TERA made its move from being a pay-to-play to a free-to-play game earlier this year. Since then, the game has been experiencing its ups and downs. Here we're going to take a look at how the game has gotten better and worse, and help compare its F2P version to that of other games.

Positive Benefits of F2P

For the players that didn't have the disposable income before, or just weren't sure if they'd really enjoy the game, the effect of it becoming free is an obvious positive. Allowing the players to experience end-game and such, especially without having to pay for it, is awesome! We'll hit on that more later in the article though.

For players that have been here for a long time, the benefits also shine through. Without even looking at the new Elite status or the lack of having to continue paying to play, just check out the population. Sure, some servers may have queues now, but compared to the seemingly dead state the game seemed to be in prior, I think this is an excellent trade-off. If you're not interested in the grouping aspect, you still benefit from faster sales on the brokerage, more chatter going on, faster Battlegrounds and faster queues (especially for those that are not at the maximum level yet). And if you wanted to play on a server where you can start fresh with others, the newly released servers are the way to go!

Negative Aspects of F2P

I'd love to claim that the move to F2P has only been positive, but it really hasn't. Spammers and botters are somewhat rare, although still existent to some extent (which is to be expected, so we'll see how EME handles the situation). The other main concern is the cash shop and how it has influenced inflation.

The biggest gold sinks have been removed from the game (Alkahests) and have been traded out for a cash shop equivalent (or drops). What this does is cause players to trade gold among each other, rather than having the game take (destroy) it. As time goes on, older players pile up more and more money, and inflation continues to be an issue. Tack on the increased quest rewards and bonuses Elite subscribers get, and this problem is compounded. You can read more about this at TERAfied.

How Does TERA's F2P Compare?

When it really comes down to it, TERA's F2P system is more like a P2P one but without the cost involved. None of the game is blocked off for any players, and there is nothing you can't achieve in the game without springing for cash shop items or the Elite subscription. A couple of somewhat equally on-par games that went from P2P to F2P are AION and Lineage II, although in a lot of ways both of those games are pay-to-win (where more real-life cash grants bigger in-game benefits than those without the money to throw at the game). And if you want to compare it against a bad model, go with Star Wars: The Old Republic, probably the most limiting game to date, where the publishers appear to be trying to force players to get a subscription by limiting them to the point where it's almost like an unlimited time trial.

If you want to try and compare TERA's new system to that of a purely F2P game, that's a tough one to do. Usually, completely free games rely on cash shops as their sole source of income, and therefore are pretty much forced to go with the pay-to-win model. With TERA, there are also subscriptions to assist with financial contribution, which helps by reducing the burden on how important the cash shop is. As a result, a majority of the items that can be found in the cash shop are just for looks (such as costumes) and things like special mounts (which don't really give a bigger benefit than not having them and instead using others, although again, they are there for looks).

Why TERA's Cash Shop Rocks

Micro-transactions are always a hot topic among players when a game is going with a hybrid payment system (more or less when it's added on top of a subscription system). TERA is no different in that regard, however their method of actually handling the micro-transactions is perfect.

Rather than going with the "you can only have the cash shop items if you pay" method, they allow players to trade most (I think all?) of the items that are available. This follows the idea behind the Chronoscrolls, where they are attempting to combat real-money trading. At the end of the day, they earn the same money, as someone has to purchase the item. Therefore it really doesn't matter who uses it. And this benefits the players by allowing them to use their in-game gold (or items) to obtain things that they may otherwise not have financial access to.

Every time I look at TERA's cash shop, it reminds me of the way I think it should work. Not only are there minimal items that affect the game (Alkahest can be argued to be P2W or not), but since we are able to trade them freely among one another, that just enhances the value. And for those who don't have as much time to play and farm as they would like, this grants them a legal alternative to buying gold that can then be used to purchase the items they need.

In conclusion, TERA has increased in its population and what it offers to players, but at the same time has made some mistakes along the way. While this is true, they have said that they are constantly looking at what is going right and wrong and are working to resolve the problems. It may not be now, or even soon, but I am hopeful that they will find a way to get everything going good. Until then, feel free to join the game (of which you can play the entire thing for free still!) and have fun while you wai
t for changes. As it is now, the game is still well worth putting time into!