TERA is a subscription-based AAA+ title

Word was recently dropped from Xaen, Senior Producer of En Masse Entertainment, that there are no plans on making TERA work under micro-transactions. We already knew that the game would operate under a pay-to-play subscription model, but this news update goes into more detail about the subject. More details from the words of Xaen:

After a press release by Digital River announcing our e-commerce partnership a few players expressed concerns that TERA would be a micro-transaction game in addition to requiring a subscription fee; that is not the case.

TERA is not a micro-transaction or cash-shop item game. The game is built and designed to function as a subscription-based game. We would have to make dramatic changes to the game's design to support micro-transactions and there is no intention of doing so.

TERA will have paid services, which could include character transfer, name change and gender change. We do not have a complete list of these services yet, but we will let you know as we confirm them - those services will likely be available inside the game.

There may be a point in time of TERA's lifecycle that we offer "vanity item" sales, pets, and other items that players have enjoyed in other AAA+ titles.

To clarify the press release further; Digital River OFFERS many options to En Masse to choose from for TERA and for future products we publish.

We're more than happy to answer questions, and hope that this clarification allays any concerns you might have.

The initial wave of confusion over the possibilities of having cash item shops and things of that nature in TERA seems to be calming down after this news was posted. It's always nice to have a happy ending, isn't it?

Official thread: http://www.tera-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9200