TERA as a CoX pacifier

[crashpositron]

Champions was my main MMORPG until recently, but it bites in the teaming / sidekicking area and the world is soooo small - there are like 4 zones you spend almost the whole game in.
I am currently playing TERA (free-to-play).  It lacks in the Costume Creator area as compared to CoX - but then most things do   
What you have is extreme control over face, but the rest of the body and outfit  is set by your role.  (At least until you get enough gold / resources to make costumes).  And, when you get a good equipment drop, it shows up on your toon as you equip it.  So, you don't have much control over what you look like.
On the other hand, the graphics, animations, music and scenery are gorgeous and the world is amazingly huge.  There are good stories and interesting characters to meet and it has a engrossing back story / mythology.  It should be getting a big boost as it is being added to Steam.
Haven't really had a chance to try the teaming there and there is a open PvP that I hate (nothing like getting down to a few HP fighting a mob of 12 monsters and having some random high-level player come by and snipe you dead).
However, as a temporary pacifier until some CoX sucessor comes along, I can recommend it.  At least there is a big enough game world here that you will be exploring it for some time.

[Shenku]

I tried it for a bit, was kind of fun. It's like a cross between WoW and an action game.

Only down side I've run into that makes me less wanting to play it, is the over sexualization of the characters, and the attitude by a lot of people about the Elin race being there as pedo-bait...

If you can ignore the general chat non-sense, and get past the skimpy "less armor is more" designs for female characters, it's actually pretty fun.

[AmberOfDzu]

Haven't really had a chance to try the teaming there and there is a open PvP that I hate (nothing like getting down to a few HP fighting a mob of 12 monsters and having some random high-level player come by and snipe you dead).

Some of the servers are PvE rules. On those servers, there is no open world PvP; only PvP in accepted duels, Guild vs Guild, battlegrounds and alliance territory.

Tera's a fine game in many respects; I've played there on and off since it launched for NA. The community can be pretty bad though, I often turn off global chat. Parts of it can be quite friendly too, but those are harder to find.

[crashpositron]

Declared duels?  I've been shot dead several times without notice or warning - not even a PvP warning from the HUD

[AmberOfDzu]

Declared duels?  I've been shot dead several times without notice or warning - not even a PvP warning from the HUD

You must be on one of the Full-PvP servers. There are others that are PvE.

The current server list is:

Ascension Valley -- PvE
Tempest Reach -- PvE
Celestial Hills -- Roleplay/PvE

Mount Tyrannus -- PvP
Lake of Tears -- PvP
Valley of Titans -- PvP

On the first three servers, you can't be attacked in normal zone questing. On the three latter listings, you can be attack and killed almost anywhere at anytime by anyone.

There's a Roleplay server, but roleplay is not enforced.

[crashpositron]

Yep, the toon is on Lake of Tears

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Yep, the toon is on Lake of Tears

That's a really appropriate name for a PvP server...

[crashpositron]

One of the things I liked about CoH PvE was diving into a big mob with a scrapper (WillPower/Street was my favorite) and beating the whole mess.
In Champions, you can take about 3 or 4, more if you use the Block power a lot.
TERA combat is based a lot on moving. Most of the toons I've tried have defensive moves.  If you see an enemy about to take a swing at you, you can dodge out of the way.  Your character is always jumping left or right or back to stay out of the enemy's attacks.
I just made my first Warrior in TERA and found with the defensive moves she has, and the always-moving combat in TERA, I can get the same sort of thrills I did with my scrappers!

[AmberOfDzu]

It certainly has mobility. I haven't played them all, but all the ones I've played have been very mobile; even the Lancer. Charges, back-steps, leashes, gap closers, leaps, jumps, teleports, and so on. For the DPS classes, a lot of the challenge is in getting mobs to cluster to hit them with AoEs; or getting behind the baddies at the right angle to get really high damage hits in. Before they nerfed most of the open-world BAMs, it was heart-pounding fun. If you had the talent, you could solo creatures far over your normal weight-class (I didn't have that kind of talent, but I had enough to enjoy trying. ^_^ ).