Tera crosses 1.4 million users after free-to-play switch
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
En Masse reveals North American membership milestone reached one month after new business model introduced.
En Masse Entertainment announced today that the North American version of Tera: Rising now has more than 1.4 million registered players. This milestone was achieved one month after the massively multiplayer online game switched from a subscription-based title to a free-to-play venture.
Not only are Tera player accounts up, but in-game activity is also on the rise. En Masse today reported a ten-fold increase in peak concurrent users compared to the previous subscription-based model, though specific figures were not divulged.
To mark the milestone, En Masse revealed Dracoloths Rising, a five-day event "to hunt big ass monsters for special drops and prizes." Beginning today and running until March 24, dracoloth monsters will appear throughout the gameworld and players can earn high-level gear and consumables by defeating them.
"We've been blown away by the waves of players logging into Tera, and we're seeing amazing growth in both registrations and daily users. It's always great to eclipse the one-million-player mark, and at our current rate, it won't be long before we hit two million," En Masse CEO Chris Lee said in a statement.
The game is also seeing growth across Europe. Gameforge, which operates the title in that region, announced last week that Tera: Rising had added 500,000 new players since the business model switch.
Tera is the latest MMO game to drop its subscription fee, following Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, EverQuest II, Aion, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Bethesda has not said if its upcoming MMO game The Elder Scrolls Online will carry a subscription fee, though consultant Nicholas Lovell believes the game will launch with a subscription before going free-to-play.
For more on Tera: Rising, check out GameSpot's review of the original Tera.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
85 comments
Love this game been playing since the change to f2p and its amazing and the community is just getting bigger and bigger.
1 Like Tera slipped through the cracks for me. Stylistically, it cast the impression of Rift with a splash of Perfect World. Loved Rift for 40-days. Perfect World got uninstalled almost instantly.
My point is that I literally forgot Tera because it isn't distinctive enough..
i wanted to play it, but I had troubles with the download the patches so I just uninstalled it and now I'm waiting for Neverwinter MMO to come out
1 Like @xeoneex66 Same here. Didn't like the game at all. So they can count me into their 1.4 million, but I don't play it.
well if they actually fixed the wack pvp ruleset it would actually be worth playing. Mechanics & dungeons wise its better than GW2. I played since the beta and still play around a bit but I'm waiting on WildStar & Neverwinter, Wildstar being the next MMO I'm really interested in.
If you owned the game before it went FTP, or if you buy it now, it's basically Buy to Play. You get almost all the bells and whistles you do if you pay the monthly fee and some things are better, like storage slots and character slots.
The registered users are just the initial influx of curious gamers that decided to give it a try after the game went FTP. I tried it out when it went ftp and it was kinda crowded in places that I had to switch channels to find low population zones to complete quests.
But after about 2-3 weeks most of the new users had left the game and I never have to change channels even during peak hours. No solid numbers here in this article, gamespot should hire proper journalists to ask relevant questions that have....oh, I don't know......real information maybe?
@Jacen22 So you're saying you'd like Gamespot to ask questions of the statement released by En Masse? What? You think they held a press conference to make this announcement? It's tough to ask press releases questions.
@notorious98 @Jacen22 Yeah that's what I am saying.So journalists don't ask for comments or specific questions when they get statements to put out? Just blindly take it and post it on the site with no questions?
All you learn from this article is that a little more people signed up when it went f2p. Didn't see that one coming, people like free games??
@Jacen22 The AP reports press releases all the time. It's a common form of practice for a company to release a statement and people to report what the statement says. If there was a reason to ask a question, they'd call there and attempt to get in contact with somebody. As it is, En Masse doesn't have to give out any more information than they did, even if a "proper journalist" had called to ask them a question. That's why you hear "no comment" or "could not be reach for statement".
If a game was intended to be F2P in the beginning like GW2, then I would say this MMO was a success. Such as it is now, just increasing a player base is not enough to justify the initial costs of a game. I'm sure this company is knee deep in the red and its going to take them quite a lot of microtransactions to recoup those initial costs. Hot chick cover art only goes so far...
4 Like @Hakkology Unlike Swtor, this game doesn't restrict basic mechanics of the game and interface: extra action bars, hide helm, unify colors, being able to equip epic (purple) gear, can't equip companion with specific gear made for them (only random loot works), XP & Legacy penalty and the list can go on.
TERA on the other hand apart from extra characters slots and some other things that I can't remember are not restricted. You can play the game just as an ex subscriber could, minor some things that are quite irrelevant and doesn't hinder the gameplay.
PS: I am currently playing both so these are the differences.
@Darkhol0w @Hakkology Well SWTOR doesn't have these restrictions if you are a subscriber and i understand and agree, its F2P model needs a lot of work.
However, the game itself is turning out perfectly within PvE range and as a subscriber, i'm having the time of my life.
I just don't get people hating it just because it sucked when it was launched but you are correct on your arguments. Let's hope they will have a good balance on F2P limitations as well in the future.
@Hakkology SWTOR has one of the worst FTP models out there. That game is a deserted wasteland
@Jacen22 @Hakkology Deserted wasteland ? It has the BEST PvE mechanics out there right now.
It has high server populations, SWTOR is getting its second wind. But of course, it sucked when it was released and you still think its the same. I'm going to be nice and offer you to revisit SWTOR when you have the time. You will see a lot of changes.
But if you love PvP, stick to GW2. That's where innovation is.
@Hakkology No, it does not have the best PvE mechanics. And it's only getting its "second wind" until the "expansion" comes out. Then the F2P players will start to quit because their FP and WZ queues will start to rise due to all the subscribers paying $10 for the "expansion" while they aren't willing to waste $20 on the garbage that this "expansion" is going to be. Then you'll begin to see less and less players.
@Jacen22 It's 350k credits, not 200k. You're a preferred player, not F2P. The game also isn't P2W. Yet. But it's quickly moving in that direction.
@Jacen22 @Hakkology P2W? You got it all wrong. Endgame, you only pay for exotic stuff and you can do honest work to earn that money as well.
Some might prefer Cartel stuff to earn some quick cash, but if you know how to manage in game MMO economy, you'll easily adjust to that.
@Hakkology @Jacen22 I played it for about 2-3 months back when it was sub based because I am a Star Wars fan. Tried to go back to see how it was after about 6 months last week.
I had over 3million credits when I left and now the game will only let me access to 200k credits. Really? Takes away pretty much all your money to force to to pay sub. And the flashpoints are really terrible, other than the first one which was so good, the rest are just garbage. The game is now P2W, couldn't stomach the game after playing about an hour last week and left.
8 Like @Hakkology Yeah, let's all go around doing mind-numbingly dull quests like right-clicking on highlighted blue objects and killing the same mobs over and over. Sounds like a blast.
@marzipanwarrior @Hakkology I understand story may not appeal to some people but that is just sad to think other MMO's are different questing wise.
GW2 is different, so those are the two choices.
2 Like @marzipanwarrior @Hakkology Tera isn't anymore interesting in the questing department.....
1 Like dont forget doing barrel rolls in the super awesome space combat lol. SWTOR was the equivalent of someone leaving a burning bag of doggie doo on your doorstep
2 Like Ah... F2P Korean MMOs... breeding grounds of "JAJAJAJA" chat spammers and general douchebaggery since 1999.
@Lord_Kagato you forgot the gold sellers. How could you forget the gold sellers? a korean mmo is not a korean mmo w/o the gold sellers.
@Lord_Kagato thats how the mexicans laugh through text.... since J = H in their language......
I've played it yesterday for the first time, even thought i've created an account when they went f2p. It's bit repetetive and loads of grinding, but hooked me on for 7 hours non stop. Very nice graphics and smooth gameplay.
1 Like @megatronx2 The game get's better ? because my friends have been trying to get me to play Tera with them for the last 2 months and i only played until lv 10 and it's kinda dull..... and one of my friends says that it doesn't really get better....
It's no shock to me that so many people play it now. The game is fun and free, who wouldn't want to try it?
@TKavney92 The game has one of the best combat systems in an mmo and great graphics.
However gameplay wise, it gets repeitive and boring after a while. The structure is focused on the same old and tired formula that WoW uses (and EQ set before it) with it's questing/theme park design.
You get burnt out on those games after playing them for a while.
@TKavney92 exactly, the game is fun, but is not worth a monthly subscription. this is why there are 10 times more people playing, and it's a clear message.
I wonder how few people would have tried this game if they didn't have a hot chick constantly at the center of all it's advertisements.
1 Like I actually downloaded this after Gamespot's previous article about a week ago. I've been enjoying it so far.
I'm almost curious to try this game's FTP model. Around Christmas I saw the Collector's Edition of this game in Best Buy's discount bin for $9.99 and I almost picked it up
1 Like can anyone tell me how to reply to more than one user? i tried copying and pasting the names but it dont work
1 Like @Arab_Spring writing @ followed by a person's user name like @arab_spring seems to work, so just write @blabla@trololo etc.
1 Like good game, everyonr should gibve it a go, very nice community too, no wow nerds here
@highlanderjimd I don't know what game you're playing but Tera has one of the worst communities I have ever seen in an mmo. If you mean community as in your guild/friends that's different than the broader general community that is ripe with trolls and some sick pedophiles.
" Free to Play" also usually means "Pay to win" or, "Free to play 10% of the game."
Personally I'd prefer a subscription based game. But no game since WoW really deserves a subscription.
But yeah, good for Tera I guess. Still a bad game.
1 Like @Shane747 I agree with most of what you say but I'll never sub again. It's stressful cause I feel like I HAVE to play to get my money's worth.
The pay once model with yearly expansion packs is the way to go imo.
@Shane747 WoW doesn't deserve it either. $180 a year for two or three minor content patches is no justification
3 Like @Shane747 I personally prefer GW2's business model, pay once and optional cosmetic micro transactions. Pay for a game monthly makes me feel like I'm locked to playing one thing, or else im not getting my money's worth which is why I hate subscription based games. Just my opinion.
@Darkitachi54 @Shane747 You like GW2 pay once model still??? After devs statement that there will be no more content patches??
2 Like @belgard1299 @Darkitachi54 @Shane747 That's not at all what they said. They said they don't have an expansion in the works currently, but they're still adding content patches roughly around every month
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TERA: Rising
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- Publisher(s): Atari
- Developer(s): Bluehole Studio
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Release:
- ESRB: M
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