OnlineWelten Talks to Jason "BrotherMagneto" Mical Follow

It seems that once again, Western players are showing an obsession with Popori reproduction, while also being concerned with armors being too sexy despite the lore explaining it all. I'm sure many will be happy to hear that there will be upcoming talks about an achievement system. Regarding the Valkyon points, part of the political system and PvP, and how political clout is best gained by defeating skilled enemies or others with clout, it seems a bit similar to Aion's Abyss Points system which scales PvP rewards by rank comparison. Other good news to hear is that a database will be offered, as well as providing an open API for people to get character data and other things.

The interview with En Masse Entertainment's Community Director, Jason "BrotherMagneto" Mical was originally posted in English at OnlineWelten across pages four, five, and six.

Onlinewelten: Hello Jason, thank you very much for your time. Could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a bit about your work, please?

Jason Mical: I’m Jason Mical, Community Director at En Masse Entertainment. In my position here, I work with the PR, Marketing, and Web directors to ensure that our strategies are all designed to work together toward a common vision, that the things we do in community fit in with all of the company's initiatives, and most importantly, that what we do is fun for you guys. If I had to summarize my job in one sentence it would be this: think about all the times I’ve been involved in communities and thought “holy crap, wouldn’t it be cool if they did this,” and then make this a reality here at En Masse for the TERA community.

Onlinewelten: We read that TERA is going to be a sandbox game. Could you explain that a bit further? What makes TERA a sandbox game?

Jason Mical: Players will be able to explore the world openly from the time they leave the Island of Dawn, our starting area, without being restricted by their character's experience level or which quests they have (or haven't) completed. Of course, they might find that some areas are extremely dangerous at low levels....

Onlinewelten: Will the races in TERA have a special race bonus?

Jason Mical: There are no racial bonuses to stats in TERA, although we’re exploring racial skills that will help differentiate races beyond the obvious aesthetic differences.

Onlinewelten: Most western players are not happy about the female Popori. Do you think about a re-design for the western version of TERA? Besides that, how do the Poporis reproduce themselves?

Jason Mical: [Guest reply by David Noonan, Lead Writer] What you’re seeing there is actually two different kinds of nature spirits. Most poporis have taken on the forms of woodland animals—fitting given their role as protectors of the world’s wild places. The female poporis are more like dryads or wood nymphs, and they’ve taken on the appearance of the original goddess of the wilderness in tribute to her. (There’s a whole mythology about that, which we gradually reveal in gameplay.) Finally, as nature spirits, neither sort of popori procreates in the traditional sense.

Onlinewelten: The female armor design is too sexy for the most western players as well. Are you considering changing it?

Jason Mical: Nope.

Onlinewelten: What will be the main way to level up in TERA: Questing or killing mobs? Or will both, doing quests and grinding, be equally efficient?

Jason Mical: Our goal is to make every action involved in leveling up organic to the overall story and the individual player and group/guild goals. Quests are the primary method for gaining experience. We're constantly refining the pacing of the game and the process of leveling up by conducting focus group tests and ongoing beta tests. Our production team is working very closely with the development team in Korea to ensure that the game feels good to Western audiences.

Onlinewelten: Do you plan to implement an achievement system? If yes, could you give us a short description about the accomplishments, progression and rewards?

Jason Mical: Ah yes, achievements! We’ll talk more about those in the coming weeks.

Onlinewelten: Looking at the endgame: What do you offer high level players in TERA to keep them busy?

Jason Mical: TERA’s endgame will involve the full spectrum of things you expect from an MMO, including battling in dungeons with PvE instances; taking to the battlegrounds to fight for honor; working the economy by crafting, enchanting, and playing the market. Additionally, players will be able to influence the history of each server by participating in the in-game political system. We also understand the importance of alternate characters, so you will see some goodies for the altaholics in TERA as well!

Onlinewelten: And how does the endgame PvP look like? Open PvP, Battlegrounds and/or other PvP features?

Jason Mical: Open PvP is on a server-by-server basis. All servers will feature battlegrounds, duels, and other PvP features. Players who want to participate in PvP at the endgame will find they have plenty of options.

Onlinewelten: Will you reward PvP actions with special points - we heard something about valkyon points?

Jason Mical: Valkyon points are part of the political system, and yes they are associated with PvP as well. Political clout can be gained by defeating enemies—especially very skilled ones—or enemies with clout of their own.

Onlinewelten: Will the economy be a central aspect of TERA, or is it just a "nice to have" feature like in World of Warcraft and some other MMORPGs?

Jason Mical: The economic system plays an important role in TERA, and players will have a surprising degree of control over it.

Onlinewelten: Will the strongest crafted weapons and armors be as good as any other kind of items we can loot in-game? Or are they even better?

Jason Mical: The current plan is to make the highest-end items exclusive to raid boss drops, but crafted items can come very close to these high-end items. We’ll talk more about the crafting and enchanting systems soon, and get more in-depth about what exactly that means.

Onlinewelten: How can we get resources for crafting? Do we gather them only or can we get some materials from mobs?

Jason Mical: You’ll get resources through a variety of ways: gathering, drops, trading, and so on.

Onlinewelten: Does TERA have voice-overs in-game? If yes, even in German and the other localized languages?

Jason Mical: There will be some voice-overs in TERA, and the plan is to translate and localize them into French and German as well.

Onlinewelten: Could you reveal your test plans? When are the next focus tests, closed and open beta phases?

Jason Mical: We’re still working out when the next testing phase will take place and what it will look like. When we’re ready to move forward, we’ll let the community know ASAP!

Onlinewelten: When will you publish a German website for TERA? Do you have a German Community Team already?

Jason Mical: We had plans to relaunch the website recently, which included a German translation, but we had to push back the launch date a bit. It should happen within the next couple of months, though. We don’t have any European-based community teams at the current time, no.

Onlinewelten: What are your plans for the gamescom in Cologne? Can the community look forward to a hands-on demo? If yes, how many demo stations will be there?

Jason Mical: We’re still finalizing our plans for Gamescom. Our plan is to give the community as much hands-on time with the game as we can!

Onlinewelten: Will you offer a TERA database where the players can see the characters, server statistics and so on?

Jason Mical: We will offer a database, but the extent to which information will be open and what exactly will be available are both under debate.

Onlinewelten: Will there be an open API to get character data and so on to set up own databases?

Jason Mical: Yes, this is our current plan.

Onlinewelten: Last but not least: Is there anything else you want to tell us and our readers about TERA?

Jason Mical: If anyone is attending Comic-Con in San Diego later this month, be sure to come to our community event there. We’ll be revealing some never-before-seen stuff, which the community will then have free reign to share as they like! And good news my German friends: we’ll be doing the same in Cologne, as well. With all new information!