This content patch rolls in several of the K-TERA updates (v83.06-85.05) into one release for the other regions. Normally, NA receives these updates last out of all the other regions but this time around, the release cadence has been changed with NA receiving it first (EU normally would have received it earlier but had their server merge planned for this week and likely put off the update due to the logistics leading up to the merge).
Along with this patch, they also updated the Fashion Coupon store (what had been promised nearly 3 years ago) and are running a 14-day daily login event (completing one Vanguard on any character will allow the player to collect the days reward (rewards are per server). I know a lot of my recent postings regarding En Masse Entertainment has not been positive but I need to give credit where credit is due because the rewards from the login event are pretty decent. And since the game doesn’t have any sort of transmog system, lot of the skins for armor and weapons from leveling/quest gear were pretty much destined for the bit bucket (which is where the Fashion Coupons came into play).
The Fashion Coupon store previously only held a limited amount of those skins and there were previous requests to update the shop. When Federation Bills were eliminated for NA and most of those items were migrated into the Fashion Coupon store, that was considered just the first phase (the next phase had plans to update to include more skins from assets that were just sitting in the game). 3 years passed without any status update causing additional frustration from players. Finally (for those players who had asked for this and hadn’t quit), a lot more of the item ID’s were added. Sure, they aren’t as great as the paid cosmetics but there are some pretty decent ones for use on alts. A Dismantle Shop for Terachic Boutique coins (what you get when dismantling costumes that one no longer wants) was also added for those coins.
Portions of this patch adds in some nice QoL features including the ability to collect all mail parcels, timestamps on chat (seems trivial and there were unofficial 3rd party mods that handled this but it is nice to have it officially added to the client), further streamlining of the starter zone (including giving a player a ground mount which has its speed increased after completing a slightly higher quest outside of the starter area), and an overhaul to the inventory UI (ability to auto sort based on your criteria, search function).
Inventory space was also increased with three new “Pocket” tabs. Each tab can have up to 80 slots (for a total of 240 new character inventory slots). An initial quest (given at level 66) provides the player a free unlock to the first tab (with 16 available slots). Additional tabs and slot expansions are cash shop items as well as a much slower/farmable method for slot expansions where those tokens can be purchased from the new secret and wandering merchants (not sure how many Mystery coins those will cost when it shows up on these merchants; yes, the contents of what they sell is all RNG including the limited times when these merchants spawn).
This additional inventory is primarily a quick monetization design (this is one of the downsides of Kakao having invested in Bluehole for the publishing rights to Ascent: Infinite Realm since that is where a lot of this design emphasis is coming from) since opening each successive 8-slot section, requires exponentially more pocket slot expanders (4, 7, 10, 14, 17, ?, ?, ?). The best way to expand at the beginning is to open the other two tabs (EME is selling a combined package of 1 Pocket Tab Expansion and Slot bundle for 1295 EMP; alone, the tab expansion and 35 slot expanders are 825 EMP respectively) since the first 16 slots also open up, and then open the next two slots on each.
Level XP was also added to some solo Vanguard Requests (unfortunately, the Vanguards for the level 65+ BAM’s are part of K-TERA’s v86 patches; the portal dungeon (Azart Hatchery) that Wanderer Caiman’s (if one appears when defeating level 65 field mobs) sometimes spawn (yes, RNG on top of RNG) is said to provide a lot of XP and was one method used on K-TERA to level fairly quickly to 70 compared to all prior methods.
I would say that only a small percentage of the active NA player base has characters at 70. The next major update (v86) will introduce the new Exodor region and the new gear system (which EME provided a translated developer note as a heads up to the changes coming by the end of the year). The entire note is a lesson in mental gymnastics though because all it does is move the grind from enchanting materials to grinding for the actual gear due to the amount of RNG involved with getting the proper (for class) damage type (physical and magic damage type was added) in addition to the proper rolls (layers of RNG). The lead designer making these decisions needs to go back to Pearl Abyss (Black Desert Online) because their signature is all over A:IR (and some of those folks and their ideas are being shared directly into TERA due to the KRAFTON GAME UNION).
