While TERA has been out for years on PC, it is but a little weed to console gamers prior to its recent release in 2018. And with that comes the newbies to the scene that has no knowledge whatsoever on how to “git gud” and become a pro dungeon runner or just be classy as fuck! These are my own commandments that I would like to bestow upon you my dear internet lurkers.
- Thou shall level smart not hard!
First and foremost, this is the most crucial part as a newbie and diving into the fray can be a bit too much at first. There’s a ton, and I do mean A TON of stuffs at which you can do so it’s fairly easy to get lost and what must be done.
Leveling can be done in a multitude of ways one of which is doing your main quests that is marked with red exclamation and question marks with an asterisk sign one it’s done. But after reaching level 20 or so, you are then allowed to join instance matching from the menu which of course gives tons of experience points for every kill and completion itself. Keep doing them as long as you’re able and you can reach level cap in a full day or so.
But here’s the catch! Not every class has the same amount of estimated time to get a match as there’s only one tank and healer per dungeon but it requires three DPS classes for each of them so waiting blindly can be a gruesome experience as a DPS. Now as a DPS, you can then do your main quests and active vanguard requests to earn additional experience during your downtimes. Also knowing a tank and healer then partying up will almost queue all of you up instantly so take advantage of that.
- Thou shall learn thy skills and rotations
Now here comes the second most important thing in the game, skills! And no I’m not talking about how good you are at holding your breath underwater or the fact that you can move your ears freely in an alternating manner… here I want you guys and gals to know the effects of your skills before doing anything like dungeons that could wipe your whole team out if the healer or the tank itself doesn’t know what their skills do. Each and every skill is unique to their class and has special traits like a brawler that can nullify frontal damage while casting some of its skills or a mystic that has a buff that can’t be use simultaneously with other buffs or the fact that thralls can cancel each other out like summoning a thrall of life can de-summon a thrall of protection.
And for any class, skill rotations are pretty important thanks to glyphs that can change or buff other skills in a chain and simply the fact that skill rotations let you have a good rotation of skills without or with just a bit of downtime to avoid using filler skills in between. BUT OF COURSE! While rotation is important, survivability is a priority so take it to heart and dodge when necessary.
- Thou shall learn thy roles in a team fight
Now just knowing your skills and rotation is never enough! Playing a DPS class simply means you go in the back getting as much damage as possible and surviving as best as you can, so yeah! I said it… don’t be a show-off and start playing smart. While a TANK’s role is simply pulling the “aggro” out of your DPS and healer teammates and of course blocking off incoming damage instead of lashing out like a frontline DPS while waiting the heals. A healer however is basically what it sounds like, the job to heal… mainly the tank and to cleanse debuffs while also giving out some support auras or debuffing bosses.
- Thou shall learn thy dungeon mechanics beforehand
The one thing I really hate when it comes to mechanic based dungeons are people who “YOLO” a dungeon and instead of living once, they end up reviving a hundred times over. Please just please! Adapt and be aware of the surroundings as I played a tank and healer in the console version, there’s always those guys who can’t get a clue and always, just always walk right in death zones two or even three times over. Are you freaking blind? Get a bigger monitor, my friend! And while you wait for your monitor delivery, go on Youtube and watch a dungeon run while also reading a written guide for them.
- Thou must avoid the red marks and eat thy fallen balls
The game is by no means a turn-based combat where you attack and they take it head on and you would have to do the same, freaking dodge that! While playing my healer, more specifically a mystic, it freaks me out when my DPS teammates require more healing than the actual tank itself. And of course as a mystic it’s my job to drop my balls everywhere because those red and blue balls, otherwise known as motes can heal your HP and MP while also cleansing negative status effects… so grab a ball and swallow while I focus on cleansing the tank! Thank you very much.
- Thou shall communicate with thy mic
“One does not simply encode a message in the middle of a boss fight.” Then expects the whole team to read it while the healer and tank is doing their roles. Use a microphone, even the cheapest of headsets can do the job better than your $100-$150 mechanical keyboard.
- Thou shall use thy optimal gear and enhancements
There’s always those people… the cheapskates that either can’t afford spellbinds and semi-enigmatic scrolls or just thrashed their gold on something else that’s completely useless and that’s a BIG NO NO. Gearing up for mechanic-heavy dungeons is a major priority for teams since it would dictate on how fast and effective each player is for them. So having equipment rolls that actually complement your role is one of the key ingredients to a successful run. Who’d even want to run with a DPS class that has the wrong crystals attached, activated glyphs that doesn’t complement each other or the rolls that simply doesn’t make sense? Just me? And of course this goes with every other class too. So “git gud”
- Thou must do vanguard requests for thy rewards
Not strong enough for end-game dungeons? Out of gold for enhancements? Do your daily vanguard requests from the menu. Most importantly, Celestial Arena, BAM Quests and ACE Dungeons gives out Tier 10 feedstocks, vanguard credits and intercede tokens at which you can get your fix of Tier 10 Guile set and demense accessories to give you that extra boost of confidence and insurance once you tackle the high-end squad dungeons and of course Celestial Arena also has a chance of awarding some pretty good loots like a Lilith Treasure Chest some Demense accessories or even a crystal box.
- Thy toon can look bad-ass but play thy part
This part goes hand in hand with #7 because no matter how bad-ass you look, it will never help you in clearing dungeons and while I don’t hate people that focuses more on being cool as fuck, it just annoys the fuck out of me when you happen to join them in a dungeon and they die in the simplest of traps and that’s the lamest thing to see in a game.
- Thy game must have an option to remove thy profanity filter
Now comes the worst of the worst, filtering! I mean like seriously, you encode a freakishly long wall of text then a second later it’s deemed inappropriate for viewing. Ban the word not the whole thing!
And these are just the ones that has stood out for my first few weeks playing TERA on consoles after leaving TERA PC a few years back. And I have to say that I enjoyed it more back then than what I have experienced now. The leveling experience itself has been shortened as you get to higher levels much faster compared to before thus making the number of players that know how to play slightly less than what it should be. I level up through dungeons way too fast as a healer and tank, ITS CRAZY! Live by these rules or ignore it if you may. At the end of the day, you either “git gud” or die trying!
