At PAX East 2012, we had the opportunity to check out action-MMORPG TERA's high-level Twilight Valley dungeon. Teamed up with several other adventurers, we were tasked with a playthrough of this quick but challenging area. The run was fairly fast, low on trash, and featured a massive final boss that had quite a few tricks up his sleeve.
One thing worth mentioning every time TERA comes up is just how incredible the game looks. The graphics are out of this world; to the point players may find themselves wandering around aimlessly in the heat of combat just to admire the details.
The dungeon featured various packs of hard hitting creatures. Some small, some large, and some stationary, the challenges were a good mix. One thing that felt very refreshing was the pacing of the dungeon compared to some of the encounters that we've been taking on in the TERA closed beta. The dungeon was tough enough, but didn't feel like a grind or a chore wading through pack after pack. If there's a proper dungeon recipe, this one has the correct blend of herbs and spices.
The final boss, like many other encounters in TERA, features a plethora of mechanics that require proper tanking, impeccable healing, and good reflexes on your DPS. Playing the DPS warrior in the group, we had a chance to experience some of the high level chain combos that the class is capable of dishing out, and let me tell you, while the warrior we were commanding was certainly decked out, that class can shred things at high levels. The "quick chain" spacebar abilities were essential here to keep my moves going while attempting to dodge the boss's powerful "tell" abilities.
Just as we thought the boss was weakening, it transformed into a new and lethal foe that required considerably more effort to bring down. Luckily for the group, the tank had played TERA a good bit prior to the demo and our healer was an En Masse Entertainment employee, so things went fairly smooth even after the transition.
The superior gear we were wielding throughout the dungeon crawl is standard for a demo of this variety as players that do not normally delve into MMORPGs deserve a chance to survive too.
TERA heads into open beta on April 19 and launches on May 1, 2012.
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