I was afraid the video was going to be well received but my fears were unfounded.
I see this thread is still alive, I did manage to watch the video while it was still up so here I go.
The quality of the videos used to show the classes was very poor.
The voice over sounded very poor and could've been louder, clearer.
Mistakes were made while talking about (one of) the classes in TERA. Which prompted me to question the integrity of where the reviewer was coming from and if he even played the game at all.
Anyone who has played it wouldn't have mistaken a slayer for a berserker. One is a plate-wearing heavy hitter while the other is a light armour wearing fast hitter...dodging vs blocking. Tsk tsk.
What I was expecting to get out of the video:
A comparison of how the players react to situations whilst in combat (dodging, blocking, situational awareness, general tactics?, positional combat excuse me if these terms don't quite hit the mark). How does GW2's mechanics handle this? How does TERA's mechanics handle this? How does GW2's mechanics handle this?
And from there leaving it up to the viewer.
What I got was a summary of each class and nothing more meaty behind it.
I feel a comparison cannot be made (yet) because you need to have acquired key skills (e.g. archer, warrior, mystic in TERA) in both games on your toons. And after having spent an equal amount of time with several (or all) classes.
Comparison at this point will be superficial at best and biased. Even if you think you're not biased.
It's probably for the best then nobody else got to see the video, if it's just more masked GW2 propaganda.
I really did want to play GW2, but the community has really turned me off from it. Too many GW2 fanboys are constantly going after other people's games putting down everything that's not GW2. And the Media coverage is just as bad, you'd swear is was the second coming of christ even though they contanstly add the disclaimer that GW2 is not for everyone.
And the real kicker is that GW2 is B2P, that means that you can sub one game and still play GW2, so all these VS threads are completely irrelevant as majority of players can simply play both games.
It's probably for the best then nobody else got to see the video, if it's just more masked GW2 propaganda.
I really did want to play GW2, but the community has really turned me off from it. Too many GW2 fanboys are constantly going after other people's games putting down everything that's not GW2. And the Media coverage is just as bad, you'd swear is was the second coming of christ even though they contanstly add the disclaimer that GW2 is not for everyone.
And the real kicker is that GW2 is B2P, that means that you can sub one game and still play GW2, so all these VS threads are completely irrelevant as majority of players can simply play both games.
This thread can die now.
If I let people I disagree with on the internet stop me from doing things I enjoy...I would lead a dull life.
There are many good reasons why someone would not want to play GW2...but "some dudes on a forum bothered me" is not one of them.
I'm still going to try the game obviously, but I do miss that sense of community in MMOs nowadays.
I was in Tera NA CB3 doing my "kill ten boars" quest when I stumbled upon this Lancer player on the same quest, and I offered to group up with this stranger, and he agreed. We grouped and talked together for a whole 8 levels after that, it was a blast, and sadly this is probably the first time I had grouped with anybody for longer than a few quests in YEARS in previous MMOs. Did I mention this was a PvP server as well?
I know Guild Wars 2 is going to be a good game, but I also know that this game is definitely overhyped to the point of ridiculousness. Tera has it's faults like all other MMOs but at least the community isn't cult-like fanatics about their game. It makes it possible to have a decent conversation with them. I don't know if I can say the same about GW2 community, and community matters to me more than any game mechanic. We will see.
I'm still going to try the game obviously, but I do miss that sense of community in MMOs nowadays.
I was in Tera NA CB3 doing my "kill ten boars" quest when I stumbled upon this Lancer player on the same quest, and I offered to group up with this stranger, and he agreed. We grouped and talked together for a whole 8 levels after that, it was a blast, and sadly this is probably the first time I had grouped with anybody for longer than a few quests in YEARS in previous MMOs. Did I mention this was a PvP server as well?
I know Guild Wars 2 is going to be a good game, but I also know that this game is definitely overhyped to the point of ridiculousness. Tera has it's faults like all other MMOs but at least the community isn't cult-like fanatics about their game. It makes it possible to have a decent conversation with them. I don't know if I can say the same about GW2 community, and community matters to me more than any game mechanic. We will see.
So what are you saying? Yes GW2 is F2P after purchase and you can tack on a lot of other games to it if you want, but your example of joining someone is hardly a reason to extoll TERA's virtues - I had MANY such experiences in SWTOR which is probably the friendliest community I've ever seen.
I played TERA and its just BAD. BAD as in worst than WOW, RIFT, SWTOR. It's pretty and the combat system is... different... but then again, RPGs had a better combat system than TERA for YEARS now and when its coming to an MMO game finally, what's the big deal? To me it was actually an annoyance rather than a blessing. If I want my share of good rpg fighting system I can go ahead and The Witcher 2 which blows TERA's combat system out the water BY FAR.
It's probably for the best then nobody else got to see the video, if it's just more masked GW2 propaganda.
I really did want to play GW2, but the community has really turned me off from it. Too many GW2 fanboys are constantly going after other people's games putting down everything that's not GW2. And the Media coverage is just as bad, you'd swear is was the second coming of christ even though they contanstly add the disclaimer that GW2 is not for everyone.
And the real kicker is that GW2 is B2P, that means that you can sub one game and still play GW2, so all these VS threads are completely irrelevant as majority of players can simply play both games.
This thread can die now.
If I want to play a game, there's so many things which could change my mind about it... But saying "people are being rude on the forums and are constantly acting as fanbois about this game so I won't play it" wouldn't even be considered putting it on list of things that I wouldn't like about the game... It's just a lame excuse to actually say something which soothes your mind?
That's another thing I don't understand when talking about games on MMORPG forums.... Why the hell would you want to play another game which you have to pay a monthly fee for and isn't even as half as good (here I mean: it doesn't have that much content, the level of polish isn't on the same level and offers nothing much new) when you can play this game which offers you to buy it once and play it without monthly fees forever?... I would never ever support another game if it didn't have B2P and wouldn't be better than the one I'm currently playing (and which has B2P model)...
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life." -------------------------------
Community does matter to me in playing an mmo. I'll be up front and say I do like the trinity, and I don't have a problem playing a game with pandas in it. That mindset alone is going to put people like me at odds with the majority of the Guild Wars 2 community, which will have a negative impact on my gameplay experience.
And I can understand the WoW vs Rift vs SW:TOR fanboyism because these are all P2P games with similiar mechanics so people have to choose. And I'm happy for players that are excited about GW2 but at the same time completely turned off by the community's intolerance of everything not GW2 especially when the aggression is completely unnecessary. You can play GW2 with other subbed games.
You guys should be thanking Tera for helping keeping GW2 free of the taint of "anime lovers" that enjoy tanking and healing, and rushing to endgame, and paying for more endgame content. I'm not gonna give up on GW2 because of forum trolls, I'll still try it, but its clear from the many threads like this that GW2 players are of a completely different mindset then the rest of the traditional MMO community.
We should just accept the fact that people that like Tera will not like GW2 and people that like GW2 will not like Tera, and the players that like both will simply play both games. Everybody wins.
After reading all posts of this thread, i have seen a lot of misinformation on tera combat. So i would like to clarify a few things:
First i want to say that EVERY class has at least one escape tool similar to the GW2-roll. All ranged classes get "backstep", which let's you jump backwards a short way (usually enough to escape a dangerous attack). All melee classes have a roll/flip on low CD, which can be used to escape in any direction. Later most classes get even stronger escape tools like teleport or glacial retreat (do aoe-damage+slow+jump backwards). The cooldown depends on the class, but is really low for most escape skills (between 4 and 10 seconds).
Second i would like to pick up the problems you have with animations blocking your movement: That really depends. Every class has some quick or instant skills. It is true that some abilities might lock you into place but:
a) there are abilities that can be used to snap out of an animation if you realize you made a mistake.
b) you can't look on a skill on his own! Some skills quicken up other skills if used after one another (or have glyphs for that). You can do combos which make the animation of some big-hitters a lot faster (and i mean A LOT). If you mindless smash your buttons, you wont be too happy, as some skills are painful slow on their own. But if you know what your doing this is much less of an issue!
c) You need to realize that this is not a "gameplay-flaw", it's intentional! You mostly can't just hit a player with your super-overpowered-killer-skill while running full speed. Strong skills might require you to "charge them up" a few seconds, others need you to stand still and cast. As a rule of thumb you can say that stronger abilities are harder to hit and it's more obvious to the enemy that you are using them. Seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Fighting in Tera is often about weigthing up the risk of starting your strongest ability against the safety of using quicker skills or running.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but if you have a problem with beeing caught in animations too much you probably didn't understand tera's combat system (like combos) at all. Some slow attacks are also great if timed ofter a stun or something similar.
In my opinion Tera has the best combat system of all MMOs i have ever played or seen (including GW2). As mentioned above it's highly tactical, you have to decide which skills to use and when. Also it is really fast and dynamic. If you have good movement skills you can dodge 95% of the skills. There are some "lock on" skills, but locking on you requires the players attention as well (it's not like tab-targetting in WoW. It's just not that hard to aim as your normal abilities) and that skills are usually not very strong. You can move around like crazy (change directions, bunny-jump, use your escape skills) . You can do that in other MMOs as well.. still doesn't change the fact that the enemy will still hit you, no matter how much you dance around. Only exclusion is that in some MMOs (like WoW) you can't shoot in your back. Still you can jump like crazy and it just won't help you 99% of the time. I played WoW and other MMOs for a long time, but that part always bothered me.
Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.
Tera-Combat: You have a crosshair and need to aim. If you aim bad or the enemy is too fast, you will miss, exactly as you would miss in a shooter (altough the engine is more forgiving.. you need to aim pretty good, but not as good as in a shooter-game).
Guess it's a matter of flavor what you like more, for me Tera combat is much more interesting, and as combat is an important part of the game for me, i would pick Tera anyday.
No reason too eat me up for that though .-)
I really can't understand all that rage going on here. In my opinion both games will be awesome. GW2 will be absolutely great (and even no monthly fee) and will hit the mmo market like a truck. Tera, while not having too much innvovation elsewhere has an really outstanding combat-system.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but in case you didn't notice: you can test Tera yourself (only?) this weekend at the Open-Beta-Test.
Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.
You can be close in range of that target and use spells but every single on of them might miss the target. For instance, warrior might smash his sword and while he's doing that whoever isn't targeted but is close enough to get hit, will get hit. So you don't have to tab target someone, you can simply walk close enough and smash your spell buttons.
Combat in WoW isn't really what GW2 has, it can be compared but it's not the same since you can cast your spells when you don't have anyone targeted, you can move while casting and dodge. There's also enviromental weapons (like rocks, torches, and stuff like that which adds a whole new set of spells in your weapons bar).
Also, I played games which had targeting done like TERA has and it's nothing special, gets really tedious really fast.
EDIT: also, dodge roll can be used as a defense against mobs as well and it's an important mechanic if you want to survive when fighting 2 mobs or even 1. Depends on the situation and the mob.
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life." -------------------------------
I would say the combat mechanics is closer to Rift with the ability to customize your skillbar better, and change builds on the fly, which makes it much better than WoW. However which the exclusion of dodge mechanic which is more of a defensive cooldown and not an actual dodge due to how targeting works, GW2's combat looks eerily familiar. If you did like the style of WoW and Rift PvP you'll definitely like GW2 more than Tera as Tera's combat is completely different from all other MMOs.
Don't really know much about Tera's combat, but GW2's is vastly different from WoW and the WoW-clones. Targetting is optional for many skills, and even if you've targetted one target assorted skills will hit many regardless. Combat is fast and almost chaotic, until you start to realize you can't play it like WoW at all. Instead of burning your skills when a cooldown is over you need to watch your foe, look for tells in their casting and react accordingly. There's a recent mesmer video where one of the devs is playing the mesmer... it's hugely different from watching the press beta folks. You see him, for example, creating some clones and attacking, then when the mob starts to wind up an attack he detonates the clones to interrupt it. Other times the mob will be about to nail him so he'll shatter with F4 to give himself a few seconds of distortion to avoid taking the hits.
Position and positioning is critical to a more successful gameplay. Some skills give bonus damage or effects when used from a flank or behind. Others will be stopped by obstacles, will miss if the target changes direction on you, etc. You can cast any non-channeled ability while moving as well, adding to the whole effect.
Ah, can't forget weapon swapping! With a quick tap of the ` key (left of 1) you swap primary and secondary weapons, giving you new skillbars on the fly to add greater versatility in combat. A ranger may, for example, have dual axes equipped for his ranged weapons of choice and decide to go with a greatsword for close in action. Another may choose a longbow for long distance powerful attacks and a shortbow for closer quicker ranged attacks and rely on his movement to keep him out of danger. Both rangers will play dramatically differently.
Of course we're also familiar with cross-profession combos I assume? Many skills/spells are considered "initializers", others are "finishers". An elementalist may, for example, drop down a firewall between the foes and himself. Our bow equipped ranger might see this, adjust his position to put the firewall (an initializer) between himself and his enemy and fire through the firewall, adding fire damage to his attacks (finishers). There are a huge amount of possible combos in game, and it's being left to the players to experiment and find them all.
Another major difference that directly affects combat is the lack of player roles in GW2. Gone are the days of tank/healer/dps differenciation. Now you have basically three aspects of combat: damage, control and support. It's the skills you take and the traits you equip that will give each character a blend of all these aspects at his disposal at the same time. A mesmer with a greatsword will have basic damage on skill one for example (the purple laser), a controlling damage on 2 (jam your sword in the ground, a sword appears from under the ground and impales the foe from beneath), etc. You may have your phantasms traited to provide a regeneration bonus when allies are near them, adding support to the group. You'll have knockbacks for more control and damage, etc. In addition to and reinforcing the "all-in-one" player is the fact that you cannot target and cast on allies, rendering the "I'll heal you massively" idea defunct. No one can target and heal an ally through damage. The best you can do is AoE splash healing and providing boons (buffs) to your allies to help them along. Everyone is ultimately responsibile for their own health, and everyone has their healing skill on slot 6. By being mostly self-reliant on self-healing, it emphasizes the need to move, avoid damage, etc.
Ultimately you wind up with a fast-paced responsive combat system that has taken your eyes off the UI and put them back to watching the combat where they belong. Read and react. Move. Position. Dodge. It's an extremely fun and engaging system that will be easy to pick up (once you stop trying to play like the MMOs you're used to) but will be challenging to master.
Someone with knowledge of Tera will need to provide a synopsis of that system, I have no experience with it. But it should be clear my personal favorite. See you in Tyria.
17 days since initial post, and the video is STILL private!
So... how's work or school been going for you guys out there?
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
After reading all posts of this thread, i have seen a lot of misinformation on tera combat. So i would like to clarify a few things:
First i want to say that EVERY class has at least one escape tool similar to the GW2-roll. All ranged classes get "backstep", which let's you jump backwards a short way (usually enough to escape a dangerous attack). All melee classes have a roll/flip on low CD, which can be used to escape in any direction. Later most classes get even stronger escape tools like teleport or glacial retreat (do aoe-damage+slow+jump backwards). The cooldown depends on the class, but is really low for most escape skills (between 4 and 10 seconds).
Second i would like to pick up the problems you have with animations blocking your movement: That really depends. Every class has some quick or instant skills. It is true that some abilities might lock you into place but:
a) there are abilities that can be used to snap out of an animation if you realize you made a mistake.
b) you can't look on a skill on his own! Some skills quicken up other skills if used after one another (or have glyphs for that). You can do combos which make the animation of some big-hitters a lot faster (and i mean A LOT). If you mindless smash your buttons, you wont be too happy, as some skills are painful slow on their own. But if you know what your doing this is much less of an issue!
c) You need to realize that this is not a "gameplay-flaw", it's intentional! You mostly can't just hit a player with your super-overpowered-killer-skill while running full speed. Strong skills might require you to "charge them up" a few seconds, others need you to stand still and cast. As a rule of thumb you can say that stronger abilities are harder to hit and it's more obvious to the enemy that you are using them. Seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Fighting in Tera is often about weigthing up the risk of starting your strongest ability against the safety of using quicker skills or running.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but if you have a problem with beeing caught in animations too much you probably didn't understand tera's combat system (like combos) at all. Some slow attacks are also great if timed ofter a stun or something similar.
In my opinion Tera has the best combat system of all MMOs i have ever played or seen (including GW2). As mentioned above it's highly tactical, you have to decide which skills to use and when. Also it is really fast and dynamic. If you have good movement skills you can dodge 95% of the skills. There are some "lock on" skills, but locking on you requires the players attention as well (it's not like tab-targetting in WoW. It's just not that hard to aim as your normal abilities) and that skills are usually not very strong. You can move around like crazy (change directions, bunny-jump, use your escape skills) . You can do that in other MMOs as well.. still doesn't change the fact that the enemy will still hit you, no matter how much you dance around. Only exclusion is that in some MMOs (like WoW) you can't shoot in your back. Still you can jump like crazy and it just won't help you 99% of the time. I played WoW and other MMOs for a long time, but that part always bothered me.
Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.
Tera-Combat: You have a crosshair and need to aim. If you aim bad or the enemy is too fast, you will miss, exactly as you would miss in a shooter (altough the engine is more forgiving.. you need to aim pretty good, but not as good as in a shooter-game).
Guess it's a matter of flavor what you like more, for me Tera combat is much more interesting, and as combat is an important part of the game for me, i would pick Tera anyday.
No reason too eat me up for that though .-)
I really can't understand all that rage going on here. In my opinion both games will be awesome. GW2 will be absolutely great (and even no monthly fee) and will hit the mmo market like a truck. Tera, while not having too much innvovation elsewhere has an really outstanding combat-system.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but in case you didn't notice: you can test Tera yourself (only?) this weekend at the Open-Beta-Test.
The problem with TERA is that as soon as a Lancer is in your group, the fight pretty much devolves into your standard MMO tank and spank with gimmicks. When you're soloing/2-manning BAMs is when the game is at its best. You need to know every nuance of every move and know exactly what move to use in response to each move the boss uses. You also have to adjust your options on the fly based on your cooldown usage and MP. However, if a Lancer is there to grab all the aggro you can just wail on the boss without any regard to any of that, which completely kills the game for me.
After experiencing both combat systems, i totally dig Gw2's alot more. With that being said i still like both of the combat system. They are both fun. Imo i just wish some of these types of threads and videos would go away because in the end they are different games, and the differences make the game what they are. I realise poeple are trying to get the most out of their money and these Game 1 vs Game 2 threads and videos are assisting in that sense, but THEY ARE DIFFERENT GAMES.
Comments
I see this thread is still alive, I did manage to watch the video while it was still up so here I go.
The quality of the videos used to show the classes was very poor.
The voice over sounded very poor and could've been louder, clearer.
Mistakes were made while talking about (one of) the classes in TERA. Which prompted me to question the integrity of where the reviewer was coming from and if he even played the game at all.
Anyone who has played it wouldn't have mistaken a slayer for a berserker. One is a plate-wearing heavy hitter while the other is a light armour wearing fast hitter...dodging vs blocking. Tsk tsk.
What I was expecting to get out of the video:
A comparison of how the players react to situations whilst in combat (dodging, blocking, situational awareness, general tactics?, positional combat excuse me if these terms don't quite hit the mark). How does GW2's mechanics handle this? How does TERA's mechanics handle this? How does GW2's mechanics handle this?
And from there leaving it up to the viewer.
What I got was a summary of each class and nothing more meaty behind it.
I feel a comparison cannot be made (yet) because you need to have acquired key skills (e.g. archer, warrior, mystic in TERA) in both games on your toons. And after having spent an equal amount of time with several (or all) classes.
Comparison at this point will be superficial at best and biased. Even if you think you're not biased.
It's probably for the best then nobody else got to see the video, if it's just more masked GW2 propaganda.
I really did want to play GW2, but the community has really turned me off from it. Too many GW2 fanboys are constantly going after other people's games putting down everything that's not GW2. And the Media coverage is just as bad, you'd swear is was the second coming of christ even though they contanstly add the disclaimer that GW2 is not for everyone.
And the real kicker is that GW2 is B2P, that means that you can sub one game and still play GW2, so all these VS threads are completely irrelevant as majority of players can simply play both games.
This thread can die now.
If I let people I disagree with on the internet stop me from doing things I enjoy...I would lead a dull life.
There are many good reasons why someone would not want to play GW2...but "some dudes on a forum bothered me" is not one of them.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I'm still going to try the game obviously, but I do miss that sense of community in MMOs nowadays.
I was in Tera NA CB3 doing my "kill ten boars" quest when I stumbled upon this Lancer player on the same quest, and I offered to group up with this stranger, and he agreed. We grouped and talked together for a whole 8 levels after that, it was a blast, and sadly this is probably the first time I had grouped with anybody for longer than a few quests in YEARS in previous MMOs. Did I mention this was a PvP server as well?
I know Guild Wars 2 is going to be a good game, but I also know that this game is definitely overhyped to the point of ridiculousness. Tera has it's faults like all other MMOs but at least the community isn't cult-like fanatics about their game. It makes it possible to have a decent conversation with them. I don't know if I can say the same about GW2 community, and community matters to me more than any game mechanic. We will see.
So what are you saying? Yes GW2 is F2P after purchase and you can tack on a lot of other games to it if you want, but your example of joining someone is hardly a reason to extoll TERA's virtues - I had MANY such experiences in SWTOR which is probably the friendliest community I've ever seen.
I played TERA and its just BAD. BAD as in worst than WOW, RIFT, SWTOR. It's pretty and the combat system is... different... but then again, RPGs had a better combat system than TERA for YEARS now and when its coming to an MMO game finally, what's the big deal? To me it was actually an annoyance rather than a blessing. If I want my share of good rpg fighting system I can go ahead and The Witcher 2 which blows TERA's combat system out the water BY FAR.
If I want to play a game, there's so many things which could change my mind about it... But saying "people are being rude on the forums and are constantly acting as fanbois about this game so I won't play it" wouldn't even be considered putting it on list of things that I wouldn't like about the game... It's just a lame excuse to actually say something which soothes your mind?
That's another thing I don't understand when talking about games on MMORPG forums.... Why the hell would you want to play another game which you have to pay a monthly fee for and isn't even as half as good (here I mean: it doesn't have that much content, the level of polish isn't on the same level and offers nothing much new) when you can play this game which offers you to buy it once and play it without monthly fees forever?... I would never ever support another game if it didn't have B2P and wouldn't be better than the one I'm currently playing (and which has B2P model)...
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
-------------------------------
And I can understand the WoW vs Rift vs SW:TOR fanboyism because these are all P2P games with similiar mechanics so people have to choose.
And I'm happy for players that are excited about GW2 but at the same time completely turned off by the community's intolerance of everything not GW2 especially when the aggression is completely unnecessary. You can play GW2 with other subbed games.
You guys should be thanking Tera for helping keeping GW2 free of the taint of "anime lovers" that enjoy tanking and healing, and rushing to endgame, and paying for more endgame content. I'm not gonna give up on GW2 because of forum trolls, I'll still try it, but its clear from the many threads like this that GW2 players are of a completely different mindset then the rest of the traditional MMO community.
We should just accept the fact that people that like Tera will not like GW2 and people that like GW2 will not like Tera, and the players that like both will simply play both games. Everybody wins.
After reading all posts of this thread, i have seen a lot of misinformation on tera combat. So i would like to clarify a few things:
First i want to say that EVERY class has at least one escape tool similar to the GW2-roll. All ranged classes get "backstep", which let's you jump backwards a short way (usually enough to escape a dangerous attack). All melee classes have a roll/flip on low CD, which can be used to escape in any direction. Later most classes get even stronger escape tools like teleport or glacial retreat (do aoe-damage+slow+jump backwards). The cooldown depends on the class, but is really low for most escape skills (between 4 and 10 seconds).
Second i would like to pick up the problems you have with animations blocking your movement: That really depends. Every class has some quick or instant skills. It is true that some abilities might lock you into place but:
a) there are abilities that can be used to snap out of an animation if you realize you made a mistake.
b) you can't look on a skill on his own! Some skills quicken up other skills if used after one another (or have glyphs for that). You can do combos which make the animation of some big-hitters a lot faster (and i mean A LOT). If you mindless smash your buttons, you wont be too happy, as some skills are painful slow on their own. But if you know what your doing this is much less of an issue!
c) You need to realize that this is not a "gameplay-flaw", it's intentional! You mostly can't just hit a player with your super-overpowered-killer-skill while running full speed. Strong skills might require you to "charge them up" a few seconds, others need you to stand still and cast. As a rule of thumb you can say that stronger abilities are harder to hit and it's more obvious to the enemy that you are using them. Seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Fighting in Tera is often about weigthing up the risk of starting your strongest ability against the safety of using quicker skills or running.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but if you have a problem with beeing caught in animations too much you probably didn't understand tera's combat system (like combos) at all. Some slow attacks are also great if timed ofter a stun or something similar.
In my opinion Tera has the best combat system of all MMOs i have ever played or seen (including GW2). As mentioned above it's highly tactical, you have to decide which skills to use and when. Also it is really fast and dynamic. If you have good movement skills you can dodge 95% of the skills. There are some "lock on" skills, but locking on you requires the players attention as well (it's not like tab-targetting in WoW. It's just not that hard to aim as your normal abilities) and that skills are usually not very strong. You can move around like crazy (change directions, bunny-jump, use your escape skills) . You can do that in other MMOs as well.. still doesn't change the fact that the enemy will still hit you, no matter how much you dance around. Only exclusion is that in some MMOs (like WoW) you can't shoot in your back. Still you can jump like crazy and it just won't help you 99% of the time. I played WoW and other MMOs for a long time, but that part always bothered me.
Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.
Tera-Combat: You have a crosshair and need to aim. If you aim bad or the enemy is too fast, you will miss, exactly as you would miss in a shooter (altough the engine is more forgiving.. you need to aim pretty good, but not as good as in a shooter-game).
Guess it's a matter of flavor what you like more, for me Tera combat is much more interesting, and as combat is an important part of the game for me, i would pick Tera anyday.
No reason too eat me up for that though .-)
I really can't understand all that rage going on here. In my opinion both games will be awesome. GW2 will be absolutely great (and even no monthly fee) and will hit the mmo market like a truck. Tera, while not having too much innvovation elsewhere has an really outstanding combat-system.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but in case you didn't notice: you can test Tera yourself (only?) this weekend at the Open-Beta-Test.
http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test
You can be close in range of that target and use spells but every single on of them might miss the target. For instance, warrior might smash his sword and while he's doing that whoever isn't targeted but is close enough to get hit, will get hit. So you don't have to tab target someone, you can simply walk close enough and smash your spell buttons.
Combat in WoW isn't really what GW2 has, it can be compared but it's not the same since you can cast your spells when you don't have anyone targeted, you can move while casting and dodge. There's also enviromental weapons (like rocks, torches, and stuff like that which adds a whole new set of spells in your weapons bar).
Also, I played games which had targeting done like TERA has and it's nothing special, gets really tedious really fast.
EDIT: also, dodge roll can be used as a defense against mobs as well and it's an important mechanic if you want to survive when fighting 2 mobs or even 1. Depends on the situation and the mob.
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
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I would say the combat mechanics is closer to Rift with the ability to customize your skillbar better, and change builds on the fly, which makes it much better than WoW. However which the exclusion of dodge mechanic which is more of a defensive cooldown and not an actual dodge due to how targeting works, GW2's combat looks eerily familiar. If you did like the style of WoW and Rift PvP you'll definitely like GW2 more than Tera as Tera's combat is completely different from all other MMOs.
Don't really know much about Tera's combat, but GW2's is vastly different from WoW and the WoW-clones. Targetting is optional for many skills, and even if you've targetted one target assorted skills will hit many regardless. Combat is fast and almost chaotic, until you start to realize you can't play it like WoW at all. Instead of burning your skills when a cooldown is over you need to watch your foe, look for tells in their casting and react accordingly. There's a recent mesmer video where one of the devs is playing the mesmer... it's hugely different from watching the press beta folks. You see him, for example, creating some clones and attacking, then when the mob starts to wind up an attack he detonates the clones to interrupt it. Other times the mob will be about to nail him so he'll shatter with F4 to give himself a few seconds of distortion to avoid taking the hits.
Position and positioning is critical to a more successful gameplay. Some skills give bonus damage or effects when used from a flank or behind. Others will be stopped by obstacles, will miss if the target changes direction on you, etc. You can cast any non-channeled ability while moving as well, adding to the whole effect.
Ah, can't forget weapon swapping! With a quick tap of the ` key (left of 1) you swap primary and secondary weapons, giving you new skillbars on the fly to add greater versatility in combat. A ranger may, for example, have dual axes equipped for his ranged weapons of choice and decide to go with a greatsword for close in action. Another may choose a longbow for long distance powerful attacks and a shortbow for closer quicker ranged attacks and rely on his movement to keep him out of danger. Both rangers will play dramatically differently.
Of course we're also familiar with cross-profession combos I assume? Many skills/spells are considered "initializers", others are "finishers". An elementalist may, for example, drop down a firewall between the foes and himself. Our bow equipped ranger might see this, adjust his position to put the firewall (an initializer) between himself and his enemy and fire through the firewall, adding fire damage to his attacks (finishers). There are a huge amount of possible combos in game, and it's being left to the players to experiment and find them all.
Another major difference that directly affects combat is the lack of player roles in GW2. Gone are the days of tank/healer/dps differenciation. Now you have basically three aspects of combat: damage, control and support. It's the skills you take and the traits you equip that will give each character a blend of all these aspects at his disposal at the same time. A mesmer with a greatsword will have basic damage on skill one for example (the purple laser), a controlling damage on 2 (jam your sword in the ground, a sword appears from under the ground and impales the foe from beneath), etc. You may have your phantasms traited to provide a regeneration bonus when allies are near them, adding support to the group. You'll have knockbacks for more control and damage, etc. In addition to and reinforcing the "all-in-one" player is the fact that you cannot target and cast on allies, rendering the "I'll heal you massively" idea defunct. No one can target and heal an ally through damage. The best you can do is AoE splash healing and providing boons (buffs) to your allies to help them along. Everyone is ultimately responsibile for their own health, and everyone has their healing skill on slot 6. By being mostly self-reliant on self-healing, it emphasizes the need to move, avoid damage, etc.
Ultimately you wind up with a fast-paced responsive combat system that has taken your eyes off the UI and put them back to watching the combat where they belong. Read and react. Move. Position. Dodge. It's an extremely fun and engaging system that will be easy to pick up (once you stop trying to play like the MMOs you're used to) but will be challenging to master.
Someone with knowledge of Tera will need to provide a synopsis of that system, I have no experience with it. But it should be clear my personal favorite. See you in Tyria.
Oderint, dum metuant.
BACK TO THE TOP OF THE FORUMZ!!!!
17 days since initial post, and the video is STILL private!
So... how's work or school been going for you guys out there?
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
The problem with TERA is that as soon as a Lancer is in your group, the fight pretty much devolves into your standard MMO tank and spank with gimmicks. When you're soloing/2-manning BAMs is when the game is at its best. You need to know every nuance of every move and know exactly what move to use in response to each move the boss uses. You also have to adjust your options on the fly based on your cooldown usage and MP. However, if a Lancer is there to grab all the aggro you can just wail on the boss without any regard to any of that, which completely kills the game for me.
TERA's combat is irrelevant since virtually nobody outside of Korea will end up playing it.
GW2 wins by default.
exactly, its a Korean MMO made by Koreans for Koreans.
Get a clue, stay the F away from it.
Also GW2 is pretty meh just for reference, its the most face roll combat iv ever seen..atleast in pvp...PVE requires a little more thinking sometimes.
SKYeXile
TRF - GM - GW2, PS2, WAR, AION, Rift, WoW, WOT....etc...
Future Crew - High Council. Planetside 1 & 2.