Is TERA Worth Playing in 2021?

TERA is an MMORPG that will always hold a special place in my heart. This is the MMORPG that brought Mrs Stix and I together, and as such – regardless of how bad it gets, I’ll always come back if only to relive the experience that allowed for me to meet the person that made my life, and this channel as a whole, complete.

When En Masse, the North American publisher (at the time) announced they were shutting down, I was concerned for the game as its future was uncertain. Thankfully, Gameforge acquired rights to publish the North American incarnation of TERA; an addition to their publishing rights for the European version.

There are some minor differences between the North American and European versions of the game, one of which is the VIP membership – something that I went ahead and purchased as I feel as though the only real way to play TERA is via the purchase of a premium membership. The benefits (boosted XP, gold, village atlas etc.,) are well worth the money you’ll spend on it but I can see how the monthly recurring price would be an issue for many players that are unable to afford it.

Another difference is the ping. Living in North America, I never had ping issues in TERA. It is one of the few MMOs that are genuinely easy to play. However after Gameforge acquired rights to publish it within North America, I now have a delay between my action and the registering of my action. Meaning it’s slightly more difficult to time my dodges out of AoEs and making it through obstacles that should otherwise be easy are now much more difficult.

Thankfully that is what VPN’s are for, right? I’m an avid promoter of ExitLag personally, as it’s a VPN that I’ve been using for almost 2 years now without issue. They’ve allowed me to successfully make it into MMOs like Justice Online, Moonlight Blade, Blue Protocol, Elyon and Lost Ark (due to them masking my IP) and have even lowered my ping in MMOs like Blade & Soul (by roughly 30%.)

Outside of ping and the noticeable difference in the VIP membership (you only get a single XP potion per day via Gameforge as opposed to 12 from En Masse,) TERA is very much the same as it’s always been. This is a true-action MMORPG that has always, and likely will retain for much of the foreseeable future, some of the best action combat in the MMO-scene. Not only is this a fantastic example of fluid combat, but the abilities look high quality, they feel impactful and the classes have depth. You’re capable of altering what glyphs you have active for each skill, offering advantages like increased damage percentage, or reduced ability cooldowns. Thankfully each class looks and feels pretty unique, with there being quite the selection to choose from. Albeit there are some classes that are specific to individual races as opposed to complete unrestricted access to everything, but that’s something that is mostly overlooked by the general playerbase as the Elin, which has more available classes than any other races, happens to be the most played, most customizable race in-game.

The leveling experience in TERA is done in one of two ways. On the one hand, you can level via the main story. This will allow you to explore much of what the world has to offer and include the majority of dungeons found throughout the game. The dungeons, when run through the story will all be approachable solo, meaning you won’t be required to play with other players. However, on the other hand we have the faster, possibly easier method: dungeon grinding. Running dungeons that are of your approximate level-range (which often take maybe 15-20 minutes to complete,) via the Vanguard Requests function. This is by far the most popular method and the method with which the majority of the playerbase utilizes to acquire their levels. However again, you won’t get to witness or experience much of the game, so this is more or less targeted at players that have played the game once before.

TERA is an MMORPG unlike any other. Yes, there are other action MMOs out there. Yes, there are better looking MMOs out there. Yes, there are MMOs with better narratives (TERA’s is honestly very hard to follow as it’s an incoherent mess.) There are generally better MMOs out there that could satiate every need you have from one. But TERA offers their own unique spin on the genre that no other game does, and its combination of engaging gameplay, its unique graphical style, its world and every facet of the game make for an experience you won’t get to have anywhere else. Yes, it definitely has its flaws. Yes, there are aspects of the game that are probably considered pay to win. But this is an MMO that is still definitely worth trying in 2021 if you haven’t already.