Before you get too excited, don’t expect the ability to loot others, or really gain anything from doing this open world free-for-all PvP, but that doesn’t matter, because it’s just damn fun.
While I was left a little deflated by the PvE experience in TERA, the game had one saving grace that really got me excited to login each night: PvP. Truth be told, I prefer PvP to PvE anyway, so I’m a little bit biased there, but TERA’s PvP sells its combat system much better than its PvE does. Once you get off the newbie island, you’ll be able to learn an ability that lets you designate yourself as an Outlaw. Once activated, this ability allows you to attack anyone (on PvP servers) outside of safe zones such as cities (even if they don’t flag themselves). The catch is, everyone can also attack you on sight without having to expose themselves to attack from other players. There are additional PvP features already in the game, such as dueling, and even instanced battlegrounds on the horizon, but for the time being, the Outlaw system is still tons of fun.
Speaking of actually having to hit people, the melee vs. ranged paradigm in TERA is pretty interesting. Melee characters really deal a lot of damage when they close in, but ranged characters are pretty good at zoning you out. Every ability attempt is a huge consideration for both parties, as the animations essentially root you in place (you can seemingly cancel some moves by rolling at the right time). This is often long enough for the melee character to close distance on a ranged character if they miss or for the ranged character to get just out of range (or punish you hard with a spell) if you improperly time your own abilities. It’s fun rolling out of the way of fireballs as you close the gap on a Sorcerer, as every missed spell makes the situation that much more desperate for him. Once I’m able to get in range the odds felt largely in my favor.