En Masse hit a huge milestone in January by launching and configuring, for the first time, our final remote game server hardware. Until now, we've used in-house, temporary hardware for our servers. Not anymore! This is the final hardware you'll log into when you join the game. The Community Play Event will help us test this configuration and make adjustments. As you might imagine, bringing a game like Tera to life in North America is no mean feat, and getting our servers right is extremely important.
A couple of months later, we'll host a second event-this one open to a far larger group. This event will help us further refine our server architecture and plan for contingencies. This will also be the first test of our other huge project, the account management and support systems for Tera Gold. More importantly, it will put the game client in the hands of many more people, so they can see the continued progress we've made.
And after that? It's beta time! The beta cycle will be a multi-part odyssey through TERA where players will be able to see the game in its various phases before we launch in North America.
We've got a lot of work to do (and you guys have a lot of playing to do!) so here's to a great 2011. Now, we better get back to our desks!
