Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

I was skeptical of Tera and did not bother buying it when it came out. When it hit free to play I said why not and gave it a go. The first thing I though when entering the world was "Aion", which was an okay MMO but not quite worth my time past about 10 hours. Don't be fooled though, Tera is not Aion.

The first thing you will notice is the quests are run of the mill go here kill this fetch quests, typical MMO stuff. Even GW2 is still doing this, they just try to disguise it whereas Tera just let's it be what it is. This is neither good nor bad, it is just what MMOs are until someone comes up with something else.

Despite that the combat is fun. It is a combination of FPS and MMO, no tab targeting here, you actually have to aim your hits. Also clickers beware, you will have to actually use keys to use your abilities, sorry! It is easy to get used to though.

Crafting and gathering is a breeze, no wasted time with having to continue to go back to masters and all that crap.

Healing is not a game of wackamole, you can actually watch the fight and heal unlike other games.

Tanking is unlike no other MMO, you have so much control over what you do with the Lancer class it is awesome. You actually have to block, the game does not roll dice and decide how often you block. You also negate damage for your entire group just by standing between them and the mob, very unique and challenging at times.

The game's theme revolves around BAMs (Big @$$ Monsters), these are bosses that are not only in dungeons but will spawn out in the open world as well. You will here people talk of BAMs often, they are some of the coolest monsters youll see in an MMO and fun to fight.

Im not much for writing these, thats just enough to get you interested. Its free to play so why not? You get the entire game with few restrictions, Enmasse decided to give people more for paying instead of less to those who do not.