LINK: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=242577Touches on Westernization, the Market, etc.
A new force is emerging in the world of MMOs - created from veterans of Blizzard, Bungie, NCsoft and more giants of gaming.
En Masse Entertainment is focused on 'selecting high quality online games and adapting, refining, and positioning them so they are perfectly suited for audiences in Western markets'.
But can it really do battle with the big boys? Its first big hope is PC title TERA - dubbed 'the world's first action MMO'.
We caught up with En Masse's COO Patrick Wyatt, who doesn't exactly have a bad track record.
As well as being involved in the creation of Warcraft and Starcraft, the Ex-Blizzard man wrote Diablo's multiplayer code, scaled up Battle.net, founded ArenaNet, developed Guild Wars and served as CTO of NCsoft.
He should know what he's talking about, then. Words now...
Q:En Masse's aims seem smart; capitalising on the phenomenon of Korean/Far East MMO popularity for a Western audience. But what makes you think that these games will appeal to a Western audience? Aren't cultural tastes completely different?
A: Cultural tastes vary, but great game experiences can be universal. I actually think Western audiences are pretty receptive to a broad range of game "flavours," and our job at En Masse is to make sure that we refine and enhance the parts that Western players like, and de-emphasize anything that doesn't work well here.
For example, story-as told both in-game and in the lore-doesn't tend to translate well. Even great translators can't correct for different cultural referents. So what you really have to do is identify and use the parts of the story that work, and entirely rewrite other parts, so it doesn't leave you with that "did I miss something here?" sensation.
In regards to TERA specifically, it also helps that the development team [Bluehole] has had an eye on the Western market for a long time. Their last game to ship in the West was moderately successful, but nothing like its immense popularity in Asia. So they've been thinking about how to do better here for a while.
If you've seen the artwork in TERA, you know it's gorgeous. But more than that, it also has quite a Western flavour for a Korean-developed game, with more athletic, masculine-looking male characters, more exciting early level monsters-no rodent and rabbit combat-and a less-grindy, more quest-driven game progression.
Finally, Bluehole and En Masse are working together on a series of Focus Group Tests (our first was in December, with about 300 players) to identify what additional changes need to be made. Unlike a Beta test, where the game is largely finished and most of the effort focuses on game balance and hardware compatibility, the FGT tells us about areas that need reworking. There's still plenty to do, but we have the time and the commitment necessary to make TERA rock.
Q: What criteria will you look for when choosing an MMO that you can repackage for the West?
A: I think the critical factors for choosing an MMO that can succeed in the West are the level of ambition of the project, the fun factor and the willingness of the dev team to make changes for the Western market.
We want to be in the position of publishing games that are going to make people want to line up at stores, which incidentally is not a factor for PC games in Asia, because there's no retail presence to speak of.
We'd like to find games that are bold, innovative, and fun, and we'll work with their dev teams and help them hear the voices of Western gamers. That means we probably won't be publishing too many titles, but the titles we do publish will be worth playing.
Q: What makes Tera such a success in the territories it is currently available in, and why was it the first game to be chosen as part of your new model?
A: The game is not yet available in Korea-it won't be out until later this year. We chose TERA because its groundbreaking battle system will appeal to a wide audience, and the level of influence the players will have over the game world is unprecedented.
The building blocks of a hit MMO are all there, and the refinements we'll add will only enhance an already-great game.
Q: Are you daunted by taking on the likes of Blizzard, Funcom, NCsoft etc? Can you compete with these giants of the MMO world?
A: The game industry is a pretty small place, so many on the En Masse team are former members of those companies, and consequently we have some share in their triumphs and missteps.
Having worked at Blizzard as employee #2 and ArenaNet as a founder, I can personally say that it's only daunting if you stop and think about it. Most days you're too busy working-and having a damn fun time of it too-for it to be a concern.
The great thing about the game industry is that there's no monopoly on fun. If we deliver a compelling product that's fun for gamers, we'll be successful. So our days aren't filled with worry about what are competitors might do, but rather making sure that we're delivering something that's going to kick ass.
Q: How close is the MMO market to saturation in the West? What makes you think you can carve out a place for yourself?
A: I'm not sure whether it really matters to us whether the market is saturated. We're more concerned with the question of whether there are enough players who want to buy -and stick with-our games.
The reason I joined En Masse is because I believe that there is still a huge opportunity for companies that are innovative, quality-focused, and patient, no matter what the competition.
I think that TERA specifically has the potential to do more than carve a niche - I think it's going to hack off a great big bloody hunk of the market. It's got the eye-popping graphics needed to attract attention, but it doesn't end there; the combat system is going to draw from some existing MMOs, but I also think we'll pick up console gamers because of the more visceral, intense action.
Ultimately, if we demonstrate that we can release a high-quality game and support it well, there's plenty of space for us in the market without having to unseat anyone else.
Q: Where will your audience come from? Are you hoping to tempt over existing MMO fans from established franchises?
A: No doubt, our audience will consist of current MMO players looking for something new and fresh, and a fair number of new players looking for a portal into the next big online world.
TERA's groundbreaking battle system is designed to appeal to a broader audience, using the kind of intense, engaging action-based combat players usually only see in action RPG games.
This has the potential to introduce MMOs to those who may have stayed away in the past, and offer console gamers an accessible MMO experience. I think console players in particular are going to be intrigued by this game.
Q: Time for the obvious question: Could this cherry picking from the East lead you to discover the next World of Warcraft?
A: I was the producer and lead programmer for the original Warcraft, and I'm not going to lie: it would be awesome to top World of Warcraft so I don't have to spend the rest of my career labouring in the shadow of a game franchise I helped create.
But I think that WoW's success derives from more than just the fact that the team created an absolutely amazing game experience; it comes from having a world-wide fan-base who have come to trust the Blizzard brand. We don't have that brand yet, but I think we'll move a long way in that direction when folks get their hands on TERA.
Q: How does your experience working at Blizzard help En Masse - what did you learn about growing an MMO audience there that is of value to this company?
A: Back when there were only four of us at Blizzard, we focused on creating quality simply because we loved games, and we loved getting the chance to make them. We'd go back to game features again and again to fix them until they were right - sometimes long after other companies would have called it done.
And while it takes longer to make games that way - and target ship dates are merely wishful thinking - it means that when the game does come out, gamers are going to want to play it. We always knew we had winners because the testers would keep playing after the game was being manufactured, instead of taking a well-deserved break.
In regards to building an MMO audience, you need something new, something familiar and critical mass. You've got to have something new because, if your game just duplicates an existing game, why not keep playing that one instead?
And that's where TERA has me really excited, because of the non-targeted combat system. In an MMO a substantial portion of the play experience is beating up monsters, so making combat more engaging has the greatest impact on game fun.
Instead of just "playing the interface" - selecting a monster, watching meters, and cycling through a palette of spells on the skill-bar-you have to pay attention to the monsters.
You need to be close enough to do damage but prepared to dodge away at any moment, and try to position yourself so that you can do damage to several monsters at once without letting them flank you. It's a pretty high level of interactivity, and I think players will dig it.
You also want to give players something familiar - the MMO genre isn't that old, but there are a lot of things players expect - and because TERA is built by some old hands in the industry, the game has got 'em. And here's an area where I've got to give the TERA developers major props because, while it has a large feature-set, the interface is not overwhelming - it's easy to pick up and play.
'Critical mass' was a term we used at Blizzard to mean, "You can always find someone to play with." If you can't find someone to visit a dungeon, or run a quest, or crush a boss-monster, or try whatever hare-brained thing you want to do, you'll go play a different game.
And over time, the loss of people means that the ones who are left are less likely to find partners too, so it's a self-perpetuating cycle.
Building critical mass means designing game features to bring players together, but it also means demonstrating to players that the development and publishing teams are going to support the game-fixing game bugs and balance issues, providing updates and enhancements, maintaining a high-quality and secure play environment, offering great customer support, and in general keeping the game alive and healthy.
I think gamers in Asia are much more willing to play a game on the promise that the dev team will "get the game there" in the long run, but in the West, we're impatient - we want it now.
We're fortunate because TERA is going to get its burn-in period in Korea to sort out the kinks while we build a Western publishing organisation that can provide the level of support players expect these days.
Will En Masse be looking to launch something that could rival Battle.net?
For the near term, we're focused on releasing TERA, but we have been planning for Web interactivity and some of the other components associated with Battle.net. We'll be providing more details about our Web-services plans later in the year.
Q: Could you one day look to bring some products to console, either via boxed product or XBL/PSN?
A: I think it would be great; I started out as a console developer an eon ago (in game-industry years, which are kinda like dog years). With the advances in technology, bandwidth, and especially hard-drive space, consoles are becoming a much more viable MMO market and one we'd be open to exploring.
Inc Gamers Podcast LINK: http://www.incgamers.com/News/22161/incgamers-podcast-22410Inc Gamers TERA PvP Article LINK: http://www.incgamers.com/Games/2317/News/22153/teras-pvp-duelling-group-duels-and-moreAgain, touching PvP
The senior community manager for upcoming fantasy MMO TERA, Evan 'Scapes' Berman, took some time out to chat with IncGamers yesterday about the highly anticipated game.
While talking about what TERA has over existing MMOs, we touched on the “all action no faction” aspect of the game, and asked what that meant for PvP, an important part of most MMOs.
“PvP's going to be something that we can detail a little bit more as we reach the E3 part of the year, but what I can tell you now is that we know it's going to be a major element of the game.” Scapes assured us.
“It's something that is currently in development so I don't have too many details on it, but what is currently in the game are basic duels which allow you to call up someone who's in front of you, nearby or a friend, and you can duel right there.”
That's pretty standard for your average MMO, but apparently TERA has a little more to offer:
“Other simple level PvP will also be group duelling where you can gather people, fight another group of people and it's again just instantaneous, emergent PvP. Grander scale PvP like battlegrounds or ladders and such, these are things we're going to be able to detail as we get closer to the game's launch, which is currently winter.”
TERAFind out what else Scapes had to say about TERA in our podcast which goes up later today, (Update: find it here) where he talks about features that just might draw gamers away from the MMOs already on offer.
LINK: http://teraonline.info.pl/node/148Pre-FGT2 Interview
Here are some questions we had, answered by EnMasse Entertrinment Please note that those questions were asked before FGT2 started, and before recent changes to the website.
Hello Jason!
First of all i want to greet you from polish TERA community, and thank you for devoting your precious time to answer our questions. We have so many of them, i don't know where to start! OK, there they go - I hope you can answer them with a little help from your colleagues.
Q: It is very kind of you that you have such good contact with the community, that you listen to suggestions and critiques, but that also raises some doubts. Some ideas seem brilliant on paper, but after they are introduced into the game they can disturb the game balance in an MMO. Aren't you afraid to introduce disparities in a game as a whole during westernization process?
A: We’re very lucky at En Masse to have a great team of industry veterans, including writers like Dave Noonan and Marti McKenna who have extensive game design and writing experience. Our other staff members come from Blizzard, Bungie, BioWare, Xbox Live, and other first-rate game companies, and have worked on a number of major MMOs and other top-selling titles. Opening the Westernization process to input doesn’t necessarily mean that every bit of feedback will be used—it just means we’ll be listening and evaluating, and then adjusting our development process so we’re inline with players' expectations and hopes for the game. Our team has a great deal of experience and will do everything possible to ensure TERA is the best game it can possibly be, without any game-breaking elements. After all, who wants to play a broken game?
Q: How different will the Western version be from the Korean version or TERA? Is it only a matter of localization, quests and other cosmetic changes, or can you also introduce changes in the mechanics and game systems? Are changes introduced by En Masse on the western versions will be local only, or will part of them be common for both versions of the game? For example: is adding additional starting location possible?
A: The Western version of TERA will differ distinctly from the Korean version. There will be additional lore and quests, location and NPC names will differ, and there will be other cosmetic changes, too.
We're still determining how much the two versions will differ in terms of game mechanics. Our input is helping to influence the game’s development in Korea, and mechanics will likely be very similar, but not identical.
The starting location will very likely remain the same.
Q: Because low latency is much more important in TERA than in games with targeting, are you going to introduce more data centers than one for US and one for Europe, so gamers will have close to the servers (close in terms of network traffic) resulting in low ping? This is important to many gamers all around the world, especially to Australia and Oceania players, as they tend to have a much worse connection.
A: This is one of the biggest challenges we have to tackle at En Masse, for the reasons you cited. We haven’t finalized our server structure yet, but we’re definitely looking into multiple data centers around the world to reduce lag as much as possible.
Q: Because En Masse is generally against using proxies and tunneling by third party companies to prevent hacking and botting, are you taking into consideration establishing your own tunneling network so gamers can connect to the local gates that would relay communication by custom connections with TERA servers?
A: One of our staff members, Markus Schweig, is a veteran architect of Xbox Live. One of his main roles here is to optimize our server structure, so he’ll be responsible for whatever solution we decide to implement and making sure it kicks butt. We haven’t decided on specifics yet, and likely won’t for a few more months as we’re exploring a variety of solutions right now.
Q: Have you been thinking how will servers be divided? Will there be division by US/EU only, or will you introduce national servers, like German/Polish/Russian, etc. Will there be a way to play with our overseas friends? Are you planning some account services like character move?
A: We’re still finalizing this, but our current plans include divisions in the US and EU. We’re definitely considering adding account services like moving characters.
Q: What languages are you planning to release TERA in? I know Korean and English for sure, but other than that?
A: We plan on French and German versions, too, although the final language list is still being determined.
Q: When can we expect beta tests in Europe?
A: These will occur at the same time as beta tests in North America. Which is to say, sometime later this year.
Q: Who will distribute TERA in Poland? Will games and time cards be easily available in Eastern Europe? You are going to use some kind of time cards too, right? Credit cards are not widely popular here. Are you considering more payment options?
A: We have not signed a distributor in Europe or Poland yet—but we’ll make an announcement when we do! We’re very sensitive to the needs of players outside of North America and realize credit cards are not as popular in other regions as they are here, so we’ll take that into account when we set up distribution in those areas.
Q: It is a shame that Korean site is blooming with activity and new stuff, while western site seem so stale. When will you make western site moving? What are you plans for that website?
A: We just made a major behind-the-scenes update to TERA-Online.com, some of which can already be seen on the site (the removal of the Flash elements, for example). We will continue adding improvements—the next on our list is a blog, which may or may not be live when you publish this. After that, we intend to expand the lore section of the site considerably, adding articles and fleshing out the World section. The entire site will relaunch closer to the release of the game.
Q: When will we be able to see all combinations of race/gender/profession in character selection? FGT2 possibly?
A: Not in FGT2, no. Possibly by FGT3, although it's more likely that it will be the first Beta.
Q: What are your personal preferences in terms of race/class? Who do you like to play best? Please include answers from You, Brian, and a couple more people from En Masse if possible.
A: I like the High Elf sorcerer and the Baraka slayer. Brian prefers berserkers and slayers, and Evan prefers the Castanic warrior.
Q: As we are avid Popori fans, can we count on making this race even more influential in game world? Popori for the win!
A: Our “all action, no faction” tagline sums up our view of races: there won’t necessarily be one that’s more influential than the other. That being said, the Popori will have a rich and diverse backstory that we’ll be fleshing out in months to come!
Q: Again a question about Westernization. There has been some discussion on different forums about holidays. Are you going to introduce holidays in TERA? Will they be just a copy of our earth holidays totally not fitting the lore like in other games? Christmas and Easter seem so out of place in fantasy worlds which didn't have Christ, but have pantheons of different gods. Yes, we love holidays in games, but please make them fit game lore. Having Christmas in Tera would be so counter immersive.
A: We like the idea of running themed events around real-world holidays, but also agree that holidays outside of the lore are counter-intuitive. Rather than a specific Christmas event, we may do a winter celebration—something that would fit the lore but not necessarily reference something outside of the game’s world.
Q: On every occasion you tell us how the political system will be great in TERA, but there were never any info even remotely describing plans for it. So, what is that political system about? Will it be dependent on PvP? If yes, then what about PvE and PvP server differences?
A: We’re going to discuss the political system more after E3 and beyond. We’re still putting the finishing touches on the system, and we don’t want to leak too much, too early. However, I can share that it will be heavily dependent on guilds and groups, so PvP players will probably find something very much to their liking in the system.
And some extra questions from our readers:
Q: Will we be able to meet your characters in game during FGT2?
A: Yes, En Masse staff members will be playing during FGT2, and probably asking you guys questions, as well!
Q: Can't you just make TERA available sooner? It seems so good as it is. We are so eager to play!
A: We want to make the best game possible, and the best things in life aren’t rushed. OK, most of the best things in life aren’t rushed.
Q: There is a lot of concern about PvP and PvP vs PvE rule-sets. Can you shed some light on that matter? Will the 5 second rule be on PvP servers too? Will PvP servers have instances? Please tell us as much about it as you can.
A: We’re still finalizing a lot of these mechanics, which is why we haven’t shared them in-depth yet—they’re still subject to change. I can say that the major difference between server types will be that PvE servers will not have world PvP, while PvP servers will. Both server types will have instances, and the instances will be identical. Because we’re still finalizing details, the best thing to do right now is to hop on our forums and let us know what you think.
Q: After seeing spreadsheet with character classes stats circulating over the Internet, it seems that balance is greatly skewed towards Warrior. That is disturbing us, especially in PvP terms. Why is the Warrior favored so much?
A: First of all, don’t take anything you see coming out of the CBT3 in Korea as anything approaching final. There will be a lot of changes coming out of that test, and stats are very much subject to change. Secondly, sorcerers totally own warriors, so don’t worry.
Q: Thank you for your time, and we hope that answering those questions didn't take too much of your precious development time. You know we just can't wait to play TERA! It looks so promising...
A: No worries, and we’re happy to help! Thanks for your interest in TERA!
LINK: http://www.terafans.com/topic/2508-you-asked-here-are-the-answers/General Q&A
Gameplay
1. Are there any plans to add more equipment slots, like capes or helmets?
We're taking feedback from the FGTs and Beta tests into consideration, and this is something that people have repeatedly requested. Watch for more information about this in the near future!
2. Will there be any way for players to customize the look of their armor?
Again, we've seen a good deal of feedback about this from tests. We'll be adding additional armor with more variety, and we'll get more specific about this in the future.
3. What can you tell us about the mount system?
The mount system is still under development, but we want to make it a milestone in your characters' progression. We want the mount to be fast and exciting for players, and we're working on the exact balance and speed increase right now.
4. What can you tell us about the political system?
The political system will shape each server's community in a new and unique way. We'll discuss this more as we approach launch.
5. Are pets (both combat and non-combat) being developed for TERA?
We can't really talk about pets yet, but we've got several options on the table.
6. Will there be large scale siege warfare in TERA? If so, what is the plan to optimize this content in terms of avoiding lag?
Right now our focus is on PvE content and character balance. We have battlegrounds for users to participate in PvP combat—and, of course, on the PvP servers, players will be able to participate in large-scale conflicts between opposing guilds.
7. Players were concerned by the strength of knockbacks in TERA. Are there any plans to make it so that players can get themselves out of a knockback status?
We've already added skills that jump players out of a knockback status. For example, warriors can spin up from being knocked down and cause damage to all enemies surrounding them as they do so!
8. Will quests follow a dynamic and interesting storyline? What can you tell us about the story of TERA?
TERA's main storyline is revealed as your character progresses through the game. As you take on quests and interact with NPCs, you learn more about the world's lore and experience deeper and deeper layers of the story. We'll discuss lore in more detail in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on our website!
9. When leveling, will players be able to choose between several different zones with quests and mobs for their level range?
Yes. This helps give players a choice in content, and also adds a high level of replay value.
10. Will there be flying mounts included at any time? (Not including the taxi service, flying mounts that players control!)
There are no plans for flying mounts at this time.
11. What can players expect from TERA's end-game content?
Tera's endgame will involve the full spectrum of things you expect from an MMO, including battling in dungeons with PvE instances; taking to the battlegrounds to fight for honor; working the economy with crafting, enchanting, and playing the market. In addition, players will be able to influence the history of each server by participating in the in-game political system. TERA also understands the importance of alternate characters, so you will see some goodies for the altaholics out there!
Misc.
1. Will TERA receive global updates? Will there be a delay across different versions of the game?
It is every developer's dream to have a global simultaneous release, which minimizes a ton of work in supporting different branches of code, but there's also the reality of localization time. We will work to minimize this delta as much as possible, because it benefits everyone.
2. Will TERA support add-ons?
Right now our focus is not on UI but on the action in the middle of the screen. We're looking into ways of supporting fan contributions to TERA, but we haven't decided on anything concrete yet.
3. What measures will En Masse Entertainment take against players using third-party programs and buying/selling in-game currency?
We believe that security is an essential aspect of any successful game, and equally as important as game balance or the combat system.
We have a ton of things planned to help us stay ahead of the criminals looking to ruin the game experience, but we recognize that it will be an ongoing fight.
4. Are there any plans to include a specifically-tagged roleplaying server at launch?
A roleplaying server is something we'll consider, but hopefully players will take it upon themselves to roleplay their characters, regardless. ?
5. Will TERA launch with an Oceanic server?
This is something we'll consider closer to launch.
6. Will the NA and EU servers be released at the same time?
This is our current plan, yes.
7. Will TERA release with 24-7 in-game customer support?
We will have customer service staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
8. How many betas are planned for the West? How will beta keys be made available?
There will be a few rounds of Beta tests planned for the West on various scales. We'll let the community know about availability of Beta keys when we're a little closer to starting them. Our fans will definitely be the first people we think of when we're handing out our Beta keys!
9. Can you explain what the exact difference between PvP and PvE servers will be in TERA?
PvP servers will allow for open world PvP; when you're out in the field, you're at risk. PvE servers limit that risk to consensual activities like duels, battlegrounds, and some other neat features we're working on. (Those consensual activities are available on PvP servers, too.)
LINK: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82768/page/2Ten Ton Hammer "The 800lb Gorilla: INdustry Insiders on Living Large in a WoW world." TERA section of the article
Chris Lee
Publishing VP, En Masse (TERA) ™
It’s true to an extent, that gaming is a big business, however it’s a business that marries technology, art, creativity and user interaction. Many of these attributes are hard to quantify and predict, which can create a level of chaos many big business types are uncomfortable with. I believe the dilemma, as you have pointed out, is that the industry is faced with chasing success or taking a huge risk. But it isn’t quite as simple as that, the path to success in the MMO market is filled with obstacles. For example, a risk that MMO creators face that console developers don’t is that consumers have strong social ties to their primary game, creating a significant switching cost. So even if your product is “better,” you still might not overtake existing products. When there is an incumbent in a competitive social space with a large share of the market, it presents a particularly daunting challenge for new products. The good news for gamers is that this kind of market condition fosters competition and encourages differentiation and innovation.
"I personally believe the industry needs to move past the notion of besting World of Warcraft, and that some developer needs to step up and bring us something truly new. However, do you think that can't happen if revenue is the number one goal?"
I agree with you, and from a business perspective for the company willing to take a risk and to pioneer “the next big thing,” the rewards are substantial. To repeat an existing formula, the upside is only marginal. So it’s about risk tolerance vs. bottom line management. The way we see it at En Masse, you can attempt to mitigate risks and follow the crowd or you can offer something different and both pull players who are bored with their existing library of games and grow the market by attracting a new audience. Ultimately gamers will have the final say on what direction the market goes, by voting with their dollars they support innovation or drive product sameness.
LINK: http://tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2121TERA Community forums Q&A about what a "FGT" is
Q: Is an FGT a Beta test?
A: The FGT is not a traditional Beta test. As the name implies, it is similar to a focus study group – we’re looking for specific feedback about specific areas of the game to help with the Westernization process. Therefore, players may not be able to explore the entire game, and we’re looking not so much for technical feedback about bugs as we are feedback about gameplay and content.
Q: How long will the FGT run?
A: FGT2 will run at specific hours for approximately a week.
Q: Will you have future FGTs?
A: Yes. We will also be pulling people from the application pool and asking for small-scale testing for specific things moving forward. For example, we may need 25 people to test a specific quest or location, or 1000 people to test other gameplay elements. These sorts of tests may occur on an ad-hoc basis and therefore may have very little warning, if any.
Q: What if I’m not selected for FGT2?
A: Good news! Your application is in the pool and we’re aware of your interest in TERA. Everyone who applied will go into a database, and may be selected for some of the smaller-scale tests above. If you don’t make it into FGT2 or future FGTs, don’t worry – there will be plenty of other opportunities to offer feedback, including a more traditional Beta testing cycle later in the year.
Q: How many people will be selected?
A: It depends on how many people can actively play the game for the duration of the test. We’re taking into account that some selected applications may choose not to play, or not be able to play during the time allotted for FGT2.
Q: How are you selecting people for FGT2?
A: We’re selecting people based on a number of factors. The most important thing is the quality of the feedback we expect to receive. Other factors will include location, type of computer, MMO and other gaming experience, and the kinds of things we’re specifically going to be testing in this FGT.
Q: Are you only selecting community members?
A: FGT1 testers are automatically selected. Additionally, participating fansites have been allotted a certain number of slots for their members. After that, we’ll examine applicants based on the criteria above. Preference will be given to community members who we expect to give quality feedback.
Q: Will there be a database wipe between FGTs?
A: Yes.
Q: Will the FGT1 game client be updated?
A: No, you will be required to download a new game client.
Q: Where will FGT2 participants be able to discuss the game?
A: A limited-access subforum will be created for exclusive use by FGT2 participants.
Q: How long will FGT2 run?
A: This will be announced at a later time.
Q: Do FGT1 participants need to identify themselves in their applications?
A: Not necessary. We know who you are.
LINK:http://www.terahispano.com/joomla/component/content/article/1-latest-news/177-02052010enmasseentrevistaTouches heavily on game securitySpanish TERA fansite, TeraHispano.com recently had the opportunity to interview En Masse Entertainment COO Patrick Wyatt about security on TERA and TERA productor Sam Kim about TERA gameplay.
Concerning security on TERA, answered by En Masse Entertainment COO Patrick Wyatt:
Q: Greetings from TeraHispano.com, Pat! First of all thanks a lot for your time and for answering our interview questions. How is everything at the moment in the TERA camp?
A: Thanks for the opportunity to talk to TeraHispano’s fans, Nestor. It has been busy at En Masse Entertainment over the last few months. When we opened the Seattle office in November last year there were only four of us, but we’ve grown dramatically since then--we have 32 people working at En Masse! Now that we’ve brought aboard so many talented people, we’re making preparations for the launch of TERA.
Our most recent effort was preparing for the second Focus Group Test. Unlike a beta test, where users are playing a mostly-complete game and providing feedback about hardware compatibility and server scalability, the Focus Group Test gave several hundred users the chance to play the game early enough in the development process that the dev team will be able to listen to their feedback and then make substantive changes to the game.
Q: I´ve read a lot about your point of view about MMOs security. Let’s talk about this first. Gold farmers and game-fraudsters earn about 1-10 billon dollars annually. With TERA in the eyes of a lot of people (and growing) I think you should know TERA will be focused by these "cybercriminals". Are you conscious of this?
A: We’re very much aware of the problems caused by cybercriminals in other online games; given the enormous amount of money that they can generate by gold farming and stealing game accounts, then selling game gold for real-world money, it’s no surprise that they’re already looking into TERA. While their interest does validate the growing excitement for our game, we know that online crime is a critically important problem to solve, and that we have to do much more than other game publishers have done in the past. Players have already seen that simply pulling out the “ban-hammer”—as publishers have done for many other games—is an ineffective solution.
We have a lot of work to do to ensure that our game has a high-quality play environment free from chat-spam, account theft, purchase fraud, phishing, scamming, and all the other nasty behaviors that criminals use to make money. We don’t have these mechanisms in place yet because we’ve been focused on creating an excellent gameplay experience first. That said we know it is a critical area for us to innovate before we launch to ensure that gamers have a great experience playing TERA. Just so no one gets alarmed by that statement, we won’t be using GameGuard or its ilk.
Q: Gold farming is one of the big hacking problems. Aion had it continuously and nobody seemed to be able to anything about it. Will we see this kind of problem in TERA?
A: It is essential that we address gold farming. As a person who helped launch Aion while at NCsoft it was incredibly frustrating to see the scope of the problem as it already existed in Asia but not to be able to convince the development team to do more before launching the game in the West. Ultimately, the decision on how to tackle the issue rested with the development team; unfortunately for players, their solution wasn't very successful.
I think we’re in a much better position to address this issue in TERA. First and foremost, the TERA development team has a lot more experience developing MMOs, and they’ve seen how hackers have targeted their previous games. They’re receptive to novel ideas to solve the problem, and they realize that it’s necessary to have time in the schedule to build solutions. There won’t be any one “fix” that will eliminate gold farming. Instead, we have to look at a whole range of solutions: creating a strong account system, enabling players to use two-factor authentication, eliminating chat-spam and URL broadcasting related to gold farming, targeting gold farming behaviors using analytics, identifying fraud rings, and other more radical ideas in gameplay that could reduce the “demand problem,” since it is the players' desire to purchase gold that is the underlying cause of the problem.
Ultimately, if users want to purchase gold, they’ll find a way to do it. The U.S. “drug war” hasn’t stopped people from buying drugs, it merely causes fluctuations in the price of those drugs and the amount of crime and violence that people are willing to commit to buy and sell drugs. If we only try to attack the problem of gold farming by detecting and blocking the gold farmers we will not be effective in stopping that behavior and all of the problems that go with it, like chat-spamming to advertise gold-buying sites, purchase fraud, phishing, and account theft.
The two most interesting solutions I've seen are “Pilot’s License Extensions” (PLEX) in EVE Online and Sony’s experiment with “secondary-market” gold selling on the Vox and Bazaar servers in Everquest.
Q: Will TERA allow users to trade items for real money, like Sony did for Vox and Bazaar?
A: Selling gold and items for real-world money (known as “RMT” for Real-Money Trading) is something that we’ve discussed internally as we brainstormed solutions to gold farming and its attendant problems, and I think it will be interesting to hear what TeraHispano users have to say about the idea after reading this interview.
To provide some background, there are really two kinds of real-world money trading: primary markets and secondary markets. In primary markets, the game publisher sells gold and items directly to the gamers. "Free to Play games" (or more aptly named "micro-transaction games") utilize this system. In secondary markets, players trade with other players for real-world money, whether that behavior is tolerated by the game publisher or not.
There are many users who hate the thought of having game publishers sell gold and items for real-world money (primary markets), and we agree: it’s a bad idea. On the other hand, there are a great many players who are positively inclined to buy with real-world money because they’re already purchasing gold and items from professional gold farmers. Just Google for “buy game gold” along with the name of your favorite MMO and tell me there isn’t a ready market.
Players purchase gold for what many would consider to be acceptable reasons: they want to keep up with friends who spend more time playing; they want to focus their efforts on a part of a game they enjoy, like raiding, rather than harvesting components for raids; they want to play the high-level game with a different character class and don’t want to start from level 1; they lack play-time and want to achieve a goal more quickly; and other similar motivations. Some of those goals can be solved by good game design; for example, TERA allows players to give points to their alternate characters so they can level them more quickly than they did their first characters. Other goals are harder to accommodate, and I think that’s where gold purchases have fulfilled a useful function for some players.
The reality is that whether publishers sponsor secondary-market real-money trading or not, it is so difficult to stop that it will always exist at some level. I personally believe that a player-controlled market using real-world money is far superior to players purchasing gold and items directly from the publisher because it keeps players in control of the online economy: the only items that get sold are ones that players find. And a publisher-sponsored secondary market is better than ceding the secondary market to professional gold farmers because those gold farmers are willing to destroy the game environment in their zeal to earn money.
Q: Griefing is one of the problems created by hackers. In an open world like TERA, is it a problem that will be more marked? Would you mind giving us any example on how to avoid this kind of hacking?
A: Griefing is a terrible problem in gaming because the primary motivation of griefers is to make other people suffer! When designing a game it’s necessary to think about how each and every feature in the game can be abused and how to minimize that abuse. I think it's safe to say that every game designer on every MMO faces the dilemma of watering down cool ideas in order to prevent their abuse.
It’s hard to characterize how to stop griefing because it pervades every aspect of game design and operation; there’s simply no feature in a game that griefers won’t find a way to exploit if the designers haven’t done their work. For example, in Ultima Online, if two players tried to occupy the same location, one would get “bumped;” in dungeons it was possible for griefers to “bump” other players so they would fall to their death in a pit. The tragic thing is that this same type of bug existed in Age of Conan, released over ten years later. “Good times with a horse” (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-rl3RPC_Mw) shows players getting kicked off a cliff by a griefer who is presumably having a wonderful time.
I think the best way to minimize griefing is to hire designers who have previous experience with the problem, and may, in fact, have been griefers themselves!
Q: Do you consider that meta-griefing will be a problem when TERA is released? Will TERA have its defenses up on launch day?
A: In my Game Developers Conference presentation (
http://www.slideshare.net/EnMasseEnt/developers-vs-cybercriminals-protecting-your-mmo-from-online-crime-3589535) I used the term meta-griefing to describe what griefers do to hurt many players at once. Take, for example, a bug that was discovered in both Guild Wars and Aion where it was possible to send a particular string in chat that would crash every other game client who received the message. I’m sure the griefers had fun with that one.
Our development team needs to be prepared to face an onslaught of attacks upon launch day because, while most players are trying to be the first to reach the end-game, hackers are racing to see who can exploit bugs first.
We’ll perform pre-launch security checks, including fuzz-testing, tiger-team attacks, and code review. Games are large and complicated, though, so it’s almost inevitable that a bug will slip through. Ultimately, being prepared to respond to bugs quickly is the best defense against unanticipated problems post-launch.
We’re fortunate here in the West in that TERA will be released in Asia first, which means that we’ll get a version of the game that has been battle-tested before its release here.
Q: What are you going to do if you know that some websites are selling gold or TERA items? And for those users who sells their accounts via eBay?
A: Preventing players from trading for real-world money is a very difficult problem; most MMO companies have tried working with eBay and other online trading sites to reduce gold selling, but it hasn’t driven the problem that far underground. As I mentioned before, I only need to search online to find hundreds of sites selling gold for whatever game I happen to be playing.
One interesting idea championed by the designers of EVE Online is called PLEX. In EVE users pay a monthly fee to be a starship pilot. The idea behind PLEX, or “Pilot’s License EXtension,” is to enable players to trade gold for play-time; a PLEX-pass allows players who use it to extend their subscription by one month. So a player with money but not so much time—like a dad with four kids—can purchase PLEX to trade inside the game, and a player with plenty of time but not so much money—like a high-school student—can trade game-gold for another month of playing the game. By creating a mechanism for players to exchange gold for play-time, the EVE designers are able to anticipate the demand for game-gold through a mechanism that rewards real game players over gold farmers, because gold farmers don’t want more play-time, they want real money. It’s a brilliant solution to the problem, and one of the potential solutions to gold farming we’ve discussed at En Masse. Folks who are interested in learning more about PLEX can read a detailed article on eveonline.com (
http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=684). Note that “gold” in EVE Online is called “ISK.”
There are almost 500 L2 private servers (if not more), almost 30 Aion private servers operating now. Do you think NCsoft is conscious of this? If so, why not do anything? Incidentally, there are also about 10 WoW private servers.
All MMO publishers are aware of the problem of private servers, where criminals are charging money for access to servers running stolen game code or binaries; the challenge is that it is hard to do anything about those servers when they reside in countries where intellectual property rights aren’t protected. There really aren’t any viable solutions to the problem once the game’s source code or server binaries have “leaked” to the outside world.
All I can say is that I’d encourage gamers to make the ethical choice to support game developers who build the products they like to play, and not give money to the criminals running stolen game code on their private servers.
Q: Do you think there will be TERA private servers in the following months of its release date? What are you going to do if you know the existence of a TERA private server?
A: We certainly hope we’ll be able to keep TERA secure so that private servers aren’t available for the game, but as evidenced by the number of private servers for other games and high-profile events like the theft of the source code for Half Life 2 from Valve Software, maintaining a high level of security is a difficult and never-ending challenge.
Thanks a lot for your time and I hope we will keep in contact in the future.
Thank you for the chance to talk about game-security. I hope it's an interesting topic for your readers, since game hacking is a growth industry. And thank you for building a Spanish-language destination for TERA fans, Nestor; I hope you’ll have great success. The folks here at En Masse—myself included—are looking forward to any feedback that you and your readers have to offer!.
Concerning Gameplay, answered by Sam Kim - TERA producer:Q: Will you include more weapon and armor slots? Feedback has indicated people would like more of them.
A: We’ve heard the exact same feedback! We’re going to be making a few changes to equipment, including the number of weapon and armor slots.
Q: Channels are a controversial element of TERA for some users. Can you explain their use in TERA?
A: Channels are something we’re using to help control server stress and traffic in the testing phase of the game. They will be a must-have for launch as well, but once server populations stabilize they will be toned down or phased out entirely.
Q: Will be there different starting zones for every race?
Each race has its own “home,” but currently all players start on the Isle of Dawn. We’re currently investigating ways to make playing each race a different experience.
Q: There is not much info about the Party Distribution System. Would you mind giving us any info?
A: Feedback about the party experience was one of the key pieces of information we were looking for from the second Focus Group Test, specifically with regard to loot distribution. Partying is clearly something that needs a little work, so we’re going to find ways to make the party experience easier and more fun, and give parties a variety of options for distributing loot amongst themselves.
Q: Will players have the option to customize clothing and armor?
A: This was a key piece of feedback in the recent Korean Beta Test, and something that was reflected in the local Focus Group Test as well. We can’t announce anything final but it’s something we’re going to explore.
Q: Sieges in TERA: Will be there Castle sieges and defense castle sieges? What will they be like?
A: There are no castle sieges planned. There will be a Battleground system for consensual PVP, and servers dedicated to world PvP, and we fully expect (and hope for) large-scale battles to be something that players will participate in.
Q: Will be there any unique race skills?
A: No.
Q: Crafting in TERA: What will it be like?
A: We’re still finalizing the balance of the crafting system in TERA. We want it to appeal to all users, even those who haven’t made crafting a major part of their MMO experience before, but to reward the hardcore crafters as well. We’ve got some pretty fun ideas that we hope will appeal to both audiences!
Q: We saw that the Elementalist class has disappeared and has been replaced by the Mystic. Will it be a completely new class or is it only a rename?
A: The Elementalist is now the Mystic, which better describes what the class does and the role it performs in the game.
Q: What kind of remunerations will we earn in Battlegrounds?
A: We’re not talking about this much, only because we haven’t finalized it yet. There will be a lot of incentives for players to engage in Battlegrounds, some of which may be a pleasant surprise for longtime MMO players.
Q: Concerning characters customization: Will players be able to modify their character’s size?
A: Nope--races will all have standard sizes.
Q: Will there be "one weapon per class" or will players beable to use more than one weapon for a class? For example, could a Lancer use a lance and a sword?
A: Classes are tied to weapons, so no. There is an outside chance this could change though, as we heard a lot of feedback about this in the Focus Group Test.
For Spanish people...:Q: Will there be a Spanish-language version of TERA?
A: We’re planning on launching TERA in English, French and German but that list isn’t final and is partially dependent on who becomes our distributor in the EU. Stay tuned.
Q: Concerning TERA’s official servers...will there be an exclusively Spanish server or will be there EU servers with some recommended for Spanish players?
A: We’re still finalizing server plans both in North America and the EU. Very likely we will have a recommended server rather than an exclusive server just for Spain.
LINK: http://www.teragamers.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=159#p2341Touches on equipment/character customization
Q: We heard rumors about a new character creation system with more individualization options, like the body frame and so forth. Can you tell us anything about this?
A: We are looking to improve the character creation system, and we’re exploring various ways to provide greater options for customization and individualization. We haven’t yet disclosed full details around the features we plan on implementing, but some of the things we’re exploring include accessories, hair colors, distinguishing features, and faces.
Q: What can you tell us about the PvP system?
A: What can I say that hasn’t been said before? ? I’m sure you know that there will be PvP servers, with world PvP, and PvE servers with consensual PvP. One thing you might not know too much about yet is the Battlefield system. This system has been designed to be scalable—everything from pickup skirmishes to guild-on-guild frays.
Q: Are there plans for special PvP Equipment?
A: Not necessarily, but it’s something we’re considering.
Q: Can we expect innovative quests, something other than ‘Kill X monsters’ or ‘bring an item to a place?’
A: Yes. In fact, we’re currently expanding our quest library and variety significantly. We want to build and implement more “next-gen” quests that engage players beyond “kill x monsters.” This includes quests with arching storylines, unique objectives, and better methods of engaging the environment. For example, a player might be tasked with subduing, capturing, and then escorting an NPC instead of killing it and collecting Y items.
Q: Will there be any "Epic" weapons and armor?
A: There are several tiers of item quality in the game, ranging from normal to legendary. These items range from common to extremely rare, and can be obtained from quests, crafting, dungeons, and more.
Q: Fans have indicated they want more variety among the weapons and armor. Are there plans to expand the variety?
A: The short answer is yes. This was something we suspected going into our Focus Group Test 2, and the data from that test confirmed it. We plan to introduce a much wider variety of weapons and armor, with many different looks.
Q: How do you plan to make high-level equipment look special? Glow effects, or something else?
A: We think that it's important for the player to reflect and feel their progression through the awesomeness of their gear. This could include equipment textures, particle effects, color, and much, much more! We want to hit a nice combination of "cool" and "unique" for those players with high-level equipment, and we’re exploring a number of ways to accomplish this, not only in appearance but other areas as well.
Q: At the moment the characters don’t show equipped jewelry. Are there plans to change this?
A: As we mentioned previously, based on feedback from our Focus Group testers, character customization and appearance is an aspect of the game that players feel very strongly about. We’re exploring ways to build and improve this area across the board, from character creation to character equipment. We are making a lot of changes based on player feedback, and we look forward to revealing those changes!
Q: How many characters will each player be allowed, per account?
A: We’re exploring this, but currently it is set at six characters per server, per account.
Q: Will there be any weather effects like snow or rain? Or seasons? Or plans for permafrost areas?
A: Weather systems and seasons won’t be a part of the game initially, but could be added at a later time. There are "icy" areas of the game, yes.
Q: What about a day/night cycle?
A: No; this is something that is defined by area.
Q: Will there be any special solo leveling areas?
A: Yes. We want players to be able to reach the maximum level through solo play if they prefer to play that way.
Q: What about (castle) Sieges? Is something like this in the works?
A: There won’t be sieges, but the Battlefield system allows for large-scale battles between guilds.
Q: What about a mentor system?
A: Community engagement is very important to us and, judging on feedback from our players, important to our players as well. We’re focusing heavily on building features that facilitate player-to-player interaction/engagement, and mentoring is but one of the many things we’re exploring.
Q: TERA will be at Gamescom 2010 in Colonge. You will need German staff there. So can we expect that we will have our first German community manager really soon?
A: We will be at Gamescom, yes! Supporting our EU players is important to us, and a key part of that is supporting our EU community. Building a dedicated staff is essential to supporting our players, and we will be disclosing more information about this later in the year.
Q: Will there be an official fansite in each language?
A: The official TERA website will be in each language in which TERA will release. We’re not in the habit of naming any fansite the "official fansite," but we’re happy to work with any fansite in any language!
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And that's everything. So if you hear anything that contradicts ANY of this. It's pure speculation, or a lie.
