As a giant rock monster ravages my group, I curse the entire cuddly, cub-sized Popori race. They may be cute, but they're darn hard to heal. Size matters in the MMORPG TERA for the same reason it does in an FPS: the bigger you are, the easier you are to hit—even for me, their healer. And right now, I'm having a tough time keeping those tiny woodland creatures in my health-restoring crosshairs.
It's exhilarating. My Priest's primary healing spell mends two targets simultaneously, but only as fast as I can click them—if I can click them at all. I get the odd sensation that I'm tethering my teammates together with holy ropes as I click-drag-click frantically around my group to keep their health bars full.
As I heal, ability suggestions pop up on my screen, letting me hit spacebar to continue down a chain of like-minded spells, similar to Aion's spell chain system. When I cast an area-of-effect damage spell as a Mystic, it recommends another AoE spell to follow it up. I tap Spacebar to accept and a wave of white light knocks back all the enemies around me. When I fall down, I slap Spacebar to bring all my allies to their feet with me as I rise.
I rarely look down at the interface; it's more useful to keep my eyes on the action, gauging enemy movement and teleporting around to make sure that line-of-sight on my allies is never broken. It reminds me of playing a Medic in Team Fortress 2—always on the move, always keeping an eye on the big picture—except that in TERA, I have tons of options for how to heal my teammates.
I love playing a support role in groups—the satisfaction that comes from being the unsung hero that helps others achieve great feats is addicting. But all too often, boredom gets the better of me: I go stir-crazy sitting at the back of raids playing whack-a-mole on a row of character portraits. That's why I'm so enthused by my weekend spent in TERA's beta—it looks poised to do the impossible: make healers exciting, skill-based, and genuinely fun to play.
Watch 'em in action!
Breakdown of the two healers: Priests and Mystics
Priest (Left)
Priests live to heal. They don't fuss with mana regen or crowd control—if it's friendly and has a health bar, the Priest will find a way to keep that health bar filled.
- Healing Circle: Draw a circle on the ground that heals all allies standing in it over time. Another spell does the same thing, but with a smaller radius and much faster healing, for coordinated groups.
- Blessing of Zenobia: Sometimes the safest tactic is to run away. This 10-minute speed buff helps your teammates outrun enemies whenever they drop out of combat.
My best moment: Pulling off a flawless streak of five lifesaving heal shots on our tank and top DPS through a chaotic battlefield to save the day.
Mystic (Right)
There are many more ways to support teammates than just filling their health bar: Mystics restore mana, control enemies, command pets, and summon health or mana potions to help allies help themselves.
- Titanic Wrath: The best way to survive a fight is to end it quickly. Help your team get it done by boosting the attacks of all nearby allies for 25 seconds.
- Thrall of Life: While you're looking out for everyone else, who's looking out for you? Summon a little faerie that'll heal and remove debuffs on you, so that you can stay focused on healing others.
My best moment: Covering an entire bridge with consumable healing orbs before my group started a last stand-style mission. This tactic made me available for DPS during the battle, and we all lived.
