You know, imagining this fight in my head made me remember the scene from Lord of the Rings (the first movie) where the fellowship is fighting the cave troll inside the Mines of Moria. I think boss fights in this game are going to end up being a lot like that fight. Anyone who gets hit by a raging cave troll is going to be very badly hurt, so you're going to need to do a lot of crazy dodging, hiding behind poles, etc. Occasionally some adrenaline junky with a shield (Lancer) might throw himself in front of the mob to save some dumb DD who fell down.
Fighting like that is a lot more realistic way to fight a troll than one guy tanking him by standing there trading blows while archers shoot from the walls. Also, I noticed that big fights in TERA seem to come with a lot of additional little mobs, in addition to a boss that can kick your ***, so the similarity between the game and the cave troll fight are even closer.
TERA Hands-On at E3
We do a little pirate hunting in the world of Arborea to see what all the fuss is about in Bluehole Studios' new fantasy MMO.
We were able to bypass a few other dreadnaughts on the beach and worked our way up the path toward the pirate lair. We encountered a few other Red Lash pirate mobs, such as Butchers and two-headed Kazuur Syndicate Overseers, but none were party mobs and were easily dispatched, despite a couple of horrendous attacks on the air around me when I forgot to keep my reticule focused on the enemy.
As we reached the summit, we encountered some new party mobs called Juggernauts. These beasts had a nasty stun that would freeze you in place if you didn’t dodge out of the way of their frontal attack. Luckily, I was only stunned once, and the healer did a good job of saving my butt, so it wasn't long before the Juggernaut was down.
Just beyond the dead body we saw a larger Juggernaut, which turned out to be the pirate leader. Our guide and color commentator warned us of his special attacks and reminded us how we should use our own abilities. Then, the Berserker charged in.
The battle was epic, in the sense we were all new to TERA gameplay. Unfortunately, I was the first to die, stunned twice and slashed, stomped and beaten unmercifully into the dirt. The healer was the next to bite it, which may have been my fault as he was trying to get in range to heal me and my death turned the boss to him. Eventually, it came down to our Sorcerer against the pirate lord. Now Fony has some solid MMO experience and it showed as he deftly moved, dodged and kited the boss around in circles, up hills and across ledges. He stayed alive for almost a full minute after the rest of us died, finally succumbing to a slash he couldn’t roll away from.
TERA has been flying under the radar of many of the mainstream sites, but I've been closely following this one because of the pedigree of Bluehole Studios and their devotion to trying to push the envelope of MMO design and gameplay. The mythos they have developed is intriguing and the graphics and environment are imaginative and inviting. While the game is still several months from release, the dev team seems to be on the right track to break the World of Warcraft mold.
In the meantime, I'll need to work on my moves just a bit more.
Other E3 content for TERA:
- ZAM Video Interview with Senior Producer Brian Knox
- E3 Trailer
- E3 Screens