The Exiled Realm of Arborea.
Been playing casually for a few weeks now, and it's really been fun. My main is a level 40 priest (cap at 60) but gonna roll a lowbie if you wanna try it as well (Fraya PVE server).
Graphics are good, it's the most action-combat MMO I've ever played, very active (too much sometimes, ppl will talk in different languages when I specifically chose a PVE English server), lots of different classes & races. Customization is mainly through gear and playstyle. The only downsides I can see are that you see a lot of flesh (not so much of an issue for horny desperate gamers) and the fact it can be a bit repetitive at times (but knowing the gameplay is very interesting, that hasn't troubled me much.. and I just skip quests I judge boring).
Leveling is very interesting because you get to do "dungeons" very early on (5 man quests that look like raids, with great gear drops and XP). The first is at around 20, then every 5 level, and you have like 15 of these at 60.
There are also BAMs (Big Ass Monsters), that you start encountering around level 20. These are basically "mini-bosses", sometimes world bosses, and often take several players to take down.
I liked to solo stuff in DDO, so gave it a try in TERA. Took me 40 min to take down one of these guys at level 20, but gave me half a level lol.
It's entirely F2P, but there's a store where you can buy cosmetic stuff, mounts, convenient stuff. Nothing like the p2w shit we are used to in DDO, nor the crazy prices for them either (i.e. 50 bucks to get half the XP required to cap..).
Last thing is the gameplay is very cool.. mouse look just like in DDO.. you can block in real time, dodge in real time (unlike DDO's take 20% less damage (AC.. DR... PRR...shield blocking...), TERA's devs found a great way to reward smart gameplay. And this shows at any level. Position, dodging, understanding monster (their abilities, their speed, their attacks, ...), using abilities and when to use them (some of them taking some time to charge.. and if you stand there charging too long you will get smashed aka oneshot so you gotta your abilities). That's what I find most interesting about it.
Any of you have tried it? Liked it?
May go back to ddo at some point, but for now, I'm playing a bit casually in TERA & BF3.
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