Well, I've gone through the process of downloading and installing the game, since there was an update recently (apparently on December 21, 2011). It says people are online (and the number of people constantly changes), but I'm unable to find a server when loading the game. I'll try again later and post my results.
EDIT1: So, the new english launcher won't let you log in before entering the game. You need to use the Russian one.) The one on the tutorial is WRONG. You need to use NewTeraLauncher.exe. It's in this thread somewhere, I'll pull it up later.
EDIT2: The IP address you are told to change to is WRONG on the tutorial. Use 213.239.204.183
After those fixes, I was able to connect and create a character. Going to see how the gameplay is now
Also, you can apparently check
to see if the server is online. If it's ONLINE, and you cannot connect, you're doing something wrong and need to troubleshoot a bit more.
(By the way, these changes are found in this thread, and are provided here for convenience to those who haven't read the entire thread).