Tera PVP Pre-E3 Interview with Sr Community Manager Evan "Scapes" Berman

En Masse Entertainment offered TeraPVP the opportunity to discuss their upcoming blockbuster TERA Online in a Pre-E3 interview. Most of the questions were taken from your own forum posts and comments.

I spoke with Evan "Scapes" Berman, Senior Community Manager for En Masse, regarding the Tera PVP system and why the Tera Westernization process is necessary. As this is our first interview, we would love to hear any feedback from our readers.

TeraPVP: How are things going in the world of Tera? Are you guys ready to offer some great PVP action?

Scapes: We've been ramping up for our presence at E3 2011 this week and PvP is one of the topics we'll be revealing more about at conventions this year.

TeraPVP: Over the past months there has been a lot of interest in En Masse's Westernization process. Can you share a bit more on why a Westernization process is necessary? Why can't the original TERA content be taken "as-is", translated then released?

Scapes: En Masse Entertainment wants TERA to be the best it can be here in the West, and all over for that matter. Translation is only a small part of the task. Our Writing team has been localizing classes, skills, and items, and has also had a large hand in TERA's overarching story. Working in conjunction with Bluehole Studio (which involves frequent flights to and from their headquarters in South Korea), En Masse is working to make TERA the best MMO it can be. Be sure to check out our TERA Blog for more insight into the work we're doing.

TeraPVP: Western players are sensitive to the changes being made from the Korean version of the game. Korean's are viewed as hard-core gamers and the concern is the game is being softened up so Westerners can handle it. Is there anything you can share to alleviate those concerns?

Scapes: We are always evaluating TERA in terms of what is best for our players. To that end, we have dedicated staff here at En Masse who perform constant game analysis on TERA builds to ensure a balance between what TERA is and what our players want

TeraPVP: One of the most talked about aspects of the Westernization process is the creation of PVP and PVE servers. I recall Brian Knox sharing in his blog that Korea only has one set of servers. What led to the final decision of having two sets of servers (PvP & PvE) for the US and European markets?

Scapes: Choice of gameplay style is important, and offering servers with different rulesets affords TERA gamers that choice. Also, it should be noted that En Masse Entertainment is publishing TERA in North America, not Europe.

TeraPVP: Do you anticipate any obstacles for players transferring between PVE and PVP servers? The concern would be players farming levels and gear on a PVE server, then transferring to a PVP server with a character that didn't have to face the same challenges as other toons from the PVP server.

Scapes: Whenever you have PvE and PvP server sets combined with character transfers, you will run into balance issues. As we evaluate these two server types, we'll monitor progression and potential concerns with character transfers. While other MMOs have recently dropped restrictions on character transfers between servers of different rulesets, this is something we'll have to evaluate for TERA.

TeraPVP: Will there be any olympiad or similar experience to recognize the best player from each race/class combination?

Scapes: While there isn't a game feature to gauge this yet, this is a type of tournament event we'd like to hold in the future.

TeraPVP: What are the consequences to losing at pvp (i.e. dying). Is there any permanent loss in terms of XP or item damage? Or do players simply die - rez - die - rez without any permanent negative effect?

Scapes: Penalties for death due to PvP are largely the same as PvE death penalties. No experience is lost and items in TERA do not have a durability mechanic. The character's stamina bottoms out, reducing HP and MP totals, and there is a chance that socketed crystals might be destroyed. This crystal loss may be something we limit to PvE deaths due to the frequency of deaths during PvP.

TeraPVP: During mass PVP will players from either side be affected from "friendly" aoe attacks?

Scapes: No, there is no friendly fire in TERA's PvP combat.

TeraPVP: Do you perform any rituals before a major pvp event? Stock up on Mountain Dew? Crack your knuckles? Barakan moon chant?

Scapes: We've had a few PvP sessions while capturing footage of the battlegrounds that generated some pretty good smack talk afterward. As for preparation rituals, I personally donned spiked shoulder armor as we opened the server for the Community Play Event.

Do you have questions about Tera that went unanswered? It's not too late! Please tell us what you would like to hear in the next TeraPVP Q&A Interview.

Well this sucks...it's gonna be age of conan all over again.....it's just a matter of time before the game dies because of this one factor...GG

Oh darn you a boss ryan! Party at your house! Buy me a sandwich and I'll bring the henny!

Yea me too, I'll give it a shot, but I see this one factor being the downfall of the game, nobody plays MMO's for the story...

Thanks for the compliment. There were a few questions that were cut due to En Masse feeling they couldn't respond at this time. Also, I would have preferred a few more details, but we did learn some things overall.

I am very appreciative to En Masse and especially Scapes for taking the time to do this interview. It seems there are quite a few hoops to jump through to make something like this happen.

This is more of an issue for me than anything else. You choose PVE, you stay PVE. Otherwise the PVP server will be full of max level players and nothing else... pointless. I've been complaining about this since day one as well as for a SINGLE server, not this aborted WoW influenced darn. People are just scared of the WoW crowd from WoW experience. PVP was never random in L2. And if there were asshats then the community managed that issue. There's always a vigilante happy to go hunt a red...

Tera NEEDS some major penalty for PVP deaths other than a minor inconvenience of running back to the fight. This is what makes PVP fun, worthwhile, and gets your heart pumping. For example Lineage 2 had a loss of exp upon death. I'm not suggesting that this should be duplicated in Tera... but there has to be some penalty. I don't want another WoW that babies its players. I'm really looking forward to Tera but this could ruin the game for me, and I'm sure many other players.

Good first interview Ryan. Wish I felt a little more positive about his answers, namely about pvp, but nice that he gave the interview anyways.

XP loss is the way to go for death penalty. FFXI did it that way and it worked, everyone takes death seriously when you can lose XP that youve spent real hours/days/years gaining. The ultimate "hell you" would be to kill someone and make them de-level. that was the worst in FFXI . XP loss has caused the death of many of my controllers..

On another note, good interview Ryan! Its always nice to end with a good joke question (at least i think he was joking about the spike shoulder armor..)

But when u reach level 85 on L2 wasnt that much of concern since ur only losing 0.01% on death :/ and ur already 85 so it doesn't matter.
I hope they fluctuate the % of XP that you lose on the level you are.... If they do decide to do the XP loose on death

Also, i hope they don't allow people transferring from PVE to PVP server. Should be the same for all players. Not carebears that are to afraid to PVP to get gear.

Not sure I agree with this entirely. The loss of stamina is a pretty big penalty unless they make acquiring the potions really easy, which it was a bit time consuming in Korean retail. Especially if you were doing much PVE and dying on bosses or farming. It's going to be a bit tricky but given that HP potions weren't exactly available in large quantities and stamina potions were only available through grinding out mobs.. PVP always felt like it was a rush.

I mean I came from UO and Lineage 2 background myself so I'm used to stiff penalties and I know that it does add something to it. But I also know the other side of that coin where people end up refusing to PVP or shying away from it if it means loss of large amounts of XP like L2. Especially if they make any kind of silly flagging rule system that allows them to hide behind it or large amounts of NPC guard types.

I think the goal to making PVP a long thriving entity is by giving people reasons to PVP. Take DAoC for example .. it had artifacts, realm ranks, etc all to constantly drive PVP to happen. TERA has the beginnings of this with political system that is fueled by PVP and A FFA ruleset that encourages political flux. Then they've hinted at the PVP of server invasions where you compete for control of artifact like items. This is a lot of PVP that blows away anything like WoW, Rift, Aion or whatever of recent MMO history that will drive PVP forward. I hope.

Thanks for that view SocXiety.

Can any of our Korean players please share more on the availability of the potions which restore your stamina back to 100%? I had the impression they were cheap and easily attainable, but that may not be the case.

They can be pricey on the broker but I manage to try and keep some around. Not in the amount that I would like if I were in some crazy pvp and dying a lot though. Then again I dont have a character over lvl 30 so I am still somewhat broke. Health pots are expensive though.

+1 Mowgli i cant offered alot of potions XD