TERA is rather unique compared to other MMOs in that it has a political system where players can run for office to become a Vanarch. Vanarchs manage their province for 3 weeks. To become a Vanarch a player must:

• Be at least level 50
• Be leader of a level three guild with at least 20 members
• Pay a candidacy fee of 3,000 gold and 100 Catharnach awards

Once elected and appointed, vanarchs have a number of responsibilities to their provinces including

• Raise or lower individual tax rates on several categories of transactions. Any gold you earn as a result is yours to keep!
• Open specialty shops, with items not available anywhere else.
• Add skill trainers in remote locations, allowing characters to stay in your province and spend more gold more often.
• Upgrade the abilities of stamina restoring clerics—something which may come in handy if somebody dies on your watch due to "friendly fire."
• Enable access to trade brokers on certain continents.
• Adjust the PvP settings for your province on certain continents (and only on PvP servers, of course).

To learn more about TERAs political system visit: http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/endgame/political-system

GameBreaker.tv This Week In MMO discusses the Elder Scrolls MMO as well as TERA post release. We learn that that the new Elder Scrolls MMO, will occur 1000 years prior to Skyrim, it will have 3 factions fighting over control of the Empire, with PvP and questing dynamic events. There was also an open discussion about the combat style. At this point we are not sure if Elder Scrolls MMO will offer action style combat similar to Skyrim or if it will offer a traditional skill quick bar.

May 1 has arrived and after months of controversy and mixed Beta reviews TERA has officially launched! Its not unusual for freshly launched games to experience some issues and TERA is no exception. Some players are encountering issues that are preventing them from enjoying the game. En Masse is "actively working to resolve them."

Meanwhile En Masse has released this new TERA Launch Trailer. One thing I have to say is they sure know how to make good trailers.

It seems that the European version of TERA will no longer feature blood effects. This 253 page thread shows just how frustrated players are about this censorship. I feel there was probably some logical reason that probably has something to do with the European PEGI rating system, however with the lawsuit and poor launch in Asia this game does not need any more bad news.

MoreMMO readers will know that I really like TERA trailers. Here is a new one showcasing the Island of Dawn starting area.

"Want an early taste of TERA's beautiful world and visceral combat? Check out this trailer of the game's all-new playable prologue. As TERA begins, the first explorers to the mysterious Island of Dawn are shipwrecked and attacked by demons the moment they land. After reaching the beach, you'll have to struggle to regroup before the demons descend upon the survivors."

TERA just can't get any positive news lately. Today we learn that customers who have pre-ordered TERA are having difficulty getting pre-order game codes. Although En Masse is currently working on a resolution and promises to distribute the codes just as soon as possible.

Source: En Masse Press Release

This week I want to share my favorite MMO Trailers. I don’t want to say best MMO trailers because I am not judging the trailer based on how many players they brought to the game (not like I have this data anyways). Trailers that explain the MMO gameplay features are informative but often boring. They talk about crafting or combat, which is interesting if you want to find out what the game is about. However this post is going to be about cinematic, CGI, hair rising MMO trailers that make you want to play the game right away.

5. Wildstar Cinematic Trailer

I usually stay far away from cutesy cartoon graphics and I was not really interested in Wildstar when it was first announced. However this cinematic trailer has me intrigued. If the game’s story and graphics will be on par with this trailer I may actually play this game. If not, well at least we have this wonderful trailer to remember.

4. TERA Exclusive Healer Trailer

TERA is one of those games that hardly ever gets any good press. However I have to give their marketing department credit for this video. I almost immediately wanted to roll a healer in my MMO of choice.

3. Star Trek Online Free-to-Play Trailer

STO is a game I play and enjoy but it really needed to go free-top-play a while ago. There just weren’t enough players to enjoy some of the fleet actions and the PVP queues were getting stupid long. So I was very happy first with the free-to-play announcement and then with this great trailer that actually contains in-game footage.

2. Everquest 2 Free-to-Play Trailer

Everquest 2 is one of those game that I am sure is great but I could just never get into. This video however made me want to try the game again. Great video with epic music.

1. Star Wars: The Old Republic The Return Cinematic

I am not sure that this actually counts as a trailer as it is a in game cinematic that was also released before the game launch. However this has to be my all-time favorite MMO video. Lucas Arts watch and learn; for me this cinematic is better than Star Wars Episodes 1-3 put together.

TERA is one of those MMOs that has me a bit intrigued. On one hand the game is already launched in Korea in 2011 to mixed reviews. On the other hand the game strives to be a AAA MMO with some interesting game mechanics, combat and graphics. I am going to keep my mind open until I have an opportunity to try the game. For those of you interested in TERA you can now sing up for the open beta. Alternatively you can wait until May 1st 2012 when the game will officially launch in North America (May 3rd in Europe)