User blog:MarkvA/Wikia Q&A Interview with En Masse's David Noona

Several weeks ago, Zikkun held an interview with David Noona, writing team manager at En Masse Entertainment. Aside from getting several burning questions answered, Zikkun also wanted to show En Masse what the TERA Wiki really is, and explain that the wiki's overall motive is to make information about TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea easier to read, free to browse, and full of rich text to every person who's interested to know what entering the realm of Arborea truly means. You can find the full interview below!

Interview
'''Q: There was a minimum uprise of criticizing when the Night Mare surprised the community with the $24.99 price. Would you consider the release of mount as a success, and how would you improve on the matter for future plans on purchasable mounts from the Premium Shop?'''

A: With every update we’ll evaluate community feedback and make changes. We look at both community responses and the data, then use it to adjust for the future. For the Night Mare, we are providing an account-based item that players can claim indefinitely, so it should hit at a higher price point than one-time-use items.

'''Q. We've seen some new skill icons teased on Korean websites related to TERA, does this mean the character level cap will be increasing soon? If so, could you give us a little tease of upcoming content?'''

A: We have no plans of increasing the level cap at this time.

'''Q: Gathering butterflies on Island of Dawn, and Elleon facing Fraya in a fight. We're seen both of them in trailers, yet they appear to have disappeared after development stages at Bluehole Studio. Could you give us a little information about what would gathering butterflies assist players with, and why the story of Elleon and Fraya fighting against each other was scrapped?'''

A: The butterflies were part of an early gathering system that morphed into what you’re playing today. As for Elleon and Fraya...well, Elleon will fight nearly anyone. Heck, Elleon took a poke at me down in the Tenebrous Mines a few weeks ago.

'''Q: Zomporis can be found across Arborea at various places. Is the name a direct translation from the Korean version, or a staff member decided it would be funny to combine the words of Zombie and Popori together? We're interested to know what happened there.'''

A: The zompori name is an invention of R. K. MacPherson, one of our writers. Bluehole took the name and ran with it, and now you’ll see ???(zompori) in the Korean version of the game, too.

'''Q: The world of Arborea is filled with various rich lore, but lore addicts always have their Plothole Detector X912 ready. We've gathered a small list of plot holes we could not manage to find the answers ourselves, but only you could answer them. Our expectation is not a detailed answer, but a simple one to cut all the questions:'''

'''Q: In the story trailer of TERA, goddess Velik calls Elleon by "Kubel". Does it mean it is his first, or last name? And if so, what would Leander's full name be called?'''

A: “Kubel” is an older name for the character you know as Elleon—and it was a name that didn’t work when translated into other languages, so we settled on Elleon. Leander is Elleon’s brother—see the family resemblance?—but they do not share a surname.

'''Q: Fraya is a very popular character in TERA and many wondered what is her full name. In the Japanese voice acting of her, she is listed as "Freiya Rohan". Can we get an official confirmation on her last name, and could you share with us other last names of various characters, such as Samael?'''

A: Fraya is my favorite character, too! In the English version of TERA, Fraya is simply Fraya, and Samael is simply Samael. The characters don’t have surnames—just as players generally don’t have surnames. We made this choice partly for simplicity, and partly because few languages are as compact as Korean. We always try to be concise so everything fits within the UI and you spend more time fighting and less time reading.

'''Q: The Island of Dawn has "raised up in the middle of the ocean", yet it is categorized underneath Southern Arun in the politics system. Is it really part of Arun?'''

A: That’s a matter of political labeling, not mythological origin. Because the first explorers came from Velika, the Valkyon Federation considers the island to be part of the continent of Southern Arun politically. But to find out whether the island is part of the titan named Arun, well, I guess we’d have to wake him and ask...

'''Q: We've bothered En Masse's Game Masters about this quite a bit, but didn't really get the answer we expected. What exactly would Elleon's class be? He carries around a large sword which separates into a greatsword and a one-handed sword. His animations are unique, which brings debate whether he is a warrior or a slayer. Maybe both, or perhaps even neither?'''

A: I’ll use an Olympics analogy. Asking Elleon whether he’s a warrior or slayer is like asking a decathlete whether he’s a sprinter or a pole vaulter.

'''Q: All that is known about Arborea is that Arun and Shara closed their eyes and imagined the wonderous realm, but where did the name originate from? What exactly is the meaning of Arborea?'''

A: We intentionally don’t use the word “Arborea” in the English version of the game, because it doesn’t evoke the wide variety of landscapes you see in TERA. Parts of the world of TERA are certainly arboreal (“of, relating to, or resembling a tree”), but anyone who’s been to Frost Reach or Basilisk Crag knows that trees can be few and far between.