There has been a bunch of updates on external sites lately. Since we're ZAM, it seems strange to cover news on other fan sites. Usually, I'll wait until there's a bunch of stories and mash them together in one post like this. Hopefully it's not too confusing! We've got a lot of content, like MarkeeDragon.com publishing a video interview with Brian Knox (En Masse) @ Gamescon 2010, TERAHispano.com published an interview with Pat Wyatt (En Masse), MMORPG.com published an article about their combat exercise back at E3, and TERA-Welten.de published a video of a Q&A session with Jason Mical (En Masse). If you want to dive right in, be my guest and click the above links. If you're not sure if you're interested, click "Read more..." and preview more content from each link!

p.s. TERAFans.com got an extended version of the Gamescom 2010 trailer originally posted on IGN.com. It has a few more seconds of footage over the original: http://www.terafans.com/topic/4594-exclusive-gamescom-extended-trailer/

In a quick double update, Scapes has posted new information on TERA times two. Both updates have to do with the south-eastern region of TERA, called Allemantheia. The city is called the "Desert Jewel", but I live in Arizona, and this desert doesn't have any jewels that I know about.

This is the city of the elves, center of their culture and racial identity. Built soon after their arrival on Shara, it reflects much of the people it represents. Aloof, mysterious, unknowable, visitors to the city have been known to stop and stare at some feature for hours, then suddenly realize the statue they've been studying is actually a doorway.

Official Allemantheia Page: http://www.tera-online.com/about_tera/world/world_allemantheia.php

Also! We promised screenshots, so please use the link below to head to ZAM's screenshot page for TERA. The two images have already been posted there on the top-left.

TERA Screenshots @ ZAM: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9670

In a pleasantly surprising announcement, Scapes with En Masse Entertainment broke the news that IP blocking won't be implemented to block, say, European players from playing on North American servers and vice versa. This is great news, showing that PC gaming is a step ahead of the curve as always. We hear enough stories about region-locked this and DRM-that on other sites, so this is nice and refreshing. Obligatory quote from Scapes:

"Our goal is to give players the choice as to which server they are going to discover the world of TERA. In a time that players are becoming more connected around the world, we believe that IP blocking has no place in a world class Action MMO. Note that accounts created with one publisher will not be able to access the other publisher’s servers. Additionally, player data such as characters or progression will not be shared or transferrable between different publishers’ servers."

Official announcement: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9682

In yet another multi-update post, we bring you all of the recent official forum announcements of offsite TERA coverage. Due to Gamescon 2010 recent occurrence, a lot of press attending the event have posted their TERA impressions among other games. Sorry we couldn't be there ourselves, but there's always next time.

IGN's TERA Impressions from Gamescom 2010

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I personally liked this impression. It's very detailed for an encounter that the writer, Charles Onyett, describes as being a relatively short play session. It's recommended that up and coming spellcasters in training read this one. A paragraph from the article:

"My role during the fights was fairly simple – stay out of range of the enemies' melee attacks and relentlessly toss fire and ice of single-target and area of effect varieties at enemies until they keeled over. Very often I'd have to recharge mana, and would have to carefully position myself during these times since the initial casting duration required I stay rooted to one spot. The trick of combat was the enemies are constantly moving around, meaning I had to take care where I was aiming when readying an attack, something that was especially important since a few abilities had sizeable charge up times."

Full article @ IGN.com: http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1114998p1.html

Don't forget to hit "Read More..." to see three more news announcements!

We reported about TERA being present at Gamescon 2010 recently. An update on that: There's a new TERA trailer, exclusive to Gamescom and posted on IGN.com. This trailer goes over the story of TERA and what you, the player, will actually be involved in. You have to love how all the footage in this video appears to be in-game graphics. No pre-rendered CG, you just need a computer buff enough to handle it!

Trailer: Link to video on IGN.com

Official Thread: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9299

Also, there are two new screenshots from a place called Ascension Valley. They have been uploaded to our screenshot archive, which can be found below with a link to the official update. Enjoy!

TERA Screenshots @ ZAM.com: http://www.zam.com/game.html?page=screenshots;game=310

Official Thread: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9378

While I may question some of the winning choices, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Love it or hate it, this one's just for fun, friends. There's not much to show here, so you're just going to have to click through to the official thread to get all the details. Haters gonna hate.

Official results thread: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9349

We called it! The third installment of the new class skills are here! There's a link to video demonstrations in the article, plus the skill icons, so don't hesitate to click on the official article at the bottom. Oh, and let's not forget the information about the skills themselves:

New Lancer Skills

Armor Crush
Deal a blow that decreases your opponent's defense over a period of time. This effect stacks up to three times.

Decisive Blow
Deal a strong blow as you leap toward your opponent. Best used after the last blow of Shield Bash, Shield Wallop, or Consecutive Blow.

New Berserker Skill

Sacrificial Strike
This charge skill uses HP instead of MP, and is a powerful force. Your swing gets stronger the longer you charge this skill, but don't forget to keep an eye on your HP.

Official article: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9347