I say this as a long-time TERA and MMO player: TERA‘s endgame sucks. So here I am, wondering why En Masse wants new players to reach level cap and to find out that endgame is a bore.
Wait — I think I have an idea.
This new incentive system, which began yesterday and ends on March 25, is meant to minimize leveling time and fast-track players to level 60. But to what purpose?
Having leveled two characters in TERA up to 60 and being hit in the face with the game’s massive gear wall, I can say that the endgame is dull, monotonous, and a downright grind. Bullet points explaining what I mean, assemble!
- In order to keep up with the inflation, level 60 characters need to be elite in order to reap the double rewards from the 20 dailies they are given per day. Dailies take anywhere from one to two hours to complete, depending on how fast you are. They are not fun.
- Gear disparity is huge. A fully master-worked T14 will two or three-shot someone in T13 gear, every time. Why didn’t they just increase the level cap?
- New 60’s are stuck doing the same dungeons over and over for enchantment fodder and money. Expect to buy garbage gear off the broker at 60, then grind dailies and boring low-tier instances for a few days until you can afford either reputation gear from the broker or from rep vendors.
- There simply isn’t enough endgame content. There are 17 dungeons available at endgame, almost half of which being hard-modes of instances available at 60.
- I hope you like slideshows, because running Nexus is basically a requirement for the first 70% of being level 60.
- Enchanting is terrible. It takes days or weeks and it’s a gigantic timesink.
I could go on, but why bother? The point is, En Masse is pushing for new players to reach level cap and get into that endgame grind. It’s true that the game has a serious lack of fluff — it’s all leveling, all the time; and once you get to level 60, it’s all gear grinding. All the time.
Incent This
Because being an Elite member is essentially required at 60 in order to keep up with other players, EME wants new players to get there. They want them to throw that $15 at them for a month’s worth of Elite time.
The incentives list, by the way, initially offered the EX-TRM mount as the prize for reaching level 60. The incentives were also initially meant only for players who created an account on or after March 12, which meant that only new players who hit 60 within the timeframe would get a free character-bound EX-TRM instead of the account-bound permanent option found in the Valkyion Outfitters.
The eligible accounts were spanned out to cover all existing accounts, but the system will only count the highest level character on a single account. Rewards also do not stack, so if you want anything of value out of this event, park at level 59 and wait for the event to be over. Otherwise, hey. You get some semi-enigmatics and some mirrored shades. That’s nice.
I quit, TERA. You’ve won.
