TERA (The Exiled Realm of Arborea) was a subscription based Action Combat MMORPG when it launched in Korea in 2011. By 2013, the game had undergone a free-to-play conversion that brought a great number of new players into TERA. Developed by Bluehole Studios, TERA is most well-known for its combat. Rather than use traditional MMORPG tab targeting, TERA opts for an action combat system based on movement, positioning, aiming, and successful execution of skill combinations. Recent class additions, like the Brawler, have even pushed the action combat into the realm of fighting game like controls since the Brawler is able to actually juggle enemies and dish out the damage.



When you create a new character in TERA you will not be choosing a faction but you will have to choose from one of the seven currently available races. Careful though. Your choice of race can limit what classes are available to you. Decide what class you want to be first, then pick one of the races that allow you to be that class. There are currently 11 classes available in TERA: Archer, Berserker, Lancer, Mystic, Priest, Reaper, Slayer, Sorcerer, Warrior, Gunner, and Brawler. Again, some classes are race and gender locked to specific race/gender combinations.



Once in game, players will take on a multitude of quests, dungeons, missions, daily quests, PvP matches (when you reach the appropriate level), and other content on their way to level cap through a traditional experience/leveling system. The fantasy world of TERA is beautifully rendered and is visually fantastic to explore.



For those of a more social persuasion, TERA features a voting system allowing guilds to become leaders based on how players on the server vote. The leaders of the elected guilds are named Vanguards and have some new functionality open to them.



While recent expansions and updates have added the usual new content (quests, dungeons, classes, etc) some updates have added totally new features to the game. Recent additions such as Guild Housing and the “Returning Player” assistance menu have made TERA a place for players to come back to even if they’ve been away from the game for a while.