5 Things That Make TERA more than a WoW Clone

I read an article this week; I’m not going to bother to link it because it’s not worth your time, in which the author asserted that the MMO is a dying breed. Nobody’s playing them, he said, and nobody’s playing them because every game that comes out is a World of Warcraft clone. Let’s ignore, for a second, that the MMO world is far from under-populated and that there are plenty of games worth playing on the market today that were only released over the last 12 months. What annoyed me more than these rather loose opinions were the range of games he used as examples. The most shocking was his inclusion of TERA, a game that is about as far from a WoW Clone as is possible.

Today – for the sake of this unnamed, uninformed author – we’re going to list five reasons that TERA is that much more than just another WoW clone and why, if you think that guy might be right, you’re completely wrong. If this is the first you’ve heard about TERA, be sure to check out our video series and the accompanying diary that we publish each and every week.

#1 – Not every MMORPG is a WoW Clone

Sometimes people get their terminology wrong, especially when it’s repeated so often. That’s why the internet slang “troll” has come to mean “anybody who disagrees with my opinion.” Go onto a YouTube video and point out any valid flaws in any game that somebody else is excited about and prepare yourself for a barrage of “go back under your bridge, troll.” The same could be said for the MMORPG genre. So all-consuming is Blizzards archetypal MMO that it has become synonymous with the MMORPG genre and no matter what the developers do, if the game has quests and a massive world to explore, it’s going to be a WoW clone in somebody’s eyes. No matter if the combat is different, no matter if the story or combat are more enjoyable. The fact that you do quests definitely, undeniably means that it’s an exact copy of World of Warcraft.

This isn’t true of course. While things originally delivered in World of Warcraft have become industry standard since 2004, some people seem to be assuming that the majority of features in that game didn’t exist prior to that year. That, of course, is complete nonsense, and any game that comes out is going to have a variety of influences, whether you recognise them or not. I think it’s important to make the distinction because, while there are plenty of WoW clones on the market, not everything that slightly resembles World of Warcraft is a clone. This is especially true of TERA which pushes gameplay in different directions and delivers something genuinely new, even if it uses several MMORPG staples on which to build upon.

#2 – The Battle System

Combat is important in any MMORPG, although sometimes I wish it wasn’t. Whether fighting for experience or in order to complete a quest, the vast majority of games deliver a very hands-off approach to fighting. Entering combat seems unnatural, almost like your character suddenly makes the decision: “I’m going to harass this innocent, helpless fluffy bunny.” Of course, the developers have spent more time thinking about balance than about making their world believable and before long you’re sitting in a corner and hoping mutant bunnies don’t really exist. This leaves you with two options, spam your special moves (by hitting 1, 2 and 3 as rapidly as you can) or try to escape. The former will get you killed and if you run away, the enemy can still hit you. It doesn’t matter that you’re a mile away, if that bunny uses it’s gnaw attack, you’re down for the count.

The developers behind TERA obviously took a conscious decision to move away from that sort of thing. You can dodge enemy attacks and run away if you need to, you control your moves in a more action game like way and you’re not a slave to the number keys. There’s still a level of that, especially if you play with a controller, but that moves us on nicely to our next item.

#3 – Controllers

For years, the idea of a proper MMORPG on consoles would have been laughed at. There have been attempts, attempts that have been popular and quite enjoyable, for what they were, but the ultimate MMO haven was, and always will be, the PC. The biggest problem was always the control method, how do you have a thousand skills at your disposal without the keyboard? On a controller you can do maybe 10 moves, maximum, and the majority of them will be rather complicated. TERA manages a controller/keyboard combo that means unless you have more than a few moves you want to use frequently; you don’t actually need to use the keys all that much. It feels good to be able to quickly and easily map new moves to the controller and it feels better to sit back and relax without needing to lean over a mouse and tap away at the keys.

#4 – The Graphics

Talking about how great MMO graphics can be would have those around you using words like ‘oxymoron’ and, if we’re honest with ourselves here, just ‘moron’. The genre is known for interesting art design, which is the gaming equivalent telling somebody hospitalized for being 30 stone that they’re robust. Having nice art design is great, because it’s nice to see something that’s been well made, but if the best you can say is that the art design is good, it means that the actual delivery of that content isn’t as polished as perhaps should be expected.

TERA changes everything by being absolutely stunningly beautiful. There are moments and check out our fourth TERA diary if you don’t believe me, where you can do nothing but sit back, relax, sigh at the more-than-occasional wonderment and enjoy the ride.

TERA Gameplay

#5 – TERA Feels Next-Gen

TERA is one of the first of the next wave of MMOs. There’s nothing in there that hasn’t been happening in single player games for decades, but taking it online has proven nigh on impossible until now. From here we’re going to be seeing a lot of things that we’ve never seen before in massively multiplayer gaming and TERA feels like that. If World of Warcraft pushed the envelope out back in 2004, it’s games like TERA that are leading the progression now.

by M. Growcott