Gameforge announced today that in February 2013, the much-loved fantasy MMO TERA will be switching from the former subscription model to free-to-play. Korean developer Bluehole Studio already announced this switch in December. Now Gameforge follows suit as publisher of the European game version.
Eva Schmitt, Product Director of TERA said:
“We are very pleased to be able to in future offer the game content of TERA to its fans for free and in addition, to offer all who are interested the opportunity to see the quality of the game for themselves.”
The free-to-play model of TERA will have two base account types: the free user and the veteran.
The free user will be able to charge into adventure for free and will receive complete access to the entirety of TERA’s game content. This includes the races, classes, instances, equipment items and player versus player content for example, but also unique features such as the political system. Limitations exist for free users merely in the form of functional option restrictions, such as the number of character slots or the number of safe deposits available.
Players that acquired TERA by purchase will be ranked as veterans and will enjoy free and complete access to all game functions – no matter whether they have a subscription at the time of the switch or not. This will mean more comfort over the free users, for example, with 8 character slots, the complete amount of safe deposits or even a special in-game title, that will help them to stand out as a veteran in the world of Arborea.
Both account types will in addition offer the opportunity to become a member of the TERA Club, which is comparable to the current subscription. Players that currently have a subscription running will receive automatic club membership. Additionally to the content of both account types, members receive further advantages with regard to game comfort: shorter cooldown times for instances, increased experience point yields or an epic mount.
For the start of the free-to-play version of TERA, players can also look forward to a brand new dungeon as well as a new arena for exciting 3 versus 3 battles.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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