TERA Trial...wtf?

OK, so I'm one of the many disenchanted with WoW.  Heck, I guess I've always been disenchanted with it.  More on that later.  On to the topic.

TERA sounded at least a little different.  Everything I read about it raved about the combat, but acknowledged the story might be a little lacking.  OK, I can handle that, and I want to try something different.   The action based combat gave me pause -- my combat strategy sounds steriod-infused.  I stand still and hit things.  There were enough comments that I knew going in that my go-to strategy wouldn't work so well, but heck, I've been doing pretty well in Skyrim lately, so lets give it a try.

I registered for the trial, download the app, and connected without any problems.  The controls are...well...different.  You have to use the F key to interact with NPC's.  OK, I can adapt.  I didn't accidentally attack anyone I was trying to talk to, so let's book that success.

After a few interactions, the game warned me combat was coming up.  I had created an archer, maybe because a hunter was my first WoW character, or maybe because the required player skill was the lowest of any of the classes.  I started reviewing my skill buttons as the game suggested.  That's when it hit me -- I was level 20.  Well, I think I was level 20.  Some of my attacks were suffixed with "2", "3", or "4", so apparently I'd leveled a few times.  I pushed on, but real life intruded before combat started, so I exited the game.

When I logged back in several hours later, I checked the character selection screen.  Yep, level 1.  OK.  I signed on and I was back at the begining of the starting area with nothing completed.  Hmmm.  I definitely had completed quests and had left the initial starting area, I went through a loading screen.  Oh well, I basically only had talked to people, so lets do that again.  It only took a short time, but...yeah, I was level 20.  I had around 4500 hp, and 5500 "blue" points (I don't remember if the resource was focus or whatever).

I moved on, went through all the stuff I completed, and got into combat.  I killed everything I was supposed to, but it just didn't move me.  No massive fun injection, and I know it may be a radical concept, but I play for fun.  I wasn't sure what all my abilities were, what ones should be on my toolbar, etc. -- I wasn't really expecting to jump in at level 20, I wanted to learn my character.  Maybe that's why player skill wasn't an issue?  Outlevling starting area content by that much sure reduces the skill you need.

Anyway, I might go back and see if any of my progress was saved this time, or if another character class would start differently, or if I missed a "start me at level 20" checkbox.  But honestly it feels like a chore.  And if this was what was going to induce me to start a monthly subscription...well, epic fail.