback - I didn't mind the shorts overall, but why did they have to put THE SAME type of "painted" on shorts for every armor.. If I were the original artist for the armors I'd honestly be offended that they destroyed such wonderful masterpieces. ;A;
Really do hope that they actually remove the nasty stomach covers and remove the shorts on some models; and replace them with actual stockings (the ones we were promised).
Wow - then I guess I don't have anything to really be worried about; and if the voices ever do turn out bad I can just use the JP/KR voice packs. :p
I find it awesome that high elves have british voices (it adds to the arrogancy and superiority of the race)! I just find it ironic that castanics don't have seductive voices. ;)
Amira do you remember how the Elin & Baraka sounded? Find it interesting that they actually voice the characters in a way that reflects their mind and beliefs.
Unfortunately I didn't get to test the Baraka and Elin voices :( If anyone else did I'd love to know myself!
Just to be clear, EME didn't undo the work of the original artist. BHS did. EME pushed back against the gothic look and idea of leggings (a massive change in the overal design of the Elin) trying to keep the Elin as minimally modified as they could. Also, the Elin changes aren't exactly the top priority for BHS, so I can see why a tacked-on, months after the fact change feels tacked-on.
I agree that the shorts could use some pizzazz, but I still believe the real character of the Elin in terms of their personalities, lore, animations, etc. hasn't changed. They're still have the cute factor.
I've seen you said you can just plug-in a console controller and play right away? none of that having to install any bull? well thats awesome,not that i play with a controller anyway.
Seemed like an awesome event and looks like ya'll had fun
a little comparison.
And im happy the elves sound British. I knew they would go for that type of elf.
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I think this person should go work for EME and give them ideas ... truly. My only edit to the last one would be if they extended the jacket down to be even with that jewel at her chest. See? Still expose her cute tummy, but not as much of it ... have the shorts incorporate the original design and voila! Tastefully done armor. I know EME has creative people there. Why couldn't they show something like this? Seriously? Anyway ... let's keep these constructive criticisms coming. The more we give them ... the prouder we'll be to step into the Elin shoes (or at least those of us who do want to play the Elin).
I think this person should go work for EME and give them ideas ... truly. My only edit to the last one would be if they extended the jacket down to be even with that jewel at her chest. See? Still expose her cute tummy, but not as much of it ... have the shorts incorporate the original design and voila! Tastefully done armor. I know EME has creative people there. Why couldn't they show something like this? Seriously? Anyway ... let's keep these constructive criticisms coming. The more we give them ... the prouder we'll be to step into the Elin shoes (or at least those of us who do want to play the Elin).
Well, it's not EME, it's BHS edits. If EME thought that these were good changes then yeah, they do need people like that. BHS has been too busy to worry too much about these changes with working on more content so I can really see this kinda thing happening. Just hope the armors will get updates in the future.