Well, the Good Thing.
Which is how skill synergies work. Maybe this is why Tera's combat is supposed to be unique, because I honestly never saw a skill system where skills work so well together.
In Vanguard, you apply flags on the enemy, which may cause some other skills work differently, do bigger damage or add extra conditions. This is a good idea, but there are too many flags, their usage is not consistent, and, basically, who the hell is able to remember all of these for all the skills, when you have 50 different ones?
In Guild Wars 2, you have the combos. That is a good system too, but fairly limited, because there are just so many possible combos. Still, it makes a difference if you use them.
These two are mainly good for teams. While you can definitely do some combos alone in GW2, you will not be able to do all. In Tera, on the other hand, your synergies are planned for you. Let me give you an example.
As of now, on level 7, my sorcerer has the following damaging skills (can't recall the exact names, will use a generic description):
- Fireball, this is a quick, low damage ranged spell, range is 20m
- Jump back, this is moving the character backwards quickly without changing the direction. The range is about 10m.
- Fire pillar: This one conjures a big flame pillar right in front of the character with a limited range aoe damage.
- Magma Bomb: It's a short range aoe attack. The range is about 10m.
- Trap: This one places a trap in front of me, that stays there for 10 seconds, and will explode on the enemy who steps in it.
So, where are the synergies? One, for example is the same range of jump back and magma bomb: after jumping back you throw a bomb where you stood, doing aoe damage. Or the simple fact that fire pillar does AOE damage, and seems to stun the targets as well, so when a group of enemies surround you, you can use that one, then jump back, then throw the magma bomb.. And I didn't even mention the Trap spell yet, which can be cast before you start the fight.
It's also worth to note that most skills are instant casts too, so the only factor that slows you down a bit is global cooldown. Obviously, skills have their own CDs, and mana cost as well, but that's ok. They are usually there when you need them, but you are not able to spam the enemy with Magma Bombs, which is just how it should be.
So, all in all, combat is fun, I like the quick pace, and love these combinations. I am curious what it is like with the other classes, too. Still not motivated to play with Tera for long, but planning for a bit longer stay now than yesterday.
you can also customise skills in certain ways with glyphs later on which are bought in the majot cities. glyph points are limited as well and increase with your level. it becomes quite a trade off.. although there really isn't (or wasn't when i played extensively) that many glyphs to get though and many are the obvious choice.
ReplyDeleteAn example of one for the sorcerer is adding a chill effect to the jump back.. waiting for the right time or getting in close then using is one part of later tactics.. especially in pvp.
anther part of customisation is the the cryrstals you slot into your weapons and chests.. you should see the icons next to your gear where they go and they are available from the general vendors. these are more basic stat increases and benefits.. hp, mp, stuns, armour. There not a huge part but really do make a nice difference, these do get damaged quite often after death though.
hope your having fun.. the initial slog is rather bad.. monsters are weak and offer no challenge and you don't have a nice collection of skills yet, it starts getting better into the 20s
Replying to both the Tera posts here: I'd say definitely persevere past 20 if you can. I noticed from 20 onwards the gameplay becomes more tactical.
ReplyDeleteI play priest and can definitely recognise the skill synergies you talk about. I often use the staff slam to AoE damage with knockdown so I can follow up with the heavy damage AoE lightning attack (final reprisal followed by shocking implosion). Timing these synergies is very satisfying when you manage to do it well, though with the cooldowns and "stand still to cast" that's not always easy.
I'd say it's better to push as high as possible with one class rather than give in to trying lots of different ones in this game - you'll get to experiment with the character customisation (glyphs and crystals) more that way.
All in all I've been very surprised by Tera. I expected it to be boring questing and repetitive combat, but actually despite the smaller skillset it manages to keep me interested. The questing gets a lot of bad press but it's no worse than the stories in Rift or other traditional quest-hub style games.
Thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteThe set of skills is indeed small yet, but it already shows promise. (I advanced to lvl 8 yest, but didn't have time to go back and learn the new skills)
I'll stick to this character then, and take it up to 25 before trying an alt. Sadly, I can't go to dungeons, etc, so it's all about solo..
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